Luxman has Landed

M

Mechnutt

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Joined
Nov 18, 2013
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Location
Minnesota
I got my Luxman DA-06 today. A big thank you to every one's suggestions that led me to this DAC. Right off the bat it sounds great, I can't wait till it breaks in. It is extremely analog sounding. It is smooth, liquid, musical and has just the right amount of warmth. There is no glare, harshness or digital edge. It clearly is not a Sabre based DAC. The midrange has weight, depth and transparency. I am surprised that more people don't own this DAC. It is a perfect match for my system. It even reduces ssssibilantsss.

Right now I am listening the Power Of One by Paul de Benedicts from my CDP via digital coax. The piano is so natural sounding. The notes have fullness and air at the same time. I wish that I did not have to work the next 5 days or I would be planted in my sofa drinking wine and listening my music collection.:yahoo1:
 
Larry...congrats on the DA-06. Let us know how it evolves over the coming weeks :thumbsup:
 
Congratulations on your new DAC Larry! In addition to such an enjoyable sonic performance, Luxman features superb build quality that you should be proud to have as part of your system for many years to come. Enjoy the tunes!
 
audio.bill said:
Congratulations on your new DAC Larry! In addition to such an enjoyable sonic performance, Luxman features superb build quality that you should be proud to have as part of your system for many years to come. Enjoy the tunes!
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Yes, the build quality is superb. The knobs and buttons are metal and very solid feeling with no loose play and they take some force to move. The unit weighs about 28 pounds or so. The power cord is a heavy gauge. The unit just oozes quality.

Right now I am really enjoying the musical analog sound. It sounds almost like vinyl. However, if you are the type of listener that likes a crisp almost sterile sound this DAC is not for you.
 
For the money I rate this dac highly. It really is great for the guy that just doesn't want the harsh that can come with digital because there isn't any. Really enjoying my time with this dac too.
 
Congratulations on the new arrival! A new DAC in the asynchronous era can be a life transforming experience. For a few thousand (or less) we can hear a realism that only the most well-heeled analogue aristocrats could previously enjoy.
 
Mechnutt said:
Yes, the build quality is superb. The knobs and buttons are metal and very solid feeling with no loose play and they take some force to move. The unit weighs about 28 pounds or so. The power cord is a heavy gauge. The unit just oozes quality.

Right now I am really enjoying the musical analog sound. It sounds almost like vinyl. However, if you are the type of listener that likes a crisp almost sterile sound this DAC is not for you.
Click to expand...

For the money, (and even if it sold for twice its asking price) it's a great DAC. We use one in our main demo studio. Try some STILLPOINTS ULTRA SS'S under it (3 will work just fine), it will open up things rather nicely.
CHEERS.........
 
Congrats on your new Luxman DA-06 DAC! It utilizes a Burr-Brown PCM 1792A 32-bit converter chip.

Enjoy,
Ken
 
Here's an update on the Luxman. The sound stage is opening up and there is a little more detail coming through.

I tried the usb connection and the usb sounds much better than the spdif and optical inputs. I played some music with JRiver upconverting on the fly to DSD and DSDx2. Most music sounds better upconverted to DSD but I also found some music sounded better at 96K or 192. DSD really gives a vibrant, holographic sound with more detail and resolution as well as a wider sound stage. Bass is tighter but not quite as deep. Horns and solo piano sounds better at 96K as it has more weight and it sound like real horns and piano.

I have tried some native 96K and its awesome. I have yet to try native DSD as I have no music yet in that format.

I really like the 2 DSD filters. Filter 2 rolls off some of the high frequency and allows me to play some brighter music without much fatigue.

I guess my only complaints about the Luxman are that it could use a little more air, detail, texture and a slightly crisper attack on strings. It's bass and bloom can be a bit much with my Magnepans and BAT/Pass combo on some but not all music. I have a Rane ME60 equalizer coming and I will do some room correction with it. My AVA DAC also had tighter bass. Interestingly, the guy that brought his Luxman over to my house to try was very surprised at the amount of bass my Magnepans put out. He thought that I had my sub's cross over set high and the volume way up ( I keep the sub set at 45Hz and the volume low so it kicks in on bass heavy music only). I told him that if you have the right gear and enough current and power that down to 40hz, my Maggies will sound like a traditional speaker.

I have had several DAC's come through my system in the past 3 months- Exogal Comet, W4S DAC2 DSDse, Hugo Chord, Marantz NA-11s1 and the new Cary 200t. The Luxman sounds better overall with the Marantz having the best texture, the Comet having the most detail, resolution, sound stage, air and transparency but lacking bass and it leaned a little on the bright side in my system. The Lux certainly has given me the analog sound and warmer sound that I was looking for and is the best of the bunch although the Comet sounded awesome at Axpona with the Atmosphere gear. No DAC is perfect.
 
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