I have recently replaced my arcam rdac with the rega dac and must say that I am slightly disappointed. It doesn't seem to offer anything over and above the rdac and even seems slightly worse in some areas. My initial impression was that it gave a more three dimensional soundstage, more natural sounding instruments, greater dynamics, and greater clarity of vocals whilst losing out to the rdac on detail and timing. Van Morrison sounded better than I had ever heard him but fast electronic music lost out, for instance. This may be unreasonable of me, but I was disappointed that the rega lost out in any way to the rdac but I am even more disappointed now that even these original qualities seem to have faded some what. I just wondered if anyone else had similar experiences and if there is anything I should consider before I return it to the shop for a refund. I have a Cyrus 8vs2 with Monitor Audio GS10s and the dac is being fed by a squeezebox. Could it be that because a lot of my listening is at relatively low sound levels that I am not giving the rega enough volume to demonstrate its capabilities, or other factors such as burn in or lack of synergy with my kit or music preferences or was I just expecting too much? Any thoughts or comments welcome.
In a similar vein, I have been seriously considering adding an x power to my setup. Would this also be wasted because I do most of my listening at relatively low volumes - I'm not talking whisper quiet here, just so that you can have a converstion at the same time without shouting.
In a similar vein, I have been seriously considering adding an x power to my setup. Would this also be wasted because I do most of my listening at relatively low volumes - I'm not talking whisper quiet here, just so that you can have a converstion at the same time without shouting.