I wonder if....

[admin_exported]

Evening All,

I need some advice with my system & I'm hoping you can help

For a while now I haven't been 100% happy with the performance of my system (as per signature) when listening to music (Stereo 2.1). I have found the sound a little bright, and the top end quite forward. Until now I have persisted with it, but tend not to listen for longer than an hour as the sound is quite tiring.

After having an 'I wonder if....' moment last night I connected the ZP90 (via Coax) directly to my amp, bypassing the DAC Magic only to find that the problem is nolonger present. The sound is much wamer overal and the treble is nolonger harsh or over pronounced.

Problem Solved?!

Not quite. Although the tone is much better, the presentation isnt quite as open and spacious as with the DacMagic.

I think the solution is to find a new DAC which is fairly neutral. Do you agree?

If so, can anyone suggest anything for my audition list, before I go visit a dealer at the weekend? There is quite a lot of selection out there, could take a while to audition them all Budget isn't a real problem, more a case of the right component for the job considering the rest of the system.

If you think a DAC is not the solution, I would be really interested to hear your thoughts and suggestions.

Many thanks!

 

[mpapo]

I don't have any experience with it, but I think the Rega Dac would suit your needs nicely. It's said to deliver a very "analog" presentation.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi mpapo,

Thanks for your suggestion, Rega DAC is now on the audition list!

 

[jjbomber]

Given that the problems are with the stereo playback, have you considered adding a power amp, one with a unity gain. Depending on what sound you are after, you could even add an integrated amp instead and feed that direct from the ZP90. In cinema use, the volumn would be controlled via the AVR2312, so no problems there.

 

[CnoEvil]

As well as Rega, the usual suspects are the DACs from Audiolab (M Dac), Arcam (r Dac) and Musical Fidelity (M1 Dac).