iFi iTube

[hk6230]

Today, I add my iFi iTube (from my last system) to my D200 system. Music is played via Bluesound Node --RCA-> iTube --RCA-> D200. This way I can play my 24/192 FLAC music using Bluesound Node and output to D200. (Bluesound does support 24/192 Toslink output, but D200 optical input can only support 24/96).

Surprisingly, I'm experiencing great 'tube' music with such setup. I thought analog line-in to D200 will be converted to digital and the 'tube' effect will be gone. But, this seems not the case.

Note:

I try the above setup because Air keeps dropping when I air-ed 24/96 and 24/192 files to D200.

[Pim]

 I guess that shows how transparent the Devialet AD/DA system is. 
Interesting thing that iTube. Gotta have a look at that when I have time.

[thumb5]

Glad you're pleased with the result, but it shouldn't be too surprising that the character of the iTube comes through unscathed. The euphonic distortion that's often described as "valve sound" is likely to be at a much higher level than errors introduced by a well-engineered analog-to-digital converter.

[hk6230]

It was 3 months ago that I had used iTube on my Devialet. I had pretty much kept all my iFi gears away to simplify my setup. Being bored and wanting to try something, I plugged my iTube back into the Bluesound -> Devialet chain again to listen to Tidal Hifi. Two things are confirmed, one iTube does offer something different on SQ and listening with it sounded very comfortable and pleasing, and the other is that Devialet is indeed transparent.

So those who would like to add external DAC to their Devialet, feel free to get wild.

P.S. Actually it was iFi's Patrick who has been nudging me to give iTube another go and see if I can hear any difference after a few months of hiatus from iTube sound.

[f1eng]

My experience exactly.
I found the character of the various DACs I tried into the analogue inputs on my Devialet came through unscathed. And that was the D-Premier 4 years ago.
I am firmly of the belief, based both on specs and listening, that a modern properly engineered ADC/DAC can be audibly completely transparent.
I believe that the Devialet is such an ADC/DAC.
Coloured DACs such as non-oversampled, ones with no reconstruction filter and most if not all with valve analogue stages have audible levels of colouration added and I believe the Devialet reproduces them so close to perfectly that these colourations are just as audible through the Devialet as through an ordinary amp.

[Confused]

My experience exactly.
I found the character of the various DACs I tried into the analogue inputs on my Devialet came through unscathed. And that was the D-Premier 4 years ago.
I am firmly of the belief, based both on specs and listening, that a modern properly engineered ADC/DAC can be audibly completely transparent.
I believe that the Devialet is such an ADC/DAC.
Coloured DACs such as non-oversampled, ones with no reconstruction filter and most if not all with valve analogue stages have audible levels of colouration added and I believe the Devialet reproduces them so close to perfectly that these colourations are just as audible through the Devialet as through an ordinary amp.

In debate elsewhere on this forum, there was a degree of consensus that the Devialet DAC is perhaps very similar to recent offerings from Chord. I believe you have a Hugo Frank? Do you rate this also as modern properly engineered DAC? If so, it could very well provide some logic behind why some of us think the Chord and Devialet DAC offerings are so similar?

[f1eng]

I think it is hard to compare since the ADC/DAC is such an integral part of how ADH works,
I do have a Hugo but haven't compared it with anything else really though I do have a Geek out 1000 which I could use with the same source and headphones.
My conclusions about the transparency of well engineered DACs was based on tests I did 4 or 5 years ago, and have little enthusiasm to repeat since I prefer listening to music and normally used only to do an in depth audition of kit every 10 to 15 years to see if it was worthwhile changing anything
Basically I compared a Linn Klimax DS, Resolution Audio Cantata, Metric Halo LIO-8 and Weiss DAC2. The preamp was a Goldmund Mimesis 20, amps a pair of Goldmund Mimes 29.4s and speakers Goldmund Epilog 1 and 2s. This was my reference system bought after the last big auditioning session in the 1990s.

Whilst I heard differences between these DACs the differences were very small, and I doubt I could reliably pick the DACs out blind. The differences, if they were real rather than imagined, were much, much less than that between speakers or cartridges (though cartridges are not a fair comparison since their distortion levels and frequency response shaping are substantially more than speakers).
Also, on recordings made with the LIO-8 the output was completely indistinguishable audibly from the input on the music I tried.

I actually bought the best of them, a Resolution Audio Cantata, but only used it for a relatively short time before buying a D-Premier and relegating it to my bedroom.
I could haul out the old analogue kit and compare the Metric Halo LIO-8 (which I bought to record with), Resolution Audio Cantata, Chord Hugo, Geek Out 1000 and Beresford Caiman but I can't be bothered, tbh when the alternative is enjoying music...
My old Mimesis 22 DAC had a (lovely) characteristic sound which the Devialet clearly reproduced accurately.

My conclusions were that:
1. for me well traditionally engineered DACs sound close enough to the same to be of no consequence to me.
2. The Devialet is sufficiently transparent to reproduce the analogue colour as one might hope - which to me meant it was audibly transparent.

[hk6230]

Add another device today. Cheap toslink to RCA converter that will connect my Sonos/Bluesound toslink out, RCA into iTube and RCA to D200. This will bypass the Sonos/Bluesound DAC and just add tube effect to Devialet. Enjoying my tubed Devialet now.