18-Jun-2015, 20:22
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.
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.
Devialet Original d'Atelier 44 Core, Job Pre/225, Goldmund PH2, Goldmund Reference/T3f /Ortofon A90, Goldmund Mimesis 36+ & Chord Blu, iMac/Air, Lynx Theta, Tune Audio Anima, Goldmund Epilog 1&2, REL Studio. Dialog, Silver Phantoms, Branch stands, copper cables (mainly).
Oxfordshire
