![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
Thanks!
I have had to be out of town for most of my tryout period so I have been unable to listen to the converter for very long ( or ship it on promptly, for which I apologize ). However the three short sessions I did have left a strong impression with me.
I remember reading at least one listener's comment to the effect that the unit did not deliver as much detail as some others. At first I thought this was the case myself, which shows how wrong first impressions can be.
I installed the DAC in my bedroom system, which consists of a pair of Air Tight Bonsai speakers driven by an Audio Space AS-3i tube integrated which uses EL-34s in push-pull. The source is a PURE 1-20 iPod dock linked to a Stellavox ST-2 DAC via an Atlas Opus cox cable 1.5m long. Cables are Ensemble Masterflux with ETA connectors, and Furutech OCC 12-gauge speaker wires.
All music files were Redbook, played from a 3G iPod Touch. This setup gives better resolution than my best CD spinner, an Esoteric P-10.
I listened to a Mozart sonata for keyboard and and violin played by Gary Cooper and Rachel Podger. This 24/88.2 file was downloaded from HDTracks, then redithered and downsampled using Audiofile Sample Manager. I also listened to the first track of Meditations by Munir Bashir on the oud ( Inedit label ).
The first time around I thought the Mozart sonata lacked a bit of detail, as though the trailing edges of the notes were rounded off. However the background was extremely quiet, there was no noise at all. I then swapped in my Stellavox ST-2, a NOS DAC few people have heard of, which has an extremely musical character as well as lots of detail. I was surprised and dismayed to hear the Stellavox injecting a whitish noise, so that detail was obscured. The music was certainly detailed and intense, but the background was too distracting. I swapped the Neko DAC back in.
Now the noise disappeared absolutely. The emotion of the performance was still there, though, and in fact there was more of it. The super-silent background allowed me to hear things I had been missing. At one point, listening to the second piece, by Munir Bashir, I could hear him shift his playing position as he came to a demanding passage The fact that I was able to hear his whole body move was very important to the intensity of the performance. Although I must have listened to this piece about thirty times, this was the first time I'd heard that.
I wonder why my first impression had been that detail was lacking. I am sure it was an illusion, and I think the extremely black background was the reason. I was just not used to it, but I WAS used to the noisier version of the other DAC, and that noise masqueraded as detail.
So I cannot agree that the Neko D100 provides less musical detail than other units. The Stellavox ST-2 is an older design but a superb one, and it provides both excellent detail AND musical intensity. The Neko DAC was able to better that. Actually, I'm thinking of sending my ST-2 in for service now. So even though the Neko was only a visitor, in my house for a short time, it will have helped to improve my system over the long term.
Thank you very much indeed for the chance to try it out.
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests