The tambaqui is also fpga pwm based (and imo similar ish yet different goal to the chord).
Personally haven’t heard good things about the lina vs the other DCS, although I was impressed by a vivaldi stack (and bartok as an aio sorta), but their signature has always felt like a weird balance to me, very natural in some aspects, very strange in others, would agree that a lot of the dcs have a bit more of a weird sheen (like the dave does, in a different regard) that I don’t really appreciate myself. Also think value wise, they’re a harder sell for the price
IMO the dave sort of unnaturally pushes things forward dynamically, kinda an overly upfront presentation for everything, it’s almost like they set out to make something that sounded very digital, but at the same time had some organic aspects and also had sort of a coating to the sound that also isn’t to my taste same with the dcs lol.
So here’s what I actually had to say about the mola mola after someone asked me why I didn’t have it on this list lol
"It’s a weird thing to say considering that it pulls a great amount of resolution/detail, has great liquidity, and has a nice sense of slight bloom and slight sweetness that makes it enjoyable and never harsh perhaps even slightly soft, but I guess to me it just feels vivid yet flat. Not like spatially and dynamically flat (although it’s not as impressive as other dacs in its range in that regard), but a combination of both too much and no contrast, very black and white and not much in-between (because it seems to take information that would be in-between and shove it to black or white giving it it’s vividness), and I think that’s the aspect that got to me in the end. Actually you know what no, it’s that it just didn’t sound like it had any energy, immediacy or directness, it’s more just going through the paces and doesn’t actually feel lively about doing it and that’s probably what gave me that lack of satisfaction in the end. It sounds vivid and technical yet flat and not really direct or energetic and because of that it just sounds off leaving me feeling mixed after each time I listened. It sounded organic and convincing in specific aspects in isolation, but it’s like there’s a barrier preventing that feeling from really happening, and the overall sound feels more vivid and contrasty than it should be (leading to the feeling of a deficiency in natural contrast or things properly in the middle)
It’s like watching one of those demo modes on an amazing TV where there’s a lot to like there but things are definitely blown out to impress the average Joe and it’s trying to show as much contrast and naturalness as possible yet is clearly going overboard and just ends up looking off and feeling unnatural and a bit smoothed over for inner detail. Basically giving you the impression that while some aspects of it are reasonably real in isolation, it’s still very apparent things aren’t in the full picture and it’s just a TV, compared to other dacs in it’s price range which can give you an experience closer to actually seeing something in person (not all that close, but closer than the mola mola). Kinda reminds me of some of the weird coloration that dcs has and potentially chord, but I’d take the mola mola over a dave (with no mscaler) for my personal preferences (with mscaler it might be a different story). And I’m not the biggest of those dacs either, so there will be other dacs I’d rather have instead as well of course. I don’t like doing comparisons to vision because it’s a lot harder to trick your eyes then your ears (and my vision is also shit anyways) but I don’t know a good way how to explain what I was hearing.
I don’t really know, I don’t know if I like it or not. I respect it, I kinda enjoyed it when I had it, and it’s something that I can see some really liking, but I don’t think it’s for me, and I can’t decide if I liked it myself. Really regardless of if I liked it or not or where I think it compares I don’t want to list it because it should be very clear from the above that I can’t make up my mind on it lol, so I don’t feel confident putting it on there regardless. It is good, but I’d really want to hear it one more time before/if I ever put it on the list again"
So sort of similar to the “it has a weird sheen across the sound” but in a different way lol. Had one for awhile, liked some aspects, but in the end it wasn’t for me and didn’t really lead to a satisfying listening experience for me.
Never heard the gustard so can’t really comment.
But really I’m not personally that big of a fan of really any of the listed dacs as something to showcase “what r2r or high end is about”, and all of them sort of lean in the signature you described, so really you just ended up hearing a sample of dacs that all had similar goals in a sense lol
Out of curiosity what was the rest of the chain for those demos?
