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Review 3 of 4
Price Paid:
$100.00
from DIY paradise Summary:
The unit sounds pretty sweet but lacks the high level detail that I have grown accustomed to with DVD-Audio/SACD. It stays attached to my CD player- an old parasound unit with a hot rodded digital out. I added a tube output stage to the Monica as a buffer but don't notice any real advantage. However, I did notice that the higher the clock, the smoother the tunes. I have heard the same from others that modding it isn't really required. They were right. Adding an 80k crystal made a difference. this shoud make things worse but he improvement is significant. there are so many theoretical flaws with the design, but it really soundsd great. I have built a number of audio projects and this one was worth the dough. Although, I bought a cheap sansung DVD-audio/sacd player and modded it with a class a output stage from Elliot Sound Products and it really shines. Given the newer high resolution technology, CD just cant compete. I can't recall where I saw the measurements on an oscope, but unless you parallel more dacs, the bitrate is too low to reproduce the top few thousand HZ. That is the only reason this DAC isn't the flagship of my system. Adding the circuit to correct the frequency response adds phase issues and negates the advantages that give this unit its smoothness. It definately beats any CD normal, consumer CD player and most DACs that I have heard. Did I say that it was smooth? Well it is, but a bit tame for me. I don't think anyone would be disappointed but Strengths:
price, DIY= fun, simple, will accept higher bit/ sample rate from newer equipment, sounds real SMOOTH, SMOOTH, SMOOTH Weaknesses:
Some of the smoothnes is high frequency roll-off. Cant really take advantage of the higher bit/sample rate info if it cannot reproduce the higher frequencies- not cutting edge technology but smooth. However, I don't think anyone with a CD collection would be disappointed in buying this. Not sure what you High Def guys would think.
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5 of 5
5 of 5
