kzhtoo
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Thanks, Jack. But where is AC?
What is the hot new DAC now?
- Thread starter Mike
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Thanks, Jack. But where is AC?
Kuoppis
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Have you heard the Brinkmann, is it really that good?
I mean, the guy is like a million years old and does not have any prior experience whatsoever in digital (since the Zenith in 1986 that is).
It would be possible if he has just bought the whole thing and simply slapped his brand on it. As he did with the turntables.
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Ctsooner
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Do you hate him that much? He brought in the right engineers to put it together. Have I heard it? Many times, yes. Mostly with MQA which it does a great job on. I'm not sure if it's full MQA or just the first fold like many of them. I think the question was 'what is your favorite DAC' or something like that. In that price range it has sounded very good with a few systems.
Ctsooner
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Intersting...I spoke with someone to see if Helmut designs his own tables, arms and cartridge. I was told that he designs his own cart and has Benz make them for him to his specs. I own and love Benz. He designs all his own parts. Please show where I can see that he just slaps his brand on it, as you said with his TT's. Thanks. waiting for your response.
Kuoppis
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No whatsoever negative feelings, I don't know the guy. And I do love his Bardo turntable design.
It's just I do live in Germany and here he is known for rather good analogue designs which he sketched and someone else designed and built for him, to be sold under Brinkman brand. He has however never released a digital product before.
So, outperforming e.g. Charles Hansen, who has been a leader in the area for more than a decade, I just find hard to believe. If he is however using someone else's design, who has more experience in digital, then the product could be that good. With only a few good MQA designs available so far, it is quite a simple thing to figure out who's design it might be.
In general I would however argue, that just a higher price point does not necessarily mean the products being better.
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Kuoppis
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That's correct, similar thing to the Benz agreement. Hence it could be possible the DAC arrangement is also similar. But the 'table designer is not in the business of offering turntables himself. He just builds precision stuff in Baden-Württemberg.
But this is no secret in the industry, so sorry if I'm not really spilling any beans here. You might want to dig in deeper if you want, but don't expect me to get involved [emoji3].
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KeithR
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And most people think Alon Wolf designs Magico...
Brinkmann is definitely new to the DAC game, but so are 10 other companies every year!
I edited my Ayre comment. Probably was unnecessary.
Kuoppis
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[emoji3] ...spoke to Yair Tammam in Munich, very nice guy. But I think he is a Magico employee.
The Brinkmann 'table case was more like ODM, which is very common e.g. in the computer industry, but maybe less so in high end audio. But that said, I think quite a few audio companies source components, such as DAC modules or DAC chips, from other manufacturers. Also incremental improvement, using a Dual-invented direct drive principle and optimizing it, is a commonly applied engineering approach.
For music lovers it's the end-result that counts: IMHO the Brinkmann 'tables are really good, I particularly like the Bardo (not even his top model). When I auditioned it I was really impressed.
And hopefully the Brinkmann Nyquist DAC is the same (just to get back to the original topic). The ES9018S chip is for sure good, but the architecture was introduced in 2009, so there might be use for the replaceable DAC module feature rather sooner than later.
PS: I was also surprised to find out that he actually introduced one DAC in 1986 called Zenith, but no follow-ups after that until now.
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CPP
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The way new DAC chips are being invented, just hang on, our current DACS will be obsolete before we know it.
And then we will be doing this thread all over again, and again and again.
Ctsooner
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Thanks for the info on Brinkmann. I too LOVE the Bardo. I love Basis and it was in my price range. To me, those are two great TT's.
As for the Nyquist being better than my QX5/20...No, it's not. It's just in the discussion of being a highly musical DAC that is well built, but a strong company. Only one of the dealers I buy from sell the Brinkmann gear, but it's new to them. I heard it there when they brought it in for audition and then at another dealer when I was traveling.
I honestly feel that for my money, the Ayre is a GREAT value. Both the Codex for 2k and the QX5 to me can't be beaten by anything near their price ranges. I've heard the QX5 with many different servers too as that's critical for DAC's.
I'm sure Mike will share that the DAC/Server combo needs to match up. I've heard some great DAC's with great servers sound so so. Still good, but not great. Digital is so tricky to match at times for many reasons. I'm assuming the clocking/jitter thing is the biggest part, but I listen, I don't design
lol..... Some really nice choices in DACs now at all price ranges.
As for the Nyquist being better than my QX5/20...No, it's not. It's just in the discussion of being a highly musical DAC that is well built, but a strong company. Only one of the dealers I buy from sell the Brinkmann gear, but it's new to them. I heard it there when they brought it in for audition and then at another dealer when I was traveling.
I honestly feel that for my money, the Ayre is a GREAT value. Both the Codex for 2k and the QX5 to me can't be beaten by anything near their price ranges. I've heard the QX5 with many different servers too as that's critical for DAC's.
I'm sure Mike will share that the DAC/Server combo needs to match up. I've heard some great DAC's with great servers sound so so. Still good, but not great. Digital is so tricky to match at times for many reasons. I'm assuming the clocking/jitter thing is the biggest part, but I listen, I don't design
lol..... Some really nice choices in DACs now at all price ranges.
Kuoppis
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The way new DAC chips are being invented, just hang on, our current DACS will be obsolete before we know it.
And how spot on you are [emoji3].
But I think it is actually worse, we have done it before and will do it again. Scary how close that is to the medical definition of insanity.
It also is one of the reasons why I am so happy with the Meitner choice: introduced in 2011 it is still current, with the latest upgrade option to x5 DSD up-sampling just officially released at the LA show I think.
Long live FPGAs [emoji3].
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Kuoppis
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I do have the Codex in my summerhouse set and have not been thinking about changing DACs ever since, after I putting it into the system.
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CPP
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I think the real secret with this ever changing DAC world, is a manufacturer that builds an upgradeable dac, be it firmware or an offered hardware upgrade by sending the unit in, or even a modular DAC where you just unplug a card and enter the new card, reboot the unit and bingo. Upgradability has to be the key
Ctsooner
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I agree with you. I also feel that it's difficult to buy from a company where it's basically a one man show. There are many and I owned an Empirical Audio DAC, but as great as Steve is as a designer/builder, he's going to retire soonish I assume and then what happens when the DAC blows up etc... I got the Ayre for the SQ, but also because they upgrade the firmware and will eventually offer any hardware upgrades in the future and they won't gouge us. They kept the 9 relevant for over 7 years. That's an amazing thing in the audio world. Most just keep coming out with mk 2,3 and new models over a 7 year span. Once they figure out they have maxed their market, it's time to change a few things and even the box and say it's a new model and make folks want to trade in, sell and buy new rather than offer an upgrade like Vandersteen and Ayre do. I'm sure there are plenty more who also offer them, but I own these two lines so I know the policy. Things always keep changing, but not always for the better
....KeithR
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To answer the original question, isn't the Aqua Formula the "hot" dac?
The secret to good Dac-ing is NOT the chips or one specific tech. Chipping is fools gold.
Its about the total implementation of the thing and the future will be more about the integration of the source and Dacfrom a greenfield perspective. Yeah, I have some insider insight from an ANALOG designer pal. Materials, optimized pathways, approptiate protocols, etc. Many things kill the perfection and brute force engineering based on current paradigms and dogma seem NOT to be the way forward to nirvana.
My 2 cents.
On the contrary, like most great breakthroughs, it will be the ONE man/woman who will shift the paradigm.I agree with you. I also feel that it's difficult to buy from a company where it's basically a one man show. There are many and I owned an Empirical Audio DAC, but as great as Steve is as a designer/builder, he's going to retire soonish I assume and then what happens when the DAC blows up etc... I got the Ayre for the SQ, but also because they upgrade the firmware and will eventually offer any hardware upgrades in the future and they won't gouge us. They kept the 9 relevant for over 7 years. That's an amazing thing in the audio world. Most just keep coming out with mk 2,3 and new models over a 7 year span. Once they figure out they have maxed their market, it's time to change a few things and even the box and say it's a new model and make folks want to trade in, sell and buy new rather than offer an upgrade like Vandersteen and Ayre do. I'm sure there are plenty more who also offer them, but I own these two lines so I know the policy. Things always keep changing, but not always for the better
The revolution will most likely come from there than from the big consensus team.
The two people who have compared Aqua Formula and Lampi are Mike, who preferred the Aqua, and Shakti on WBF, who does regular workshops in Cologne and rated Aqua LA Scala > Big 7 > formula > GG (rest of his system is YG Anat, Zingali speakers, many amplifiers including some of the best SETs, and a recent Micro Seiki 8000 mk II). But yes it is hot for sure. And I am glad people are shifting away from the likes of Esoteric and dCS. They have had their time and have failed to scale up performance and scale down the price.