T+A DAC 8 DSD review

Everest Audio

Everest Audio

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Joined
Sep 9, 2014
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Location
Regina, SK, Canada
Okay, you have to deal with the German translation, but it gives you a good idea. It has been a long wait for the stock coming to North America, but we should have ours in about a week. Very excited to get this piece in! PCM and DSD processing are kept completely separate. It also has separate power supplies for digital and analogue sections and has a high quality analogue volume control for driving amps directly. The word out there so far is that the DSD capabilities of this DAC are supposed to be amongst the best, if not the best on the market. People on Computer Audiophile are raving about PCM upscaled to 512 DSD via HQplayer with this DAC. It certainly should be interesting.

https://translate.googleusercontent...t.html&usg=ALkJrhjJy-KFR1OSLGmrOj89cUZG01A30w

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I've been hearing some good things about this DAC, does anyone here actually own it.

Mike you carry this brand correct ?

My question is how it might compare side by side with a Lampi Level 4 , PCM and DSD. I have read for PCM the T&A does a nice job, but with DSD the Level 4 takes a slight led. Anyone
 
CPP said:
I've been hearing some good things about this DAC, does anyone here actually own it.

Mike you carry this brand correct ?

My question is how it might compare side by side with a Lampi Level 4 , PCM and DSD. I have read for PCM the T&A does a nice job, but with DSD the Level 4 takes a slight led. Anyone
Click to expand...

Yes I carry T+A. It's a well respected brand in Europe, but not a lot of love over here. The DAC8 is similar to my T+A PDP3000HV.

I have not heard the Lampi 4, so I can't compare. If you want, I have that balanced Lampi Lite7 you can borrow. It's awesome.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Mike said:
Yes I carry T+A. It's a well respected brand in Europe, but not a lot of love over here. The DAC8 is similar to my T+A PDP3000HV.

I have not heard the Lampi 4, so I can't compare. If you want, I have that balanced Lampi Lite7 you can borrow. It's awesome.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

The Lampi with those tubes standing up, will not fit in my space. But thank you Mike for the offer.
 
I bought the DAC8 DSD at the Newport show. Shows it will deliver tomorrow. I will keep everyone posted.
 
CPP said:
I've been hearing some good things about this DAC, does anyone here actually own it.

Mike you carry this brand correct ?

My question is how it might compare side by side with a Lampi Level 4 , PCM and DSD. I have read for PCM the T&A does a nice job, but with DSD the Level 4 takes a slight led. Anyone
Click to expand...

Hi, let me introduce myself. I have been active on the Computer Audiophile Forum under the moniker EuroDriver, and have been an evangelist for HQP Player doing PCM to DSD conversion for the best part of 2 years.

At last years success at Munich High End with a Lampi B7, Audiopax tube amps and Avantgarde Duo horns, Geoff Armstrong of Sound Galleries in Monaco egged me on to undertake a project to develop a SOTA computing platform for HQP Player to run on.

Well the Sound Galleries Music server team has been beavering away for 11 months, working with the Lampi b7 DSD128 and the Exasound E22 at DSD 256, and then 3 months ago, the T+A DAC 8 DSD capable of doing DSD 512 native dropped into our lap.

I don't think any of the German magazines have fed the DAC 8 DSD with a DSD 512 data stream, because they don't believe in format conversion of PCM to DSD and upsampling DSD 64 to DSD 512, and have not tried or tested HQ Player with the seriousness that this software deserves

Let me say that the T+A DAC 8 DSD fed by HQ Player running on an audiophile entry level Skylake i7 delivers a sonic playback realism that is surprisingly good, and a very significant step up from the previous generation of DSD 128 and 256 chip based DAC's

For us working on the SGM audiophile computing platform, the DAC 8 DSD has been Christmas, and 5 birthday presents rolled into one big gift. DSD 512 seems to magnify all of the improvements that we have been working on to reduce RF noise and improve computational timing.

The designer of the DAC 8 DSD is Lothar Wiemann, chief engineer for T+A. Lothar has been designing and testing DSD converters for the best part of 25 years. The DAC 8 DSD has Lothar's latest iteration of his discrete component 1 bit shift register DSD converter.


I have been told by Lothar and others, that one of the major drivers of good DSD playback is control of jitter. Lothar has gone to extra ordinary steps to get the two clocks (for 44.1 KHz and 48 KHz sample rate families) to run as jitter free as possible.

The next part of the clever and elegant design is Lothar's implementation of a 3rd order low pass filter using the circuit architecture of the shift register, no capacitors doing duty here in this critical analog stage

The third arrow of the design is the meticulous attention and measures to control and reduce ground plane noise.

Lothar says, that the tight tolerance of components he uses in this discrete implantation of this 1-bit convert design, can not be achieved with today's commercial chip making technology.

So that's my take on the buzz and glowing reports of the sound quality that this DAC is delivering, from entry level Skylake PC's to the 31 Kg Sound Galleries SGM 2015
 
eurodriver said:
Hi, let me introduce myself. I have been active on the Computer Audiophile Forum under the moniker EuroDriver, and have been an evangelist for HQP Player doing PCM to DSD conversion for the best part of 2 years.

At last years success at Munich High End with a Lampi B7, Audiopax tube amps and Avantgarde Duo horns, Geoff Armstrong of Sound Galleries in Monaco egged me on to undertake a project to develop a SOTA computing platform for HQP Player to run on.

Well the Sound Galleries Music server team has been beavering away for 11 months, working with the Lampi b7 DSD128 and the Exasound E22 at DSD 256, and then 3 months ago, the T+A DAC 8 DSD capable of doing DSD 512 native dropped into our lap.

I don't think any of the German magazines have fed the DAC 8 DSD with a DSD 512 data stream, because they don't believe in format conversion of PCM to DSD and upsampling DSD 64 to DSD 512, and have not tried or tested HQ Player with the seriousness that this software deserves

Let me say that the T+A DAC 8 DSD fed by HQ Player running on an audiophile entry level Skylake i7 delivers a sonic playback realism that is surprisingly good, and a very significant step up from the previous generation of DSD 128 and 256 chip based DAC's

For us working on the SGM audiophile computing platform, the DAC 8 DSD has been Christmas, and 5 birthday presents rolled into one big gift. DSD 512 seems to magnify all of the improvements that we have been working on to reduce RF noise and improve computational timing.

The designer of the DAC 8 DSD is Lothar Wiemann, chief engineer for T+A. Lothar has been designing and testing DSD converters for the best part of 25 years. The DAC 8 DSD has Lothar's latest iteration of his discrete component 1 bit shift register DSD converter.


I have been told by Lothar and others, that one of the major drivers of good DSD playback is control of jitter. Lothar has gone to extra ordinary steps to get the two clocks (for 44.1 KHz and 48 KHz sample rate families) to run as jitter free as possible.

The next part of the clever and elegant design is Lothar's implementation of a 3rd order low pass filter using the circuit architecture of the shift register, no capacitors doing duty here in this critical analog stage

The third arrow of the design is the meticulous attention and measures to control and reduce ground plane noise.

Lothar says, that the tight tolerance of components he uses in this discrete implantation of this 1-bit convert design, can not be achieved with today's commercial chip making technology.

So that's my take on the buzz and glowing reports of the sound quality that this DAC is delivering, from entry level Skylake PC's to the 31 Kg Sound Galleries SGM 2015
Click to expand...

Hi Ed, what took you so long to show up here???
Welcome.
 
eurodriver said:
Hi, let me introduce myself. I have been active on the Computer Audiophile Forum under the moniker EuroDriver, and have been an evangelist for HQP Player doing PCM to DSD conversion for the best part of 2 years.

At last years success at Munich High End with a Lampi B7, Audiopax tube amps and Avantgarde Duo horns, Geoff Armstrong of Sound Galleries in Monaco egged me on to undertake a project to develop a SOTA computing platform for HQP Player to run on.

Well the Sound Galleries Music server team has been beavering away for 11 months, working with the Lampi b7 DSD128 and the Exasound E22 at DSD 256, and then 3 months ago, the T+A DAC 8 DSD capable of doing DSD 512 native dropped into our lap.

I don't think any of the German magazines have fed the DAC 8 DSD with a DSD 512 data stream, because they don't believe in format conversion of PCM to DSD and upsampling DSD 64 to DSD 512, and have not tried or tested HQ Player with the seriousness that this software deserves

Let me say that the T+A DAC 8 DSD fed by HQ Player running on an audiophile entry level Skylake i7 delivers a sonic playback realism that is surprisingly good, and a very significant step up from the previous generation of DSD 128 and 256 chip based DAC's

For us working on the SGM audiophile computing platform, the DAC 8 DSD has been Christmas, and 5 birthday presents rolled into one big gift. DSD 512 seems to magnify all of the improvements that we have been working on to reduce RF noise and improve computational timing.

The designer of the DAC 8 DSD is Lothar Wiemann, chief engineer for T+A. Lothar has been designing and testing DSD converters for the best part of 25 years. The DAC 8 DSD has Lothar's latest iteration of his discrete component 1 bit shift register DSD converter.


I have been told by Lothar and others, that one of the major drivers of good DSD playback is control of jitter. Lothar has gone to extra ordinary steps to get the two clocks (for 44.1 KHz and 48 KHz sample rate families) to run as jitter free as possible.

The next part of the clever and elegant design is Lothar's implementation of a 3rd order low pass filter using the circuit architecture of the shift register, no capacitors doing duty here in this critical analog stage

The third arrow of the design is the meticulous attention and measures to control and reduce ground plane noise.

Lothar says, that the tight tolerance of components he uses in this discrete implantation of this 1-bit convert design, can not be achieved with today's commercial chip making technology.

So that's my take on the buzz and glowing reports of the sound quality that this DAC is delivering, from entry level Skylake PC's to the 31 Kg Sound Galleries SGM 2015
Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum Ed! T+A is a terrific brand....it's unfortunate it doesn't get the traction it deserves here in the U.S.....but that may be changing. I own the T+A PDP 3000HV and it's a wonderful digital hub (which also does DSD512).
 
We're after two weeks of listening T+A DAC 8 DSD and ... this is one of the best DAC on the market.

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Can you say more? Description of its main sonic qualities/strengths/weaknesses?

Thx.
 
For me, I'd say the DAC is quite neutral in its tonal balance, but it is very detailed and engaging while remaining smooth at the same time. It has excellent dynamics and control and sounds very live and realistic. As a comparison, something like the Bel Canto DAC3.7 will come across as more relaxed and laidback with a hint of warmth in comparison to the T+A DAC8 DSD. But that's the Bel Canto house sound whereas I'd say that the T+A is more neutral. I find that it does an excellent job of both PCM and DSD content, but admittedly, I don't have much DSD material and typically do not connect a DAC via USB as I prefer to not have a computer in my listening room. Another thing to note is that the volume control in the DAC8 DSD works very well for driving an amp directly via the DAC.
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T+A Dac 8 transformed my system. It is one of those rare component that lived up to the hype. Unfortunately, I am selling my entire system due to some financial circumstances. So, my practically brand new T+A Dac 8 is for sale.

http://www.usaudiomart.com/details/...-new-with-2-years-full-manufacturer-warranty/


I also have the wonderful Melody P2688 preamp in 9/10 condition. Very rare to come up for sale. I will post the classified soon
 
I am going to give a little different slant on the T&A DAC 8. For the money, it is an excellent DAC. I concur with those that believe the best sound is achieved upsampling to DSD512 with HQP.

My settings are poly-sinc-shrt-mp, ASDM5 bit rate limit 22579200, the T&A set to wide, a Falcon Northwest Tiki with an i7 6700K and Nvidia 1080 to do the heavy work and my CAPS with JCAT card both fed by Core Tech Kaia LPS as my NAA. So my setup is Roon-->HQP-->NAA with the above setup.

On my system, I find the sound very detailed fairly accurate timbre with pretty good transparency and imaging. Side to side imaging is very good yet front to back I find a little lacking but still better than most DACs I have heard. I was truly hoping I would love this DAC so much I would sell my MSB, pocket some cash and move on.

However, for me, it was not a choice. I still haven't heard a DAC I like more than my MSB Diamond Plus IV with Quad. Yes, IMHO, it is just that good (and should for the price). So I decided to upgrade to the Diamond V which is again remarkable. As good as the T&A is, for me, I can't go back and am now using it for my headphone rig which, IMHO, is significantly better than my HUGO/Mojo although I like the MOJO better than HUGO which I sold.

For reference my main system is ARC REF10-->ARC GS150-->Nola Concert Grand Gold REF using all Valhalla 2 cabling.

I can't say I have heard all DACs out there, but have had extensive listening with first edition Vivaldi, early MSB Analog (pre Quad and renderer) and have owned but no longer own PS Audio, ARC DAC8, EMM DAC2, Auralic Vega, Chord HUGO and now own an MSB Diamond V, Chord Mojo and T&A DAC 8. With the exception of the MSB and Vivaldi I would say the best DAC I have had in my system is the T&A. However, I would add the caveat that when I had the Analog I was using their older and not so great standard USB input which was good but not the revelatory change of their Quad USB input (and many claim the renderer to be better)
 
Priaptor said:
I can't say I have heard all DACs out there, but have had extensive listening with first edition Vivaldi, early MSB Analog (pre Quad and renderer) and have owned but no longer own PS Audio, ARC DAC8, EMM DAC2, Auralic Vega, Chord HUGO and now own an MSB Diamond V, Chord Mojo and T&A DAC 8. With the exception of the MSB and Vivaldi I would say the best DAC I have had in my system is the T&A. However, I would add the caveat that when I had the Analog I was using their older and not so great standard USB input which was good but not the revelatory change of their Quad USB input (and many claim the renderer to be better)
Click to expand...

Is it the Dac 8 or the newly released Dac 8 DSD in your system?

Also, does anyone happened to have heard the old Dac 8 compared to the DSD version only playing PCM? Wonder if there is a big difference in SQ for PCM.
 
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