T+a dac 8 dsd

[lmitche]

2700 Euros

[lmitche]

Did the sticker contain quantum dots as well?

[lmitche]

We had a big get together at my house this past weekend to audition the T+A DAC 8 DSD. Four of us, Zorntel, Hifial, Eurodriver and myself were in attendance.

 

Wow! What a DAC! Everyone was blown away by DSD 512! Hifial said it was the best he has ever heard the live version of Hotel California from Hell Freezes Over. Upsampling a redbook copy, it sounds amazing. Next we listened to Gregory Porters solo performance of "God Bless the Child", also Redbook. Sitting on the sidelines, I could watch everyone's jaw hit the floor! Totally spine tingling! Lastly we up-sampled Patricia Barbers " Let it Rain" live performance from Companion from DSD64 to 512. This was the biggest surprise for me. You were in the club with ambient sound from the venue all around. Someone said it was like having pinpoint imaging, but without the sharp point.

 

There is a huge difference between DSD256 and 512, there is just more emotion conveyed at DSD 512.

 

We listened to a hastily built PC with a I7-6700k, Asus z170 mobo, 8gb crucial ballistic RAM, Seasonic fanless 400 watt PSU, and ISCSI boot with upsampling via Hqplayer. A Scythe low profile fan and heatsink were used for cooling. The 220 volt T+A was powered by a step up transformer.

 

Hifial brought along Stillpoint minis. It's crazy what a difference they make supporting both the DAC and computer case. He also brought along a Curious USB cable. While the Curious changes the sound, votes are still out on the benefit.

 

We all agreed that this was the future of DAC design. The simple chipless DSD DAC design in the T+A is the way to go!

 

Anyway, very cool!

[lmitche]

At DSD512 there was no need for a graphics card here.

[lmitche]

All this hype around upsampled rbcd and pop rock music sound is subjective and lacks any real reference point. And I doubt it really tells anything much about the actual sound quality of this DAC.

I will be lot more interested in hearing from Jared how hopefully natively recorded DSD 256 or DXD masters of large scale classical acoustic music sounds via this new DAC.

I haven't heard the T+A, yet but I have heard the Chord DAVE via HE1000 and HD800 headphones only so far. But one thing was pretty clear to me with masterfiles where I have a reference, that DAVE delivered what could very well be the best digital SQ from any consumer product.

I have heard and owned quite a few dacs but as far as DAVE is concerned it is no hype to say that it is in the SOTA category and possibly the world leader currently.

However much I would wish this hype around the T+A to be more than just hype,I strongly doubt that a DAC that sells for 2700€ will be as good as DAVE.

I am baffled at the use of music and recordings that aren't really very suitable to judge SQ in the elevated highend category keeps popping up over and over again.

Nothing wrong with Hotel California, but certainly not serious test material in real hi fi terms imho.

LOL, Test track snobbery! Now I've heard it all.

[lmitche]

Lol, Cowboy Junkies "Hard to Explain" is another great test track. Very complicated and layered. Tough female vocals at the start. I saw them perform it live a few weeks ago. Awesome!

[lmitche]

Hi Al,

 

Thanks for your kind words. I very much enjoyed meeting you and look forward to our next get together. It was great to meet Robert as well, who came all the way from Chicago. Lastly a big thanks to Ed for making this all possible. Ed both traveled from Europe and hand carried the T+A Dac for us to audition.

 

I think we all learned a lot about this amazing new technology and quite a bit from each other in a very short amount of time.

 

I look forward to our next get together.

 

Larry

[lmitche]

You can take a look at the video of the performance, see the venue, and number of acoustic instruments here: http://www.veoh.com/m/watch.php?v=v365787ffd6sK47 The song starts 11 mins in.

[lmitche]

Yes, we used wide mode and HQplayer upsampling to DSD512 exclusively.

[lmitche]

Agreed, at DSD512 bass was deep, full and tight here. We had the wide setting on for the entire audition.

[lmitche]

Interesting to hear.

But it would be even more interseting to know the source material you used to arrive at that conclusion.

Did you use any native DSD recorded material at all and if so what rates and what type of music?

Could you quote any specific recordings used or are we still talking digital remasters of things like Hotel California or just upsampled redbook?

Thanks in advance Chris

Chris, can you please suggest some recordings that you think would be useful for this testing?

[lmitche]

It is indeed using the Amanero with one of the older stable firmware versions. I asked them too if it is possible to update it but got no straight answer, hopefully that can be done in the future, it would be magnificent to use it at DSD512 with the microRendu...

Agreed, I would like to see DSD512 with Linux as well.

[lmitche]

 

At the moment playing @DSD512 to the T+A DAC8 DSD from my Linux workstation, using the MacMini as Windows-based NAA:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]26050[/ATTACH]

 

Hi Miska,

 

Is there any hope for raw DSD 512 from Linux with the T&A? I'd like to through Windows out the Window!

 

Thanks,

 

Larry

[lmitche]

About a month ago some of you were asking about processor utilization during HQplayer upsampling of DSD256 and PCM384 tracks to DSD512. I tested this tonight using an IFI DSD (sorry to say I don't have my T+A DSC 8 DSD yet) and the processor never broke 32% utilization with an Intel I7-6700k at 4.16 ghz and 2400 mhz DDR4 RAM running Windows 10 version 1511. This is without a Nvidia CUDA graphics card. This machine uses ISCSI boot.

 

Thanks to zorntel for the IFI loaner.

 

Actually several familiar DSD256 tracks from 2L at DSD512 sound surprisingly good with the IFI DSD.

 

I have to say I think DSD512 is the sweet spot many of us have been looking for.

[lmitche]

Funny, I am successfully running roon server and upsampling to DSD512 here on a single machine running without CUDA with a I7-6700k and 8 gigs of 2400 MHz RAM on Windows 10 1511.

 

This machine boots via ISCSI over the network where boot images and music files reside on a NAS served via SMBD. This setup should make this config slower then one with a local ssd.

 

I am surprised to hear that others are having dropout issues. My Windows build is highly tuned, so perhaps that's the difference. That and Roon / Hqplayer run from ramdisk.

[lmitche]

It would be a lot easier if there existed a 'tested and certified' one-box solution (HW + SW) out there, but I guess we then are moving into the Music Gallery territory....(?)

I believe there exist a customer segment that are reluctant to take the plunge due to performance requirements for running HQP, and I am one of them (despite being familiar with computers).

Yes, this is indeed SGM territory.

[lmitche]

If you don't do CUDA offload, can the CPU handle DSD512 OK?

I don't have a graphics card and the i7-6700k upsamples to DSD512 with no issue. The SGM music server also has no graphics card and does the same.

 

Both are running a highly tuned versions of Windows 10 with Hqplayer given high scheduling priority, real-time in my case. This is with Roon server running as well.

 

So Cuda is not necessary for dsd512 playback.

[lmitche]

Although my Vega ownership predates the T+A by about 3 years with several dacs in between I feel confident in stating its not in the same league when feeding them dsd at any rate.

+1

[lmitche]

Yes, or ask if you participate in the beta. This is a great tool.

[lmitche]

Great news!

[lmitche]

The IFI microiDSD does DSD512.

[lmitche]

I doubt the i7-6700T is fast enough for dsd512.

[lmitche]

No need for +5 voltage with the T+A USB input. We used a vbus eliminator here on the computer side with a positive SQ impact.

[lmitche]

Many of the people who have contributed to this thread have both auditioned and several have owned the Dave. For us the time for comparison has come and gone. We have made our choice.

 

I think everyone would encourage you to listen to both DACs fed by the best possible server config that you find acceptable, and to make up your own mind. If you want share that experience here afterwards that would be great.

[lmitche]

ok for the computer side , now what will be the best USB solution to feed the T+A DSD8 ?

1:motherboard USB + regen /DAC

2: dedicated PCI USB CARD( JCAT ,SOTM ;P hang ) /DAC

I'm using the USB 3.1 port of the above Asus motherboard here with great results. A REGEN adds value only if it's galvanically isolated with a battery. When available I'll try with an LPS-1.

 

Larry