bassdude

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Price Paid:  $800.00 from Audiogon

Summary:
This is a review of the Monarchy M24 - which Audio Review has banned from it's forum for some reason - but, the DAC is truly a "World Class" DAC which equals those costing many thousand$ more - which everyone should know about!

I realize this is all "old news" to other owners of the Monarchy M24, but… I must confess… I was a skeptic regarding the Monarchy M24, and it's ability to transform the sound of "Red Book" CD's into great sound that rivals that of the best vinyl and digital playback systems. Having the Musical Fidelity Small X Series components (i.e. XDAC v3), as well as the legendary Cal Audio Alpha and Sigma II DAC's, and the Music Hall MMF CD25 1+ - I found it hard to believe any digital system could really and significantly exceed the wonderful sound quality produced by these great pieces of equipment… especially the Cal Audio equipment, which even though dated a few years, still produces sound quality rivaled by very few other, far more expensive DAC's.



But… after reading all the reviews and comments, both hear and on other forums, of how the sound produced by the M24 exceeded that produced by most other digital players, and was equivalent to the best analog and digital systems costing as much as $17,000 – I was seduced into giving the M24 an audition.



Skeptical though I was… it took the M24 about 3 weeks to convince me that all those claims by other reviewers and commentators were… absolutely, 100% correct! Although… it was clearly obvious "right out of the box" that the M24 produced exceptional sound – with great extension, soundstage, bass, mids and highs… but, with simply incredible presence and a textured, organic, weighty sound that is hard to imagine could be produced by such a modestly priced DAC.



I guess what struck me as most amazing… is how it literally transformed my Sennheiser HD650 headphones into "World Class" headphones. The HD650's, are known to be a bit too dark and warm, without the fast, bright, detailed, clear highs of several other headphones (e.g. Grados, ATH's, etc.) – being overly dominated by their bass and lower mids – and… very hard to drive to their full potential. But… the M24 quite literally "wakes them up" – bringing out their upper mids and highs and making them seem much brighter, clearer and more detailed than other DAC's do. I had often read that the HD650's "scaled up" well with much more expensive equipment – well… it's true, even with some modestly priced equipment like the M24. I have no idea, what the M24 provides, that others don't, that makes them perform, but it clearly does. In fact some have suggested… it brings the HD650's to the level of the one, or two best headphones available (e.g. Senn Orpheus HE90 / HE60, AKG K1000, Sony R10, ATH L3000, etc.). And… of course it excels with my other headphones as well – Sennheiser HD600's, Grado RS-1's, and ATH AD-2000's.



I will never allow myself to spend $17,000 on any DAC, or any piece of audio equipment, or a lot less quite frankly… so… it's a pleasant surprise to find that I really don't have to. "Suffice it to say," I won't be looking any further for a great, value-priced DAC – I finally have a truly "World-class" DAC right here in my rack!



This is a 6 star DAC on a 5 scale!

Strengths:
Simply incredible, awsome sound.

Weaknesses:
Can't dim the LED light - pretty minor.

Similar Products Used:
Cal Audio Alpha & Sigma II - also "World Class" DAC's
Musical Fidelity XDAC v3 - a great DAC
Music Hall MMF CD25 w 1+ Upgrade

joeymazz

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
4.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $431.00 from audiogon from Ed (wh

Summary:
This is the Monarchy 22b with a built-in DIP, Jena Labs mods, and a digital Taddeo, ALL IN ONE! I picked it up from Ed, who reviewed it above as "smooooth" way back in 1999. I assume he added the Jena Labs mods, etc, after the review. First, the unit arrived inoperative (though well packed, it has so much stuff crammed inside, that the Taddeo was shorting to the DAC circuit). It was a SIMPLE fix, and a local tech only charged me $38 to fix it. The balanced inputs were remove, and the toslink is inoperative. (I almost sent the thing back when I sa the optic in was not working! THEN, I LISTENED TO IT!) All I can say is: WOW. Wow-wow-wow! If you hate redbook CDs, or can't stand anything other than Analog, TRY A MONARCHY DAC/DIP combo! I have owned Bela Fleck's "Flight of the Cosmic Hippo" for over a decade. I was amazed at its sonics via a plain Rotel cdp, then, a dedicated transport/dac by Rotel, and now, I have "heard" Bela Fleck for the first time! I thought my Pinnacle BDC 1200 towers were in need of a subwoofer. I was wrong. I thought albums like Mick Jagger's "Wandering Spirit" were simply harsh with sibilance. Once again, wrong! Even on Mick's worst attacks, I can hear his vocal chords and throat, rather than my tweeters crackling with distortion. Where there was once mild confusion, ride cymbals, multiple acoustic guitars and banjos, woodwinds, violins, whispers, and finger swipes--there is now total resolution! Everything is as it should be. Nostril inhaltions sound like nostrils, scrapes like scrapes. I even hear differences in wood tones. Seperate keys on xylophone (sp?) each have distinct timbre and spaces of their own. It is like I have been privied to the same thing the producers got to hear. There are improvements we make in our systems that make us stand back and say, "Yeah, that makes a bit of a difference." or "It adds something, I'm not sure what," etc. With the Monarchy 22b/DIP/Taddeo, there is no mistaking the complete metamorphosis which your system undertakes! My only wish is that they were all seperate, so I could add each one-by-one. Long story short--If the newer Monarchy stuff (22c, 33, DIP Classic, etc.) is better even than this, I can not wait to hear it! When I received an inoperative unit, I was quite unhappy. But, after a quick fix, I was not about to part with it over a cheesy Toslink connector! Ed got instant positive feedback the minute I finally stopped listening to the 22b! Anyone who wastes their money on DACs costing $2k or more would be embarrased if they heard the 22b/DIP combo in their setup! It shames almost anything I have heard, aside from 6-figure-audius-unobtanus DACs. The monarchy 22b is the finest upgrade I have yet made to my system! -joeymazz

Strengths:
flawless, noiseless reproduction with ZERO digititis, distortion, etc.

Weaknesses:
Exposes every shortcoming in my setup! I would need a $5k amp and a $5k pre to truly appreciate this, along with $10k speakers, and a Rega or Linn transport! Even with my limited system, the 22b is a KEEPER!!!!

Similar Products Used:
None! No, seriously, only the Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista comes close. Maybe some $20k units I have heard at the local ultra-high-end shop. (Even then, if I had his amps, etc., the Monarchy would problably hold-up just fine against ANY dac at any price!!! That's sayning alot...

Price Paid:  $495.00 from Sound Values, San Diego

Summary:
I purchased a used Monarchy 22B DAC last month, and have augmented it with the Monarchy 24/96 DIP.
If any out there appreciate fine red wine, they'll know that it must be decanted to allow the wine to breathe and blossom. This is the analogy that best describes the effect the Monarchy components have had on my system. Just as a fine wine opens up and releases it's character and fruit after breathing, the DAC has allowed the music to bloom, revealing character, richness and detail that I didn't know my system was capable of producing. Really, it's as if the sound has gone from stereo to holographic.
I also found a significant enhancement after replacing the stock power cords of both the DAC and DIP with aftermarket cords. I'm using both Tekline and LAT power cords and have a ZCable lightning power cord on the way.
This is the first DAC I've owned, so I have no background from which to compare, but I love the Monarchy 22B.

Associated equipment:
Harmon Kardon 8300 CDP - LAT Digital cable
Monarchy DIP - Monarchy digital cable
Monarchy 22B DAC - Pure Silver Sound interconnects
Sim Audio I-5080 integrated amp - Analysis Plus oval 12 biwired to
Soliloquy 5.3 speakers

Strengths:
Wonderful soundstage and detail

Price Paid:  $1179.00 from from manufacturer

Summary:
In the past few weeks I was fortunate to have four separate D/A converters at home and ready to play with them. These included:

Audio Alchemy DDE V3.0 HDCD with power station Four
PS Audio SL-Three with HDCD decoder chip
North Star Design M192 with upsamping onboard up to 24/192
Monarchy Audio M22B, plain simple, no gimmicks

The rest of the set up consisted of several amps (BOW, Sphinx and Monarchy), several speakers (Focal B400, JMLab Micro Utopia, Klipsch Heresy II) and a Teac VRDS-T1 cd player with Trichord Clock 2 installed, coupled with a Monarchy Audio DIP Mk. II and whenever possible I used the EAS/EBU interface from DIP to DAC.

The shootout started with the Audio Alchemy, this converter was the best AA ever made, but in these days of better chipsets the sound is hard, not very detailed and lacks space. Especially with the Klipsch speakers this was a real mismatch.

Then the PS Audio lost its place. This DAC has a very smooth sound, much air and space and the musicians spread out in my room. Easy on the ear and the HDCD chip does give that little extra to HDCD cd’s. But I only got about 10 encoded dics of a total over 400. The PS Audio was easy to live with, had I not heard the other, it would have become my regular DAC.

The North Star Design M192 is different from all others, since we have an upsample possibility. The normal 16 bit 44 kHz cd signal is upsampled to 24 bit at 192 kHz. Funny enough this has a positive effect, but not always seems the way to go. With upsampling the sounds get more natural, more easy going, has more detail and when used on a minidisk player, almost restores the original cd sound. But on the other hand, it lacks space, musicians seems to crawl all over eachother. In the direct mode they all find there places again, but the sound hardens and the “analogue” effect disappears. I would place its sound closer to PS Audio then to Monarchy, still far removed from the AA DAC.

Lat but not least the M22B comes in. Just in case you stop reading here, this is the winner in all respects. Dot. But I will tell you why. The M22B is a very transparent DAC. Maybe this is due to the fact that it uses a filter technique very different from all others (no idea what North Star uses). For instance on a Diana Krall cd you can hear here bracelet when she plays the piano. Other cd’s like The Chieftains gives you an insight view of what was recorded, how many voices are in the background, where musicians stood or were mixed down by the producers.

Apart from the transparent sound, which does not add any listening fatigue, the DAC is the most lively one of the four used. It does help to recreate the atmospher of a good live recording. Lets you feel the emotions of the singers and gets you a step nearer tot the stage. This is no DAC that gives you the opportunity to read books as well, it always draws your attention to the music played.

I have read comments on the M22B that is does not go as deep an other in the low registers, but I do not find this in my case. I do use an active subwoofer for the lowest frequenties and they are played fast and accurate. Maybe only the AA was a bit louder in this respect, but loses on many other occasions (and far more booming than accurate). The North Star nor the PS Audio gains any profit over the Monarchy here. The best part might be the voices and middle area in the performance. Very easy on the ear, very transparent, very detailed and very lifelike. Again the open sound stage surprises and new details can be heard even on old en familiar cd’s.

The upper frequenties are handled like the rest. Never harsh sounding and with good timing. Overall the winner is clear, the Monarchy Audio M22B is here to stay. In the meantime I sold the AA and the PS Audio en the North Star went back to the distributor. As I was informed by Mr. Poon of Monarchy Audio the M22B is absolete and the new version is the model 22C, that has a CE approval as well. Monarchy must be able to tell you what other changes are made, but I can promise you, if it is even better than the 22B it is worth every penny.

In these days of SACD, DVD-A etc. why invest in a 20 bit DAC? Well thats easy to tell. I am a music lover and today almost all music I like is sold on the “old” cd format. Beside that I have a collection of over 400 cd’s, many very dear to me. So what I like is the best equipment to listen to these cd’s and the many more to come. I see no reason today to invest in 24/96 or 24/192 DAC’s as long as there is no software in large quantities around. And as far as I can predict, it will take at least a couple of years before a real change comes true. In the mean time I am able to enjoy my music with one of the best sounding DAC’s available.

Strengths:
Very detailed, flexible, XLR input/output

Weaknesses:
no 24/96 conversion

Similar Products Used:
Audio Alchemy DDE V3.0
PS Audio Sl-Three
North Star Design M192

Summary:
This is a review for the 22B with Stan Warren's modification.Monarchy has so many DACs, it's easy to get confused. The following DACs
belong to the same family. They all use the BurrBrown PCM63P
22A: older generation, NOT upgradable to the rest of the family
22B: super fine DAC
22B limited edition: 22B + Jennifer Crook modification
22C: 22B + line amp + piggy back BurrBrown DAC
33: 22B + Monarchy 10A line amp

I am not using any audiophile words and phrases, here is what I convey.
I upgraded from the Cambridge Dac, which itself is a pretty good bargain.
While not expecting a huge improvement, I was stunned. It was like moving
from a box speaker to a Maggie. It's day and night. no exaggeration,
no nonsense here. The very first thing I noticed was the smoooooooothness
of a female lieder played thru the system. I could not believe my ears.
Then it was the ability to pick up all the low-level noise I never heard.
Another layer was added to the soundstage, now vocalists and solo
instruments were closer to me. The bass was also improved.

Cambridge transport
Monarchy 22B
EVS Nude Attenuator
Monarchy se100 delux
Celestion SL700

When time allows, I'll experiment with the piggyback DACs.

Thanks Monarchy!