Post by garbulky on Oct 14, 2013 3:11:53 GMT -5
Welcome to my DC-1 review!
It’s really long. Scroll all the way down to THE POINT if you want to get to...the point.
But first….
A note about bass – I never thought I would say this as I really really like bass. But there is too much upper bass emphasis. (For my tastes). The headphone amplifier has a 2db bass boost that can be disabled. I haven’t done this but I wonder if it applies to the analog outputs causing this perception.
I tried some bass sweeps and in my room there was significant peaking in the upper bass around 100hz and above. However on the headphones through the analog ouput it sounded more neutral. Also the songs where I complained about too much bass sounded significantly more balanced on my headphone amplifier (from the DC-1 RCA outputs). So it just may be my room/speakers. So
Edit: It was my room. Got that fixed. It's fantastic!
I will tone down any heavy bass comments from this review as I don’t want to mention something unfairly. But I felt that a lot of the songs had too much bass on the speakers. I will still mention it sometimes (think warmth as its positive aspect) but just keep that in mind that it may be a room effect / bass jumper setting which could be disabled – I have no clue.
Also: Thank you to our resident B’zilla who offered to loan me his DC-1.
Onto the review!
The sound signature of the DC-1 is warm and full. I was worried about op-amps as with previous DAC’s with op-amps I've heard an identifiable peak in the low treble usually in the range of acoustic guitar treble sounds and female voices that give it an electronic sound. But….I really shouldn’t have been. Not even slightly. The DC-1 has no such coloration.
Pros:
The female voice:
It’s a love song to the female voice. It isn’t a recording engineers DAC imo because it makes pretty much everything sound great! Probably not what you want if you are an engineer! But it’s really clear.
While the XDA-1 the voices sound thinner, the DC-1 makes it sound more “analog” warm and coherent. This coherency is an important distinguisher. The voices are continous as it holds a note and sounds more real and less "grainy" or like a recording. It's the most obvious difference of the DC-1.
The female voice (again!):
It sounds GREAT. So many inflections are heard. You can hear the singing through the nasal passages! It sounds like an open window. While the XDA-1 had the amazing disappearing act of having the voices hover in the air and be transparent. The DC-1 does it too but with less gimmicky-ness to it. The voices have more body.
Dynamics: It’s listed in the negatives as well but in case it’s not clear. This DAC has really nice dynamics too. So uh, yeah. It’s listed in both. The positive outweighs the negative easily. It’s better than the XDA-1.
Resonances and detail: It brings it.
Placement: The DC-1 brings it. It’s better than the XDA-1. When it places instruments it doesn’t mess around. The instrument is THERE. It is behind THIS instrument. The third instrument is slightly to the left over THERE behind the main vocal which HERE in the center ahead of those instruments. The bass I mentioned appears to help it to anchor the instruments in space better
THIS TRACK (track 2):
www.amazon.com/Treasures-Spanish-Renaissance-Francisco-Guerrero/dp/B000002ZI9/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1381732497&sr=8-3&keywords=treasures+of+the+spanish+renaissance
There’s nothing that can’t sum this DAC’s strengths up better. Turn up the volume and be floored. It’s like you ascended to heaven and angels are singing to you. The placement allows height in the audio in between the speakers like some of the singers are on platforms. Sounds extend from beyond the border of the speakers and there’s so many many voices singing. I’ve heard it on the XDA-1 where it did a fantastic job but the clarity of the DC-1 just BRINGS IT.
Orchestral music: A bit on the warm side but very enjoyable. If anybody read my ramble on how it’s tough to enjoy orchestral music unless it’s reproduced well, then you know I’m critical. This DAC can make it enjoyable.
This Song
Was really really good. I’ve heard it before but not like this.
Cons:
The pre-amp: On low volumes it’s not as enjoyable. At low volumes it lacks a punch and bite/presence in the treble. The warmth in the mid-range is a bit too much. This thing begs to be played loud. Usually above -30. Really nice above -25. Is this due to the resistive attenuation? I don’t know. But it makes sense to me especially when you take into account the dynamics. This may be what I’m referring to as two personalities in the warm up section. Using 12 and 24 db RCA line level attenuators cause a similar sound signature change on other devices which is why I wonder about the resistive attenuation on the pre-amp. However the passive pre-amp which I assume is a variable resistor did not exhibit this. So I am confused.
Warm up.
In my opinion (laugh it up, I know y’all are
), this unit has a remarkably long warm up time. It took two days before I could not want to connect the XDA-1 back in. But now, there’s no way I’m plugging the XDA-1 back in.
The sound is inconsistent. One moment you hear it and it’s amazing. Another time, it’s the same reproduction just doesn’t quite have that pop factor. It has two personalities. I can’t pinpoint what causes it and its hard to describe.It gets annoying to me. But basically the treble feels subdued and the sound less immersive/coming out at you when it’s in the not-so good mode. When it’s on it’s a game it’s pretty obvious to me.
I thought it was “warm up”. But now I’m not 100% sure as it’s happened even when the DAC has been left turned on. It’s weird. It may simply be the pre-amp being set at a lower volume. Remember I noted it gets really good when it’s loud. It goes against any objective evidence as I don’t have any. But it’s what I hear.
Dynamics:
The DC-1 IS dynamic. It can get really loud. But it’s slightly laid back regarding dynamics probably due to the warmth. It’s a tiny nit pick. And it’s part of the sound signature of this DAC.
The remote:
It was smart to make it move faster when you hold it down. But it moves too fast causing frequent errors in volume. Also the + and – volume buton has a mute right in the middle of it. If you want to hit the mute you have to focus and hit it or you miss. The mute button ruins the volume feature. A pity. I prefer the XDA-1 remote’s volume and mute placement
Treble: It’s there but sometimes lack the last bit of bite.
Display (nitpick): It shows the sample rate and the input. But what it really should display as its default is the volume. The sample rate should may be show when it changes the song for a few seconds. The display letters are small and hard to read from a distance. I would rather an XDA-1 type display whose fonts were significantly larger. They displayed less information but it flashed the input selector at the relavent times (when you changed the input). The DC-1 has two lines of text likely to show off the nice OLED display but I think one nice big line would be more readable at realistic distances in a home setting.
Other thoughts:
Comparison with the Jolida Tube DAC heard in a different environment/gear.
The DC-1 is warmer, has more body, more natural reproduction of voices. The Jolida has a pleasing sense of space, the treble sounds different. The DC-1 also does space just in a different way. Overall the DC-1 just makes you take notice but not in an artificial way. They are both good DACs. If I were B’zilla I would have a tough time deciding but only because of the two flavors of sound. My pick is the DC-1 due to its detail and coherence but I had to hesitate slightly due to the low volume thing and the bass but it’s still a clear pick for me and the price difference doesn’t make me hesitate at all. The main difference that I found slightly negative is the warmth/bass boost in the upper mids (in my room) caused things to be slightly muddy compared to the Jolida.
Headphone amp
It drives the sennheiser HD600’s without complaint. It sounds good. It’s got clarity. It’s not the last word in amplification. It’s close to that of my Xenos 3HA headphone amp – close. It’s better than the behringer UCA-202 as it doesn’t have the treble emphasis. It’s quicker than the headphone amp on the asus Xonar essence st which is slower in comparison but can push the same amount of volume and possibly a bit more than the DC-1.
The recognition of headphones is SO DARN NEAT. It’s seamless how the volume settings are remembered.
MP3 playback.
I thought there was a limit to improvement with mp3’s and I thought the XDA-1 was it. Well it isn’t. Mp3’s sound better with the DC-1. (CD’s sound better. )
Sound signature: It does have a sound signature! It’s more obvious on low volumes so I’m assuming it’s the pre-amp function I’m hearing. It’s sound signature is on the warm full side sometimes a bit too much but most of the time it sounds good.
It’s a little laid back, excellent placement that’s on a different level, warm, full sound. The XDA-1 is a little thinner and a little more “glossy” in its reproduction. The XDA-1 is slightly less laidback. The treble reproduction in the XDA-1 though it was great and airy, in comparison it doesn’t compete and sounds like it has an unnatural “glare” to it.
Bass is more clearly heard on the DC-1.
Upgradeability and value.
Let’s put it this way.
I have the XDA-1. I’ve used it with a passive pre-amp to get over the digital volume control.
I used it with the USP-1 and an XPA-2. That right there is over a thousand dollars of equipment connected to it and it showed. The XPA-2 was really fast.
The DC-1 connected just to the UPA-2 bought more of an improvement than using the USP-1 and XPA-2.
That’s how good the DC-1 is.
It’s the best sound I have heard yet. At $700 one has to get a bit critical. But it’s hard. Let’s just say it’s not perfection or the ultimate DAC. But it’s worth the money and I can see it’s real selling price at being around $1300. It’s better than the XDA-1 by a significant margin. I am PICKY about my sound. And right now the DC-1 is not leaving the system until it has to. I can’t say the same about other stuff that I liked.
Jitter reduction:
I must admit I was biased. I felt that the jitter reduction wouldn't actually do any of what it was supposed to do and actually mess up the timing more than it tried to fix it by "guessing". So I went in with a pretty negative attitude.
I did about three back and forths in that classical orchestral youtube song I linked betweem ASRC and no ASRC.
Man, it's so close. I had a hard time distinguishing anything. I took quite some time. I wouldn't be able to tell them apart unless I knew which one had ASRC engaged and even then I would not know.
So I determined to listen to the entire song fully several times rather than 25 seconds each.
I felt like I heard the voice (maybe) feel like more of the overall soundstage with the ASRC engaged. The music was MAYBE more engaging. So the good news is that it's not making the songs sound worse at all. It may be slightly better. In the end I left it turned on. I think Emotiva made a wise choice to include it in the DC-1 and it needs to be incorporated in any future DACS they put out imo. But I can't tell how little - if any - of a difference there was.
Wife’s opinion:
My wife remark I thought summarized the difference pretty well between the XDA-1. "When your friend’s hear the XDA-1 they feel “oh it’s nice and enjoyable” but on the DC-1, it grabs your attention…like they are made aware that this is really good – that everything is separated and clear and much more THERE." She was clear from the start that the DC-1 was noticeably superior and she cares very little about audio reproduction and electronics so it was interesting to hear ramble on
She noted that tambourines with their multiple bells are significantly clearer on the DC-1. You can hear the multiple bells clink separated clearer than the XDA-1.
Lengthy listening Section! Scroll to THE POINT to skip this.
Etta James: My funny valentine.
A bit too much bass emphasis.
Lovely full voice.
Glee – The quarter back Season 5 episode 3 available on hulu.
I wanted to talk about video playback because something startled me. On the DC-1 the voices synced and followed the voices on the screen nearly exactly. It was so remarkably close that it created a surrealistic effect on my brain. Whether it had to do with the improved jitter control or the clearer vocal reproduction , I don’t know but it improved the experience and immersion. I didn’t get this on the XDA-1. I just assumed it was 24 fps couldn’t capture the fast movement of the voice but with the DC-1 there was so much synchronization that I felt somebody turned on the “smooth motion” on those tv sets.
I didn’t expect to be impressed by the glee recording but this episode on those two recordings it sounded spectacular.
And what’s impressive both these songs are acoustically sparse usually just one or two instruments
At 24 minutes: Santana sings if I di young.
Unfortunately the URL's I've linked have a lower quality audio nearly mono encoding and the magic isn't quite there. To really hear it I would reccomend watching the episode. found here www.hulu.com/watch/543572
www.hulu.com/watch/543962
the voice and its unique tone was captured honestly nearly perfectly. The voice stops and starts exactly with just the right decay.
On “I’ve had just enough time” where she says pulls out the word time you hear so much inflections in her voice that it’s just excellent.
Once the drums started, it got LOUD and then when the Glee cub started on the harmony I was completely engrossed.
Glee same episode : Make you feel my love by Rachel the Piano resonance came through clearly after the notes.
www.hulu.com/watch/543930
"When the rain is blowing in your face." She gets really soft and whispers the last syllable “ce” on face very softly. Comes through very very clearly.
Every single breath she takes is made obvious. But not in an etched forced way. It’s just there.
You can hear the singer’s tone changing through her nose. “No doubt in my mind where you belong.” You can clearly here she switches the “ng” to her nose and sings it through.
The piano comes through with nice weight and fullness. Having played piano, I haven’t yet heard a piano reproduced perfectly and unfortunately I still haven’t - not even with the DC-1. But it certainly captures a more of it than what I‘ve heard before.
Norah Jones – come away with me
The treble was slightly laidback. But it didn’t lack in treble extension. This song is my go to in auditioning. The DC-1 didn’t thrill me or perform any miracles on this track. It’s presentation was on the laid back side. It had quite a bit of depth.
At the very end of the song as the piano finishes with a flourish I heard the resonance of the piano end note clearly.
On don’t know why the distortion in Norah Jones voice from the recording was evident. It comes across as a slight grain and distortion.
Norah Jones recordings was a surprising bore which doesn’t usually happen for me.
Rocky horror Picture show at the Frankenstein place
This is the more “acoustic” version of this song. There appear to be two versions….one used in the movie the other not. This is the “not” version. I always preferred the movie version but on the DC-1 the “not” version took center stage. It was great!
Can we talk placement?!? The female singer was heavenly and positioned in height slightly above ear level. Everything felt like an open window into the singers. Anytime they song it just flowed through to you. Even the heavily synthesized chorus was positioned outside the plane of the speakers very well.
Angelique ionatos- Aerion Epeon. This had warm synth like tones which vibrated to and fro. The warmth was reproduced very well. The guitar is plucked hard with lots of dynamics. It does a great job engrossing you and nearly beating you over the head with each pluck.
This song illustrates the DC-1 really liking to be played loudly. Things just come across more fully when it does. It appears to love tower speakers that can reproduce the “large” sensation due to their height.
The XDA-1 when played loud can get congested/make you want to turn it down a bit. The DC-1’s comfort range is significantly higher than the XDA-1. It almost needs to be played at that volume. This is a bit of a problem for me as I live in a small shared space and the walls are thin.
Twelve girls band - clocks
This is a reasonably unclear recording to begin with on everything I've played it back with. I blame the mastering.
But at the beginning there are stringed instrument flourishes. The DC-1 immediately stood out here as I heard every string come out with a natural treble "pick" which didn't happen before.
UB40 red red wine
It becomes with a drum beat and quick high hat/cymbal. The cymbal was made obvious, placement was spot on and very quick. Not noticed before with the XDA-1. There is a slight sound of an eggshaker on the right speaker which is more clearly heard than before.
Rolling Stones Paint it black:
The presentation was surprisingly different. With the XDA-1 the high drum beats are much harder and the cymbals have a bit more pop. In the DC-1 it was a bit more laid back in the soundstage. With the DC-1, there is a rhythmic tapping that I never heard before now it's clear. In the regular pulsing bass rhythm at the beginning there is a second (or third) bass melody which isn't easily heard - in fact I never heard it with the XDA-1. It's very subtle. I was able to hear it though not 100% clearly with the DC-1.
My own recordings
I did a test using stereo microphones where I played the guitar and I walked around the rooms, to the side of the microphone and all the way to the rear corners etc. I also kneeled down and stood up while strumming. The AC was working at this time.
The DC-1 convinced me the AC was working at that moment. I couldn’t separate that from the real AC sound! It also produced height information (not 100%) but the XDA-1 produced zero height information, while this produced some. Pretty impressive.
My wife sang a popular song and I covered it with the piano in the rear room. The sense of space and the placing of the piano was very good. When she sang it felt like the voice appeared unrestrained with warmth and body. Very impressive. It also had spot on placement.
I could go on and on about different songs but the truth is I will be repeating myself over and over.
THE POINT:
The DC-1 is MUSICAL. Other devices can produce high quality sound but the DC-1 can produce music. It’s the best sound I’ve heard. I recommend this device. It’s worth the price. It’s on a different level. I like to think it’s a step into the entry level high end. It’s not an XDA-1 put into a smaller chassis at all. If somebody is thinking of the upgrade I hope my candid review helps them. I tried hard to be critical as I take more stock when I hear both the positives and negatives. It allows me to trust the positives easier and put it in context. To close, it is an upgrade – the best I’ve heard. Its main disadvantage is low volume listening.
It’s really long. Scroll all the way down to THE POINT if you want to get to...the point.
But first….
I tried some bass sweeps and in my room there was significant peaking in the upper bass around 100hz and above. However on the headphones through the analog ouput it sounded more neutral. Also the songs where I complained about too much bass sounded significantly more balanced on my headphone amplifier (from the DC-1 RCA outputs). So it just may be my room/speakers. So
Edit: It was my room. Got that fixed. It's fantastic!
I will tone down any heavy bass comments from this review as I don’t want to mention something unfairly. But I felt that a lot of the songs had too much bass on the speakers. I will still mention it sometimes (think warmth as its positive aspect) but just keep that in mind that it may be a room effect / bass jumper setting which could be disabled – I have no clue.
Also: Thank you to our resident B’zilla who offered to loan me his DC-1.
Onto the review!
The sound signature of the DC-1 is warm and full. I was worried about op-amps as with previous DAC’s with op-amps I've heard an identifiable peak in the low treble usually in the range of acoustic guitar treble sounds and female voices that give it an electronic sound. But….I really shouldn’t have been. Not even slightly. The DC-1 has no such coloration.
Pros:
The female voice:
It’s a love song to the female voice. It isn’t a recording engineers DAC imo because it makes pretty much everything sound great! Probably not what you want if you are an engineer! But it’s really clear.
While the XDA-1 the voices sound thinner, the DC-1 makes it sound more “analog” warm and coherent. This coherency is an important distinguisher. The voices are continous as it holds a note and sounds more real and less "grainy" or like a recording. It's the most obvious difference of the DC-1.
The female voice (again!):
It sounds GREAT. So many inflections are heard. You can hear the singing through the nasal passages! It sounds like an open window. While the XDA-1 had the amazing disappearing act of having the voices hover in the air and be transparent. The DC-1 does it too but with less gimmicky-ness to it. The voices have more body.
Dynamics: It’s listed in the negatives as well but in case it’s not clear. This DAC has really nice dynamics too. So uh, yeah. It’s listed in both. The positive outweighs the negative easily. It’s better than the XDA-1.
Resonances and detail: It brings it.
Placement: The DC-1 brings it. It’s better than the XDA-1. When it places instruments it doesn’t mess around. The instrument is THERE. It is behind THIS instrument. The third instrument is slightly to the left over THERE behind the main vocal which HERE in the center ahead of those instruments. The bass I mentioned appears to help it to anchor the instruments in space better
THIS TRACK (track 2):
www.amazon.com/Treasures-Spanish-Renaissance-Francisco-Guerrero/dp/B000002ZI9/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1381732497&sr=8-3&keywords=treasures+of+the+spanish+renaissance
There’s nothing that can’t sum this DAC’s strengths up better. Turn up the volume and be floored. It’s like you ascended to heaven and angels are singing to you. The placement allows height in the audio in between the speakers like some of the singers are on platforms. Sounds extend from beyond the border of the speakers and there’s so many many voices singing. I’ve heard it on the XDA-1 where it did a fantastic job but the clarity of the DC-1 just BRINGS IT.
Orchestral music: A bit on the warm side but very enjoyable. If anybody read my ramble on how it’s tough to enjoy orchestral music unless it’s reproduced well, then you know I’m critical. This DAC can make it enjoyable.
This Song
Was really really good. I’ve heard it before but not like this.
Cons:
The pre-amp: On low volumes it’s not as enjoyable. At low volumes it lacks a punch and bite/presence in the treble. The warmth in the mid-range is a bit too much. This thing begs to be played loud. Usually above -30. Really nice above -25. Is this due to the resistive attenuation? I don’t know. But it makes sense to me especially when you take into account the dynamics. This may be what I’m referring to as two personalities in the warm up section. Using 12 and 24 db RCA line level attenuators cause a similar sound signature change on other devices which is why I wonder about the resistive attenuation on the pre-amp. However the passive pre-amp which I assume is a variable resistor did not exhibit this. So I am confused.
Warm up.
In my opinion (laugh it up, I know y’all are
), this unit has a remarkably long warm up time. It took two days before I could not want to connect the XDA-1 back in. But now, there’s no way I’m plugging the XDA-1 back in. The sound is inconsistent. One moment you hear it and it’s amazing. Another time, it’s the same reproduction just doesn’t quite have that pop factor. It has two personalities. I can’t pinpoint what causes it and its hard to describe.It gets annoying to me. But basically the treble feels subdued and the sound less immersive/coming out at you when it’s in the not-so good mode. When it’s on it’s a game it’s pretty obvious to me.
I thought it was “warm up”. But now I’m not 100% sure as it’s happened even when the DAC has been left turned on. It’s weird. It may simply be the pre-amp being set at a lower volume. Remember I noted it gets really good when it’s loud. It goes against any objective evidence as I don’t have any. But it’s what I hear.
Dynamics:
The DC-1 IS dynamic. It can get really loud. But it’s slightly laid back regarding dynamics probably due to the warmth. It’s a tiny nit pick. And it’s part of the sound signature of this DAC.
The remote:
It was smart to make it move faster when you hold it down. But it moves too fast causing frequent errors in volume. Also the + and – volume buton has a mute right in the middle of it. If you want to hit the mute you have to focus and hit it or you miss. The mute button ruins the volume feature. A pity. I prefer the XDA-1 remote’s volume and mute placement
Treble: It’s there but sometimes lack the last bit of bite.
Display (nitpick): It shows the sample rate and the input. But what it really should display as its default is the volume. The sample rate should may be show when it changes the song for a few seconds. The display letters are small and hard to read from a distance. I would rather an XDA-1 type display whose fonts were significantly larger. They displayed less information but it flashed the input selector at the relavent times (when you changed the input). The DC-1 has two lines of text likely to show off the nice OLED display but I think one nice big line would be more readable at realistic distances in a home setting.
Other thoughts:
Comparison with the Jolida Tube DAC heard in a different environment/gear.
The DC-1 is warmer, has more body, more natural reproduction of voices. The Jolida has a pleasing sense of space, the treble sounds different. The DC-1 also does space just in a different way. Overall the DC-1 just makes you take notice but not in an artificial way. They are both good DACs. If I were B’zilla I would have a tough time deciding but only because of the two flavors of sound. My pick is the DC-1 due to its detail and coherence but I had to hesitate slightly due to the low volume thing and the bass but it’s still a clear pick for me and the price difference doesn’t make me hesitate at all. The main difference that I found slightly negative is the warmth/bass boost in the upper mids (in my room) caused things to be slightly muddy compared to the Jolida.
Headphone amp
It drives the sennheiser HD600’s without complaint. It sounds good. It’s got clarity. It’s not the last word in amplification. It’s close to that of my Xenos 3HA headphone amp – close. It’s better than the behringer UCA-202 as it doesn’t have the treble emphasis. It’s quicker than the headphone amp on the asus Xonar essence st which is slower in comparison but can push the same amount of volume and possibly a bit more than the DC-1.
The recognition of headphones is SO DARN NEAT. It’s seamless how the volume settings are remembered.
MP3 playback.
I thought there was a limit to improvement with mp3’s and I thought the XDA-1 was it. Well it isn’t. Mp3’s sound better with the DC-1. (CD’s sound better. )
Sound signature: It does have a sound signature! It’s more obvious on low volumes so I’m assuming it’s the pre-amp function I’m hearing. It’s sound signature is on the warm full side sometimes a bit too much but most of the time it sounds good.
It’s a little laid back, excellent placement that’s on a different level, warm, full sound. The XDA-1 is a little thinner and a little more “glossy” in its reproduction. The XDA-1 is slightly less laidback. The treble reproduction in the XDA-1 though it was great and airy, in comparison it doesn’t compete and sounds like it has an unnatural “glare” to it.
Bass is more clearly heard on the DC-1.
Upgradeability and value.
Let’s put it this way.
I have the XDA-1. I’ve used it with a passive pre-amp to get over the digital volume control.
I used it with the USP-1 and an XPA-2. That right there is over a thousand dollars of equipment connected to it and it showed. The XPA-2 was really fast.
The DC-1 connected just to the UPA-2 bought more of an improvement than using the USP-1 and XPA-2.
That’s how good the DC-1 is.
It’s the best sound I have heard yet. At $700 one has to get a bit critical. But it’s hard. Let’s just say it’s not perfection or the ultimate DAC. But it’s worth the money and I can see it’s real selling price at being around $1300. It’s better than the XDA-1 by a significant margin. I am PICKY about my sound. And right now the DC-1 is not leaving the system until it has to. I can’t say the same about other stuff that I liked.
Jitter reduction:
I must admit I was biased. I felt that the jitter reduction wouldn't actually do any of what it was supposed to do and actually mess up the timing more than it tried to fix it by "guessing". So I went in with a pretty negative attitude.
I did about three back and forths in that classical orchestral youtube song I linked betweem ASRC and no ASRC.
Man, it's so close. I had a hard time distinguishing anything. I took quite some time. I wouldn't be able to tell them apart unless I knew which one had ASRC engaged and even then I would not know.
So I determined to listen to the entire song fully several times rather than 25 seconds each.
I felt like I heard the voice (maybe) feel like more of the overall soundstage with the ASRC engaged. The music was MAYBE more engaging. So the good news is that it's not making the songs sound worse at all. It may be slightly better. In the end I left it turned on. I think Emotiva made a wise choice to include it in the DC-1 and it needs to be incorporated in any future DACS they put out imo. But I can't tell how little - if any - of a difference there was.
Wife’s opinion:
My wife remark I thought summarized the difference pretty well between the XDA-1. "When your friend’s hear the XDA-1 they feel “oh it’s nice and enjoyable” but on the DC-1, it grabs your attention…like they are made aware that this is really good – that everything is separated and clear and much more THERE." She was clear from the start that the DC-1 was noticeably superior and she cares very little about audio reproduction and electronics so it was interesting to hear ramble on
She noted that tambourines with their multiple bells are significantly clearer on the DC-1. You can hear the multiple bells clink separated clearer than the XDA-1.
Lengthy listening Section! Scroll to THE POINT to skip this.
Etta James: My funny valentine.
A bit too much bass emphasis.
Lovely full voice.
Glee – The quarter back Season 5 episode 3 available on hulu.
I wanted to talk about video playback because something startled me. On the DC-1 the voices synced and followed the voices on the screen nearly exactly. It was so remarkably close that it created a surrealistic effect on my brain. Whether it had to do with the improved jitter control or the clearer vocal reproduction , I don’t know but it improved the experience and immersion. I didn’t get this on the XDA-1. I just assumed it was 24 fps couldn’t capture the fast movement of the voice but with the DC-1 there was so much synchronization that I felt somebody turned on the “smooth motion” on those tv sets.
I didn’t expect to be impressed by the glee recording but this episode on those two recordings it sounded spectacular.
And what’s impressive both these songs are acoustically sparse usually just one or two instruments
At 24 minutes: Santana sings if I di young.
Unfortunately the URL's I've linked have a lower quality audio nearly mono encoding and the magic isn't quite there. To really hear it I would reccomend watching the episode. found here www.hulu.com/watch/543572
www.hulu.com/watch/543962
the voice and its unique tone was captured honestly nearly perfectly. The voice stops and starts exactly with just the right decay.
On “I’ve had just enough time” where she says pulls out the word time you hear so much inflections in her voice that it’s just excellent.
Once the drums started, it got LOUD and then when the Glee cub started on the harmony I was completely engrossed.
Glee same episode : Make you feel my love by Rachel the Piano resonance came through clearly after the notes.
www.hulu.com/watch/543930
"When the rain is blowing in your face." She gets really soft and whispers the last syllable “ce” on face very softly. Comes through very very clearly.
Every single breath she takes is made obvious. But not in an etched forced way. It’s just there.
You can hear the singer’s tone changing through her nose. “No doubt in my mind where you belong.” You can clearly here she switches the “ng” to her nose and sings it through.
The piano comes through with nice weight and fullness. Having played piano, I haven’t yet heard a piano reproduced perfectly and unfortunately I still haven’t - not even with the DC-1. But it certainly captures a more of it than what I‘ve heard before.
Norah Jones – come away with me
The treble was slightly laidback. But it didn’t lack in treble extension. This song is my go to in auditioning. The DC-1 didn’t thrill me or perform any miracles on this track. It’s presentation was on the laid back side. It had quite a bit of depth.
At the very end of the song as the piano finishes with a flourish I heard the resonance of the piano end note clearly.
On don’t know why the distortion in Norah Jones voice from the recording was evident. It comes across as a slight grain and distortion.
Norah Jones recordings was a surprising bore which doesn’t usually happen for me.
Rocky horror Picture show at the Frankenstein place
This is the more “acoustic” version of this song. There appear to be two versions….one used in the movie the other not. This is the “not” version. I always preferred the movie version but on the DC-1 the “not” version took center stage. It was great!
Can we talk placement?!? The female singer was heavenly and positioned in height slightly above ear level. Everything felt like an open window into the singers. Anytime they song it just flowed through to you. Even the heavily synthesized chorus was positioned outside the plane of the speakers very well.
Angelique ionatos- Aerion Epeon. This had warm synth like tones which vibrated to and fro. The warmth was reproduced very well. The guitar is plucked hard with lots of dynamics. It does a great job engrossing you and nearly beating you over the head with each pluck.
This song illustrates the DC-1 really liking to be played loudly. Things just come across more fully when it does. It appears to love tower speakers that can reproduce the “large” sensation due to their height.
The XDA-1 when played loud can get congested/make you want to turn it down a bit. The DC-1’s comfort range is significantly higher than the XDA-1. It almost needs to be played at that volume. This is a bit of a problem for me as I live in a small shared space and the walls are thin.
Twelve girls band - clocks
This is a reasonably unclear recording to begin with on everything I've played it back with. I blame the mastering.
But at the beginning there are stringed instrument flourishes. The DC-1 immediately stood out here as I heard every string come out with a natural treble "pick" which didn't happen before.
UB40 red red wine
It becomes with a drum beat and quick high hat/cymbal. The cymbal was made obvious, placement was spot on and very quick. Not noticed before with the XDA-1. There is a slight sound of an eggshaker on the right speaker which is more clearly heard than before.
Rolling Stones Paint it black:
The presentation was surprisingly different. With the XDA-1 the high drum beats are much harder and the cymbals have a bit more pop. In the DC-1 it was a bit more laid back in the soundstage. With the DC-1, there is a rhythmic tapping that I never heard before now it's clear. In the regular pulsing bass rhythm at the beginning there is a second (or third) bass melody which isn't easily heard - in fact I never heard it with the XDA-1. It's very subtle. I was able to hear it though not 100% clearly with the DC-1.
My own recordings
I did a test using stereo microphones where I played the guitar and I walked around the rooms, to the side of the microphone and all the way to the rear corners etc. I also kneeled down and stood up while strumming. The AC was working at this time.
The DC-1 convinced me the AC was working at that moment. I couldn’t separate that from the real AC sound! It also produced height information (not 100%) but the XDA-1 produced zero height information, while this produced some. Pretty impressive.
My wife sang a popular song and I covered it with the piano in the rear room. The sense of space and the placing of the piano was very good. When she sang it felt like the voice appeared unrestrained with warmth and body. Very impressive. It also had spot on placement.
I could go on and on about different songs but the truth is I will be repeating myself over and over.
THE POINT:
The DC-1 is MUSICAL. Other devices can produce high quality sound but the DC-1 can produce music. It’s the best sound I’ve heard. I recommend this device. It’s worth the price. It’s on a different level. I like to think it’s a step into the entry level high end. It’s not an XDA-1 put into a smaller chassis at all. If somebody is thinking of the upgrade I hope my candid review helps them. I tried hard to be critical as I take more stock when I hear both the positives and negatives. It allows me to trust the positives easier and put it in context. To close, it is an upgrade – the best I’ve heard. Its main disadvantage is low volume listening.
on Flickr
, on Flickr
