DacKit Sound

[jonclancy]

Hi All,

I have been burning in my newly constructed DAC for a few days now and decided to have a bit of a comparision to my Arcam Alpha 6 CDP.

I said in the other thread that the DacKit sounded fast, with good bass weight, and detail, but that the top end was mellowed. Sat with the Missus, I plugged each unit in, in turn. We noted that the DacKit sounded a little "closed in" compared to the Arcam.

Later this afternoon, I stumbled upon my old HiFi News and Record Review Test CD. The first track is a stereo and ambisonic walkthrough. Listening to this test was a bit of a revelation!! Believe it or not, the DacKit was putting out MONO!

After a nanosecond, it dawned on me ...........

I had decided, when I was soldering the RCAs to invert the wires to save me changing the phase on the speakers when doing comparisons. See where this is going? Yup, the common ground! Doh!!

The soldering iron will come out again this evening for the 5 minute lead-swap and then we'll see what is what!!!

Well, you live and learn......

More later - with some actual reports on what the DacKit really sounds like.

Jon

This is why I do not feel ready to do any projects that involve the mains!!!

[jonclancy]

I am absolutely delighted!

I have wired the RCAs correctly, reversed the speaker phase and disconnected the battery charger.

The detail is immense!! The Arcam, by comparison, has a velvet delivery - but many of the peripheral sounds / effects / instruments etc are merged together. I have listened to Eric Clapton Unplugged, Joni Mitchell, Simply Red (Life), George Michael (Older), Eva Cassidy and a whole lot more.

There is bass, but not overkill. The cymbals has attack. Daniel Bedingfield (acoustic) was incredible - you could hear every rasp in his voice, and all the tiny imperfections that make us human.

Synth and overproduced stuff was laid bare, but well-mixed productions stood out with all that extra detail. I could amost follow the background cafe conversations in the George Micheal track.

This DacKit has had about 90 hours of running-in at this stage. If there is more improvement to come, then I will be very happy. I mean, it is much, much more detailed than my 600 GBP CD player.

Go to Scott Nixon's site and get yourself a PCB!!!

Jon

[tmd1]

And he is also a good guy to deal with. The icing on the cake!
I built the DACkit and a pair of 3875 amps. I have yet to give them a good listen all together but the DAC on its own was great.

[jonclancy]

I have 4 x 3875 amps to assemble - I can hardly wait!!

However, I have an ESP P88 to do beforehand!

Jon