It blows an AN 2 DAC out of the water in terms of musicality and tone. On the other hand the Synthesis has two 2mF caps on the output so you can 'tune" the sound a bit to your liking, also uses the original Philbrick op amps as buffers. I didn't think that it ousted the AN 2 or Synthesis DAC by any means. The EAR is also a nice sounding DAC but is transformer coupled so a lot of the quality depends on those transformers. After replacing pretty much everything in the DAC 4 kit with off the shelf AN stuff, only then did it sound like an actual DAC 4.Ĭomplin you may have mentioned this earlier, but what DAC are you using right now? May give me a better idea of where your sound tastes lie.Īudio Note really hold their value so I'm not surprised, a better chip is not necessarily better, just more expensive and newer lol. We performed extensive listening between the kits and the real DACs and I assure you the top of the line kit is no better than the DAC 1 signature even though both represent completely different topologies. Some of the parts aren't even close as Audio Note won't sell resistors and other smaller parts so cheaper replacements are used. The kits DO have lower quality parts so they will never achieve the performance of their "real" counterparts. I've talked to Peter numerous times about the kits vs the real DACs and although it would seem he has a real bias toward his own gear it is not the case, he sells all the parts for either venture so he's vested in both fairly equally. That is unless you'd like to step up to the AN DAC 5 Sig, then everything else sound broken haha. At 10k the DAC 3 is a real audio revelation and I would really recommend it. But at that price the Synthesis Matrix will handily best the DAC 2. Think of the Quad ESL 57, very musical, lots of heart, but not as technically proficient as the newest Quad electrostat, but still unbelievably involving. The older one has a fuller sound, not as technically proficient, but more heart than the newer version. I've heard it on more than one occasion and was never disappointed. I would certainly take the one you mentioned if you are not interested in spending any more, it is very nice. The DAC 2 is very nice, it is used in some of their transports, unless you are going digital out of course.
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