Recent content by gvl

It’s good enough for all practical purposes.

As for digital sheen, I know what you’re referring to but I learned to appreciate it, a proper form of it anyway. Some less performant DACs actually have less of it. I have an older Arcam rDac and it is a bit more laid back than some of the newer DACs that went through my hands, but it may well...

It’s not uncommon for a phono stage to deviate from the RIIA equalization curve or have elevated THD both can lead to the sensation of more defined low end compared to the typically flat and low distortion digital path and its possible your vinyl setup has some mild EQ to that euphonic effect...

Various systems... Granted, this is not the type of music I listen the most, so perhaps this is just the way this music sounds. I first heard TP on a boombox playing a bootleg cassette copy of his Into The Great Wide Open back in the 90s, and I'm pretty sure this was probably a third bootleg...

For some reason I have never been impressed with how his albums sound, They all sound kind of grey-ish to me, which is fine but they are not most vivid audio experiences IMO. I quickly sampled this release on Qobuz in hires and it fits the same pattern, but ymmv.

Do you have any material on vinyl that was mastered digitally and you find it sounds better than a direct digital playback? I would imagine most albums released in the last 20 years are from digital masters.

No offense, but in my opinion preference for how vinyl sounds over digital is an auditory confirmation bias.

As far as DACs go, I highly recommend the RME ADI-2, you should be able to find one used in your budget. There are some variations as they changed from the AKM chip to ESS in the latest generation, but they are all good.

Just get the E30II if its feature set suits you and save time and money. All these modern DACs are nice performers and sound much the same. The Semibreve I’d probably skip as little is known about this brand, but seems you pulled the trigger already, oh well.

Better speakers (and amplifier for that matter) may reveal the deficiencies of the vinyl compared to digital you are unable to discern now. If you think changing the speakers won’t matter then changing the DAC is a pointless exercise as well.

And how are you now using this knowledge? I can’t say with a straight face I can hear any difference between the ESS or AKM filters. And this makes sense as they affect frequencies higher up and I can’t hear above about 14khz at the age of 52. As far as pre/post ringing goes, which is what your...

About the only meaningful reason to upgrade to the III is the onboard parametric EQ.

Yeah they are relatively new brand but their speakers are technically well executed and approachable, I’d avoid the v1s as they were known to hiss.

Differences in sound between DACs are very subtle, in fact most fail to detect them when subjected to a blind test. Speakers do sound different. The L112s were apparently an improvement over the original Centuries but there are better speakers out there. For the amount you’re willing to spend on...

To improve the sound, start looking here.