Berkley Alpha Reference DAC (mini) Review

JDLaudio said:
I now have the S-1 Lumin as well as the Berkeley Reference and Lampi 7 dac in house. First off, the Lumin is awesome to use. The software is a dream come true. It does 1X and 2X DSD and will soon be a streaming champ per Mike. So it is overall a real winner in my book. The Berkeley is better on redbook. Any audio adjective you wish to compare, the Berkeley does it better.....maybe 10% better. But I have not yet found the digital NIRVANA that Robert Harley and others gushed about. The Berkeley DSD playback via conversion through J River sounds as good as the Lumin on several tests. So no winner there.
The Lampi 7 is the DSD champ in my book so far. It has a real organic truthfulness to my ears, that is more faithful to the real thing. The tubes give it a very romantic and engaging sound. I believe the Berkeley may be a tad more resolving, but not quite as enjoyable as the Lampi.
At this level, there are no losers. The Berkeley price is still un-justified (IMHO) at 16k, without world class DSD. The Lampi is a great DSD dac and a very good redbook piece, which has several price points to choose from. And the Lumin is a sit back and enjoy the music player, that gives you probably 90% of the best possible sound quality available. The Lumin has a couple of different models available at differing price points. So the best choice comes down to what is most important to the end user.
I myself am going to keep all three. I will use the Lumin in system one.......and hand off its redbook playback to the Berkeley dac. In system two, I will use the Lampi dac. I do have a smaller third system that I use the Oppo 105D player for SACD/redbook/DSD playback. It also picks up the Lumin L-1 storage drive very nicely, via the network connection.
Of course these observations are very system dependent. As always, I suggest you perform an in-home demo before a purchase.

Happy listening.......Jerry-
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Jerry, does the Lampi have soft transients, bloated bass or other stereotypical (see what I did there?) tube attributes?
 
Jerry -

Thx for your comments. Very informative perspective on your experience with these two DACs and the Lumin. The ease of use, excellent sound, flexibility and build quality is why I'm very likely to go Lumin S1.

While the Berkeley is very tempting, I'm not interested in converting DSD to PCM - I'm on the camp of simplicity.

Thx!
 
madfloyd said:
Jerry, does the Lampi have soft transients, bloated bass or other stereotypical (see what I did there?) tube attributes?
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I heard no over-blown tube traits. More along the lines of a richness in stung instruments and lower piano notes. A very nice "meat on the bones" sound, without any loss of fine detail. I will listen again tonight, as I have some new 101 tubes to try out. They are suppose to be very neutral and detailed. I've been letting them burn in for several evenings, so they should be ready to listen to.
 
Ritmo said:
Jerry -

Thx for your comments. Very informative perspective on your experience with these two DACs and the Lumin. The ease of use, excellent sound, flexibility and build quality is why I'm very likely to go Lumin S1.

While the Berkeley is very tempting, I'm not interested in converting DSD to PCM - I'm on the camp of simplicity.

Thx!
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Mike, you cannot go wrong with the Lumin. There is a bit more quality in the other units, but comes at the expense and hassle of computer servers. Many audiophiles are on a quest to ink out the very last bit of SQ there is to be had with current technology. So you have to make that decision. Check with Mike, he may have a demo unit.
I'm not sure how the Oppo is processing its DSD digital out.........but I had the Berkeley playing DSD directly from the Oppo digital SPDIF output ??? Unless that was a PCM file of Ricky Lee Jones that got mixed onto my DSD flash drive. So that could be an option too. But it has to be doing a PCM conversion in the Oppo, otherwise the Berkeley couldn't play it. But it worked without a computer !!! So I guess it would be doing the PCM conversion you wish to avoid.
 
thnx Jerry for a very comprehensive response.

Nick
JDLaudio said:
Only the Berkeley has volume control. My Lampi does NOT have a preamp, and neither does the Lumin. With the Pass XS-150's/ MBL 101E's/Berkeley combo........I prefer a preamp. With D'Agostino mono's/MBL's/Berkeley combo........I prefer a preamp. But, with the Cary 211FE monos/Spatial Masters/Berkeley combo........I prefer no preamp.
Previously, I also found I preferred no preamp when using the Direct Stream with the VAC 200 mono amps. On solid state combos I tried with the Direct Stream.......I always preferred to have a preamp in line.
So, I found a better synergy using a preamps on an "all solid state" systems..........and NO PREAMP with tube amps. As always, YMMV.
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Sorry Mike, The Bricasti along with the Avantgardes reside in NYC at my second home. My main system is in MD. The Bricasti and the BADA have never been in the same room.......
 
Those of you using the Berkeley Reference DAC with preamp - what do you have your DAC volume control set at? I spoke with Michael Ritter about this at length - you really need to get this set properly and it's different in each system.
 
The Sandman said:
Those of you using the Berkeley Reference DAC with preamp - what do you have your DAC volume control set at? I spoke with Michael Ritter about this at length - you really need to get this set properly and it's different in each system.
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I believe the manual says set volume to 54......if my memory serves me right. Are you saying they there are different settings, depending which system you have ???
 
JDLaudio said:
I believe the manual says set volume to 54......if my memory serves me right. Are you saying they there are different settings, depending which system you have ???
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As mentioned, the manual says to use 54, but in his review for TAS Robert Harley used 59. The ideal setting is system dependent - equipment, cables, and cable length all matter. Michael suggested I try 54, 59, and 60 (up until then I had kept to 54). Let's just say it was clear which setting was best in my system and it wasn't 54. :)
 
The Sandman said:
As mentioned, the manual says to use 54, but in his review for TAS Robert Harley used 59. The ideal setting is system dependent - equipment, cables, and cable length all matter. Michael suggested I try 54, 59, and 60 (up until then I had kept to 54). Let's just say it was clear which setting was best in my system and it wasn't 54. :)
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I didn't care for 54 either, but left it that way. Mine came to life around 58...........but put it back to 54, worrying that I may overdrive something ?? I think the manual should be clear that experimentationis ok......and recommended.
 
JDLaudio said:
I didn't care for 54 either, but left it that way. Mine came to life around 58...........but put it back to 54, worrying that I may overdrive something ?? I think the manual should be clear that experimentationis ok......and recommended.
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I was surprised at the difference between the levels, even between 59 and 60. :)
 
I should have mentioned - since my preamp volume control is in 1 dB increments it was very easy for me to decrease the preamp volume by the same amount as the DAC volume was increased and vice versa - keeping the overall system volume the same (as Michael instructed). The change in character is not the result of a change in overall system volume. If your preamp volume control is not calibrated in dB you should probably use a meter to do volume level matching at the preamp for each different DAC volume setting.
 
JDLaudio said:
I guess Mike did mention the volume control, but I heeded the warning. I did not try it. If the manufacture doesn't suggest it, I avoid it.
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I use LUMIN's volume! *shudder* (just make sure Digital Audio Output is Off)

Once did a A/B test in a friend's setup, pre-amp was a [SIZE=-1]Music First Audio [/SIZE]Baby Reference. We couldn't really hear any different when volume is >30%. At below 30% volume the $6k pre-amp did seems has a slightly fuller and richer sound...
 
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