From: case@infonode.ingr.com (Bill Case)
Newsgroups: rec.audio.high-end
Subject: High-end DAC trials
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 23:39:08 GMT
Organization: Intergraph Corporation, Huntsville, AL.
NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.89.7.4
Keywords: Theta, VAC, Wadia
Originator: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu

 
Another tale of Vinylphile looking for an honest DAC.

 Disclaimers and claimers:

   o  I know that "new" often feels like "better",  and 
      for me I tend to prefer the new/different  about 60% of the time.

   o  On this venture into DAC-land,  I'm obviously throwing money 
      at the problem to see what results.

   o  I tend to put credence in things which I can't necessarily explain.
      I'll notice if I suddenly start listening to entire songs instead 
      of test snippets.  I also put credence in what just ends up being 
      being plugged in for long periods.   Something non-verbal may be 
      causing either.

   o I think I was pre-disposed against the Theta.

Day 1: Nashville - home of Twitty City

Three of us started by listening to a PS Ultra and Krell DSP on
Centaurs.  The whole demo was badly done,  and  no-one had any great 
feelings about either.  If was also hard to get a home-demo unit, 
so on to Cumberlands  (which is a great store.)  The demo system was a
Wadia 3200 transport, ARC sp14 preamp,   the new Classe' 700WPC mono's, 
and Watt/ Puppy's.  Sorry,  can't swear to the cabling.  The DAC's demoed
were the Wadia 2000,  the Theta GenIII,  and the Valve Amplification (VAC
DAC).  The Wadia is gosh-awful expensive,  but sounded very natural.  
Listening to a female singer,  the sense of being relaxed was conveyed when 
she was singing softly (rather than just less loud).  I believe a fellow 
DAC searcher in this news-group had somewhat similar reactions.   The Theta 
seemed to convey less of the emotion,  and on this system,  had a somewhat 
flatter depth.  Where the Theta excelled was in separating instruments into 
specific sound sources,  and adding a wider sound field.  A Bitwise Zero 
produced more of a lump of sound in comparison.  There was a definite change
in the sound of a triangle being struck.  On the Wadia and VAC,  there was a 
slight dampening,  as if barely touched.  It was a colder sound of metal (but 
convincing),  whereas the Theta made the triangle convey a glassy resonance.  
It was impossible for me to tell which was right.  The VAC seemed to convey 
micro-dynamics better than any,  so instruments with a loud/soft phased
attack were rendered convincingly.
  
By listening to something  as expensive as the Wadia,  a false sense of 
"reasonably priced" was conveyed to the VAC and Theta,  so I took both 
overpriced units home.

Day 2:  The basement.
I also took two pairs of cardas hex5 speaker cable,  which an individual
was trying to sell.  My system consists of Wadia 3200 transport (purchased
as demo),   Levinson ml28 preamp (purchased slightly used),  McCormack
DNA-1 amp (new),  and ML Quests speakers (purchased slightly used),  1 meter 
of Tara CD interconnect (new),  and 5-ft of Maestro speaker cable (purchased
used).  Plus a good phono.  I also borrowed a meter of Purist digital coax 
(the Theta was not the balanced version),  and some AT&T optical (both units 
claimed to support this.)


CD's used were "Waiting for Columbus" - Little Feat (live),  Gracelend, 
Mickey Hart's "Dafos",  a "Best of the Fleetwoods" (antiquated mixing,  but
very natural voice),  Tracy Chapman's "Matters fo the Heart",  and cut 3
from "The Belles of Dublins" (Chieftains' squealing fiddles,  a wobbling
drum,  with Elvis Costello singing a ballad - an acid test).

To get the cables out of the way,  the Cardas was clearly better,  IMHO. 
The  Maestro had a boomy bass and overall more "hifi" sound on my system.  
I  tried bi-wiring,  and there's a little less blur in the mid-range.  Less
false overtones in  the bass.  This was pretty maddening to try to hear.
There's a speaker switch for bi-wire,  so I suspect the difference is 
mainly inside the speaker.

Now I entered the wacky world of high-end.   I listened to the Theta for
some time,  and it was good.  Then I was then anxious to try the VAC. 
The nobs,  switches,  and "look" on this is incredibly klunky.   That's 
surprising since their amps are elegant.  Anyway,  I couldn't get the 
optical to sync,  so I called Cumberland's,  who called VAC,  who provided 
the following explanation:

"There's too much light coming through that optical.  It's designed 
 to be run for miles.  That's why we ship spacers (filters?) to
 cut the light down.  Since you didn't get those,  you can try to 
 spiral the cable around a pencil,  then tape it down when the
 signal sync is achieved"

Good grief!

I tried the coax instead,  and used the balanced connectors to the ml28.
Things sounded really good to begin with ,  but when I played the Belles
of Dublin,  the fiddles and Elvis just became screachy splatterings of
sound. The RCA from the VAC DAC to the ml28 made this alot better.

I then took the VAC over to a friend's system who has the Theta GenIII, 
Duntech Soverigns,  and Classe' 1000 mono's.  On his system,  the VAC was
very  good on voice.  But the Theta was no slouch,  and made  instruments 
stand out more.  He was happy with the Theta.

Day 3 - listening session in my basement.

Three of us listened to the same stuff.  Little Feat was impressive on
the Theta.  We switched to the VAC and it was universally felt that the
VAC was not even close - the VAC was MUCH better.  But I showed how it
overloaded the ml28 on ""Belles of Dublin", and one listener asked if I still 
had the Perreaux SM2 preamp.  He had tested this on the bench and found it 
almost impossible  to over drive.  When I put the Perreaux in,  the VAC was 
vert VERY good.  The sense of "live" was there on "Waiting for Columbus" and 
sound generally opened up on all recordings.

Conclusions:

o VAC - the company is a little strange,  but deliver great sonics, 

o For the price,  VAC shouldn't have so many warts.

o Tubes get voices right in a way I've never heard on solid state.
  This is my third encounter with this,  even though I've never
  owned any tube gear.   There's a blare and fog
  around solid state voices which melts away on tubes.  You
  suddenly clearly hear when a singer is out of breath at the
  end of a line and forcing the last words out,  or that their
  head turns from the mike,  or a slight accent,  etc..

  This makes me curious about the VTL Straightline with
  Ultra Analog DAC and tubes.  Anyone experienced it besides "Audio"?

o DAC's are system dependent.  The best is "per system".

o Preamp overload may explain why I hear so much blare when I
  have systems demoed with a singer forcefully hitting a loud,  
  high note.  I think I'll sell or trade the ml28.

o Someone said "The Theta is for solid state fans,  and the Wadia
  is for tube fans".  Maybe there's some truth to that.


I returned both units and decided to wait to January when Wadia,  ARC,  
and likely  others vendors,  will have newer products.  The VAC sonics is 
still the  leading choice,  but I'm hoping for a cheaper,  de-warted 
successor of it,  or a great,  affordable Wadia,  or the Vimak,  or.....

All,  IMHO.

Bill Case
					
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