BAASnotes.com – Bay Area Audiophile Society

The Great BAAS DAC Comparison – Results are In!

We just completed another great BAAS event. When we succeed, we combine listening pleasure and camaraderie with a “wisdom of the crowds” learning experience. We seem to have hit the right note(s) yesterday in Jason’s superb listening environment.

First, here are the DAC’s that we had on hand:

• Weiss Medea – $16K MSRP    (thanks Clive)
• Theta Gen VIII Series II – $11K   (thanks Jason)
• Berkeley Audio Design Alpha – $5K   (thanks Tim & Michael)
• Bel Canto DAC-III – $2.5K    (thanks Dan)

We used a variety of music to audition each DAC, including:

• Richard Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra)
• Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances (Ref Recordings)
• Jane Selkye & Chris Kee:  Slow Day (Blue Coast Collection)
• Dave Matthews Band: All Along the Watchtower (Live at Red Rocks)
• Patricia Barber: Alphie (Unpublished, but older version here)
• Jun Fukamachi: Chopin Nocturne in E Flat Major (At Steinway, direct from 45-RPM vinyl – a groovy disk!)

So – after a man-week or more of preparation (much of it by the esteemed digital consultant, Tim Marutani), five hours of listening, and much discussion – what did we learn?

I’ll save my specific conclusions for a later post, but here are some general comments:

• Sonic quality was not generally proportional to price or packaging
• No DAC was best on all material, for example:
  • The Bel Canto was superb on simple acoustic material, but stumbled on “big,” complex pieces
• Digital interface type (SPIDF vs AES/BU) and analog out type (RCA vs XLR) can matter
• The quality of the digital clock and the manner in which it’s implemented matter greatly; and
• In this event, the Berleley Audio Design Alpha (BADA) DAC was a stunning performer, and – dare I say it – I want one ( even at its $5,000 price point). It sounded that good to me.

So that’s the story of this successful BAAS event. Special thanks to Jason Victor Serinus and Tim Marutani for their many contributions.

OK, attendees, the world wants to know what you heard. Post your comments now!