Dac's for use with the Ncore Amps

[jtwrace]

Originally Posted by barrows

I used to work at PS Audio, and I live in Boulder, and still visit the listening room at PS occasionally.
.

Nice that they still let you in. Why did you leave then?

[barrows]

Originally Posted by jtwrace

Nice that they still let you in. Why did you leave then?

Being an audiophile, I have a pretty good relationship with Paul McGowan. I do not think it is appropriate or professional to discuss work place situations in a public forum.

[jtwrace]

Originally Posted by barrows

Being an audiophile, I have a pretty good relationship with Paul McGowan. I do not think it is appropriate or professional to discuss work place situations in a public forum.

Of course. I just thought it could've been a simple "I went to another audio company or on my own." No biggie.

[hopkins]

Originally Posted by bavmike

I think most people on here with Ncores, have the need for a digital source of some type. Since the Ncores are so revealing, digital sources that might have sounded good with other amps, may not fare so well with the Ncore. So I think that if anybody has some useful information about a digital source, in any price range, that they have personally had positive or negative results with while pairing with the Ncores, would be a great benefit to the Ncore listening community. The Ncores are very high end amplifiers. And with out a equally high end source, their true potential is never revealed. I believe in matching all the components in the audio chain with components of similar quality. The end result is only as good as the weakest link.

Agreed. Used a Wadia 121 with my Ncores and found it to be a poor match. Moved to an 1yre QB-9, and am very happy (needs a preamp). I doubt anyone here will be surprised....

[PassingThrough]

FWIW, I'm happy with the Matrix Mini-i and Ncore combo.

I attribute this to the AD1955 DAC chip which is a touch smoother and a bit less bright than some. I did have the vendor upgrade the opamp from OP275 to AD8599, but I did this before listening to the stock version so can't really say how great a change that made compared to stock.

[bavmike]

I'm considering trying out a EXAsound e20 DAC. exaSound Audio Design > e20 DAC > Overview
Looks like a awesome product. It's designed with the same philosophy as the Ncores, keep the signal as neutral as possible and add no sonic signature of it's own. Also can decode DSD and DXD up to 384khz. I'll keep you guys posted on my impressions if I decide to take them up on their 30 day in home trial.

[bavmike]

Originally Posted by PassingThrough

FWIW, I'm happy with the Matrix Mini-i and Ncore combo.

I attribute this to the AD1955 DAC chip which is a touch smoother and a bit less bright than some. I did have the vendor upgrade the opamp from OP275 to AD8599, but I did this before listening to the stock version so can't really say how great a change that made compared to stock.

If you can without soldering, or if your handy with soldering, try swapping the opamps with either the Burson audio hd's or DEXA discrete's. Made a massive difference on my Eastern Audio Minimax plus. The burson's are fuller and richer, while the DEXA's are sharper and more crystalline. The minmax plus uses 2 stages of opamps, so I mixed and matched both and felt I got the best results possible with the combination.

[PassingThrough]

I'm considering trying out a EXAsound e20 DAC.

That that does look very nice. Let us know if you try it.

I shied away from ES9018 Sabre32 DAC's with the Ncore as I sometimes listen to lower quality material like Spotify, Pandora, etc and was worried about the synergy being too revealing or clinical. But I did that without really trying one with it first so would be curious to hear your impressions.

[Julf]

Originally Posted by PassingThrough

I shied away from ES9018 Sabre32 DAC's with the Ncore as I sometimes listen to lower quality material like Spotify, Pandora, etc and was worried about the synergy being too revealing or clinical.

Maybe you just need tone controls or an equalizer

[bavmike]

Originally Posted by PassingThrough

That that does look very nice. Let us know if you try it.

I shied away from ES9018 Sabre32 DAC's with the Ncore as I sometimes listen to lower quality material like Spotify, Pandora, etc and was worried about the synergy being too revealing or clinical. But I did that without really trying one with it first so would be curious to hear your impressions.

The way I see it, with extremely revealing components in your signal chain, with a computer as a source, you can always play around with dsp filtering options to add sweetness and warmth to lower quality recordings. If you play around enough with the various plugin filters available with the top players out there you can replicate the "house sound" of any of the more forgiving system combinations out there. Now the best part is you can take it away for the ultimate in performance when you happen to be listening to amazing sounding recordings. You can't go both ways when you have components with a signature "house sound" incorporated into them.