Dac or integrated?

I'm using a DPA Enlightenment drive and DX32 dac. The power lead on the dac cuts out and when moved slightly to make a connection a very loud crackle/hiss is heard. The question is will any dac work with the Enlightenment drive? Recommendations gratefuly received.

Alternatively, how would newer integrated cd players like the Roksan Kandy MKIII and Rega Apollo stand up against the DPA? (12 years old).
Looking forward to a system where all the bits work!!

Thanks.

 

Hi Steve, yes any dac will work because the Enlightenment has both optical and coax SPDIF out. You can't use the 'Deltran' link of course, but in that case the transport runs fine off it's own internal clock.

(Have you tried other kettle leads to check if its the plug or socket at fault..?)

 

Hi Martin,
Haven't had much spare time lately, just turned it off in disgust!
Will check connections and with another lead at the weekend (probably something I should've done before posting!). Did you see my previous post - the amp is buzzing again (turned it off quickly before the speaker got too warm!). Have an AVI S2000MI running at the moment, or will have when dac sorted/replaced so I guess the DPA has been retired, for now anyway.

 

The IEC sockets fitted are pretty standard and can be easily swapped with a soldering iron if needed. But I reckon it's probably just a tired IEC cable plug (I hate 'em!) causing the problem.

Oh damn, I missed that. Sorry to hear this - I tried really hard to provoke it, too, in its over-long sojourn here

 

A good DA converter will remove any jitter induced by a poor transport. My advice would be to get a premium quality DA and never look back.

 

I agree with him!

 

Ah, but many of the DPA dacs went the extra mile: the master clock is resident in the dac, at point of conversion, and the DPA transport gets slaved to it via the deltran link. Jitter is then banished without the use of ASRC * While 'jitter' isn't the whole story of course these dacs are still very, very good.

* which isn't quite the perfect solution that Marketing would have you believe; though some obviously get outstanding results this way.

 

Steve - repair / upgrade of your DAC can be done by Chevin Audio or by ex -dpa employees. These e-dacs need a power supply tweak if left on 24/7 as there are overheating problems. Its a relatively easy fix. Your symptoms sound like a bad connection at the IEC plug or socket rather than anything else. The transport will be fine with other DACs but without the sync lock (deltran) you lose quite a lot. fwiw Mr Watts believed that a good percentage of the sound is due to the DAC rather than the transport. Are your Enlightenments the stainless steel ones or the powder finish. If the transport is a late 24 bit (TEAC non VRDS mech) its very rare indeed.

 

I took the advice offered in the second post on this link, and have never regretted it. Nor have at least four folk I know.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-54924.html


I see that there is one for sale on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AUDIO-SYNTHESIS-DAX-DECADE-DAC_W0QQitemZ320194270408QQcmdZViewItem

This has BlackGates upgrade, which is good.

Price asked is OK,

I have no financial or other interest in that ad.

 

Thanks for the replies.
Obviously I'd rather keep the dac healthy in old age so repair it is if needed.

Neil - Enlightenments are powder finish, don't know about 24 bit.

Ditton - If repair is not an option I'll look into the Dax Decade.

 

Well, it was the power lead! Tried a DPA (black slink?) lead and it works. My assumption that it was the dac at fault was based on many things breaking down over the last 2 months - dishwasher, central heating and a leak in the roof directly over my computer monitor! Hopefully that's it for a while. Thanks for the advice and happy Xmas.

 

Good to hear it's fixed - I love these DPA Dacs. The power lead was called 'power slink' and was often a 'hand wound' cable!!
The black slink cable was an upgraded lead offered to improve the "coax" connection between Transport and DAC - it was a £125 option to the standard digilink cable and was a .75m length of black slink terminated with wbt phonos. Worth trying if you use the coax out as opposed to the optical out from the transport.