I've got to do some different kinds of work now where I need to have a "known" and relatively portable music source on hand- after doing a lot of research, looking at reviews, both test data and listening comments, it seems to me that the Auralic Vega is the tool I need for now...
It's on burn-in for a while, the only convenient extra source I have is not what I would consider ideal, a Macbook running an OS beta, (El Capitan, the successor to Yosemite) but it will certainly be fine for just putting some hours on it. And you know what? Even through the Phiaton headphones I use mostly for gaming and computer stuff, it sounds pretty dang decent... at least with Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians, also with Howard Jones. Both robust and delicate, seems to get out of the way of the music nicely- will have to listen to a variety of recordings on it to see.
I am using a Schitt external headphone amp with it (doesn't have that built in) but the Vega does have robust balanced outputs, and also AES-EBU inputs, so it hits my key check off list points.
Of course, the measurements match the best of any other DAC Stereophile has tested at any price.... such as the Weiss DAC202, at double the price, and actually besting the dCS Debussy, at $12K.
Now, here we have a very interesting situation, in which the noise floor between 16 bit data and 24 bit data drops almost a full 30 dB. And a sine wave at -90 dB is reproduced excellently.
Time to get some hours on this, during the upcoming vacation break, and then give it a listen in the big system. (GF is going to Lost Wages next week to be with daughter while she has some surgery- I'll be in charge of the dog care, here... good thing Masha and I get along great!
It's on burn-in for a while, the only convenient extra source I have is not what I would consider ideal, a Macbook running an OS beta, (El Capitan, the successor to Yosemite) but it will certainly be fine for just putting some hours on it. And you know what? Even through the Phiaton headphones I use mostly for gaming and computer stuff, it sounds pretty dang decent... at least with Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians, also with Howard Jones. Both robust and delicate, seems to get out of the way of the music nicely- will have to listen to a variety of recordings on it to see.
I am using a Schitt external headphone amp with it (doesn't have that built in) but the Vega does have robust balanced outputs, and also AES-EBU inputs, so it hits my key check off list points.
Of course, the measurements match the best of any other DAC Stereophile has tested at any price.... such as the Weiss DAC202, at double the price, and actually besting the dCS Debussy, at $12K.
Fig.9 Auralic Vega, spectrum with noise and spuriae of dithered 1kHz tone at –90dBFS with: 16-bit data (left channel cyan, right magenta), 24-bit data (left blue, right red) (20dB/vertical div.).
Time to get some hours on this, during the upcoming vacation break, and then give it a listen in the big system. (GF is going to Lost Wages next week to be with daughter while she has some surgery- I'll be in charge of the dog care, here... good thing Masha and I get along great!
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