Berkley Alpha Reference DAC (mini) Review

audio.bill said:
George - I'd be most interested in learning about your impressions of the new BC DAC3.7VB, what you may have compared it to, etc. Rather than sending this thread off topic you might consider starting a new thread. Thanks in advance, and I look forward to hearing more from you about the new BC.
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As I just received it about a week ago it's still breaking in. I plan to post my impressions about it in the Bel Canto section in a couple of weeks from now.
 
The Sandman said:
The Reference isn't meant to be turned off - there is no power switch. It should always be on when plugged in and hooked up in your system. :weird:
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Yea, I realize that. But I have always worried about audio equipment, and how hot some of these units run....even at idle. I guess my Mom pestering me to turn everything off in a room as I leave, has stuck with me through life.....lol.
 
The Sandman said:
Even more importantly, the Reference, though broken in, was added to Mike's system cold and was only playing in his system for a couple of hours. But it takes 12 hours for the unit to fully warm up and reach thermal equilibrium - Berkeley advises against critical listening during the warm-up. So, cold Reference, Oppo/toslink, no high res (nor any HDCD's which the Reference loves), and still IMO there was no comparison to the Lumin (even with it's optional power supply). The Lumin is no match for the Reference. :)
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LoL

It was YOUR Ref, no?
 
Mike said:
Not exactly Doug. The Lumin has no digital inputs except the Ethernet connection (only Digital Outputs - BNC and HDMI Audio). The Berkley has BNC, AEU and Toslink inputs, but no USB as Berkley believes its best to have the USB input handled by their $2000 Alpha USB box (which I've heard is excellent by the way).

I could live with the inputs, extra box, etc. of the BADA and I can definitely live with its sound for redbook, but I really want DSD without a computer/software/conversion involved and certainly without the DSD to PCM conversion (either on the fly or batch). Last year I tried several different programs for converting DSD to PCM (including Korg Audiogate) and in playback of the DSD vs PCM file, there was NO DOUBT AT ALL that the DSD file was superior than the DSD converted to PCM file. The conversion process is also quite lengthy.

Now, I have a question that I'm hoping someone can answer: has anyone compared a DSD to PCM file conversion vs DoP. Meaning, is there a sonic difference between converting a DSD file to PCM format vs DSD over PCM? I think I know the answer that DoP (DSD over PCM) is just a simple vehicle for DSD files to travel and is not really a conversion....but I wanted to confirm.



Anyway.....I'm just thinking out loud here.....
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DoP is 100% DSD and despite the misguided suppositions out there, some peole think it even sound better than Natively fed DSD. Of course there is also the counter argument that stripping it out of the PCM shell cuases penalty to the CPU, but its so minuscule, it could not possibly be anything significant. This is DSD Dop v DSD "native". DSD to PCM will be destroyed by either type of Pure DSD feed on the Lampi…wont even be close and it will be cruel to compare, really.

I only use DoP as I am a Mac guy, but the Amanero board can do native with Windows ASIO and soon by Linux too. DoP is just DSD in a PCM shell with an 8 bit flag. The flag tells the converter to unwrap the shell and process as bitstream…a trojan horse really. Absolutely ZERO conversion to PCM.
 
wisnon said:
LoL

It was YOUR Ref, no?
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Yes, it's my Reference and my reference. :D Harley's review is right on!

BTW, I'm quite familiar with the Lumins having heard them at least half a dozen times at Mike's plus I had one in my home system for a week a while back. It sounds pleasant enough, but it's clearly not in the same league as the Reference.
 
The Sandman said:
Yes, it's my Reference and my reference. :D Harley's review is right on!

BTW, I'm quite familiar with the Lumins having heard them at least half a dozen times at Mike's plus I had one in my home system for a week a while back. It sounds pleasant enough, but it's clearly not in the same league as the Reference.
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The Berkley is outstanding for redbook - thanks for bringing it by Howard. A real treat for sure. But sadly, no DSD and converting DSD to PCM was less than desirable, no matter what I tried.
 
JDLaudio said:
I am now using the Berkeley with the original Baetis server, via the spdif connector. I have not sorted everything out yet, as it is in a completely new system. I have the Berkeley paired with the Pass XS-150 monoblocks, MBL 101's, and NO PREAMP. It's also a completely new room.......so I am starting from scratch.
Redbook is sounding great out of the box. This dac definitely fleshes out more fine detail, and the tonality of instruments is spot-on.....IMHO. DSD is being converted on the fly thru J River, and sounds slightly better than redbook. But for some reason I cannot get any playback when set to 176k......which is what the default setting is suppose to be set at for the conversion. I have to leave the setting at 96k....to get playback ?? So I have issues to deal with before I get optium DSD playback. I have also never had the dac warmed up longer than a couple of hours, so I will try leaving the unit on for possibly better SQ.
I will update after more experimentation with wire changes, speaker placement, etc.
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Yes, 176 is the best conversion setting as its and integer multiple (Quad rate) and so NO rounding math involved. At least that is what Thorsten told me.
 
The Sandman said:
Yes, it's my Reference and my reference. :D Harley's review is right on!

BTW, I'm quite familiar with the Lumins having heard them at least half a dozen times at Mike's plus I had one in my home system for a week a while back. It sounds pleasant enough, but it's clearly not in the same league as the Reference.
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Hahahah

I was just seeing if it was yours for sure, given you live in Fla and implied it was yours. Great machine, I am sure.

Sorry you are missing out on the DSD "revolution" though. No format wars, as both formats sound great when well recorded, but DSD 128 for me is plain heavenly…even needledrops on my Lampi DSD decoder. I will try the upsampling on the fly with HQP later on, after I get Windows with Audiophile Optimiser.
 
Mike said:
As I said in my system goals for 2015 post, I'm definitely considering the Esoteric K-01x (with SRS clock). But I am also VERY curious about the Lampizator Big 7 DAC. Putting my concerns of Lampizator QC aside for a minute, there have been enough people I really trust (other than the world's biggest Lampizator fan Norman), who have indicated its a game changer. This does not mean for a second I would get rid of my Lumin because I am fundamentally opposed to having a Mac or Windows computer in the audio chain. The Lumin is definitely my preference as a player. So if I ended up with the Lumin S1 feeding the Lampizator Big 7 for example, the benefit is that when the Lampizator breaks, I have the terrific DAC in the Lumin S1 to listen to AND there also might be material I prefer the DAC in the Lumin over the Lampizator.
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Not sure I can claim that title anymore as BMoura, Jabs, K6Davis, Zelung, ALRainbow, Lissnr, Sfox, etc have very valid claims. Hahahahah.
 
George, can you start a new thread and give us a teaser mini-review? Please throw us a bone.
 
wisnon said:
Hahahah

I was just seeing if it was yours for sure, given you live in Fla and implied it was yours. Great machine, I am sure.

Sorry you are missing out on the DSD "revolution" though. No format wars, as both formats sound great when well recorded, but DSD 128 for me is plain heavenly…even needledrops on my Lampi DSD decoder. I will try the upsampling on the fly with HQP later on, after I get Windows with Audiophile Optimiser.
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I've heard many DSD Dacs and I feel I'm not missing out what so ever. I truly am able to listen to the music and not the equipment as it sounds so right! That's all that matters in the real world. :rolleyes:
 
We need to organize another Suncoast Audiophile Society DAC "shootout" comparing Howard's Berkeley Audio Reference vs. George's Bel Canto 3.7 and my Bel Canto 3.5 MKII, vs. ? others!
 
sleepysurf said:
We need to organize another Suncoast Audiophile Society DAC "shootout" comparing Howard's Berkeley Audio Reference vs. George's Bel Canto 3.7 and my Bel Canto 3.5 MKII, vs. ? others!
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I'm in! I'll bring my R2R as the benchmark. [emoji1]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
dlb2 said:
Thanks Mike. So for a lot less money someone could own a Lumin that sounds just as good, has more inputs and plays dsd?
I'm not picking on the Berkley, but it seems like every month there's another "the next big dac" out. Why would someone pay that much money for what seems an incomplete piece of gear?

Sent from my mobile.
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My thoughts exactly. At $16K it needs to touch all the bases, especially inboard USB input and DSD. Thanks for the mini review, Mike!

Ken
 
sleepysurf said:
We need to organize another Suncoast Audiophile Society DAC "shootout" comparing Howard's Berkeley Audio Reference vs. George's Bel Canto 3.7 and my Bel Canto 3.5 MKII, vs. ? others!
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I can bring the PS Audio Direct Stream and the Hilo too.
 
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