Digital Drive

Posted by morricab (D) on July 01, 2024 at 07:31:00

In Reply to: RE: Chip vs. discrete resistor R2R posted by Leo loves music on June 29, 2024 at 08:03:26

Did a comparison recently where a friend brought over an ABBAS DAC from Ukraine that uses the TD1541 and all tube power supply and output stage vs. my Ayon Skylla 2 that has all tube power supply and tube output stage but uses the BB PCM1704K (2 per channel).

The take away, which might have a lot more to do with the analog stages rather than the DAC chips, is that Ayon is more "perfect" and the Abbas somewhat more rich and harmonic. Resolution is very good with both and bass was more potent with the Abbas (not that the Ayon is short in any way on bass). Soundstage was both deep and wide with 3d images for both but perhaps the Abbas was even more in that direction and more "wet" overall.

Suffice to say that I would not say resolution is lacking on either DAC and the TD1541 does not sound obsolete to me. I have also owned DACs with the 18 bit AD1865N and those also sound highly resolved and yet more grounded in sound like other top R2R dac chips.