Audio Note Dac 3.1 REVIEW

Digital Drive

Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it.

Dear members,
Over the weekend I had the chance to compare my Rotel 991 reference cd player and Audio Note's Dac 3 with IV Transformer @ the local Audio Note dealer here in the Philippines.
The store owner is a friend of mine so he did not mind me bringing a few disc and letting me try out the two digital sources. I personally have a Rotel 991 & I'm thinking of upgrading it to AN's digital source once funds are available and if the improvements can warrant the significant cost upgrade.
His line-up consisted of the Audio Note CD Transport, Audio Note M2 pre-amp, Dac 3 in the CD input and my Rotel 991 in the aux input. Interconnects on both sources were the Silver Audio cables. Speaker cables were the Analysis Plus Copper 9's single run thru a Spendor SP1/2. Amplifier on hand was a customers McCormack DNA 1.
First disc I tried was a disc by Sugo music, "Misty" by Jim Bajor. I loaded the disc unto the Rotel 991 since I had the remote in my hand. Everything sounded good immediately I just relaxed and enjoyed the music. In the middle of the track, I took the same disc and loaded it in the Audio Note transport and the first thing I noticed, that the piano had more weight and clarity. In the dac 3, the separation between instruments were much clear. I can distinctively hear his fingertips touching the ivories of the piano. It was more dimensional in presentation especially when he played up and down the pieces. I went back to the Rotel for comparison as I cannot believe the huge difference but it really was better. The Rotel sounded good by all means, it also had clarity but it sounded thinner and less warm in comparison. It sounded a bit grainy as well compared to the smoother sound of the Audio
Note combo.
My 2nd disc was Michael Numan--Guitar Pleasures by Sheffield Labs. The 1st track Chaccone. Again, having gone thru the Rotel first then the AN. The differences were very obvious. In the AN combo, the guitar sounded very natural, it had that wonderful bloom in it. The guitar retained its woody character more so than the Rotel. It sounded fuller in scale and in weight and less glare. The AN sounded very analogue, while the Rotel with its thinnish sound in comparison sounded very digital. It was an obvious difference esp in this piece. As we all know, guitar pieces can sound thin.
I went on to change disc to Vivaldi's Famous Concerti cd. With the first track, Allegro Gusto. The violins and guitars were melodiusly sonorous and very smooth on the Dac 3. I noticed the significant vividness of the sound of strings from the guitar that you could palpably feel the strong separation between violin and guitar in allegro mood. When the disc was transferred to the ROtel, it was obvious that it couldnt give it a grand scale compared to the Dac 3. The violins sounded less natural and again, thinner and frail in comparison. The soundstage potrayed in the Rotel was not as enormous and as deep as was the Dac3. You can feel the Rotel somewhat lost focus on the essence of what the musicians are trying to convey. I shook my head and couldnt believe the differences these two players made.
I went back to the Dac 3 on the same disc but proceeded with track 4 Basso Continuo Allegro. In this cut, one could feel the lively presence of the oboe and violins exchanging notes with each other with an overlay of the basso continuo. It brought the music together in a focus way like you can feel the musicians dexterity in their playing. The Rotel on the other hand missed the dexterity of the music. It was less intense, less emotive, and thus failed to lift the music.
It was very evident that the Dac 3 was an exceptional performer in every way over my Rotel 991. I had live with this CD player for a year and have been quite happy with. Now I have to think about deciding whether to buy the Dac 3 or not. At over $3,000 with just the Dac 3 + cables, it will put a big hole in my pocket. At any rate, I feel the Dac 3 did justice in giving the music a firmer and more life like presence compared to my beloved Rotel. The M2 pre-amp along with the McCormack complemented well to the Dac 3 thereby giving it a good synergy with the Spendor Sp1/2.

Eugene

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Topic - Audio Note Dac 3.1 REVIEW - Eugene P. Yu 07:25:29 08/28/01 (3)

Re: Audio Note Dac 3.1 REVIEW - Doremouse 21:50:39 08/28/01 (2)

Re: Audio Note Dac 3.1 REVIEW - John Logan 12:38:47 08/29/01 (1)

Re: Audio Note Dac 3.1 REVIEW - Doremouse 20:08:07 08/29/01 (0)

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