Would def agree on the conductor comments, the dac really is just lackluster, the soloist 3xp is much more appealing when you ditch the internal dac
Thereâs some additional goings on in the power section of the Conductor and since the amp specs donât line up 100% with the Soloist, thereâs probably something more going on with the conductor. I can probably do what you suggest but at this point Iâve got the conductor and I didnât actually spend money, just trades so if I move on from it I wonât be taking a $ hit. I donât mind having the DAC in there since I think all in one units have an inherent appeal to some people. Itâs just hard to go back once youâve been tainted by $2k and up DACsâŚ
All DACs are supposed to sound the same, yet I hear differences. I must be cursed! lol
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âThe dac1321 is discontinued, will be replaced by a new dac1221.â says on the Soekris website.
Does anyone have any idea when this could happen? 
e:
Watched some videos about Ares II and stumbled across these two
Has anyone tried those âtweaksâ? I will sure try the XLR thing out on my Soncoz as well 
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Someone local is selling a audio Gd r2r 11 dac/amp $280 usd and I was wonding if itâs still worth getting in late 2021
Personally not a fan, from a purely dac perspective I think it has lackluster dynamics, peakiness and an unrefined signature, and kinda just lacks good resolution and control. It has nice weight and impact with a wider stage but thereâs not really any accuracy in that stage. Has power but not much finesse if used as an all in one to sum that up, amp doesnât really do it any favors.
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I saw that too and looked for a test.
And there was a lot of criticism to be heard.
So I said to myself that the Ares is probably the better choice for a start, or even a Soekris.
Unfortunately, Soekris has some problems with the parts.
The successor to the 1321 is not available at the moment and cannot give any information about when and where.
Unfortunately, a decent R2R is not cheap to get started with.
And I donât think that Raspberry boards etc. would be anything sensible in that respect.
The cheapest one I saw was the Pegasus Draco or whatever itâs called, but I have no idea how good it is.
I have mostly made a choice as far as that is concerned and still need a bit of time before it will be ready.
At the moment there is also a Mhdt Labs Havana on Ebay for just under $500 but UK.
If that should be interesting for you.
In Germany I saw an Ares 2 for just under 780⏠used.
How does the Musician Pegasus compare to the Denafrips Ares II?
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If I only knew 
Shouldnât be too different cause if i remember correctly they did find lots of âinspirationâ from the ares XD
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Not sure if itâs the appropriate thread but anyone have experience with the hibiki sds? Recently picked up one since it looked interesting and the dcs ring dac esque design isnât something you see many companies try to recreate. Was a potentially appealing price point, would be cool if it ends up comparing well to other options in the range, but Iâll only know when mine comes in lol
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Had it in, itâs pretty interesting, it honestly reminds me of the signature of an entry dcs and an airist r2r combined (closer to airist though), and technicality wise itâs somewhere inbetween. Itâs generally fairly smooth with great density, a warmer sweeter leaning signature thatâs a bit relaxed in the treble, and presentation is more forward and intimate. Stage wise it is a bit constrained, more depth than width with things taking a closer focus, but itâs not that big of a deal breaker, just something to note. Resolution wise itâs nice but not stand out for the price bracket. Timbre and tonality are pretty great leading to it sounding reasonably organic although the presentation somewhat distracts from that. Dynamically microdynamics are strong, but macro feels somewhat handicapped and restrained, same thing with overall impact feels more limp and a bit rounded, and overall control doesnât really feel like it has good command of whatever is going on. So far those are the standouts from a sound perspective.
It is very very picky on whatâs coming into it, the usb input is fairly lackluster, it does improve a fair bit with a nicer ddc or digital source, using a berkeley alpha usb really improved the sound, and using an antipodes k50 with itâs wordclock connected really really helped, so that was nice to see, improved sound overall and while it didnât really correct the lackluster macrodynamics, stage compactness, and control and impact, it did improve them still and made them a bit less apparent. Keep the PLL on, it sounds a lot better. Interestingly, itâs more neutral with PLL off, but feels more overall flat or lifeless, is better with pll enabled. Wasnât able to use the 10mhz clock in since I donât have a master clock anymore. Balanced is better than single ended, se is more lackluster and not worth.
Currently it feels like the goal of this dac is to push everything forward in a casual and sweetened, softer way which while personally isnât my taste is something I can respect and see some enjoying. Somewhat like how the morpheus goes about things, although the morpheus is a bit more relaxed, warmer midrange focused, and itâs presentation doesnât have that wall of sound esque thing that the sonnet is so good at, sonnet also has better single ended and also stage wise doesnât have that constrained feeling. Iâd also say that the sonnet generally has better technical ability than the SDS if you use usb, but if you use a nicer digital source it will be a more even playing field.
I donât really have that many headphone amps left, but out of what I had, I thought it paired best with the mass kobo 394 ii, gave it a bit more warmth and body than normal, and also tightened things up a fair bit for a pretty pleasing combo, although itâs intimacy with that combo could bother some. I also think it paired reasonably well with the eddie current studio t, overall helped with both space and macrodynamics while keeping the sweeter signature but it did feel a bit more rounded and loose than I personally prefer. I wish I still had my viva egoista 845 because that likely would have been a great combo and ended up somewhat more balanced and fun. Still though none of these are what you would want to pair for this dac, I have a feeling this might pair well with something like a gsx mini, burson soloist 3xp, sparkos aries, or pathos inpol ear, but I have no way to test that so canât really comment there
If you really liked what the airist offered, this really seems like a logical upgrade, just make sure to have a tighter leaning balanced amp and a good digital source to bypass lackluster usb performance, could be worth a look, think it offers something different enough to be worthwhile within the price range (but make sure to have a good digital source, and in terms of value there might be better value options around the similar range)
In terms of other comparisons I donât know if I have really had anything recently that would be a somewhat similar sort of signature or focus outside of the sonnet (which only reason I had it recently was for my recent 10 dac comparison), Iâd like to compare to an exogal comet plus or a spring 3 kte since I think those might be good comparison points for the signature this somewhat goes for. Good contrast to this would likely be something like a yggy a2, dangerous music convert 2, or something like a xi sagra. In terms of taking the next step above, I personally think something like a aqua la voce s3 would be a step above in a similar vein but without a lot of the aforementioned complaints I had about the sds, another somewhat direct upgrade could potentially be a merason dac-1 or playback designs merlot. I do somewhat want to mention chord but I feel like the chord stuff is too different in how it represents transients and itâs almost embellishment or artificial polish that it gives to things that make them not as similar
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So here is another NOS R2R dac which I just purchased:
The MHDT Orchid
Orchid DAC is a non over-sampling, no digital filter, structured DAC. This tends to produce most realistic and natural sound.
Orchid DAC is capable of up to 24bits/192kHz digital signal inputs yet remains driving legendary TDA1541A R-2R digital to analog output.
The USB input section is in asynchronous operation.
Total four independent digital inputs; BNC, USB, RCA and Toslink.
The 4 digital inputs are independent to each other, only one among them will be active and is controlled by the tact switches located in front panel.
Tube buffered output, tube in stalled is 5670 tube.
Tubes can be used: 5670, 2C51, 396A, 6385, 6CC42, 6854, 6N3,
6854, CV2575, CV4013, CV5894, CV8247, CV2381
115/230V power supply selectable from internal PCB jump pins setting
The price is $1300 with a tube and a $100 upgrade for a different NOS tube: Ericsson CV 4013.
Nothing fancy here. Using an ancient Phillips TDA 1541A Dac chipâŚtakes me back to the good ole days!
No filters, just attach a cable to one of four inputs, turn on etcâŚwatch the subtle power up light show and pick it up in your playerâŚand smile.
Oh a shamless plug, I bought this from MHDT USA distributor Linear Tube Audio in MarylandâŚgreat to deal with.
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Its sold!
Did u get it ?
Added two switch boxes to easily switch between 3 amps and 3 dacs simple and fast.
My favorite listening setup lately has been the MHDT Orchid NOS dac to D8000 Pros using a multitude of amps.
The amp differences is small here to my ears but the dacs do seem to have a really different sound presentationâŚ
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