Hi Jo,
No we're not. I'm sure that the Sony could be taken further, but that's something I've put on the back burner for now. It sounds ace as it is, and like all successful 'recipes', could easily be ruined by adding the wrong ingredient. As they say, you don't attempt to 'fix' what ain't broken...
Plus, and let me make this absolutely clear: the Pi/IQ-Audio DAC
isn't better all-round than the Sony.
It it is better in some areas (notably absolute resolution, filigree-detail retrieval/high-frequency extension, rather like the sonic effect one gets with a turntable, when going from using a top-of-the-range moving magnet cartridge, to a high-end moving coil, and how that impacts on musical presentation), and not quite as good in others (notably 'muscularity' of musical delivery, i.e. overall weight and scale, dynamic alacrity, and the sheer balls-out 'size' of the sound, as the Sony portrays music with such huge scale and 'life' [IME, it is unrivalled in that particular area], which the Pi/DAC combo can't
quite match - but look at the difference in price!!
However, I suspect that the addition to the Pi of a top-notch linear PSU will go some way, in that respect, towards levelling the playing field, whilst maintaining the requisite 'SPPV factor'....
Essentially, in comparison with the Sony's 'take no prisoners', hugely bold and entertaining musical presentation, the Pi/DAC combo does things more subtly, and arguably with greater finesse and refinement.
What is missing too (and this for me is crucial), is any sense whatsoever that one is listening to a digital source. It has an uncannily 'relaxed' and effortless musical presentation, together with a complete absence of the fatiguing 'glare' that has infected every other digital music source I've heard to date, so in that respect, it's like listening to a top-notch turntable, playing mint condition audiophile pressings of vinyl. The Pi/DAC combo exhibits that glorious, all-absorbing 'analogue tone' and subjective sense of 'correctness'.
The Sony, as good as it is, still sounds like a CD player (albeit a very good one), simply because *that* is what it is, and so no matter how sonically and musically accomplished, it can never completely shake off the shackles (playback accuracy limitations) imposed by the interface of a laser mechanism reading a disc - and as such it sounds just a tad more contrived and 'false'. That's about the best way I can describe it.
My DAC is so well built like your sony (except in a high end TEAC stylee). So have you looked in to any mods that would bring the dinosaur back in to the lime lite? Or is it that (late question I know) the Pi is simply a different flavor to the Sony?
That's it in a nutshell; in the same way as my SPU has a different 'flavour' from that of the Denon DL-S1, or which that has over the 103... You're most certainly playing with 'flavours' here, not any sense of overall sonic superiority.
I was going to write a thread about my dac... now me thinks it will be put in the bin... (the thread, that is) lol
Lol... If you really like your DAC, don't rule out the possibility of also using it in conjunction with the Pi. You just need to use the Hi-Fi Berry interface instead. For the money, you could certainly try both (Pi/Hi-Fi Berry+TEAC, vs. Pi/IQ-Audio DAC), and still end up spending less than a good night out in the town with your mates!!
I'm not really interested in going there (doing the same with the Hi-Fi Berry and my Sony), as I'm happy to have the facility of using a modern bang up-to-date, top-notch (yet cheap as chips) DAC, and its ability to allow me to play hi-res music files, beyond the capability of the Sony.
As such, I've welcomed the IQ-Audio Pi-DAC+ very warmly into my system as being, in conjunction with the RPi itself, yet another highly capable music source. Choice is good!
Marco.
Originally Posted by Marco
Hi Jo,
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