T+A DAC 200

[Bobusfindus]

Hi @Woolf… oh ok great - no need to spend ages trying to decide which sounds best then! Just spends ages sitting back and listening to the absolutely gorgeous music this DAC produces 👌🏼

[Woolf]

9 hours ago, Bobusfindus said:

Hi @Woolf… oh ok great - no need to spend ages trying to decide which sounds best then! Just spends ages sitting back and listening to the absolutely gorgeous music this DAC produces 👌🏼

You can find more details of almost the same question from me on page 30.

[Bobusfindus]

Ok… next time I’ll read the whole post before asking! Clear reply to your original post 👍🏼

[Woolf]

12 minutes ago, Bobusfindus said:

Ok… next time I’ll read the whole post before asking! Clear reply to your original post 👍🏼

No no, absolutely no problem, I only just found the info I got from OE333, who really is a great supporter in this forum.
This was also important for me because I prefer the "DSD-Sound" and know now that I don´t have to invest time with the filters.

So in knowing this I have a filter set which then has influence in my CD listening which is great that I don´t have to switch when changing between DSD and the PCM.

Have a great day1

[Bobusfindus]

5 hours ago, Woolf said:

No no, absolutely no problem, I only just found the info I got from OE333, who really is a great supporter in this forum.
This was also important for me because I prefer the "DSD-Sound" and know now that I don´t have to invest time with the filters.

So in knowing this I have a filter set which then has influence in my CD listening which is great that I don´t have to switch when changing between DSD and the PCM.

Have a great day1

So does that mean that I can still set a filter, and it will be applied to non DSD files, but when the DAC detects a DSD file it will bypass all the filtering? Maybe one that @OE333 could answer?

[Woolf]

1 hour ago, Bobusfindus said:

So does that mean that I can still set a filter, and it will be applied to non DSD files, but when the DAC detects a DSD file it will bypass all the filtering? Maybe one that @OE333 could answer?

Exactly, the filter settings work, afaik, on all files but not on DSD.

[OE333]

On 3/5/2024 at 4:36 PM, Woolf said:

Exactly, the filter settings work, afaik, on all files but not on DSD.

 

 

#Very well answered by @Woolf

 

The Filters in DAC200 are only applied to PCM streams.

DSD always goes directly to the converter stages.

 

 

[russellbobby]

I anxiously await the delivery of the Dac 200 I am a little bummed after seeing the Goldensound YouTube review. Sounds like it needs to get fed DSD to sound good. 
I use Roon but not sure how good the HQP implementation is, so I guess I need a streamer  that upsamples to DSD? I know the Lumin’s and Grimm do. Anything else?  Really not looking at a PC/HQP way as looks way to confusing and latency would probably drive me crazy. 
Thanks for the replies. 

 

[Bobusfindus]

Hi there… the Chord M Scaler will upsample if you already have a streamer? Or an Auralic Aries? Both very solid units. 
I have a Lumin U1 Mini and use it to stream and up sample to DSD and it sounds absolutely great!

I tried up sampling to DSD with my Roon Nucleus and I didn’t think it sounded too bad at all, but the Nucleus itself didn’t cope too well with the processing overhead and kept dropping out and was generally unstable, so I switched over to the Lumin instead. Rock solid ever since.

 

Do you already have a streamer? 

[russellbobby]

Yes I have a Melco NA H60ex. I have DSD and Hi Rez flac and Wav files on it. The Lumin U2 or the mini have no storage correct?   So I guess I really need a server/streamer that upscales to DSD. 
Hoping to have delivery by the weekend. I heard a Dac 200 streaming Qobuz without upsampling and it sounded pretty good from what I can tell. 
I can look at the Auralic. Did not know they upscaled. Had the old school Aries back in the day with the seperate LPS. Sounded good back then but switched over to the Aurenders and it was a bit better. 
I probably should have done my homework a little more. I know it’s a great sounding unit just have to do a little work to get there. 

[jrsub]

1 hour ago, russellbobby said:

Yes I have a Melco NA H60ex. I have DSD and Hi Rez flac and Wav files on it. The Lumin U2 or the mini have no storage correct?   So I guess I really need a server/streamer that upscales to DSD. 
Hoping to have delivery by the weekend. I heard a Dac 200 streaming Qobuz without upsampling and it sounded pretty good from what I can tell. 
I can look at the Auralic. Did not know they upscaled. Had the old school Aries back in the day with the seperate LPS. Sounded good back then but switched over to the Aurenders and it was a bit better. 
I probably should have done my homework a little more. I know it’s a great sounding unit just have to do a little work to get there. 

I would wait until you get the DAC 200 and hear it for yourself before you draw any conclusions as to PCM performance based on one guy's review.   My DAC 200 sounds excellent with PCM files as well as DSD. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

2 hours ago, russellbobby said:

I anxiously await the delivery of the Dac 200 I am a little bummed after seeing the Goldensound YouTube review. Sounds like it needs to get fed DSD to sound good. 

With all due respect, you place waaaaaaaay to much credence in a YouTube review. I like Camron and look forward to talking with him in Munich again this year, but wouldn’t accept as fact that the DAC 200 requires DSD to sound good based on his review. My guess is that he’d probably say the same thing about my reviews, and those of others. We all provide a data point. 
 

The DAC 200 is fantastic with PCM and DSD. 

[stereousa]

@russellbobby, just go the previous page before you posted on Head-fi.org site and you will see the poster TonyNewman state that he loves PCM mode of this DAC. It took quite a few hours of playback though for the OCM to shine. Based on all that I have read and followed, this DAC seems a good one to hold on to for a long long time. Not sure if I can swing one. Let’s see in another 6 months or so. I am also looking forward to what new DACs they announce at Munich 2024.

[SPAZ]

I've compared the DAC200 to my Schiit LIM Yggy and liked the DAC200 better and that was before I used DSD, which is something the Yggy cannot due and that brought up everything another step above. 

[Lokesh]

I feel both PCM and DSD sound excellent from the DAC200. I just convert to DSD256 through the Lumin U2 Mini because the feature is available. If this feature was not available through the Lumin, I’d still be super happy with PCM with Bezier 2 filter. 

[Patu]

DAC200 is great both ways, PCM and DSD. I was also surprised by the GoldenSound review and read it before I got a chance to audition it. Even bigger surprise was how great the DAC200 sounded. I changed from Holo Spring 3 to DAC200. I’d say DAC200 has bigger gap in sound quality between PCM and DSD than Holo, but the reason is that the DSD section performs even better than on Holo. Also there are options (filters) to tune the PCM sound signature on DAC200, even without the HQPlayer. The integrated analog preamp is also superb and I’m probably soon selling my Holo Serene since the DAC200 sounds better without it. 

[russellbobby]

Thanks for the positive vibes on my decision. Being delivered today. It’s previously owned so already broken in. 
Should be a fun weekend. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 hour ago, russellbobby said:

Thanks for the positive vibes on my decision. Being delivered today. It’s previously owned so already broken in. 
Should be a fun weekend. 

You have a wonderful weekend, and decades of listening enjoyment ahead of you. 

[Axiom05]

14 hours ago, russellbobby said:

Yes I have a Melco NA H60ex. I have DSD and Hi Rez flac and Wav files on it. The Lumin U2 or the mini have no storage correct?   So I guess I really need a server/streamer that upscales to DSD. 
Hoping to have delivery by the weekend. I heard a Dac 200 streaming Qobuz without upsampling and it sounded pretty good from what I can tell. 
I can look at the Auralic. Did not know they upscaled. Had the old school Aries back in the day with the seperate LPS. Sounded good back then but switched over to the Aurenders and it was a bit better. 
I probably should have done my homework a little more. I know it’s a great sounding unit just have to do a little work to get there. 

The Auralic Aries G2.x series will not convert PCM to DSD, only upsample PCM. The new G3 (if it's ever released) is supposed to do PCM to DSD. Trust your ears first before panicking.😊

[barrows]

I also saw that you use Roon, right?  Roon can convert to DSD 256 and does a decent job of doing so, I expect as well as any streamer's built in oversampling.  If you do find that DSD via Roon oversampling sounds best in your system, at that point you might want to consider HQPlayer, as HQPlayer's oversampling to DSD is advanced well beyond anything else-the HQPlayer modulators are really special.

I am convert to using HQPlayer oversampling to DSD, so much so that I built a dedicated DAC optimized for doing exactly that.

[russellbobby]

Just hook this up. Sounds pretty good cold.  I bought it used and the lights  on the meters are not operating. I have been thru the menu system but having no luck. 
Any ideas?

thanks
 

[Patu]

2 hours ago, russellbobby said:

Just hook this up. Sounds pretty good cold.  I bought it used and the lights  on the meters are not operating. I have been thru the menu system but having no luck. 
Any ideas?

thanks
 

Try to restore it to the factory settings. This happens from the settings menu. There’s also settings for the lights though. Manual has instructions for navigating the settings menu. 

[droffen]

3 hours ago, russellbobby said:

Just hook this up. Sounds pretty good cold.  I bought it used and the lights  on the meters are not operating. I have been thru the menu system but having no luck. 
Any ideas?

thanks
 

Check the firmware version as well!

[jrsub]

7 hours ago, russellbobby said:

Just hook this up. Sounds pretty good cold.  I bought it used and the lights  on the meters are not operating. I have been thru the menu system but having no luck. 
Any ideas?

thanks
 

The display mode can be set to temporary or always on.  If it is set to temporary the meters and lights only come on when you press a button on the unit or on the remote and they will only stay on for a couple of seconds.   If you have no meters or lights ever, then you might have an issue. 

[OE333]

As @Patu said:    try to restore to factory settings first. That should bring the meter illumination back on.

 

If that is not the case, I suspect that a cable connector between the front panel PCB and the meters has become loose....