DAC-off at richidoos

[richidoo]

Mike Smith's Altmann Attraction DAC which has been touring the country to rave reviews will be featured and compared to other DACs and CD players on hand. All DACs welcome!

We are all very excited to hear this new technology and see what's all the hubub. Thanks to Mike for the gracious offer to extend the tour for the southern boys.

June 9, 5pm. Food served. BYOB&B (Battery and Beer ). PM for directions.
Rich

[stereofool]

I'll be there   !

[lonewolfny42]

Not to be missed !!! Its a good one....

(Crap.....now I really have to ship it...   )

[richidoo]

Sorry wolfy  

Your regret to let it goes says a lot!  Of course, you're always welcome to drop in...  
Rich

[Carlman]

I'll be there! Thanks for having this, Rich.
I'll bring the Scott Nixon USB Tube DAC and my laptop.
IF (note that's a big IF) Scott has another new DAC ready, I'll bring it with me as well.  Oh, and of course the Allttmmann... which is taking a brief pitstop between LW and me.. but I've been assured it will be here in time.

BTW, I hear Hantra won't be able to make it.  Sad because he's the one that intro'd me to one of the first SN DAC's about 4 or 5 years ago...   Scott's come a long way with his designs.

-C

[richidoo]

Stereofool is bringing his Perpetual Technologies DAC, and AR Ref 1 (by request)  

[miklorsmith]

Very exciting!  Thanks for putting it together, Rich.  

Since this is the AN stop on the Tour, feel free to post any and all impressions of the DAC here, good and bad.  I want to paint as complete and honest a picture of it as possible - that was the whole point in the first place.

Mike

[richidoo]

Benchmark DAC1 is coming to the DAC-off!

Steve can you bring a short set of Grover balanced ICs (or whatever your fav is) for the DAC1 balanced output? Might be fun to compare to SE output.  Thanks!  
Rich

[WEEZ]

Rich,

Looking forward to hearing the results. Too bad there's nobody with an AVA Ultra dac to join the comparison..

WEEZ

[richidoo]

I know, I was thinking about that too. When Mike offered the Altmann, there wasn't enough time (or money) to order one  Have you heard the UltraDAC Don?

[WEEZ]

Yeah, but not in a comparison, or shootout, or dac-off....

[WEEZ]

Oh, and it was with the 12AT7 tubes, not the 6N1P's, fwiw..

[hometheaterdoc]

When exactly is this?  I've got a seriously full weekend, but I can likely make it for a little bit at least.......

Anyone want to hear the JPS stuff?

I don't have any DACs to bring along... but I can bring the Oracle transport if you're looking for a good transport source in comparison to the computer based stuff....

[Carlman]

I'd like to compare the JPS to the Grovers and possibly the Reality's.  Maybe we could use the best of the 3 to evaluate the DAC's.

-C

[richidoo]

Well, the house is all quiet after a fantastic evening of listening, chatting, having a fun time. Thanks to all who came over. The Altmann was a big hit, everyone enjoyed it. Thanks especially to Stereofool for bringing his AR Ref1 preamp, cables, assorted "just in case" accessories and a great collection of albums. One of Steve's CDs, Grusin, with lots of piano, vibes, tinkly percussion showed the DAC differences night and day. Hearing Steve's incredible preamp was one of the highlights for me. Thanks Steve! Shane brought the entire spread of Aluminatas over, and after an hour of my cables, we switched everything to alumalloy and were suitably impressed. A very nice feeling of smoothness, power, control, highs extension, you know... all those audiofool words. Shane also bought Oracle CD1000/CD1500 which we used as a transport for the DACs from the mid point onward. It worked great, looked great, made us all feel very fancy. Thanks Shane!

Roger brought a prototype DAC designed by Kevin Carter which sounded awesome. Carl brought the Altmann, and Scott Nixon USB Tube DAC which also held up well. Richard brought a DAC but I can't remember the name of it and didn;t get to listen to it, Richard liked the Altmann better too. Steve's BenchmarkDAC1 forgot to get in the car to come over . Oh Well!  Altogether we had about 10 guys. Finally got to meet Inscrutable (Tim). I hope everyone will post some thoughts about the Altmann Attraction DAC over in Mikes "Outside" thread, or here on this thread, or over in the Digital Devices section. Thanks!!!!!

I will write my review of the DAC after I have a chance to listen a little more. Between cookin on the grill and pulling the red top battery out of the minivan I didn't get to have a good long listen...yet! I heard enough to determine that the Altmann was my fav of all the DACs we heard tonight. Thanks to you, Mike, for giving us a great excuse to g2g to listen to your excellent DAC. It's comin home reeeal soon!
Rich