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Greetings,

I am glad that the DAC II surpassed everybody's expectations. The Special version of the DAC II turned out to be a supercharged version of the DAC II.
It incorporates finest sounding...

The review can be accessed on www.hifi-advice.com

or direct link here:

http://www.hifi-advice.com/blog/review/digital-reviews/spdif-dac-reviews/sw1x-dac-ii-special/

Oh yes, mains cables- my favorite topic! Welcome to the club. No fuses in the mains cables improve many aspects of sound, especially clarity & harmonics improve beyond comprehension- I can confirm...

One should not argue about taste but not liking (definitely not hating) Jazz style is like not to like 30% or more of music. Jazz is more than a century old and has evolved and influenced so many...

Thank you for your feedback

The DAC II is a performance level 2 DAC- a step up in refinement & musical performance over the performance level 1 DAC I. In my opinion the DAC II, even in STD...

Greetings,

If anybody is still looking to acquire an analogue & musical sounding DAC without any BS, there is one for sale here on AOS:
...

Greetings,

A SW1X DAC I Passive I/U for 575 GBP is a steal.

If anyone seen an analogue sounding DAC with a powerful, zero feedback 6N6P valve output stage, over-specified discrete power...

Greetings Neil,

Everything being relative, not entirely sure how you got a product from us but I can only speculate that what you had was a prototype and not a product (on a loan that I did not...

Dear Martin,

Upgrading transports can be quite tricky. The digital transport must be seen as an integral part of your digital setup (as well as the rest of your system of course). A digital...

Greetings,

Nice to see that some people go back to the old technology. There is nothing better than a properly designed field coil based acoustics.

As with all active devices or components...

Sure, I hope that you will be pleased with the results. Please bear in mind that like everything else in audio it is a matter of careful matching with the rest of the system.

S

One more thing Martin, the 6N6Ps you had were from the 80s. Those valves have a much thinner sound character, with a slight tilt towards the top end.

S

Greetings,

While military gold pin E88C made by Tesla are nice valves, there are better valves that match the character of the DAC I, in my book. I could highly recommend the Russian 6N6P valves...

Greetings,

The review of SW1X DAC I STD Active I/V just got updated. One can read about the results of rolling different transistors in the I/U conversion stage. The updated review can be accessed...

Chris just posted his impression on the DAC I Signature with the newly rolled I/U transistors. I installed 2 x 3 sockets and inserted his favorite sounding transistor which he determined by himself....

We are talking I/U (current to voltage conversion) stage here not driver or output stages. There are no heavy loads at the R2R DAC current output! As a matter of fact the DAC itself would love to see...

Why not?

Check this http://sw1xad.co.uk/transistor-rolling-for-the-iu-conversion-option/

Rolling transistors is almost as easy as rolling valves or op-amps or any components that have pins and...

Absolutely, the only but very significant difference is that we do not use op-amps as those integrated circuits are very complex in nature, containing dozens of transistors, resistors, diodes and...

It may be true in many circuits, however we do not employ any kind of feedback loop(s) in our circuits. It also applies to the pair of NPN transistors in the I/U conversion stage.

I must admit...

Rolling transistors is simple. With a little bit of practice is almost as simple as rolling tubes.

S

Greetings,

The pair of transistors for the I/U conversion stage are actually bipolar NPN type. The NPN type of transistor has a similar structure to a triode valve (anode=collector, grid=base and...

Greetings,

In case you missed the latest review of DAC I STD comparison of Active vs Passive I/U version, it can be accessed here:
...

Obviously, you do know a lot and you know much better than me.

Everything is being relative. Are you speaking out of your own experience? Referring to flagship designs of some manufacturers does not prove anything nor offers any substance- your experience does. ...

You are welcome, Thiha. I feel honored by your comments.

1. A definition of breaking a bank varies in high end audio significantly. Everything is being relative.
Of course there is a combination...