Nice review.. I believe the Marantz SACD30n also upsamples everything to DSD and it sounds marvelous !!! I do dabble with high res stream as well as downloaded DSD or PCM.. Frankly, for my aging ears, they all sound DARNED GOOD !!! :D
Thanks again! For me, the quality of the recording is the most important factor to my ears over the format or the endless spec war. I mostly prefer my late 80s Luxman kit over anything modern in my systems.
Good review . A number of dac manufacturers convert to DSD eg Nagra , dCS and ch precision . I have around 2 TB of DSD recordings and high res recordings and as always the most important aspect was the quality of the original production and recording rather than the format .
I’m waiting with excitement to receive my new Cen.Grand dsdac 1.0 Superclock. I heard it in my system before ordering one, and it absolutely crushed the Pontus 2 in every aspect. Also working better than Terminator 2 in my system. The sound is so big, effortless, relaxed and dynamic at the same time. Very organic and definately not boring. Its in my country, but sadly i didnt get it today. Have to wait till monday 😉 I sold my Pontus the other day, so i cant wait for it to get here.
@@lssht I might buy the standard model, cannot afford the superclock or Delux. My UK dealer said it betters the Pontus II but being a dealer it's best to take what they say with a pinch of salt. I'm glad you liked it so much you have upgraded, gives me confidence to order
Really good review. My experience of format is that the recording and mastering matter more than end bit format. I’ve heard many albums in different formats and a well recorded and mastered album on cd/pcm is better than an average recorded/mastered on SACD or HDCD. I think we should put more attention on mastering techniques, microphones, studio, than end format for the zeros and ones. What do others think?
I totally agree that the quality of the recording/ production is far more important . I have well recorded red book CDs that sound excellent . I also have DSD that sound veiled particularly when they are nothing more than upsampled and converted pcm
Also agree, it's the quality of the master that is paramount, not the format. There is a bigger difference between remastered versions than between digital formats. Nice to hear DSD is delivering though. Thanks for the review Tarun.
Hi Tarun, Just thought I would let you and your viewers know that I have used all of the models in my system using 98db efficient loudspeakers. None of the units have imparted any unwanted noise through the speakers. This must be one off as none of my customers have reported any issues with noise through the speakers either. Thank for your excellent and honest review.
Thanks for the review Tarun - well balanced and informative. Hi res is a good question. As a mainly classical music listener I jumped on the SACD band wagon when first introduced in the early 2000s. When A-B comparisons from the same recording are compared you can hear additional space around instruments in a full orchestral section on the SACD. Don’t get me wrong - red book CDs can sound excellent too. With a highly resolving DAC I fail to hear improvements above doubling standard red book sample rates. I have purchased 352KHz DXD and DSD equivalent recordings to try out for myself. When purchasing hi res I tend to buy music for download at the original recording sampling rate. I just added a good - used - CD player to my setup to have the tactile experience of playing my 1000 odd CDs which I have also ripped. Very enjoyable too:-)
I have this DAC from Iain @ Willow Tree. love it to bits. My display is much brighter and I have no hum on my unit. I got excited when I seen your review. Been waiting a while for someone I watch often to cover it.
Great review as Always ! I use audirvana soft on my computer to stream and play my files. The software can also upsample in dsd. The sound is more ''liquid'' and smooth then. But my final thoughts is that the most important things is the recording, not the format. Have a nice day.
To answer to your question about hires: I love DSD. It produce the best sound to my ears: more natural, spacy, with details that i love too. I think this is the future in the sound domain.
With regards to the hum mentioned, I have the DSDAC 1.0 Standard and cannot say that I hear any hum via my loudspeakers. I did have an issue with the RCA outs on the first item that I received, with one channel not working, but this was very quickly remedied by the distributor without fuss and I am pleased to say that my current DAC works perfectly. I haven't heard the Denafrips Venus however, I also own a very expensive £4900 tube DAC and the Cen.grand DSDAC 1.0 at HALF the price equals it and in some areas BETTERS it. An amazing achievement from Cen.grand for the cost. Oh, I will say as I am not sure if you mentioned it in your video, the Cen.grand requires at least a couple hundred hours burn-in to sound its best. I never believed in burn-in before, but I do now.
I am a jazz and classical music listener who has had a hi fit set up for 70 years. Classical music producers never gave up on SACD and every month more come onto the market. When both a SACD disc and a vinyl record of the same performance are available and the performance is excellent and of interest to me I might buy both. When playing the disc through my Esoteric SACD player followed by the record played on my Technics SL-1500C with an Ortofon MM through my Castle Howard S2 speakers I have trouble deciding which sounds better. Maybe age but probably it is down to DSD. I continue to look forward to your weekly program. Stay safe and well.
Hi Tarun, very thorough, as always. I’ve been very happy with my CD player for many years. Of course, high res is now my preferred option via the magic of my turntable 😮. A mate dropped in the other day to collect his newly sorted classic NAD amp and CD player. He was astonished at the level of detail combined with total absence of background crackle coming from his beloved Pink Floyd album on my Linn LP12. In truth, I have no experience of high res physical formats at the level of my main system. In my second system the dedicated streamer and DAC from ifi run at 48KHz from Tidal and the results, whilst not awful, are not in the same class. A fancy DAC is a long way down the list for me.
Comparing streaming from the cloud to a locally file/source isn't like for like. I can tell and hear the difference between the two when played. I like vinyl and digital but re digital, I never stream from the cloud. Only from flac files on a NAS.
Very detailed review from Tarun. As my kit is mainly analogue, 2k for a Dac is money down the drain. I dislike over compressed recordings, so I tend to avoid anything with "remastered" slapped on the cover/case.
Hi Tarun thank you for your review. Informative and to the point as always. My experience with DSD either original or PCM upsampled with software didn't impress me. I found it to sound good with female vocals but there was a smoothing of the sound that had a negative effect on some types of music like rock for example. After years of experiments with all sorts of dacs from Denafrips, AudioGD and Holo to modern DS dacs and USB interfaces i settled for a Naim dac and the PCM1704K. I also have a TDA1540 based dac around for good measure.
My experience with listening to hi-res audio is that I can usually hear the difference between 44.1 kHz and 88.2 kHz, and between 48 kHz and 96 kHz sampling rate PCM music files, but not between 88.2 kHz and 176.4 kHz, nor between 96 kHz and 192 kHz sampling rate PCM music files, all at the same 24-bit resolution. I cannot distinguish between 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz, nor between 88.2 kHz and 96 kHz, nor between 176.4 kHz and192 kHz sampling rate PCM music files, all at the same 24-bit resolution. For me, being able to distinguish between 16-bit and 24-bit resolution at the same sample rate depends on the dynamic content of the recording. Several years ago when I was ripping a lot of music from my CDs to put the music on my NAS drive to stream over my local network, to my surprise I discovered that I could usually tell the difference between the wav file and the flac file of the same music. This came about because the software I used for ripping had the option of saving both the uncompressed wav file and the losslessly compressed flac file. When I listened to the wav file it almost always sounded distinctly better than the flac file of the same music. This shocked me since flac compression is lossless. I suppose there might be an increase in bit errors in compressing and decompressing the data even though the compression is nominally lossless, but I do not know if that is the case. My experiences with upsampling have been mixed with upsampling sounding better sometimes, worse sometimes, different but not better or worse sometimes, and no different sometimes. My experience with DSD has also been mixed, with DSD usually sounding different from PCM, but that difference is sometimes worse than PCM, sometimes better than PCM, and sometimes neither better nor worse than PCM, just different than PCM. I have some downloaded files from the sampler album The Nordic Sound from 2L Audiophile Reference Recordings that have the same song in 24-bit, 192 kHz and 352.8 kHz (DXD) PCM formats, as well as DSD64. To my surprise, the DXD version sounded distinctly better than the other versions. This surprised me since I usually cannot hear a difference between versions of the same music at sampling rates of 88.1 kHz and higher. The difference that I heard between the DXD version and the other versions, however, may be due to the DXD version being a wav file, whereas the other PCM versions were flac files, rather than being due to the higher sampling rate of the DXD version. The fact that the original digital master recording was in the DXD format may contribute to the sound quality of the downloaded copy in DXD format since no sample rate conversion was done to that data. 2L's Morten Lindberg's take on DSD vs PCM is interesting: "At venue recording sessions our analogue to digital converters can do both the one-bit DSD and the multi-bit PCM formats. We can also listen directly to the analogue output from the microphones...We find DSD, as used in the SACD format, somewhat different in colour from PCM; in some mysterious way DSD is softer and more beautiful but slightly less detailed. In DXD we find the shimmering brilliance from the original analogue source as directly from the microphones...I personally prefer extremely high resolution PCM over the DSD and I would claim that DSD is not transparent. But it all comes down to what the sound from your speakers can do to your body and mind. I find that the placement of microphones has an infinite more important role in the final experience of music, than the difference between HiRes PCM and DSD. Sometimes a lie can be more beautiful than the truth!"
YES,WE LOVE ❤️ WHAT YOU ARE DOING TARUN…AND WE APPRECIATE ALL YOUR EFFORTS 😅 As for your question of the day …I ENJOY THE RE-RECORDING OF THE OLDER ONES 😎👍💚💚💚
Recently bought an Audio Music DAC/1, which is never reviewed but was at the Cranage hifi show. £13k full price. Absolutely stunning DAC, reputed to be a giant killer of £40k DACs. Has to be in the conversation of best DAC made imo. It’s that good. Doesn’t sound digital. Sweet and detailed.
Another excellent review Tarun. I really like the measured and sobre tone of your reviews. Adds a very neutral and unbiased perspective to the proceedings. Excitement if any, is only added by the merit of the gear being reviewed, as it should be. Coming to the DSD debate, I have a small collection of SACD's which I spin on an Esoteric K-01, and they do sound superior to audio CD's on the same machine. Iam a late entrant to streaming, and only recently got a Lumin U1X to stream tidal to my dac. I've dabbled a bit with upsampling tidal streams ( the non Mqa ones ) to 192 khz. And the difference was obvious as an increased ease and musicality. To push things further , I upsampled tidal to DSD 256, and there was more of everything I liked in my previous attempt. I believe HQ player does some SOTA upsampling, which is sadly too much of a faff for a computer illiterate like myself. But considering the benefits I've sampled with very simple DSD conversion on the Lumin format, Iam sold on upsampling DAC's like the Cen grand. And as a potential next purchase, Iam very happy with this review. Thanks again for your assuringly neutral and unbiased reviews.
Great review. Many of your reviewers have commented on your question with regards to hi res audio vs cd and the comments made are absolutely on point. Let me add to it by saying what contributes most to the quality of sound dished out from a dac is not how many dac chips are used, how modern the dac chips are or how many times it can upsample...but its largely due to 2 key things - the quality of the power supplies in the dac and how its been designed to handle power supply noise and more importantly the quality of the analog output section. These 2 things add loads of cost into the making of a dac. If you have a chance do listen to a well recorded standard CD or non hi-res/mqa encoded music streamed from tidal/roon into a wadia or mark levinson dac from the 2000s.- They may surprise you just how good they sound.
I find higher resolution files in general have a more relaxed presentation, almost quieter than a cd quality file. It is probably only really perceived at the subconscious level
Thank you. The best sounding recordings I have are high res to. How much of that is due to extra care in the recording/mastering/mixing process Vs the format is up for debate 😊
Hi Tarun 😁. As ever, a well balanced and insightful video - thank you 👍. I've got the one above this model - the Cen Grand deluxe - which I also got from Iain (Willow tree audio). I have 96db sensitive speakers and I find no hum coming through them, unless (with no music coming through them) I turn the volume up to levels which would blow them apart 😂. The screen is much brighter than the model in your video, but, yeah, it's still VERY proud of its DSD status! 😂 I'm not a reviewer, so I can't compare it to anything else, but I will happily say that the sound is wonderful to listen to.. Alex 😁
I really like your thorough reviews and look forward to more of them. I would like to see you review the Lab12 dac 1 reference which is an r2r dac with tubes, it is supposed to be a very musical piece of equipment.🙂
Great review as always. I’ve been waiting for you to review this one. I wanted someone to give a technical overview I could understand! Thanks for that. I am also an owner of this model and had the one below it. I have 99db speakers. The hum came only a few times on the lower model, but would go once switched off and on again. I use the bnc port. I also run it with fixed volume. I also place dimming screen on the front. I don’t find any value in the display - much better without it.
My experience with high res audio is that getting a great recording, and the best mastering will make much more difference. Given a great recording and good mastering, higher resolutions most definately make a difference to me. More detail, greater sence of space, more textural richness in the mids, you get a bit more of everything it seems, although im not sure ive noticed a difference in timing and note attack and decay. Always love your reviews, really appreciated. Im a big fan of dsd and I think this is the way forward, so the unit is interestiing. I think Id be picking PS audios dsd streamer over this to look at though, as this unit should have been more thouroughly designed for ergonomics. Not even outstanding sound quality would allow me to overlook that screen and layout, thats just poorand lets down whats no doubt well designed electronics.
Great review Tarun. I'm a bit of a hi-res sceptic tbh, I think most of it is clever marketing by the industry and manufacturers to get us to keep buying the latest tech. If something has been well recorded, and well mastered, then CD 16/44.1 quality is more than good enough. I think when people compare digital formats, what they are hearing is slight mastering differences rather than an inherent better sound.
Thanks Tarun, Another lucid and informative review. I remain DAC reticent. I presume I may be the paleoaudiophile with the Pontus you alluded to. I am so DAC phobic I have not even done the Pontus upgrade yet. I suppose I'll get around to it. Perhaps a Venus in the future if I spot one used. Thanks to you and the other trusted reviewers my system has reached a level where I am reluctant to go shopping but at the same time hoping the game is not up. Always a gear head who loves opening boxes. Still loving those little Proacs. Indeed an exceptional speaker.
Great review Tarun, thanks! Eye also have my heart set on the Venus. I agree with others that the OG mastering plays a larger role in the overall sound of a given recording. I’ve only recently started down the path of hi-res (Qobuz) and my preference between formats really do vary case by case.
I have a SACD and play content that was developed by PS Audio that is recorded in DSD and is beyond anything I heard before. It sounds like a Steinway is in my house and as that was the case in my childhood I do know the sound.
Yet another excellent and informative review. Informative, in that you get us thinking about components and pairing from the inside-out, how different and unique offerings could effect (and affect) our systems and how we listen 🙏🏼 Personally, I do hear some differences with high res vs red book. PCM. But sometimes actually prefer the red book versions if they were originally recorded (and therefore rendered) there. But if a studio recording is done with high res in mind, almost always hear details and transients that are deeper and wider vs recordings of similar techniques that stop at red book. But all could still just be the power of suggestion!
Thank you. Much appreciated. The best recording I have are high res PCM and DSD. It is hard to tell how much is down to the format or the extra care that has likely been taken in the recording/mastering/mixing process 😊👍
Thank you, Tarun for another excellent review. Entertaining and informative. Especially, thank you for mentioning the hum you heard. Your reviews remind me of the heyday of Stereophile, in that they contain both technical information and comparisons to other products. If I'm honest, streaming and therefore hi-res audio just aren't my cup of tea.
The DAC merry-go-round is certainly a very dizzying ride that I try to stay away from. I will soon, when the manufacturing backlog is cleared, be getting a Geshelli J2S AKM, with Sparcos op amps to end my ride on the DAC train. I hope to one day hear your review of this Geshelli equipment. Apparently a linear power supply further improves this DAC performance. Thank you very much for this valuable review of this DAC, your time and effort to share it with us all. Take care and all the very best, Sir.
Great review, Tarun. Of course, PS Audio has been converting everything to DSD for years in their DACs. I tried flipping everything to DSD in Roon for a while but wasn't impressed. I do, however, play SACDs on an old Oppo multidisc player, rip the DSD stream from the HDMI output, and feed it to my Terminator Plus DAC by I2S and it sounds fantastic. DSD can, but is not guaranteed to, sound wonderful. Incidentally that hum, the woeful screen and no I2S are all dealbreakers for me. Could the hum originate with the dodgy screen ? Can it be switched off ?
Thank you for sharing your experiences 😊 It seems that the hum issue may only be with this unit as a couple of owners haven’t experienced it in their systems. I don’t believe the screen can be switched off 🤔
Could be an issue like ps audio new ds2 dac that it’s very similar in topology. Ps audio had to issue a firmware update that supposedly fixes the hum. You can find the review that triggered the ps folks to take action in stereophile.
We (Musicraft - Derby - UK) are a CEN.Grand Audio dealer. To hear the quality of DSD at its utmost a certain element needs to be implemented which is something I picked up from a engineer who indirectly got involved with Sony’s engineers during the development of DSD. We have the top of the range DSDAC1.0 Advanced and from Mr DSD himself (Ed Meitner) the EMM Labs/Meitner Audio MA3 in store. Anyway we recently had a system that comprised of a DSDAC1.0 Advanced > Qualiton Audio P200 > ATC SCM40A. Needless to say that with the special element implemented the quality of the system is elevated from excellent to great and a presentation conveying exquisite musical harmony.
Oh man I think my feelings have been hurt 😁 Fwiw, our current store system is - basic standard mains cable into a Devialet Expert 140 Pro and basic 500 strand speaker cables to a pair of Monitor Audio 3G Platinum 300’s 🙂
Steven I have thought about this and I truly appreciate your interest however I am sorry to inform you that this is something that I’ll only be looking to share with our clients who have bought the relevant components from us. As much as I’d like to share however I am unable to do so as I don’t feel it appropriate to give the game away as has been the case with some other matters where others end up benefiting from my findings and work.
Compromise is unavoidable in audio choices. What makes up what is important to you is what really matters. It is your ears that must judge and make the final decision for it is you who must live with the choice you make. Not familiar with this one. Looks decently made, but a mains hum, even at a low level, causes for pause and leaves questions of quality that shouldn’t raise their head in this grade of resolving DAC. You may think this judgement harsh, but consider the resolution and if your gear doesn’t forgive especially in it’s ability to resolve and you come to see the point. Could be as simple as the ground side of the transformer was not poled properly. Some manufacturers used unpolarized mains plugs to resolve this issue. It required you to listen with it plugged in one way, then try the other way to see if it worked out better. Marking the plug orientation on your strip or receptacle as well as the plug to insure your device is always ground proper matters. In the US, the difference of blade sizes that most devices have inhibit this experiment and this can only be done with ungrounded plugs, those with only two blades of equal size. There was a polarization checker for such an experiment back in the day that used a clip to attach to the device under test. It can be accomplished with a meter and there are UA-cam videos on this as probably articles on it. It is worth checking out. This is more common in 120V equipment as opposed to 240V which I am unfamiliar in audio. Audible hum is annoying. There is no denying that. Thanks Tarun for your video on this. Won’t give a Holo Audio May a run but the May is not meant for this purpose. Apples to apples must be observed for comparatives for fairness.
Love your approach to reviewing audio gear! Have you ever listened to a Sony Hapz1es music server? I bought one several years ago and ripped all my CD’s to its 1TB hard drive. The reason why I ask is the Hapz1es converts everything coming out to DSD as well. When I output the signal via usb to my Ares12 and compare it to the output via balanced output using the Hapz1es DAC to my system, to me the sound quality is about the same to my ears. I am listening through McIntosh c50 preamp to McIntosh mc352 amp into Klipsch La Scala speakers with a well treated room. I think DSD is the way to go with digital music.
@abritishaudiophile7314 Great review 👌 I do have one of these myself and I just love it. It replaced my Terminator DAC. I now going to move on and upgrading to the Deluxe version 😅 And to all the guys who mentioned a terrible dimmed display. This your demo unit has a dimming foil attachment to the screen so thats the reason behind it. You peel this off and is completely different screen. I like it dimmed myself so I have the same film attached to my DAC
Hi Tarun, It's an interesting review. I would certainly suggest the low-level audible hum would be a deal breaker for most. A bit of a cardinal sin in today's level of affordable quality componentry the Hi-Fi sphere. All I can say is that, hopefully, it's a one-off with your review unit. But a great job as usual. Thank you for your efforts. And now to the question of the day. I would agree with your description of the DSD. It just seems to sound a little more analogue at the fear of overusing that word. As far as PCM files are concerned I do here an audible difference as we move up the sampling rate ladder, possibly until we get to about 192k. I have a fairly resolving system. I'm currently using the Aqua Acoustics formula xhd rev2 here at home, and really, after 192k it's all fairly academic and almost impossible to hear any discernible differences.
Love your chilled way to talk about the products. Very nice to watch. To the product, looks pretty solid to me. Only thing i would critize at this pricepoint is the cheap look of the display and the DAC itself looks pretty big. I use since 2 years the Crane Song Solaris DAC (as pre-amp via XLR for my actives) i'm pretty happy with it (but no remote, because yea... its DAC based / build for the mastering / studio world). I listen to a lot of Lossless files streamed via USB from my PC and i personally think the differences are too small. I did a lot of blindtest with an Friend between a lot of different sources Spotify, Wav, MP3 (320 & 192kbps), Flac, Alac etc and yea, no, maybe here and there are a little bit more definition in the Highs but its def. not a big difference like when you put away a towel in front of your speakers (and we listen via Genelec 8341, Neumann KH150 & Unity Super Rocks) - three pretty high end / good monitors
It's interesting that they went with two different FPGA vendors with the need for two different sets of software tools. I can only assume that they couldn't get exactly what they needed for both functions from Xilinx or Altera. I am guessing that the FPGAs are not of a high enough gate count to require them to move to the paid tools but I could be wrong. I'd love to talk to the engineers to find out what their selection process was. (I've sold Xilinx and Altera FPGA's over the years)
Good point. I think they keep what they are doing close to their chest. I suspect one FPGA deals with the PCM conversion and the other the upsampling algorithm 😊
Hi Tarun, thanks for the review. I've had the base model, and now the Super Clock model from Iain at Willow Tree. In response to your observations of speaker hum; I run my Cen Grand with Triangle Comete 40th Anniversary, with no speaker hum, but I also run everything through the Puritan Audio Labs PSM156 with Ground master City grounding, so this may be remedying the issue. I haven't tried the Cen Grand minus the Puritan conditioner to see if there was a hum without it, but I will do and report my findings. Thanks again Tarun, really enjoy your channel Kindest Regards Lyndon
Hi Lyndon. I also have a Cen Grand, from Iain, which I think is fantastic 😁. Would you recommend this puritan pcm156? I'm seriously considering it? All the best, Alex
@@cheeky1664 Hi Alex, I think if you have dirty mains (I definitely have 🫣), it's a must, especially with an all digital/streaming system . Even if not, I would say it still offers improvements - just more relaxed, system deathly quiet, and allows your system to just do its thing effortlessly. To my mind, if you've invested £xxxx in your system already, to ignore the power input side, is missing a trick. I'm so glad I took the leap and invested in the 156 (plus Ground Master City). I now consider the 156 as an integral part of my system, not just an after-thought, or bolt-on. As an aside, I had a quick chat with Mike, the Puritan company owner at the NW Audio Show; thoroughly nice chap. I asked if hus Routemaster would add anything to my system and the Puritan products I already had. He could have easily spun me a load of reasons why it would be worthwhile adding the Routemaster, and maybe conjured up a sale, but he didn't. He stated, "nope with what you already have, you're all the way there". I really appreciate this kind of honesty. Anyway, I've drivelled enough. So in a word, yes, go for it, your system will thank you 😊
Hi, have you found a massive differnce between the base model and superclock? My budget will only stretch to the base model at the moment and I am torn between this and a couple other options (Gustard R26 - a saving of £900 and Denafrips Pontus II 12-1 - a saving of £500). I do not know which to get as auditioning is not an option with any..
Great review, as always. So did the manufacturer get back to you on the hum? Was it your particular unit or something inherent? If latter, what do they plan to do about it? Thanks
Hi I just bought a CenGrand DSDAC 1.0 standard version and definitely the hum / hiss was there especially after a few hours of playing it. It got much louder and constant so had to switch it off. I have tried different digital cables, power cables with QSA fuses and filters. Still problem persists. The dealer is excellent and offered to return it. He recommended the super clock version but this is the one you have just reviewed and still hiss/hum. So given I am a Brit that lives far away abroad I can’t afford this back and forth in shipping fees, so likely will opt for Denafrips Venus ii 12th Ed on offer from same dealer. On this basis wanted to ask you whether on balance, given build quality of denafrips (reliability) would I be missing out much by going for the Venus ii ? Like you I have sensitive speakers ie graham audio ls8/1 speakers so this may be the issue but I just can’t take the chance. Would appreciate your view on balance Venus or CenGrand , for you of course? Thanks and much appreciated.
I am still ALL-IN with your patreon…I am extremely happy with my Pontus II DAC (w/original firmware installed)….and this presentation will not convince me to stray…what's with DACs…my Pontus has no remote or display… The CenGrand includes a fine remote and display, but they manage to make it completely uninspired visually and basically a somewhat useful mess. Thanks for the awareness…but if this audiophile does any upgrading it would be to your Venus II. A remote and cool-looking, quality display is apparently too much to hope for from Denefrips…but at least the sound quality & simple fine-quality visuals hit the mark for me. .
I’m currently listening on iFI Stream and iFI Zen One Signature Dac. Powered by a Sansui G7000 receiver to ‘86 Klipsch LaScalas. Besides streaming Quboz have number of Flac and DSD files on a local server. Thoroughly enjoy it. About 6 months out on delivery of a Decware Sarah 5w amp. Holding off any changes until hearing and evaluating the Decware.
Not really tried streaming, more of a CD and vinyl person, but interesting to watch still. Don't people miss the experience of physical media? To me the interaction with my system and the physical media is a large part of the Hi-fi experience.🤔 Lol, maybe I'm just old.😂
All this hi-res nonsense needs to be exposed for the marketing fraud that it is. Higher sample rates and more bits are used in the recording and mastering to give the engineer headroom and the ability to deliver a superb 16/44.1 version to the listener. Many audiophiles have been misled into thinking that they are being denied access to the original masters and record labels are happy to “fix” the problem by selling them the same music again, only a so called hi-res version. The number of bits defines the available dynamic range/noise floor, this is all it does. 16 bits gives a huge dynamic range, and an inaudible noise floor, way more than needed. A recording with a larger dynamic range would be undesirable as quiet passages would be too quiet to hear or loud passages would be deafening. The sample rate defines the highest frequency able to be reproduced. 44.1KHz = 20KHz which is at the upper limit of hearing. This is all it does. Sample rates higher than 44.1KHz produces ultrasonic noise that was not part of the performance. If you buy a so called hi-res version you are buying a large file padded out with millions of useless bits. Several well designed ABX tests show audiophiles cannot pick hi-res recordings over CD quality. Some os the finest recordings I have are CD 16/44.1 format and some of the hi-res recordings I own are disappointingly poor. It just goes to show it is the original production and engineering that is all important, rather than the distribution format.
@geoff37s38. Agreed....and most cannot hear any difference between CD and 320 mp3! Instead of pointless 'upsampling'...effort should be put into correcting for speaker/ room effects!
@@chebrubin A high sample rate may actually degrade audio quality. The ultrasonic noise in the recording can produce Intermodulation Distortion with products in the audible range. Bigger numbers does not mean better.
Everything I listen to is upsampled and converted to DSD by the amazing Magic Box.. PS Audio's Ted Smith designed Directstream DAC. The playback hardware operates at such a high frequency, there is no need for phase corrupting filtering on the output. The only filtering is done by Jensen transformers. Glorious!
I noticed you still have ATC SCM19s, some reviewers say they have a noisy cabinet because there isn't enough padding inside, is this true or noticeable?
I’d prefer DSD because their reconstruction filters are simpler and better than the PCM ones. If only PCM is available, I prefer Hi-Rez, because in Hi-Rez the reconstruction filters do less harm. But all this counts nothing if the recording was bad in the first place.
@@abritishaudiophile7314 if you happen to have a Roon server, then you can convert PCM to DSD before sending it to the DAC and testing by yourself if you hear any differences with any given piece of gear. I tested this by myself, and had mixed results: from I hear a clear difference to I can’t hear any at all.
Good review. Is it possible the hum issue is due to being a pre-production sample? Those 3 pairs of diodes piggybacking on those 3 ICs make me think so...
Alas, no native high rez here, only a Foobar x2 sox resampler (tcxo'd) to extend the theoretical playback bandwidth to 40(ish) khz into my beloved dac-ah TDA1543X8 NOS.
I’m still running my 90’s era Denon 3520 💿 player …it’s on its 3rd DAC 🤣 Currently a Topping E50 ….along with a Wiim Pro streamer ….music never sounded so good ..but in you review..did the red book 📕 cd gain new life and vigor between the two main DAC’s ..or was it a coin toss . Great video ☕️🍕👍
thanks but im more intresting in why is more dificult to upscale a flac format than a wav in the diference in the time coherency specialy around 1500hz to 7000hz
Even when I watch this review for the second time, I learn something new. Still, I'm very curious to know what you think of the latest firmware for the Denafrips DACs.
@@uguraksoy2810 I had a Pontus 2 which I traded in for the Cen.Grand, it's definitely better in terms of a bigger all round sound. Bigger soundstage and much wider. I did like the Pontus though, much better than a chip based dac.
@@philipbecker8214 thank you for sharing your experiences. I have Pontus II 12th but I am thinking about the Cen.Grand DSD 1.0 Super Clock model. The Deluxe is a bit expensive for my budget. Does it sound warm as Pontus 2 ? I really love the warm sound of Pontus.
First time i havent finished 1 of your excellent videos. Lost interest in the product after you showed the display:) What a clusterf…! Really looking forward to your Sibelius review, absolutely love fullrange speakers. Especially with Mark Audio drivers..
I purchase audio equipment to enable me to listen to music the way I like to hear it reproduced. I’m not at all concerned about the way the equipment looks. Although, inevitably, aesthetics are a high consideration of the manufacturer especially as you ascend the price ladder. My Denafrips Venus being a prime example of that. In fact, so unconcerned am I of the way a component looks, that I hide all my audio devices in a purpose built, heavy duty cabinet, fronted with dark tinted glass doors. I would have used solid doors, but I needed them to be penetrable by my infra red remote controls. This approach has a couple of distinct pluses. When family, friends or colleagues sit down with me to enjoy a listening session, they are forced to concentrate on the music, not the equipment reproducing that music. Fellow audiophiles who arrive for an evening of near musical nirvana cannot prejudge the musical reproduction as they can’t see the components responsible for that reproduced music. Finally, although I have a substantial vinyl and cd collection, I stream the vast majority of my music. It’s just so damned convenient. From my listening position, with those components housed behind tinted glass, I can’t read any of the displays. So, I don’t know what type of digital file or format or bit depth or sample rate I’m hearing. Which is good, it means I’m concentrating on just the music. That having been said there are obviously times when the musical reproduction of a track sounds really impressive, or distinctly poor, which can motivate me to check those displays. My humble experience has proved to me that the dominating factor behind the quality of that musical reproduction is almost always down to the master recording. I have a highy resolving system, but seriously, in a ‘double blind’ test, I doubt I could tell the difference, or identify the digital file formats and that doesn’t concern me. Most importantly, enjoy the music!
I dunno: there are so many good DACs out there at more affordable prices. Once one finds a DAC one likes at reasonable cost, for me the returns in sound quality of spending significantly more seem difficult to justify. I've personally found that finding other key components one likes (e.g. amp and speakers/speaker cables) seems to offer more bang for the buck. I suppose it depends how perfectionist one is and whether one is prepared to spend what is required to buy a certain level of performance. If cost isn't too limiting a factor, fair enough -- go ahead. Mind you, it's not so much that I can't afford more esoteric stuff, as that I get greater pleasure from maximising returns within cost brackets I feel comfortable with.
@@abritishaudiophile7314 That's quite true. I eventually realised a few years ago that the weakest link in my system was the speaker cable I was using. Upgrading it made an appreciably greater difference than (eventually) changing the DAC. My whole main system cost no more than around £4K, including self-build open baffles for a fraction of the price of the commercially available ones -- along with carefully selected pre- and power amps, which also give me, imho, worthy results. I love and regularly listen to my system. It gives me enormous pleasure be able to listen to my favourite music whenever I want. But then again, so does the kick I get from doing so at keen prices. 🙂
I have DSD on my Esoteric X-5 CD player feeding into a hybrid 150W per channel Amp. I concur that DSD sounds cleaner, sweeter and more natural. What do others' think?
dear tarun, you are ome of my favourites. i have a r2r dac that i own. would you be happy to review it? i'm more than happy to cover shiping costs both ways, yes really.
I googled for this products, and some reviews in Chinese showed pretty bad measurements of this dac. Not sure if there're improvments in the lastest version. Some reviews did mention it sounded good but with bad measurements(seems that CenGrand admited that). Although good sound doesn't neccesarily require good measurements, but this one. Please double check.
I don’t know anything about digital sound, only that my CD player gives me a headache after 30 minutes. I wonder if a cheap DAC would improve the sound from my Trigon Prince CD player. On the other hand why bother when my SME turntable sounds so good! Oh, yes that’s right, the cost of LP’s 😅
I’ve got to ask what the point of this product is? Taking an existing PCM file and converting it to DSD will not make it better. Yes , it can tidy up the timing for presentation to the amp, but that’s all I can see
Sony UBP-X800M2 SACD Queen Night at the opera Drums track 5 DSD confirms one improvement.The other is recording. Sounds like reinventing the wheel all over again. Again.
RE Value of Hi-Rez files- If an Audio Note poo-poos it and uses old chips like the AD1865 which max out at 44/96 then I take note. Do some blind tests and show us the results.
Hi Tarun Having never got into downloading music , I was wondering what I would realistically have to pay for the privilege . I’ve never even heard anything on the format , having only had vinyl and CD playback . I know you’re pretty much a download person , but now having entered my 50th year in hifi interest I’m wondering though a degree of laziness I might give it a try . My amp is the audio Lab 6000 A amp so I assume the obvious streamer would be the one made by audio lab , but after that I’m totally clueless 😂 . Best wishes and kind regards as always 😀👍👍👍
Thank you. Most of music is stored on a hard drive than connects to my streamer. I would get the 6000N and choose between Tidal or Qobuz as a streamer service 😊
@@abritishaudiophile7314 thank you my dear friend , but I’m still not sure as to how much a month I will be paying . Yes I’m a little bit stupid , but ha I’m old enough to be your dad 😂 👍👍👍
@@abritishaudiophile7314 I Tarun I think me and your dad might have got one quite well , and indeed I’m perhaps a bit to out on a limb to really make any sensible query . So humble apologies all round , if I’ve encroached on your time . Kind regards as always 😢
Agreed, Sony developed DSD or 2.8224 MHz 1-bit so they could archive their catalog of analog master tapes to a format without compromising the quality of those source tapes.
Nice review.. I believe the Marantz SACD30n also upsamples everything to DSD and it sounds marvelous !!! I do dabble with high res stream as well as downloaded DSD or PCM.. Frankly, for my aging ears, they all sound DARNED GOOD !!! :D
That is great 👍
Thanks again! For me, the quality of the recording is the most important factor to my ears over the format or the endless spec war. I mostly prefer my late 80s Luxman kit over anything modern in my systems.
Thank you 😊
Yes I agree the source is key.
Good review . A number of dac manufacturers convert to DSD eg Nagra , dCS and ch precision .
I have around 2 TB of DSD recordings and high res recordings and as always the most important aspect was the quality of the original production and recording rather than the format .
Thank you Mr S. I agree, the original production values are paramount 😊
Where do you get your dsd recordings? I've only found a handful of websites that supply some orchestral dsd recordings
... not to forget the PS Audio DirectStream... lots of vids here on YT explaining the processing.
I’m waiting with excitement to receive my new Cen.Grand dsdac 1.0 Superclock. I heard it in my system before ordering one, and it absolutely crushed the Pontus 2 in every aspect. Also working better than Terminator 2 in my system.
The sound is so big, effortless, relaxed and dynamic at the same time. Very organic and definately not boring. Its in my country, but sadly i didnt get it today. Have to wait till monday 😉 I sold my Pontus the other day, so i cant wait for it to get here.
Cool 😎 thank you for sharing your experiences 😊
Hi @lssht, is there any update on your CenGrand DSDAC, I am curious? How does it compare ?
@@elthamlad468 Hi.
What do you want to know? 😉 its like i described, and i have upgraded to the Deluxe 😅
@@lssht I might buy the standard model, cannot afford the superclock or Delux. My UK dealer said it betters the Pontus II but being a dealer it's best to take what they say with a pinch of salt. I'm glad you liked it so much you have upgraded, gives me confidence to order
@@elthamlad468 how much is the dsdac in the UK?
Really good review. My experience of format is that the recording and mastering matter more than end bit format. I’ve heard many albums in different formats and a well recorded and mastered album on cd/pcm is better than an average recorded/mastered on SACD or HDCD. I think we should put more attention on mastering techniques, microphones, studio, than end format for the zeros and ones. What do others think?
I totally agree that the quality of the recording/ production is far more important . I have well recorded red book CDs that sound excellent . I also have DSD that sound veiled particularly when they are nothing more than upsampled and converted pcm
I agree, the recording and mastering quality are the most important factors 😊
What I suspected and good to hear.
Also agree, it's the quality of the master that is paramount, not the format. There is a bigger difference between remastered versions than between digital formats. Nice to hear DSD is delivering though. Thanks for the review Tarun.
I think yr absolutely right.
Hi Tarun,
Just thought I would let you and your viewers know that I have used all of the models in my system using 98db efficient loudspeakers. None of the units have imparted any unwanted noise through the speakers. This must be one off as none of my customers have reported any issues with noise through the speakers either. Thank for your excellent and honest review.
Thank you. That is good to know 👍
Thanks for the review Tarun - well balanced and informative. Hi res is a good question. As a mainly classical music listener I jumped on the SACD band wagon when first introduced in the early 2000s. When A-B comparisons from the same recording are compared you can hear additional space around instruments in a full orchestral section on the SACD. Don’t get me wrong - red book CDs can sound excellent too. With a highly resolving DAC I fail to hear improvements above doubling standard red book sample rates. I have purchased 352KHz DXD and DSD equivalent recordings to try out for myself. When purchasing hi res I tend to buy music for download at the original recording sampling rate.
I just added a good - used - CD player to my setup to have the tactile experience of playing my 1000 odd CDs which I have also ripped. Very enjoyable too:-)
Thank you Wouter. Great to learn about your experiences 👍
🙋♂️THANKS TARUN, FOR HELPING OUT THE COMMUNITY AND PROVING…IT IS THE BEST TIME TO BE AN AUDIOPHILE 🤗💚💚💚
You are most welcome 👍
I have this DAC from Iain @ Willow Tree. love it to bits. My display is much brighter and I have no hum on my unit. I got excited when I seen your review. Been waiting a while for someone I watch often to cover it.
Thanks for sharing. I hope you enjoyed the review 😊
Great review as Always ! I use audirvana soft on my computer to stream and play my files. The software can also upsample in dsd. The sound is more ''liquid'' and smooth then. But my final thoughts is that the most important things is the recording, not the format. Have a nice day.
Thank you 😊
To answer to your question about hires:
I love DSD.
It produce the best sound to my ears: more natural, spacy, with details that i love too.
I think this is the future in the sound domain.
Thank you 😊
With regards to the hum mentioned, I have the DSDAC 1.0 Standard and cannot say that I hear any hum via my loudspeakers. I did have an issue with the RCA outs on the first item that I received, with one channel not working, but this was very quickly remedied by the distributor without fuss and I am pleased to say that my current DAC works perfectly. I haven't heard the Denafrips Venus however, I also own a very expensive £4900 tube DAC and the Cen.grand DSDAC 1.0 at HALF the price equals it and in some areas BETTERS it. An amazing achievement from Cen.grand for the cost. Oh, I will say as I am not sure if you mentioned it in your video, the Cen.grand requires at least a couple hundred hours burn-in to sound its best. I never believed in burn-in before, but I do now.
Thx for sharing your experiences 😊
I am a jazz and classical music listener who has had a hi fit set up for 70 years. Classical music producers never gave up on SACD and every month more come onto the market. When both a SACD disc and a vinyl record of the same performance are available and the performance is excellent and of interest to me I might buy both. When playing the disc through my Esoteric SACD player followed by the record played on my Technics SL-1500C with an Ortofon MM through my Castle Howard S2 speakers I have trouble deciding which sounds better. Maybe age but probably it is down to DSD. I continue to look forward to your weekly program. Stay safe and well.
Thank you. Great to learn about your experiences 😊
Hi Tarun, very thorough, as always. I’ve been very happy with my CD player for many years. Of course, high res is now my preferred option via the magic of my turntable 😮. A mate dropped in the other day to collect his newly sorted classic NAD amp and CD player. He was astonished at the level of detail combined with total absence of background crackle coming from his beloved Pink Floyd album on my Linn LP12.
In truth, I have no experience of high res physical formats at the level of my main system. In my second system the dedicated streamer and DAC from ifi run at 48KHz from Tidal and the results, whilst not awful, are not in the same class. A fancy DAC is a long way down the list for me.
Thanks Mark. I know how much pleasure you get from that vinyl system. It is going to take some doing to get the digital to the same level 👍
Comparing streaming from the cloud to a locally file/source isn't like for like. I can tell and hear the difference between the two when played. I like vinyl and digital but re digital, I never stream from the cloud. Only from flac files on a NAS.
Very detailed review from Tarun. As my kit is mainly analogue, 2k for a Dac is money down the drain.
I dislike over compressed recordings, so I tend to avoid anything with "remastered" slapped on the cover/case.
Thank you 😊
Great Video! When I hear a track in 192 PCM there is more meat on the bones and more definition/realism.
Thank you for sharing 😊
Awesome, this video came at a great time, Tarun. I’ve been hunting for one, video was quite educational for me
That is great 😊👍
Hi Tarun thank you for your review. Informative and to the point as always. My experience with DSD either original or PCM upsampled with software didn't impress me. I found it to sound good with female vocals but there was a smoothing of the sound that had a negative effect on some types of music like rock for example. After years of experiments with all sorts of dacs from Denafrips, AudioGD and Holo to modern DS dacs and USB interfaces i settled for a Naim dac and the PCM1704K. I also have a TDA1540 based dac around for good measure.
Thank you. Great to learn about your experiences 👍
My experience with listening to hi-res audio is that I can usually hear the difference between 44.1 kHz and 88.2 kHz, and between 48 kHz and 96 kHz sampling rate PCM music files, but not between 88.2 kHz and 176.4 kHz, nor between 96 kHz and 192 kHz sampling rate PCM music files, all at the same 24-bit resolution. I cannot distinguish between 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz, nor between 88.2 kHz and 96 kHz, nor between 176.4 kHz and192 kHz sampling rate PCM music files, all at the same 24-bit resolution.
For me, being able to distinguish between 16-bit and 24-bit resolution at the same sample rate depends on the dynamic content of the recording.
Several years ago when I was ripping a lot of music from my CDs to put the music on my NAS drive to stream over my local network, to my surprise I discovered that I could usually tell the difference between the wav file and the flac file of the same music. This came about because the software I used for ripping had the option of saving both the uncompressed wav file and the losslessly compressed flac file. When I listened to the wav file it almost always sounded distinctly better than the flac file of the same music. This shocked me since flac compression is lossless. I suppose there might be an increase in bit errors in compressing and decompressing the data even though the compression is nominally lossless, but I do not know if that is the case.
My experiences with upsampling have been mixed with upsampling sounding better sometimes, worse sometimes, different but not better or worse sometimes, and no different sometimes.
My experience with DSD has also been mixed, with DSD usually sounding different from PCM, but that difference is sometimes worse than PCM, sometimes better than PCM, and sometimes neither better nor worse than PCM, just different than PCM.
I have some downloaded files from the sampler album The Nordic Sound from 2L Audiophile Reference Recordings that have the same song in 24-bit, 192 kHz and 352.8 kHz (DXD) PCM formats, as well as DSD64. To my surprise, the DXD version sounded distinctly better than the other versions. This surprised me since I usually cannot hear a difference between versions of the same music at sampling rates of 88.1 kHz and higher. The difference that I heard between the DXD version and the other versions, however, may be due to the DXD version being a wav file, whereas the other PCM versions were flac files, rather than being due to the higher sampling rate of the DXD version. The fact that the original digital master recording was in the DXD format may contribute to the sound quality of the downloaded copy in DXD format since no sample rate conversion was done to that data.
2L's Morten Lindberg's take on DSD vs PCM is interesting: "At venue recording sessions our analogue to digital converters can do both the one-bit DSD and the multi-bit PCM formats. We can also listen directly to the analogue output from the microphones...We find DSD, as used in the SACD format, somewhat different in colour from PCM; in some mysterious way DSD is softer and more beautiful but slightly less detailed. In DXD we find the shimmering brilliance from the original analogue source as directly from the microphones...I personally prefer extremely high resolution PCM over the DSD and I would claim that DSD is not transparent. But it all comes down to what the sound from your speakers can do to your body and mind. I find that the placement of microphones has an infinite more important role in the final experience of music, than the difference between HiRes PCM and DSD. Sometimes a lie can be more beautiful than the truth!"
Thank you. Great to learn about your experiences 😊
YES,WE LOVE ❤️ WHAT YOU ARE DOING TARUN…AND WE APPRECIATE ALL YOUR EFFORTS 😅
As for your question of the day …I ENJOY THE RE-RECORDING OF THE OLDER ONES 😎👍💚💚💚
Thank you kindly 😊👍
Recently bought an Audio Music DAC/1, which is never reviewed but was at the Cranage hifi show. £13k full price. Absolutely stunning DAC, reputed to be a giant killer of £40k DACs. Has to be in the conversation of best DAC made imo. It’s that good. Doesn’t sound digital. Sweet and detailed.
Thank you for sharing 😊
Iain at Willowtree audio knows his hifi imo. He put me onto the Audio Music DAC.
Excuse my rudeness, thank you for taking the time to make this video.
You are most welcome 😊
Another excellent review Tarun. I really like the measured and sobre tone of your reviews. Adds a very neutral and unbiased perspective to the proceedings. Excitement if any, is only added by the merit of the gear being reviewed, as it should be.
Coming to the DSD debate, I have a small collection of SACD's which I spin on an Esoteric K-01, and they do sound superior to audio CD's on the same machine. Iam a late entrant to streaming, and only recently got a Lumin U1X to stream tidal to my dac. I've dabbled a bit with upsampling tidal streams ( the non Mqa ones ) to 192 khz. And the difference was obvious as an increased ease and musicality. To push things further , I upsampled tidal to DSD 256, and there was more of everything I liked in my previous attempt. I believe HQ player does some SOTA upsampling, which is sadly too much of a faff for a computer illiterate like myself. But considering the benefits I've sampled with very simple DSD conversion on the Lumin format, Iam sold on upsampling DAC's like the Cen grand. And as a potential next purchase, Iam very happy with this review. Thanks again for your assuringly neutral and unbiased reviews.
Much appreciated 😊👍
Great review. Many of your reviewers have commented on your question with regards to hi res audio vs cd and the comments made are absolutely on point. Let me add to it by saying what contributes most to the quality of sound dished out from a dac is not how many dac chips are used, how modern the dac chips are or how many times it can upsample...but its largely due to 2 key things - the quality of the power supplies in the dac and how its been designed to handle power supply noise and more importantly the quality of the analog output section. These 2 things add loads of cost into the making of a dac. If you have a chance do listen to a well recorded standard CD or non hi-res/mqa encoded music streamed from tidal/roon into a wadia or mark levinson dac from the 2000s.- They may surprise you just how good they sound.
I find higher resolution files in general have a more relaxed presentation, almost quieter than a cd quality file. It is probably only really perceived at the subconscious level
Thank you. The best sounding recordings I have are high res to. How much of that is due to extra care in the recording/mastering/mixing process Vs the format is up for debate 😊
Hi Tarun 😁. As ever, a well balanced and insightful video - thank you 👍.
I've got the one above this model - the Cen Grand deluxe - which I also got from Iain (Willow tree audio). I have 96db sensitive speakers and I find no hum coming through them, unless (with no music coming through them) I turn the volume up to levels which would blow them apart 😂.
The screen is much brighter than the model in your video, but, yeah, it's still VERY proud of its DSD status! 😂
I'm not a reviewer, so I can't compare it to anything else, but I will happily say that the sound is wonderful to listen to..
Alex 😁
That is great Alex. I appreciate you taking the time to share. I could be just a problem with my review unit 😊👍
The screen is dimmed only because of this demo unit has a special dimming film fitted on the screen
An education as always, excellent.
Thank you Chris 😊👍
Audible hum? Certainly a deal breaker for me. No excuse for that in 2023. Especially considering the price.
Thank you for your honesty!
Thank you for watching. Other users have shared an apparently it is just my dem unit with the hum problem 😊
I really like your thorough reviews and look forward to more of them. I would like to see you review the Lab12 dac 1 reference which is an r2r dac with tubes, it is supposed to be a very musical piece of equipment.🙂
Thank you. I appreciate the suggestion 😊
Excellent review and one that can be trusted
Thank you kindly 😊👍
Great review as always.
I’ve been waiting for you to review this one. I wanted someone to give a technical overview I could understand! Thanks for that.
I am also an owner of this model and had the one below it. I have 99db speakers.
The hum came only a few times on the lower model, but would go once switched off and on again. I use the bnc port. I also run it with fixed volume.
I also place dimming screen on the front. I don’t find any value in the display - much better without it.
Thank you. That is useful to know 😊
Another fine review. Thank you.
Thank you 👍
My experience with high res audio is that getting a great recording, and the best mastering will make much more difference. Given a great recording and good mastering, higher resolutions most definately make a difference to me. More detail, greater sence of space, more textural richness in the mids, you get a bit more of everything it seems, although im not sure ive noticed a difference in timing and note attack and decay.
Always love your reviews, really appreciated. Im a big fan of dsd and I think this is the way forward, so the unit is interestiing. I think Id be picking PS audios dsd streamer over this to look at though, as this unit should have been more thouroughly designed for ergonomics. Not even outstanding sound quality would allow me to overlook that screen and layout, thats just poorand lets down whats no doubt well designed electronics.
Thank you my friend 😊
Great review Tarun. I'm a bit of a hi-res sceptic tbh, I think most of it is clever marketing by the industry and manufacturers to get us to keep buying the latest tech. If something has been well recorded, and well mastered, then CD 16/44.1 quality is more than good enough. I think when people compare digital formats, what they are hearing is slight mastering differences rather than an inherent better sound.
Thank you 😊
Thanks Tarun, Another lucid and informative review. I remain DAC reticent. I presume I may be the paleoaudiophile with the Pontus you alluded to. I am so DAC phobic I have not even done the Pontus upgrade yet. I suppose I'll get around to it. Perhaps a Venus in the future if I spot one used. Thanks to you and the other trusted reviewers my system has reached a level where I am reluctant to go shopping but at the same time hoping the game is not up. Always a gear head who loves opening boxes. Still loving those little Proacs. Indeed an exceptional speaker.
That is great Jim. It was you I was referring to in the intro. I hope you enjoyed it 😊👍
@@abritishaudiophile7314 Love it.
Great review Tarun, thanks! Eye also have my heart set on the Venus.
I agree with others that the OG mastering plays a larger role in the overall sound of a given recording. I’ve only recently started down the path of hi-res (Qobuz) and my preference between formats really do vary case by case.
Thank you for sharing 😊
The CenGrand looks beautifully laid out!
I have a SACD and play content that was developed by PS Audio that is recorded in DSD and is beyond anything I heard before. It sounds like a Steinway is in my house and as that was the case in my childhood I do know the sound.
That is great 👍
Wow it looks interesting, thanks 🙏 Tarun
Thanks Atri 😊
You had me at bass weight:)
Enjoyed the review
Cool 😎 thank you 😊
Yet another excellent and informative review. Informative, in that you get us thinking about components and pairing from the inside-out, how different and unique offerings could effect (and affect) our systems and how we listen 🙏🏼
Personally, I do hear some differences with high res vs red book. PCM. But sometimes actually prefer the red book versions if they were originally recorded (and therefore rendered) there. But if a studio recording is done with high res in mind, almost always hear details and transients that are deeper and wider vs recordings of similar techniques that stop at red book. But all could still just be the power of suggestion!
Thank you. Much appreciated. The best recording I have are high res PCM and DSD. It is hard to tell how much is down to the format or the extra care that has likely been taken in the recording/mastering/mixing process 😊👍
ah, its more unique melody than last i heard
Thank you, Tarun for another excellent review. Entertaining and informative. Especially, thank you for mentioning the hum you heard.
Your reviews remind me of the heyday of Stereophile, in that they contain both technical information and comparisons to other products.
If I'm honest, streaming and therefore hi-res audio just aren't my cup of tea.
Thank you Gerald 👍
Thank you for a valuable review
Thank you 👍
The DAC merry-go-round is certainly a very dizzying ride that I try to stay away from. I will soon, when the manufacturing backlog is cleared, be getting a Geshelli J2S AKM, with Sparcos op amps to end my ride on the DAC train. I hope to one day hear your review of this Geshelli equipment. Apparently a linear power supply further improves this DAC performance. Thank you very much for this valuable review of this DAC, your time and effort to share it with us all. Take care and all the very best, Sir.
Thank you Simon 👍
Great review, Tarun. Of course, PS Audio has been converting everything to DSD for years in their DACs. I tried flipping everything to DSD in Roon for a while but wasn't impressed.
I do, however, play SACDs on an old Oppo multidisc player, rip the DSD stream from the HDMI output, and feed it to my Terminator Plus DAC by I2S and it sounds fantastic. DSD can, but is not guaranteed to, sound wonderful.
Incidentally that hum, the woeful screen and no I2S are all dealbreakers for me. Could the hum originate with the dodgy screen ? Can it be switched off ?
Thank you for sharing your experiences 😊
It seems that the hum issue may only be with this unit as a couple of owners haven’t experienced it in their systems. I don’t believe the screen can be switched off 🤔
Could be an issue like ps audio new ds2 dac that it’s very similar in topology. Ps audio had to issue a firmware update that supposedly fixes the hum. You can find the review that triggered the ps folks to take action in stereophile.
@@kurb1980 thank you 😊
We (Musicraft - Derby - UK) are a CEN.Grand Audio dealer. To hear the quality of DSD at its utmost a certain element needs to be implemented which is something I picked up from a engineer who indirectly got involved with Sony’s engineers during the development of DSD.
We have the top of the range DSDAC1.0 Advanced and from Mr DSD himself (Ed Meitner) the EMM Labs/Meitner Audio MA3 in store.
Anyway we recently had a system that comprised of a DSDAC1.0 Advanced > Qualiton Audio P200 > ATC SCM40A. Needless to say that with the special element implemented the quality of the system is elevated from excellent to great and a presentation conveying exquisite musical harmony.
'Special element'? Let me guess.....snake oil? 😂
Oh man I think my feelings have been hurt 😁
Fwiw, our current store system is - basic standard mains cable into a Devialet Expert 140 Pro and basic 500 strand speaker cables to a pair of Monitor Audio 3G Platinum 300’s 🙂
@@rickkumar2631 😁 Genuinely interested in what the 'certain element' is Rick....👍 I have around 50 SACDs which I enjoy very much.
Steven I have thought about this and I truly appreciate your interest however I am sorry to inform you that this is something that I’ll only be looking to share with our clients who have bought the relevant components from us.
As much as I’d like to share however I am unable to do so as I don’t feel it appropriate to give the game away as has been the case with some other matters where others end up benefiting from my findings and work.
Compromise is unavoidable in audio choices. What makes up what is important to you is what really matters. It is your ears that must judge and make the final decision for it is you who must live with the choice you make. Not familiar with this one. Looks decently made, but a mains hum, even at a low level, causes for pause and leaves questions of quality that shouldn’t raise their head in this grade of resolving DAC. You may think this judgement harsh, but consider the resolution and if your gear doesn’t forgive especially in it’s ability to resolve and you come to see the point. Could be as simple as the ground side of the transformer was not poled properly. Some manufacturers used unpolarized mains plugs to resolve this issue. It required you to listen with it plugged in one way, then try the other way to see if it worked out better. Marking the plug orientation on your strip or receptacle as well as the plug to insure your device is always ground proper matters. In the US, the difference of blade sizes that most devices have inhibit this experiment and this can only be done with ungrounded plugs, those with only two blades of equal size. There was a polarization checker for such an experiment back in the day that used a clip to attach to the device under test. It can be accomplished with a meter and there are UA-cam videos on this as probably articles on it. It is worth checking out. This is more common in 120V equipment as opposed to 240V which I am unfamiliar in audio. Audible hum is annoying. There is no denying that. Thanks Tarun for your video on this. Won’t give a Holo Audio May a run but the May is not meant for this purpose. Apples to apples must be observed for comparatives for fairness.
Thank you Mark. Good points 😊
I have the same DSDAC and I don’t hear any nosies. Only one time when the voltage were more then 235w.
Thank you for sharing 😊
Love your approach to reviewing audio gear! Have you ever listened to a Sony Hapz1es music server? I bought one several years ago and ripped all my CD’s to its 1TB hard drive. The reason why I ask is the Hapz1es converts everything coming out to DSD as well. When I output the signal via usb to my Ares12 and compare it to the output via balanced output using the Hapz1es DAC to my system, to me the sound quality is about the same to my ears. I am listening through McIntosh c50 preamp to McIntosh mc352 amp into Klipsch La Scala speakers with a well treated room. I think DSD is the way to go with digital music.
Thank you kindly. I haven’t hear the Sony. Sound like a winner 👍
@abritishaudiophile7314 Great review 👌 I do have one of these myself and I just love it. It replaced my Terminator DAC. I now going to move on and upgrading to the Deluxe version 😅 And to all the guys who mentioned a terrible dimmed display. This your demo unit has a dimming foil attachment to the screen so thats the reason behind it. You peel this off and is completely different screen. I like it dimmed myself so I have the same film attached to my DAC
Thank you 😊
Hi Tarun, It's an interesting review.
I would certainly suggest the low-level audible hum would be a deal breaker for most. A bit of a cardinal sin in today's level of affordable quality componentry the Hi-Fi sphere.
All I can say is that, hopefully, it's a one-off with your review unit.
But a great job as usual. Thank you for your efforts.
And now to the question of the day.
I would agree with your description of the DSD. It just seems to sound a little more analogue at the fear of overusing that word.
As far as PCM files are concerned
I do here an audible difference as we move up the sampling rate ladder, possibly until we get to about 192k. I have a fairly resolving system. I'm currently using the Aqua Acoustics formula xhd rev2 here at home, and really, after 192k it's all fairly academic and almost impossible to hear any discernible differences.
Thank you for sharing your experiences Shane. It seems that the hum issue is not experienced by others so it is likely just my review unit 👍
@@abritishaudiophile7314 excellent news
Love your chilled way to talk about the products. Very nice to watch. To the product, looks pretty solid to me. Only thing i would critize at this pricepoint is the cheap look of the display and the DAC itself looks pretty big. I use since 2 years the Crane Song Solaris DAC (as pre-amp via XLR for my actives) i'm pretty happy with it (but no remote, because yea... its DAC based / build for the mastering / studio world).
I listen to a lot of Lossless files streamed via USB from my PC and i personally think the differences are too small. I did a lot of blindtest with an Friend between a lot of different sources Spotify, Wav, MP3 (320 & 192kbps), Flac, Alac etc and yea, no, maybe here and there are a little bit more definition in the Highs but its def. not a big difference like when you put away a towel in front of your speakers (and we listen via Genelec 8341, Neumann KH150 & Unity Super Rocks) - three pretty high end / good monitors
Thank you. Interesting stuff. Thank you for sharing 👍
It's interesting that they went with two different FPGA vendors with the need for two different sets of software tools. I can only assume that they couldn't get exactly what they needed for both functions from Xilinx or Altera. I am guessing that the FPGAs are not of a high enough gate count to require them to move to the paid tools but I could be wrong. I'd love to talk to the engineers to find out what their selection process was. (I've sold Xilinx and Altera FPGA's over the years)
Good point. I think they keep what they are doing close to their chest. I suspect one FPGA deals with the PCM conversion and the other the upsampling algorithm 😊
Hi Tarun, thanks for the review. I've had the base model, and now the Super Clock model from Iain at Willow Tree. In response to your observations of speaker hum; I run my Cen Grand with Triangle Comete 40th Anniversary, with no speaker hum, but I also run everything through the Puritan Audio Labs PSM156 with Ground master City grounding, so this may be remedying the issue. I haven't tried the Cen Grand minus the Puritan conditioner to see if there was a hum without it, but I will do and report my findings. Thanks again Tarun, really enjoy your channel
Kindest Regards
Lyndon
Hi Lyndon. Thank you for sharing this. I used a mains distribution block with star grounding, It may be just an issue with this sample 😊
Hi Lyndon. I also have a Cen Grand, from Iain, which I think is fantastic 😁.
Would you recommend this puritan pcm156? I'm seriously considering it?
All the best,
Alex
@@cheeky1664 Hi Alex, I think if you have dirty mains (I definitely have 🫣), it's a must, especially with an all digital/streaming system . Even if not, I would say it still offers improvements - just more relaxed, system deathly quiet, and allows your system to just do its thing effortlessly.
To my mind, if you've invested £xxxx in your system already, to ignore the power input side, is missing a trick. I'm so glad I took the leap and invested in the 156 (plus Ground Master City).
I now consider the 156 as an integral part of my system, not just an after-thought, or bolt-on.
As an aside, I had a quick chat with Mike, the Puritan company owner at the NW Audio Show; thoroughly nice chap. I asked if hus Routemaster would add anything to my system and the Puritan products I already had. He could have easily spun me a load of reasons why it would be worthwhile adding the Routemaster, and maybe conjured up a sale, but he didn't. He stated, "nope with what you already have, you're all the way there". I really appreciate this kind of honesty.
Anyway, I've drivelled enough. So in a word, yes, go for it, your system will thank you 😊
Is the Superclock version really better than the basis version ? Are tne 700 pounds price difference worth it ?@@lyndoncoleman8737
Hi, have you found a massive differnce between the base model and superclock? My budget will only stretch to the base model at the moment and I am torn between this and a couple other options (Gustard R26 - a saving of £900 and Denafrips Pontus II 12-1 - a saving of £500). I do not know which to get as auditioning is not an option with any..
Great review, as always. So did the manufacturer get back to you on the hum? Was it your particular unit or something inherent? If latter, what do they plan to do about it? Thanks
It was a fault that had developed with the unit. The distributor dealt with it. I expect he would send it back to the manufacturer 😊
Hi I just bought a CenGrand DSDAC 1.0 standard version and definitely the hum / hiss was there especially after a few hours of playing it. It got much louder and constant so had to switch it off. I have tried different digital cables, power cables with QSA fuses and filters. Still problem persists.
The dealer is excellent and offered to return it. He recommended the super clock version but this is the one you have just reviewed and still hiss/hum. So given I am a Brit that lives far away abroad I can’t afford this back and forth in shipping fees, so likely will opt for Denafrips Venus ii 12th Ed on offer from same dealer.
On this basis wanted to ask you whether on balance, given build quality of denafrips (reliability) would I be missing out much by going for the Venus ii ? Like you I have sensitive speakers ie graham audio ls8/1 speakers so this may be the issue but I just can’t take the chance. Would appreciate your view on balance Venus or CenGrand , for you of course? Thanks and much appreciated.
I am still ALL-IN with your patreon…I am extremely happy with my Pontus II DAC (w/original firmware installed)….and this presentation will not convince me to stray…what's with DACs…my Pontus has no remote or display… The CenGrand includes a fine remote and display, but they manage to make it completely uninspired visually and basically a somewhat useful mess. Thanks for the awareness…but if this audiophile does any upgrading it would be to your Venus II.
A remote and cool-looking, quality display is apparently too much to hope for from Denefrips…but at least the sound quality & simple fine-quality visuals hit the mark for me.
.
Understood. Thank you for sharing 👍
I’m currently listening on iFI Stream and iFI Zen One Signature Dac. Powered by a Sansui G7000 receiver to ‘86 Klipsch LaScalas. Besides streaming Quboz have number of Flac and DSD files on a local server. Thoroughly enjoy it. About 6 months out on delivery of a Decware Sarah 5w amp. Holding off any changes until hearing and evaluating the Decware.
Cool 😎 Enjoy the Sarah when it arrives 👍
Niiiiiiiice...
@@user-ff9rx7kq2g thx 😊
Not really tried streaming, more of a CD and vinyl person, but interesting to watch still.
Don't people miss the experience of physical media? To me the interaction with my system and the physical media is a large part of the Hi-fi experience.🤔 Lol, maybe I'm just old.😂
I get that. Physically media requires more engagement and that has it’s own appeal 😊
I have yet to experience hi res audio, although I now own a player that can read SACDs. I do enjoy my upsampling DAC -sounds good to me.
Cool 😎 it may worth getting a couple of SACDs to try 😊
Dsd upsampling really works wonders even with software hqplayer windows it kicks the snot off any flagship dacs.
Thank you for sharing 😊
All this hi-res nonsense needs to be exposed for the marketing fraud that it is. Higher sample rates and more bits are used in the recording and mastering to give the engineer headroom and the ability to deliver a superb 16/44.1 version to the listener. Many audiophiles have been misled into thinking that they are being denied access to the original masters and record labels are happy to “fix” the problem by selling them the same music again, only a so called hi-res version. The number of bits defines the available dynamic range/noise floor, this is all it does. 16 bits gives a huge dynamic range, and an inaudible noise floor, way more than needed. A recording with a larger dynamic range would be undesirable as quiet passages would be too quiet to hear or loud passages would be deafening. The sample rate defines the highest frequency able to be reproduced. 44.1KHz = 20KHz which is at the upper limit of hearing. This is all it does. Sample rates higher than 44.1KHz produces ultrasonic noise that was not part of the performance. If you buy a so called hi-res version you are buying a large file padded out with millions of useless bits. Several well designed ABX tests show audiophiles cannot pick hi-res recordings over CD quality. Some os the finest recordings I have are CD 16/44.1 format and some of the hi-res recordings I own are disappointingly poor. It just goes to show it is the original production and engineering that is all important, rather than the distribution format.
Sir. Theoretically yes. But to squeeze our the DAC and DSP sound chain best SNR and DB amplitude levels and noise floor hi-res is superior.
@geoff37s38. Agreed....and most cannot hear any difference between CD and 320 mp3! Instead of pointless 'upsampling'...effort should be put into correcting for speaker/ room effects!
@@steven2809 they have wax in there ear. The electronic DSP sound chain is maximized when the highest clock calculators are used in DAC electronics.
@@chebrubin Unfortunately you have succumbed to the marketing BS..... 😖
@@chebrubin A high sample rate may actually degrade audio quality. The ultrasonic noise in the recording can produce Intermodulation Distortion with products in the audible range. Bigger numbers does not mean better.
Everything I listen to is upsampled and converted to DSD by the amazing Magic Box.. PS Audio's Ted Smith designed Directstream DAC. The playback hardware operates at such a high frequency, there is no need for phase corrupting filtering on the output. The only filtering is done by Jensen transformers. Glorious!
I noticed you still have ATC SCM19s, some reviewers say they have a noisy cabinet because there isn't enough padding inside, is this true or noticeable?
They are no longer here but I didn’t notice any such issue 😊
I’d prefer DSD because their reconstruction filters are simpler and better than the PCM ones. If only PCM is available, I prefer Hi-Rez, because in Hi-Rez the reconstruction filters do less harm. But all this counts nothing if the recording was bad in the first place.
Thank you. All good points 👍
@@abritishaudiophile7314 if you happen to have a Roon server, then you can convert PCM to DSD before sending it to the DAC and testing by yourself if you hear any differences with any given piece of gear. I tested this by myself, and had mixed results: from I hear a clear difference to I can’t hear any at all.
Good review. Is it possible the hum issue is due to being a pre-production sample? Those 3 pairs of diodes piggybacking on those 3 ICs make me think so...
I hope to find out 😊
Alas, no native high rez here, only a Foobar x2 sox resampler (tcxo'd) to extend the theoretical playback bandwidth to 40(ish) khz into my beloved dac-ah TDA1543X8 NOS.
Thank you for sharing 😊
Thank you for your reviews, We would like you please to review the Musetec Audio (LKS Audio) MH-DA005 .
Thank you,
Thank you for the suggestion 😊
Is this "superclock" version the better version, or is the less expensive "basis" model not bringing 99% of the sound ?
Great review! How would the DSDDac 1.0 compare to the Audio GD R7/R8HEMK3?
Thx. I haven’t compared them 😊
GM ☕️ from Toronto…..this looks damned interesting 😱
I hope you enjoy the review 😊
@@abritishaudiophile7314 yes, very informative, thank you.
So it’s basically doing what my PS Audio direct stream dac is already doing 🤔 without i2s capability.
I’m still running my 90’s era Denon 3520 💿 player …it’s on its 3rd DAC 🤣
Currently a Topping E50 ….along with a Wiim Pro streamer ….music never sounded so good ..but in you review..did the red book 📕 cd gain new life and vigor between the two main DAC’s ..or was it a coin toss .
Great video ☕️🍕👍
Thank you for sharing 😊
thanks but im more intresting in why is more dificult to upscale a flac format than a wav in the diference in the time coherency specialy around 1500hz to 7000hz
Just wondering if you could use this DAC as a preamp with it's volume control?
Yes 😊
Even when I watch this review for the second time, I learn something new. Still, I'm very curious to know what you think of the latest firmware for the Denafrips DACs.
Thank you. I plan to do an update video in the future 😊
@@abritishaudiophile7314 Thanks, That's what i was hoping for.
My PS Audio PerfectWave DirectStream DAC does exactly the same thing - converts everything to DSD.
Cool 😎 Paul McGowan is a big fan of DSD 😊
I have the deluxe version, and yes, it does have a bit of transformer hum too.
Interesting 😉
Hi. How is the sound quality ? Is it better than Pontus 12th or venus 12th ?
@@uguraksoy2810 I had a Pontus 2 which I traded in for the Cen.Grand, it's definitely better in terms of a bigger all round sound. Bigger soundstage and much wider. I did like the Pontus though, much better than a chip based dac.
@@philipbecker8214 thank you for sharing your experiences. I have Pontus II 12th but I am thinking about the Cen.Grand DSD 1.0 Super Clock model. The Deluxe is a bit expensive for my budget. Does it sound warm as Pontus 2 ? I really love the warm sound of Pontus.
@@uguraksoy2810 yes, equally as good as the Pontus in it's ability if not better.
First time i havent finished 1 of your excellent videos. Lost interest in the product after you showed the display:)
What a clusterf…!
Really looking forward to your Sibelius review, absolutely love fullrange speakers. Especially with Mark Audio drivers..
That is a shame. I hope you enjoyed the bit that you saw. Sibelius review pending 😊
The display on that unit is dimmed as have the dimming film fitted on top pf it
What equipment did you use to drive the dac? Did you use CD and or streamer
My Auralic Ares Mini with MCRU linear power supply 😊
I purchase audio equipment to enable me to listen to music the way I like to hear it reproduced. I’m not at all concerned about the way the equipment looks. Although, inevitably, aesthetics are a high consideration of the manufacturer especially as you ascend the price ladder. My Denafrips Venus being a prime example of that. In fact, so unconcerned am I of the way a component looks, that I hide all my audio devices in a purpose built, heavy duty cabinet, fronted with dark tinted glass doors. I would have used solid doors, but I needed them to be penetrable by my infra red remote controls.
This approach has a couple of distinct pluses. When family, friends or colleagues sit down with me to enjoy a listening session, they are forced to concentrate on the music, not the equipment reproducing that music. Fellow audiophiles who arrive for an evening of near musical nirvana cannot prejudge the musical reproduction as they can’t see the components responsible for that reproduced music.
Finally, although I have a substantial vinyl and cd collection, I stream the vast majority of my music. It’s just so damned convenient. From my listening position, with those components housed behind tinted glass, I can’t read any of the displays. So, I don’t know what type of digital file or format or bit depth or sample rate I’m hearing. Which is good, it means I’m concentrating on just the music. That having been said there are obviously times when the musical reproduction of a track sounds really impressive, or distinctly poor, which can motivate me to check those displays. My humble experience has proved to me that the dominating factor behind the quality of that musical reproduction is almost always down to the master recording. I have a highy resolving system, but seriously, in a ‘double blind’ test, I doubt I could tell the difference, or identify the digital file formats and that doesn’t concern me.
Most importantly, enjoy the music!
Thank you Howard 👍
I dunno: there are so many good DACs out there at more affordable prices. Once one finds a DAC one likes at reasonable cost, for me the returns in sound quality of spending significantly more seem difficult to justify. I've personally found that finding other key components one likes (e.g. amp and speakers/speaker cables) seems to offer more bang for the buck.
I suppose it depends how perfectionist one is and whether one is prepared to spend what is required to buy a certain level of performance. If cost isn't too limiting a factor, fair enough -- go ahead. Mind you, it's not so much that I can't afford more esoteric stuff, as that I get greater pleasure from maximising returns within cost brackets I feel comfortable with.
You do get more bang for your buck out of speaker and amp upgrades. However, a system is only as good as it’s weakest link 😊
@@abritishaudiophile7314 That's quite true. I eventually realised a few years ago that the weakest link in my system was the speaker cable I was using. Upgrading it made an appreciably greater difference than (eventually) changing the DAC.
My whole main system cost no more than around £4K, including self-build open baffles for a fraction of the price of the commercially available ones -- along with carefully selected pre- and power amps, which also give me, imho, worthy results.
I love and regularly listen to my system. It gives me enormous pleasure be able to listen to my favourite music whenever I want. But then again, so does the kick I get from doing so at keen prices. 🙂
I have DSD on my Esoteric X-5 CD player feeding into a hybrid 150W per channel Amp. I concur that DSD sounds cleaner, sweeter and more natural. What do others' think?
Thank you for sharing. That seems to be the consensus 😊
dear tarun, you are ome of my favourites. i have a r2r dac that i own. would you be happy to review it? i'm more than happy to cover shiping costs both ways, yes really.
Surgical+Mystical
Great review, thank you. Would you write here for me little more detailed compare Gustard R26 between Cengrand Dsdac?
Thank you. The R26 is a little analytical sounding and the Cen Grand is less precise but bigger, fuller and warmer sounding 😊
@@abritishaudiophile7314 thank you for response
I googled for this products, and some reviews in Chinese showed pretty bad measurements of this dac. Not sure if there're improvments in the lastest version. Some reviews did mention it sounded good but with bad measurements(seems that CenGrand admited that). Although good sound doesn't neccesarily require good measurements, but this one. Please double check.
I suspect this may be one of those products that may not have a great SINAD but sounds good from a subjective standpoint 😊
I don’t know anything about digital sound, only that my CD player gives me a headache after 30 minutes. I wonder if a cheap DAC would improve the sound from my Trigon Prince CD player. On the other hand why bother when my SME turntable sounds so good! Oh, yes that’s right, the cost of LP’s 😅
Decisions, decisions 😊
I’ve got to ask what the point of this product is? Taking an existing PCM file and converting it to DSD will not make it better. Yes , it can tidy up the timing for presentation to the amp, but that’s all I can see
Sony UBP-X800M2 SACD Queen Night at the opera Drums track 5 DSD confirms one improvement.The other is recording. Sounds like reinventing the wheel all over again. Again.
RE Value of Hi-Rez files- If an Audio Note poo-poos it and uses old chips like the AD1865 which max out at 44/96 then I take note. Do some blind tests and show us the results.
Hi Tarun Having never got into downloading music , I was wondering what I would realistically have to pay for the privilege . I’ve never even heard anything on the format , having only had vinyl and CD playback . I know you’re pretty much a download person , but now having entered my 50th year in hifi interest I’m wondering though a degree of laziness I might give it a try . My amp is the audio Lab 6000 A amp so I assume the obvious streamer would be the one made by audio lab , but after that I’m totally clueless 😂 . Best wishes and kind regards as always 😀👍👍👍
Thank you. Most of music is stored on a hard drive than connects to my streamer. I would get the 6000N and choose between Tidal or Qobuz as a streamer service 😊
@@abritishaudiophile7314 thank you my dear friend , but I’m still not sure as to how much a month I will be paying . Yes I’m a little bit stupid , but ha I’m old enough to be your dad 😂 👍👍👍
@@Mc674bo as my dad would say, the only stupid question is the one you don’t ask. I think Tidal is about £15 pcm 👍
@@abritishaudiophile7314 I Tarun I think me and your dad might have got one quite well , and indeed I’m perhaps a bit to out on a limb to really make any sensible query . So humble apologies all round , if I’ve encroached on your time . Kind regards as always 😢
There appears to be a Hz issue in your room, its in the upper low or lower mid region. surgery remove is the best
I hope this helps Xx
The lighting behind the camera is probably responsible 😊
@@abritishaudiophile7314 Very good
Wow my head hurts I’m staying with Project extension 10 turntable and Ortofon cartridge
Cool 😎 I hope you enjoyed the review 😊
My belief is I do hear a difference in Red Book vs 24 BIT but admittedly I have never A B'd them.
My best sounding recordings are high res 😊
Wait, what???....did he say "cLock" blocking?? I had trouble hearing the "L" in there..
Very funny 😆
Let’s be clear Tarun, DSD it’s an upper level.
This looks like a break through on DACS. Excellent review, as always. We are stoned.
Thank you 😊
Agreed, Sony developed DSD or 2.8224 MHz 1-bit so they could archive their catalog of analog master tapes to a format without compromising the quality of those source tapes.
Display looks really dim, shame they didnt go for led display, or the good ol vacuum flurenscent.
Does it suppert i2s?
Yes it does. You could have seen it in the beginning of the video where you saw the back of it.
There is no IIS connection 😊
@@richardvanenteren2745im not familiar with connections, there is no standard connection for it.
Hmm, You are ‘of course’ right😬. Don’t know where I got it from but I’m definitely mistaken with another video I’ve seen before😳.
Display is dimmed only because this demo unit has a dimming foil attached to the screen
Hello, which is better, this or pontus ?
It is a matter to taste 😊
This one is better 😃