ANTELOPE ZODIAC DACs : who has listened them ?

[lolo77]

Hello

 

I was thinking that probably some of you have the chance to hear the first DAC antelope.

I like this brand and I own for my personal use an Isochrone OCX and 10M.

 

They have presented the Zodiac on exhibitions, but I haven't the possibility to go.

I know that only the version "+" is avalaible at the moment.

My target is the "Gold", the sole I could link with my 10M Rubidium Clock. But for my clients and me (in a first time, le "+" version seems to be already a very competitiv model.

I know also that the internal clock is their last generation of clock working in 64bits.

 

Some advice or impression… ?

 

 

[bixby]

Heard it briefly in a reference system with which I have decent familiarity. Also heard it next to a Weiss Minerva, Ayre QB-9 and Tranquility dac.

 

The Antelope + seemed most detailed in the highs compared to the others, yet with a bit of forwardness. The Antelope also seemed to offer lots of spatial cues that were a bit different than the others. That is about all I could pick up since the time spent with it was rather limited. All the dacs are worthy of a listen and offered differing perspectives. For me the Ayre was about the most balanced, but I could get used to the Weiss if it were the same price as the Ayre.

 

[ted_b]

it against my Weiss DAC2 and against my memory (unfair) of the LIO-8 demo.

 

[earflappin]

Ted_b, cool. That will be interesting. Now then, if could just get a Weiss DAC202 to compare as well... :-)

 

[ted_b]

I'm just seeing what percentage of LIO-8 is available via these $2k-or-less alternatives. I wish I could a/b the Wyred but EJ's still backed up with paying customers.

 

The LIO-8 will be in my rack soon enough....

 

[lolo77]

Nice Bixby,

but if i understand well, you prefered the Ayre or the Weiss, no ?

 

[lolo77]

I wait for your comments.

 

I don't know the LIO-8 ? Never heard

do you think it's better than antelope + ?

Give your advice after to have listened it

 

the lio remember my last ADC Lynx Aurora 8 FW. Nice but I found it not enough musical.

 

[earflappin]

Ted, :-) I agree of course! Especially when one uses ASI Liveline cables with it....that I have you to thank for and I am delighted with them.

 

However, just as you are benchmarking the performance of less expensive DAC's against the LIO-8 it would interesting to me to have someone with no ax to grind (like you) to do the same for something like the DAC202 which is 2X its price....

 

BTW, speaking of the LIO-8 have you tried its MIO Strip EQ capability? Based on Bob Stern's recommendation I did. Let me say upfront, I've never been a big fan of EQ which I primarily tried to use when dialing in subs. But....I have gotten a nice improvement with just 5-10 minutes work. I got out my Phonic portable frequency analyzer, played some pink noise and flattened out 1 dip and 1 hump (I haven't gotten around to deploying any room treatments yet in my new room). Very nice improvement. This is the kind of value add most other DAC's don't offer which is icing on the cake IMHO.

 

[bixby]

I preferred the Ayre but could live with the Weiss. The Weiss was very delicate in nature. Sounded really sweet especially in the highs. I did feel the Ayre was a tad more dynamic and piano sounded a bit better to me. BUT and this is a BIG BUT(pardon the pun), I only had about 3-4 cuts on each dac to form these opinions. And setup and system choices for cables between each were obviously different. So while all sounded good, I could have easily picked either over the other if a more synergistic cable match was found for example.

 

In fact, when we went from single ended cable to XLR for one of the hookups and then inserted a new single ended into the mix, we got more of an audience positive reaction to that than to any of the dacs on test.

 

Often times we are splitting hairs when it comes to dacs and I think when you get up in this level for me I am hitting the point of diminishing returns. It is also one of the reasons why I still have two Benchmark DAC1s at home. For me it is hard to go up a $1000 or more for each minor level of refinement. eg. the Antelope and the Ayre are about $1500 more than the Benchmark and then the Weiss is $4000 more. If it is my money, I would stop at the Ayre level and call it a day.