RDac Dissapointment.... Alternatives Please!!!

[admin_exported]

Hello,

In short this is my set up. Roksan K2 Amp, B&W 704's, Qed revelation speaker cable, and a Mac Mini with uncompressed files fed through a 5 star chord optical lead to my Dac magic.

I upgraded to an Arcam Rdac a few days ago and whilst I am impressed with the difference i.e an improved sound field, greater detail and more expressive lower frequencies..

However, I feel that the excitement of the music has been lost in the Rdac conversion and this is ruining my experience.

I have read the forums and this seems to be a common experience.

I have read that many people have gone for a Rega Dac. Is this a worthy upgrade, is the excitement there in the Rega Dac. has any one else had this experience?

Thanks

Jason

 

[CnoEvil]

If it makes no difference (financially) run constantly for a further week. If no further improvement, look at both the Rega and the Musical Fidelity M1 (more fowrard).

 

[shooter]

Hello,

In short this is my set up. Roksan K2 Amp, B&W 704's, Qed revelation speaker cable, and a Mac Mini with uncompressed files fed through a 5 star chord optical lead to my Dac magic.

I upgraded to an Arcam Rdac a few days ago and whilst I am impressed with the difference i.e an improved sound field, greater detail and more expressive lower frequencies..

However, I feel that the excitement of the music has been lost in the Rdac conversion and this is ruining my experience.

I have read the forums and this seems to be a common experience.

I have read that many people have gone for a Rega Dac. Is this a worthy upgrade, is the excitement there in the Rega Dac. has any one else had this experience?

Thanks

Jason

I've read but not tried myself that; Rdac need's plenty of running in, 70 hrs +.

Has it had..

 

[eternaloptimist]

Wyred-4-Sound DAC1? http://www.itemaudio.co.uk/wyred_dac1.html

I have the W4S-DAC2 and it is superb....

 

[garyw77]

Try the M2tech Young Dac... huge improvement all round... challenging DACs of over twice its price. Best VFM DAC around IMO.

 

[Sizzers]

Hello,

In short this is my set up. Roksan K2 Amp, B&W 704's, Qed revelation speaker cable, and a Mac Mini with uncompressed files fed through a 5 star chord optical lead to my Dac magic.

I upgraded to an Arcam Rdac a few days ago and whilst I am impressed with the difference i.e an improved sound field, greater detail and more expressive lower frequencies..

However, I feel that the excitement of the music has been lost in the Rdac conversion and this is ruining my experience.

I have read the forums and this seems to be a common experience.

I have read that many people have gone for a Rega Dac. Is this a worthy upgrade, is the excitement there in the Rega Dac. has any one else had this experience?

Thanks

Jason

Begs the question if you've read the forum and it's a ..."common experience", why did you buy it?

 

[richardw42]

Don't give up on the rdac yet. When I got mine I was very disappointed, questionable whether it actually sounded better than the dac on my AV amp. Started looking at a Musical Fidelity M1 almost immediately.
But it's true it starts sounding better. I've not really been using it a great deal over the 2 months I've had it.
Listening to Stone Sour - Audio Secrecy last night sounded better than ever, left it going all night and this morning better again. If it makes sense the sound seems to have a crisper edge.
So I'd say give it another week and a lot of use and you might change your mind.

 

[Cypher]

I used my rdac now for three weeks and the sound has changed a lot. Bass became tighter and the sound opens up. I'm delighted with mine......i still can't believe how much details you hear in the music.

 

[Overdose]

Try the M2tech Young Dac... huge improvement all round... challenging DACs of over twice its price. Best VFM DAC around IMO.

Could you possibly elaborate on which of the more expensive DACs that you have compared it against?

I'm looking at the possibility of a DAC right now.

 

[SonofSun]

In my experience the Rega dac is well worth the money, it comparison to the dacmagic it certainly injected life into the music. I am a big fan of the K2, but not the QED revelation which I though just robbed the system of bandwidth. So, a thumbs up for the Rega dac, and maybe consider a copper cable.

Just my opinion, hope it is some use.

 

[Anonymous]

Have a look at the Musical Fidelity V-DAC with the V-PSU option. Many are finding it here a difficult combination to beat without spending a lot of money.

 

[Anonymous]

I returned my rDAC after one week of testing too ... Its sound was significantly worse than my old CD Denon 615 - lack of details, subtle sounds and highs dumped, lack of colors, emotions and excitement from music was not there ... I listen acoustic music, classic, jazz, etno, baroque and rDAC was not able to reproduce thouse sounds good ... Maybe it can change a bit with more burnin but I doubt it can be so huge step.

Now I'm puzzled which another DAC to take. Maybe 8200CD/Q or M2tech Young .. both significantly more expensive and maybe with some crankiness problems ..

 

[dannycanham]

My rdac took 200 hours for whatever reason to settle. I would usually advise giving it more time. However excitement isn't what springs to mind when listening to it. I think you have gone for the wrong dac for your tastes more so if usb isn't the main source (which I couldn't tell from your post).

 

[Anonymous]

You are probably right - rDAC seems to be designed for easy listening music, pop/rock, not for more demanding acoustic music with it's subtlety and miscellany ...

Async USB is my main requirement, because I want to play from NAS over HTPC (I hate storing hunderts of CDs 🙂 )

 

[El Hefe]

I ran in rDAC for more than 400 hours but it was till a dissapointment to me (well at least to my ears). There was no improvement that I gained from the first day it was purchased and 400 hrs later. Had it for 6 months and now its sold. Fortunately, the buyer manage to hear the difference using rDAC.

Not saying its a bad product but it was not for me.

 

[dannycanham]

If the sound of the dac didn't change over the 400 hours then it wasn't ran in for 400 hours it was played for 400 hours. The point I was making was that the sound of my dac changed over a 200 hour period before settling.

 

[El Hefe]

Sorry danny, didnt get you there and didnt mean to say your comment was wrong. My point was that rDAC sound may just not be the best to my ears. And maybe the OP is feeling the same.

Run in vs played? Do you mean run in to be actually listening to it for 200 hrs and played meaning putting music through it without listening to it for 200 hours?

I actually listened to it for about and hour a day. Since last October. I alternate between rDAC and MF M1 an hour each a day.

 

[Anonymous]

Having listened to both the Rdac and the Rega Dac, I personally feel that although the difference between the Rdac and the Rega Dac is discernible, with the Rega Dac sounding more musical, the difference is slight. Stick to the Rdac or the Dac magic if you still have it in my opinion and save yourself cash and the trouble.

I'll recommend giving the Logitech Transporter a go given the price drop. When you have cash to splash later on, get an external dedicated DAC like the Chord and you'll be impressed.