Stan's New Dac - any reviews yet?

[StanleyB]

The hq HP amp is for my use only a bonus in the TC-7520, but that would not be heavily valued when making the decision (so little HP use these days here).

If I left that out, the DAC would be cheaper, and people would say that it can't be any good because it is cheaper. So it is best to put in a HP amp that is as good or better than some stand alone £200 HP amps. That way I can encourage HP amp buyers to buy my HP amp, and get a DAC and digital switching box thrown in for free .

Stan

[Labarum]

The economics and quality of headphone amps is the topic here

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug0...s/qa0807_3.htm

It is as Stan says: ~£200 (or lot more) for a headphone amp or ~£200 for a headphone amp , DAC and digital pre-amp.

A no brainer?

[trailer]

It is when the DAC itself is a bargain at £200. Never mind the HA.

[Martin J]

I never really considered myself a headphone man but I have a 7520 on the way and my NAP250 is off to the Sound Org to be recapped later this week so I guess for a week or two I will be.

I have some Bose QC2s and QC3s which I bought for use on trains and planes and up in the loft I have some Beyer something or others which I haven't used for about 18 years. I wonder if they still work.

[Martin J]

Nearly forgot. I also have some Ultimate Ears Super.Fi earbuds which are surprisingly musical with an ipod. They take a lot less room in your bag than the QCs and they don't make you look such a knob on the train. The downside is if you try to have a beer and some crisps while wearing them you hear everything as they go down!

[Osku]

If I left that out, the DAC would be cheaper, and people would say that it can't be any good because it is cheaper. So it is best to put in a HP amp that is as good or better than some stand alone £200 HP amps. That way I can encourage HP amp buyers to buy my HP amp, and get a DAC and digital switching box thrown in for free .

Stan

I agree perfectly with the reasons why it is there, but as for a review I am not so interested comparing HP amp against not HP amp, so it is not apples to apples but would be more like apples to oranges. In real life I might be willing to pay extra for the HP amp, but that is not a necessity. And since I have a ES-series Sony amp in both places I might use HP it is not that important for me anyway. (I might change that opinion once I have tested TC-7520 with my MDR-SA5000 and compared with my STR-DA3300ES´s HP output).

Do I remember correctly that the TC-7520 has different chips (and now in a socket) than TC-7510? I could not find the thread that I remember reading earlier.

EDIT:
Stan: is the jitter correction you have stated to re-clock the data (already) in 7510 something that the competition does not have? Or is there difference in the behavior/quality of that correction? I am somewhat new to separate DACs and since have not seen that many statements of re-clocking capability elsewhere, am wondering if the competition is having something similar or laking it completely.

Perhaps the VALAB 2009 DAC might be also worth of testing against the TC-7520?

[Filterlab]

Fair enough, the headphone amplifier is a very important aspect of a DAC to me and therefore when I receive my 7520 I will be testing it against my existing DAC both via headphones and loudspeakers.

[StanleyB]

I agree perfectly with the reasons why it is there, but as for a review I am not so interested comparing HP amp against not HP amp, so it is not apples to apples but would be more like apples to oranges.

That's fair enough. Potential customers who wish to economize on the headphone may wish to consider the MF V-DAC or the CA DacMagic. If it is not a feature required then there is no need to purchase the TC-7520, not matter how much better it may or may not be than other DACs. At the end of the day perfect audio reproduction should not be THE deciding factor. Maybe the TC-7520 has too many input facilities, or an expensive USB socket that is not required.

STan

[leo]

Its hard pleasing everyone unfortunately Stan

I get the impression people are hoping for a cheaper version of the 7520 minus the Headphone amp and USB input but offer the same sound quality on the fixed analogue outputs.

The problem is once people see a post that states the anolgue output of the 7520 is miles better than the 7510 this tends to put people off the inferior but cheaper model IMHO, if the cheaper model cannot be modded or updated to be on par with the new model might also put people off

This is no stab towards you Stan, its just the impression I'm getting reading some posts on this forum, if I am totally wrong then just ignore my prattling on

Its a shame the dac didn't have internal sockets to allow the addition of say a USB input module and headphone amp module etc which can be added as a later upgrade if you know what I mean

[leo]

BTW, I personally would not touch the Dacmagic with a big stick! but thats just my opinion, I've never tried the V-dac so no idea regarding that