The opportunity to break in and then audition a new piece of equipment in your room is a rare treat. That is what I just completed with the Aqua La Scala MKII Optologic DAC. While it won’t be staying in my system, I want to thank Mike for the opportunity. I won’t go into all I did in this audition but suffice it to say I had the La Scala connected exactly as my existing DAC is. Same cables same volumes so I could switch inputs on my pre and get on the fly listening comparisons.
After 100+ hours of ROON streaming, Three different multi-hour listening sessions over two days, the La Scala only showed a clear improvement during complex passages playing Mahler #7,4 & 2. It made the strings sweeter, more lifelike. On all other highly varied music and different resolutions, I struggled to hear any differences. At least any that swayed me to give up my disc player and go to a ‘spinner less’ system. I am willing to do so but it is going to have to be a bigger improvement.
Thanks again Mike!!
