Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!pacbell!pacbell.com!mips!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!info-high-audio-request From: chowkwan@aerospace.aero.org Newsgroups: rec.audio.high-end Subject: Review of Aragon and PS Audio D/A converters Message-ID: <4280@uwm.edu> Date: 4 Jun 90 12:36:00 GMT Sender: news@uwm.edu Lines: 156 Approved: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu Capsule review: --------------- The Aragon d2a converter is good at unravelling complex orchestral passages. Unfortunately, it compresses the dynamic range so I rejected it for that reason. The PS Audio Digital Link is somewhere in between the d2a and my Sony C7ESD player. i.e. it helps to smooth out the sound and improve the tonality - but not as much as the d2a. On the other hand, it doesn't squash the dynamics like the d2a does. Conclusion: ---------- I think I'll wait another 6 months before sampling the D/A waters again. The state of the art is evolving so quickly, it doesn't seem worthwhile to compromise and get something flawed when better things will be available real soon now. Full review: ----------- I was listening to Karajan's version of Puccini's Turandot on the Deutsche Gramophon label last Friday when I got fed up with the screechy sound and couldn't stand it any more. The voices sounded flat and metallic, loud musical passages with many instruments degenerated into an amorphous blob of sound. So I upped and borrowed the Aragon d2a and the PS Audio Digital Link D/A converters. The Aragon lists for around $1K and the Digital Link for $800 so they are the bottom of the barrel compared to the Krells, Wadias, Thetas, Nakamichis, Staxes. I'll only report my reactions to the d2a. As I stated in the capsule review, the Digital Link falls somewhere between the d2a and my regular Sony player. Puccini's Turandot. Karajan conducting. Deutsche Gramophon (DG) --------------------------------------- >From talking to other audiophiles, I've recently realized that DG has a reputation for terrible sound. This was surprising to me since I'd always thought of them as one of the better labels. Certainly, they're expensive and they have recorded many famous musicians including Karajan, Abbado, Kempf, Pollini, to mention a few. So while the musical standard is high, the recording quality is considered less than the best. On track one of disc one, the opening fanfare was much mellowed on the d2a as compared to the Sony. The brass sounded less like someone was banging on sheet metal and more like a wind instrument. The voice of the royal announcer was no longer flat, but sounded like a human voice. On the last track of disc one, in the final fanfare, I could distinguish the violins from the other instruments where there had been just a solid mass of sound from the SOny. Well, at this stage, I was about ready to buy the d2a. It seemed the answer to my problems and at half the cost of the junior Theta/Wadia. But then I decided to maybe try another disc ... Linda Rondstadt. Howl Like the Wind. ------------------------------------ On the first couple of tracks of this album, the tonality was smoother but the dynamics were squashed by the d2a. I'm prepared to entertain notions that I was getting a more natural sound from the d2a, and that the dynamics that I missed were actually a distortion of the treble. (In fact, that's what the line the salesman pushed the next day when I returned the stuff but I wasn't buying.) However, I found that the Digital Link was able to smooth the sound without the squashed dynamics so I tend to think something in the d2a's smoothing circuitry also damps the sound. I tried some other pop and jazz stuff with similar results. In each case, smoother sound from the d2a but squashed dynamics also. I also decided against getting the Digital Link, because although the sound was improved, the improvement didn't seem to be worth the $800 cost. I would have at least first taken a look at Sony's new C8ESD (8 times oversampling versus the 4 times oversampling in my C7ESD) at half the cost before trying for the Digital Link. The Denon is another possible alternative to the Digital Link. i.e. the Digital Link didn't offer the same quantum improvement in tonality that the d2a did, that would make the extra bucks over a good CD player worthwhile. If you think my listening was limited, try auditioning 2 bits of hardware between the hours of 5pm and 11am the next day. There's a certain overhead in plugging and unplugging interconnects. Plus you've got to keep playing and re-playing the same tracks and trying to remember what they sounded like. Hey, man, I was tired by the end of this session. I'd hate to do this for a living. It would take all the fun out of music. Diagnosis: ---------- Well, maybe it was the wire. The store gave me a Monster Cable video cable to use as the interconnect between my Sony player and the D/A converters. They told me they hadn't done enough investigating to know what was the best wire to use so the Monster Cable was a sort of stop gap until they found something better. Well, maybe it was the transport. Maybe with a better transport, the d2a would have sounded better. But if I could afford a better transport, I'd probably be looking at a better converter anyway. Physical Stuff: ------------- Both the d2a and the Digitial Link come with an outboard power converter. Both are about 1 inch thick. The d2a is much larger - about the size of a tray. The footprint was bigger than my CD player. The Digitial Link is a bit bigger than a modem. The d2a has provisions for 3 digital inputs - one of them optical. It automatically flips the sampling rate to match the input, i.e. can handle DAT. The d2a also has a phase inverter switch that comes with a long extension cord so you flip the phase from the comfort of your armchair. The Digital Link has only one input and no fancy phase inverter. Other Stuff: ----------- Transport Sony C7ESD (you should know that by now). I use the fixed output of this machine. The variable output sounds awful. Interconnect to pre-amp: 1m Audioquest Lapis (old style) pre-amp: VTL DeLuxe (low Z output (whatever that is)) Interconnect to power amp: 1m Cardas Quadlink Power amp: VTL 90/90 Speaker cable: 40' of generic 10ga wire. Cardas banana plugs. Speakers: GNP 210's. The room is an irregular rectangle, approx 12' by 35'. -- ray