Dth31
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I upgraded my d1-six-tube dac to the d1-seven model several months ago and have been meaning to share my thoughts on the upgrade. Yesterday, I saw a review from Michael Lavorgna that absolutely nailed my feelings on the upgrade and it motivated me to share my own thoughts:
https://www.audiostream.com/content/totaldac-d1-seven
The d1-six-tube dac is the first dac that was sufficiently good that I didn’t miss vinyl. At all. Certainly different from vinyl in some respects, but overall, at least as good to my ears. Totally fell in love with it. So it was with more than a little trepidation that I upgraded to the d1-seven.
I mean, how much better could the d1–seven be? Luckily, as soon as I listened to the d1-seven, I knew I had made the right decision: the d1–seven was immediately and obviously better.
What I struggled with over the last few months was figuring out WHY the d1-seven was better. What confused me at first is that if I concentrated on just one thing like soundstage, detail, tone, timbre, percussive strikes (I love piano) etc each one by itself was somewhat better than the d1-six, but no particular aspect was dramatically better. I finally realized that the reason the d1-seven sounded SO much better to my ears, was BECAUSE everyone of those things was better and they added up to something a LOT better.
One of the things I always worry about as gear gets more expensive is that as detail, soundstage and other aspects get “better” sometimes musicality is lost. I can definitely say that is NOT the case with the d1-seven. Listening to music is a greater joy than ever.
The other nice thing is that setting it up with the d1-server and Roon software was simple and easy.
I’m REALLY happy I upgraded. It wasn’t inexpensive, but it was definitely worth it.
https://www.audiostream.com/content/totaldac-d1-seven
The d1-six-tube dac is the first dac that was sufficiently good that I didn’t miss vinyl. At all. Certainly different from vinyl in some respects, but overall, at least as good to my ears. Totally fell in love with it. So it was with more than a little trepidation that I upgraded to the d1-seven.
I mean, how much better could the d1–seven be? Luckily, as soon as I listened to the d1-seven, I knew I had made the right decision: the d1–seven was immediately and obviously better.
What I struggled with over the last few months was figuring out WHY the d1-seven was better. What confused me at first is that if I concentrated on just one thing like soundstage, detail, tone, timbre, percussive strikes (I love piano) etc each one by itself was somewhat better than the d1-six, but no particular aspect was dramatically better. I finally realized that the reason the d1-seven sounded SO much better to my ears, was BECAUSE everyone of those things was better and they added up to something a LOT better.
One of the things I always worry about as gear gets more expensive is that as detail, soundstage and other aspects get “better” sometimes musicality is lost. I can definitely say that is NOT the case with the d1-seven. Listening to music is a greater joy than ever.
The other nice thing is that setting it up with the d1-server and Roon software was simple and easy.
I’m REALLY happy I upgraded. It wasn’t inexpensive, but it was definitely worth it.