rifftrax
mix-meister
Got it from UPS today. Saw this curiosity on ebay just perusing through gobs of other electronics and it happened to catch my eye. I know the general quality of this vintage of yamaha equipment was second to none, especially in the pro-audio realm and though I could find nothing of it online, I decided to take a chance as I had a good feeling about it. I didn't know for sure if it would sound any better than my current Lucid ADA 1000 which I'm using as a DAC right now, but the price was right and it looked very solid (could be my backup I figured).
Here's how it looks when it came:
So of course I immediately hooked it up and listened to the exact set of songs I had been listening through the Lucid - track 1, 8 and 10 of BT's Movement in Still Life (excellent album, one of my favorite electronic choices). I had just listened to these in that order with my other dac so I knew I'd have a chance to really see if there was any difference.
Now, I'm pretty sure no-one else here has likely even heard that Yamaha made a stand-alone dac (I thought it was pretty surprising myself, part of why I picked it up) and I didn't know exactly what to expect, but the thing fired right up and the Phase Lock Loop light came on when I switched on my dvd player/transport which is a good sign :thmbsp: First song comes on and...
:scratch2:
Oh yeah - that is honestly a magnitude better than the Lucid dac (which is a pretty good dac). Extremely "lucid" (which is kinda funny) and effortless sound from the first track, instruments cut through the mix in the most intense sections without losing step at all and most interesting was the extreme smoothness of the high-frequency reproduction...actually really quite amazing how life-like and clean everything came through near the filter area in the treble (which I've heard is an extremely rare feat for many older dac's to exhibit such a complete lack of grain and edge) :yes:
Reminds me much of the times I've demo'd extraordinarily expensive pieces (dacs) in high-end stores...had much of the same feel to the music in the sense that there was no loss of coherence throughout the spectrum as the overall energy and complexity of the mix increased. Bass was pulled off with aplomb and the definition at points really caught me off guard - I'm so used to extremely loud passages feeling rather congested and squeezed out there by the speakers, it was as if the DAC had given new life to the speakers I'm using during the most demanding portions of the music!
Needless to say, I'm pretty blown away. It's a really hefty piece of equipment too. Easily 10 lbs. or more (way more significant the Lucid device). Has anyone even ever seen one of these before?? If you find one and don't have something comparable to the Benchmark DAC1 level - I would wager you'll find it kicks some serious ass.
Now, I just need to find a cheap dvd transport with a AES/EBU output, I hate spdif coax - bleh :yuck:
Here's how it looks when it came:
So of course I immediately hooked it up and listened to the exact set of songs I had been listening through the Lucid - track 1, 8 and 10 of BT's Movement in Still Life (excellent album, one of my favorite electronic choices). I had just listened to these in that order with my other dac so I knew I'd have a chance to really see if there was any difference.
Now, I'm pretty sure no-one else here has likely even heard that Yamaha made a stand-alone dac (I thought it was pretty surprising myself, part of why I picked it up) and I didn't know exactly what to expect, but the thing fired right up and the Phase Lock Loop light came on when I switched on my dvd player/transport which is a good sign :thmbsp: First song comes on and...
:scratch2:
Oh yeah - that is honestly a magnitude better than the Lucid dac (which is a pretty good dac). Extremely "lucid" (which is kinda funny) and effortless sound from the first track, instruments cut through the mix in the most intense sections without losing step at all and most interesting was the extreme smoothness of the high-frequency reproduction...actually really quite amazing how life-like and clean everything came through near the filter area in the treble (which I've heard is an extremely rare feat for many older dac's to exhibit such a complete lack of grain and edge) :yes:
Reminds me much of the times I've demo'd extraordinarily expensive pieces (dacs) in high-end stores...had much of the same feel to the music in the sense that there was no loss of coherence throughout the spectrum as the overall energy and complexity of the mix increased. Bass was pulled off with aplomb and the definition at points really caught me off guard - I'm so used to extremely loud passages feeling rather congested and squeezed out there by the speakers, it was as if the DAC had given new life to the speakers I'm using during the most demanding portions of the music!
Needless to say, I'm pretty blown away. It's a really hefty piece of equipment too. Easily 10 lbs. or more (way more significant the Lucid device). Has anyone even ever seen one of these before?? If you find one and don't have something comparable to the Benchmark DAC1 level - I would wager you'll find it kicks some serious ass.
Now, I just need to find a cheap dvd transport with a AES/EBU output, I hate spdif coax - bleh :yuck:
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