T+A SDV 3100HV + PDT 3100HV arrive

thx a LOT again.

well all this network thing is new to me. still listen to cd.
just think its easyer and cheaper a 1 box solution than multiple boxes. as long as there is no big tradeoff
 
u-sound said:
thx a LOT again.

well all this network thing is new to me. still listen to cd.
just think its easyer and cheaper a 1 box solution than multiple boxes. as long as there is no big tradeoff
Click to expand...

Seriously, CD is still a bit better sonically IMO. But ripping/streaming is soooooooooo convenient.

If you want one box and convenience, either is a great choice.


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plan was to buy the top melco sever and use it with the dac. ripping the cd in i have and sell the cd-player.
different plan, now i am just thinking to replace the dac with the sd3100 and keep the cd player
 
u-sound said:
did anybody try the sd or sdv 3100hv as a streamer dac?
is it worldclass? better than lumin x1?
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I heard the SDV as a pre/ streamer/ DAC in a demo a couple weeks ago with the M 40 HV mono blocks on AG Duos.

I found the combo very nice, offering tons of detail. It was very revealing, as Mike says. In overall presentation the setup it offered a tad less definition and heft compared to my Soulutions I would say.


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Rex

If your First Sound preamp has SE outputs and you want to try a SS amp in your system with very little outlay and a 30 day return policy try the Nuforce STA-200 from Audio Advisor. It is a less powerful version of the Job/Goldmund circuit used in the Job 225 amp and if it is like the Job amp it's measured spec's will be almost half again it's advertised 80 wpc. It will easily drive any speaker in my rotation including the 86 db Fritz Carrera Be's. At $499 worth a try. Joe also has one.
 
Kingrex said:
Mike, what is the Amp 8 like that Randy has in comparison to its bigger siblings.
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It’s really good. It has the DNA of the bigger models sonically. I haven’t had one in my systems, but I did get to hear it against the other series in Munich.
 
The new issue of The Absolute Sound has a review of this combo... I have not finished reading it yet (had to get to work :(), but so far it seems like he is saying that these may be one of the best, if not the best digital converter setups on the market. He is simply raving about them and saying that T+A may very well be one of the best audio manufactures in existence.

He does state that they are the second largest audio manufacture in Germany.... wonder who is first? I would guess MBL???
 
i thought t+a itself is the biggest. then again nobody knows since none of them is publishing theyr financial numbers.

keep us updated about the review please.
if everything works right, i will do a big comparison between t+a sd3100hv, brinkmann nykuist2, nagra hd dac and nagra tube dac.
 
u-sound said:
i thought t+a itself is the biggest. then again nobody knows since none of them is publishing theyr financial numbers.

keep us updated about the review please.
if everything works right, i will do a big comparison between t+a sd3100hv, brinkmann nykuist2, nagra hd dac and nagra tube dac.
Click to expand...

That would be interesting. I could never afford their higher models but I do believe that the DAC 8 DSD is the best DAC I have ever heard. I had tried 14 different DACs in my system before settling on the DAC 8 DSD. Teac, W4S, Marantz, NuPrime, Benchmark, Oppo, McIntosh, etc. Not one was on the price level that you are talking about but a good cross representation of reasonable level DACs. None were in the ball park of the T+A.

A couple months ago I hosted our local audio club meeting. Jon from Stereophile was there and he was pointing out to other members how amazing the T+A is. He had reviewed it a while back and was very impressed.
 
Hey Rex,

T+A is known for its DSD, however the PCM they do is great. 99% of the time I listen to DSD because I normally use HQPlayer. However the occasional times I switch to Roon straight PCM sounds great. They use Texas Instrument chips (formerly BurrBrown) for PCM and their own 1-bit processors for DSD.

What I can tell you is that when Jon did the review for Stereophile he did not listen to DSD at all, only PCM. He still gave it his absolutely top rating. I know this for a fact because Jon does not have DSD capability at his home. His server can only do PCM :).

I have not finished reading the new review in TAS yet but I do know, from what I have read so far, is that they are going fairly in depth as to how the machine works in both PCM and DSD.
 
BurrBrown are old chips. They were in my last dac. Must be something other than the chip making the magic.

What level of DAC is John comparing it too. I guess I have to read. Sometimes these reviews bother me. A guy with a sonore rendu will get a hold of a real this or that and owe god the heavens open up. Its generally not a reviewer with a Mojo Audio V5, DCS stack, Aquaformula, MSB making the comparison. Of course they come to a ground breaking conclusion.

Im not bashing T+A. I just question the "whole" story. I mostly hear good comments on T+A . I bet its top notch.
 
I am out of my realm of knowledge on specifics, however I do know that Texas Instruments does currently produce updated chips. I believe that T+A uses the PCM1795, which is designed specially for PCM. I mentioned BurrBrown because the review mentioned that TI used to produce chips under the BurrBrown name, but no longer does.

I do know from all the DACs I compared/went through that BurrBrown were some of the nicest sounding, most inviting of the pre-fabbed chips that I have heard, in my view anyway. I have owned several variations of the ESS chips up to the 9038, Cirrus Logic, AKM, etc. I preferred the sound of the BurrBrown. It was more musical in my view versus say the ESS which was highly detailed, again to my ears.

Of course implementation does certainly factor in :)...

Jon owns a Benchmark for his personal use. I have owned a couple Benchmarks including their current top of the line. Detailed to the extreme, but in my view maybe a bit too much so. My issue with Benchmark is they were against DSD and therefore offered only DSD64 even though the chips used could work for much higher levels. Of course Jon has tried many others, doing DAC shoot outs at his home, etc. By the way, I only mentioned Jon because he is a friend and I have been to his house on a few occasions. Also because he loved the T+A even though he did not use its top capabilities, and he did write a steller review for Stereophile.
 
The BurrBrown 1795 is an older DAC chip, which was also used in their initial HV line-up. In their newer SD/ SDP 3100 HV T+A are using a chip with higher processing capability (up to DSD 1024).

The DAC chip itself does actually not make the sound of a DAC, it’s rather how it is implemented. The same chip in a different manufacturers product can sound quite different. In lower end platforms, however, where the DAC chip does most of the work without a separate FPGA added on, the sound is more similar.


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The TI chips are only used for PCM. They developed their own 1-bit processor for DSD. PCM and DSD go through completely separate circuits in all T+A DACs.
 
Randy Myers said:
The new issue of The Absolute Sound has a review of this combo... I have not finished reading it yet (had to get to work :(), but so far it seems like he is saying that these may be one of the best, if not the best digital converter setups on the market. He is simply raving about them and saying that T+A may very well be one of the best audio manufactures in existence.

He does state that they are the second largest audio manufacture in Germany.... wonder who is first? I would guess MBL???
Click to expand...

The review from Robert Harley is indeed very positive (as was his review of the old SACD player PDP 3000 HV) and is headlined the Pinnacle. Harley goes as far as calling the combo reasonably priced at 60 k USD which is a bit of a stretch IMO.

I believe the streamer/DAC would be a far more complete system had it included a hard drive and computer power to store and decode the large DSD files, thereby avoiding the need for a laptop connected to the USB port (and the sound degration that comes with the USB, however small). It is possible that technical reasons like cooling issues prevents this. (I made the point to the T+A technical department and they politely said they would consider it ;))

Anyway, untill I win the lottery all a bit academical and I am still very happy with the HV Integrated and SACD player!

Soren
 
I really like my T+A DAC. These pieces are amazing but I would have a very hard time justifying it even if I could afford the $60k price tag. I would think the SD 3100HV would be worthy of consideration for someone looking for just a DAC and not needing the built in Pre-amp functions or an over the top spinner.

I know it is better, but I do not think the rest of my gear is good enough to appreciate how spectacular this is. However my T+A DAC is definitely a keeper!
 
I finished the review. I am going to summarize with what I got out of the review. This is not a verbatim recant or including quotes.

Fit and finish and ease of use. He basically said it was top notch and that it was as well built and user friendly as any piece he has reviewed.

Analog section on the SDV. He stated he was afraid to try running his $100k+ vinyl setup through the T+A Analog rather then his high end line stage. He tried it anyway and was blown away. He basically said he could not hear any degradation what so ever!

CD playback, by far the best CD playback he has ever heard! The same with SACD.

PCM playback. Approaching the best of the best in the world.

DSD playback. The pinnacle, best he has ever heard, period... full stop. Best DSD playback in the world is what I gathered from his raving review!!!

This is my summary of the review. You may get a different understanding after reading it for yourself. I think that everyone will agree he was completely overwhelmed and impressed by these T+A components!
 
Good summary. Thanks Randy. The DSD is so superb because it’s a completely separate section of the DAC (separate power cable, separate XLR cables, separate everything). It’s a true “pure” DSD playback. Of course those not caring about DSD other than the occasional time can select PCM/DSD instead of PCM + DSD.
 
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