USB cable shock!

[Rufus McDufus]

I've only had the Totaldac a day. My first impression was 'smooth' and that's still my impression. Initially I found it quite muffled in the higher frequencies but it's opened out a lot after 24 hours. I felt I wasn't really noticing extra detail but then I started hearing clearer basslines that I'd not been able to follow before. It's not sharp-edged 'micro' detail but instrument detail that seems to be coming out (i.e being able to follow the melody of a particular instrument more easily as opposed to hearing a slightly different 'tish' on a cymbal'). Instrument timbres are fuller. Very pleased so far, especially as I bought it on the strength of opinion of the many people buying them - which doesn't always work that well. At least there is a 10 day or so grace period but I think this is a keeper.

[PhilP]

Wow! thanks for all your suggestions and comments. I will probably try some other Chord cables first as my local dealer has them in stock and several people have recommended them.  If they're too far behind the Sarum then I will move onto something more exotic. I must admit I like the look of the Paul Pang red cables though, as they will be totally hidden behind my system, I suppose that's not really relevant . The Totaldac cable is the one that intrigues me because the construction is so different.

@rufus - do you think that you would be able to tell the difference between the Chord Silver Plus and Totaldac in a blind test?  I don't mean to put you on the spot and it's not a challenge I just wonder how big the differences are and value your opinion.

Our mains power is now back on so I hope to have a nice relaxed session tonight after a very stressful day...

[amabrok]

I get amazing results with Audioquest Cinnamon which in my system surprisingly beats the top of the range Audioquest Diamond.

Also I tried iFi Mercury but felt sound was filtered and I lost the details so went back immediately to AQ Cinnamon


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Rufus McDufus]

Wow! thanks for all your suggestions and comments. I will probably try some other Chord cables first as my local dealer has them in stock and several people have recommended them.  If they're too far behind the Sarum then I will move onto something more exotic. I must admit I like the look of the Paul Pang red cables though, as they will be totally hidden behind my system, I suppose that's not really relevant . The Totaldac cable is the one that intrigues me because the construction is so different.

@rufus - do you think that you would be able to tell the difference between the Chord Silver Plus and Totaldac in a blind test?  I don't mean to put you on the spot and it's not a challenge I just wonder how big the differences are and value your opinion.

Our mains power is now back on so I hope to have a nice relaxed session tonight after a very stressful day...

With the Totaldac new out of the packing, possibly no. In fact I was a little worried at first as it sounded slightly worse than the Chord, but quite similar in characteristics. Now, yes - I think I could reliably tell the difference. The Totaldac is really opening out. It's quite soft-sounding and smooth, but so musical (as in tune dem follow-the instruments/melodies musical). I'm really enjoying it and listening over familiar old favourites.  And it's only been running for just over a day.

[PhilP]

Wow! thanks for all your suggestions and comments. I will probably try some other Chord cables first as my local dealer has them in stock and several people have recommended them.  If they're too far behind the Sarum then I will move onto something more exotic. I must admit I like the look of the Paul Pang red cables though, as they will be totally hidden behind my system, I suppose that's not really relevant . The Totaldac cable is the one that intrigues me because the construction is so different.

@rufus - do you think that you would be able to tell the difference between the Chord Silver Plus and Totaldac in a blind test?  I don't mean to put you on the spot and it's not a challenge I just wonder how big the differences are and value your opinion.

Our mains power is now back on so I hope to have a nice relaxed session tonight after a very stressful day...

With the Totaldac new out of the packing, possibly no. In fact I was a little worried at first as it sounded slightly worse than the Chord, but quite similar in characteristics. Now, yes - I think I could reliably tell the difference. The Totaldac is really opening out. It's quite soft-sounding and smooth, but so musical (as in tune dem follow-the instruments/melodies musical). I'm really enjoying it and listening over familiar old favourites.  And it's only been running for just over a day.

Thanks Rufus.

Just a thought, do you find your system perhaps too smooth with Melco + Totaldac USB + Devialet?

I come from Naim background and they're not smooth in any sense  and I found myself thinking last night that maybe Aurender/Chord Sarum/Devialet is just too smooth and 'nice'. Lovely sound but maybe I need a bit more 'edge'...

[Rufus McDufus]

Hi Phil - you threw me a bit with that question and I couldn't answer straight away! I'm not very familiar with Naim I have to admit but when I've borrowed/listened to Naim I tend to find myself playing music with screaming guitar solos as it seems to enhances those frequencies.
On the other hand with my Devialet I find it can err towards 'bright' and a edgy. I think that early impression is disappearing. possibly firmware updates are taming it a bit. I personally find (and no-one ever seems to have agreed with me! ) that the top end drops off as the temperature increases and I find it starts to sound muffled when temps are getting >45C or so. Again recent firmware updates have given better thermal stability and I wonder partly whether Devialet have tackled that in order to stabilise sound quaility. With DPM on especially it's very stable (though some don't like the idea that power supply could be being reduced or processed somehow). Another factor is my speakers which are quite soft in the treble, plus room interactions where it's a bit bass-heavy for me (small room, speakers too close to the wall).
So with that verbal diarrhoea I think I'm trying to say that *my* Devialet & speakers can err towards the soft muffled-in-the-treble sound and I tend to be impressed with changes that boost the treble a little. This can also reveal quite a bit more detail so the pay-off is often very satisfying.
But when it comes to Devialet / Melco / Totaldac - the Melco just seems to bring an increase in quality. Smoothness is a part of that but mainly more detail, lower noise floor, calm. The Totaldac so far is a little different and seems to be bringing an improvement in following melodies. Frequency-wise (apart from out-of-the-box where it was a little muffled) it's about the same. Both seem to being qualitative improvements but don't really seem to alter the sonic characteristics (frequencies/EQ I mainly mean).
It doesn't sound like Naim. It's more towards the Linn spectrum but then I found mine was before I got Melco/Totaldac anyway and I supposed I aimed for that a little with my choice of speakers. It's more definitely refined now with the Melco & Totaldac. I have heard too much Linn that sounded a bit polite and background dinner party-like though and it's definitely not towards that end of the spectrum! Linn speakers have contributed to that impression though the recent ones I've heard have been better and more forward.

[PhilP]

Rufus, 

thanks for for detailed and considered reply.  You make some very good points not least about screaming guitar solos and Naim   I had one of their CD players - CDX2 with XPS2 power supply and IMHO the only types of music it sounded good (actually excellent!) with were rock and electronica. I listen to much less rock music now and, thanks to Qobuz am exploring all sorts of different music. For this I think its better to have a more 'neutral' system like Aurender/Devialet.

Devialet 'bright and edgy'? Well, I guess you could describe the sound via AIR like that (in my system AIR ethernet is more 'edgy' than AIR wi-fi) but I find Devialet very transparent and the sound signature of different sources shines through clearly. My NDX, for example, isn't bright at all neither is my LP12. The Aurender is perhaps a little bright. To complicate matters I think that the latest FW releases (7.1.3 and 8.1) have made the Devialet sound brighter but detail resolution seems better so maybe you're right that the edginess is less.  There's certainly more ambience in the sound plus hiss on old recordings though.

As always I guess it comes down to a matter of personal taste and I think I would probably be very happy with the Aurender especially now that I've tried their TIDAL integration which works extremely well. Having heard what the Aurender can do I'm keen to at least try some other sources and think that Melco should be the next one I try.  Just need to find a dealer to lend me one

Philip

[AaronG]

Rufus' experience of the Totaldac USB cable is very much like my own.

[Antoine]

Rufus' experience of the Totaldac USB cable is very much like my own.

+1

My thoughts about it are here: http://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?t...84#pid6384