[Review] DAC64 £2,000 vs. Behringer DEQ2496 £200

Cool,

I'm in absolutely no rush. Very much enjoying what the Behringer is doing in its natural state.

I don't have a transformer pre, currently using a Rega Cursa/Maia combo. Every so often the thought of changing amps (or other bits of the system) pops into my head, but I'm actually relatively happy with the noise I'm getting so, being naturally lazy, I've done nothing about it.

Hmmmm... you've now got me thinking about refreshing the system. Perhaps I'll pour a whisky and study the classifieds...

Regards,

Stuart.

 

Going back to the original thread, I have been trying some things out with my behringer and a Chord DAC64 mk1, outputting to it at 96Khz over either optical or AES/EBU, using the analogue inputs on the behringer from my CD player.

Oh dear.... there is definitely something not right with the digital outputs on the behringer... the sound is soft and lacking dynamics.

Using the optical or AES/EBU outputs direct from my cd player or a meridian 500 to the DAC is much better.... but obviously leaving the behringer out of the loop is not what I want to do!

So far, it seems that using the onboard A-D and D-A converion on the Behringer is yielding by far the best result.

PS. my Behringer is totally unmodded.

 

Hi,

Actually, the digital output on the Behringer is fine. You need to send the signal into the DEQ2496 via the digital output from your CD Player, not the analog ones for what you are trying to do.

Ciao T

 

Why?

I've just tried what you've said above (with the Behringer on bypass mode so no EQ being applied)... meridian 500 - behringer -Dac64.... and I'm still getting soft undynamic sound compared to when the Behringer is not in the system.

When I say soft undynamic, there is nothing technically wrong with it but its lacking life and enegy compared to using analogue in/out on the Behringer OR transport - dac (no behringer).

Anyway, I want to use the Behringer with analogue sources e.g. vinyl and (in effect) SACD so using the Analogue inputs on the Behringer is a requirement.

I had hoped that adding a good 96Khz capable DAC on the output side of the Behringer would give an improvement but its clearly not.

As I have also tried this same dac in a setup without the Behringer, and have used one for a long time in the past, I therefore know that this DAC is capable of much better performance than I am getting when using it on the Behringer's digital output.

So it seems to me that the Behringer's digital output is the factor responsible.

 

Well the analogue inputs would be expected to degrade sound slightly but using digital in and digital out should not do anything to the sound. The reclocking might effect it, but I tried a direct comparison of Chord Blu direct to DAC64 and Chord Blu to DEQ2496 to DAC64 and there was not a hint of a difference.

Personally, I think your best bet is to replace the analogue input circuits with transformers. You can then use this for SACD and stuff. Use digital in for CD. Put transformers on the DAC output and use this straight to your pre-amp. Sell the DAC64 if you find this works well (I found it FAR superior). It wouldn't cost a lot to do.

 

Hi Folks, I recently did a review of some loudspeakers that come with a DEQ2496. I liked what the DEQ2496 did but felt it was the weakest link in the chain sonically.

But I'm intrigued enough to want to try one and obviously want to improve it as discussed on this thread. So are there any exact details of the mods that have been talked about here?

I'm reasonably confident of carrying out the mods but would need the exact details.

I've seen a couple of people suggesting transformers for the DEQ2496 but which ones and where do we buy them in the UK?

 

It wasn't the Resolution Audio's was it?

I'll send you a PM

 

Hi,

Where was the review?

Similar mods have been discussed over at DIYAUDIO.com for the DEQ & DCX 2496 and as you are a DIYAUDIO regular. There are also notes on such mods in my technical Yahoo group which IIRC you a member of.

The mods discussed here are only valid if you add an Output transformer OR you have a full TVC preamp.

I have been trying to get S&B to make some to my spec's specifically designed for the job of replacing analog stages with the AKM ADC/DAC's.

There is really not all that much available commercially. If one could trust Sowter not to make a dogs breakfast out of a custom design request (or even a regular design - experience suggests not to do so) one could try them, they do not have suitable designs in their standard range.

Jensen does not have anything really suitable for input side, output side is okay. The input could use Jensen JT-10KB-D if you can accept 6db Insertion loss (-6db gain) for the DEQ. The Jensen JT-11SS-DLCF would be the right output transformer.

Ciao T

 

Hi,

Correction, they didn't used to.... Now they do, in the Vintage range. The 9330 which is supposedly equivalent to the Triad HS-29 used in the Pulse Technology EQ's. If it is genuinely a copy of the Triad it should be excellent. Knowing Sowter it probably is NOT a direct copy, but one of their designs made "equivalent", which means it can be great, average or awful, depending on your luck.

Connect as 2:1 stepdown on the Input and as 1:2 stepup on the output.

Ciao T

 

Are you psychic?

IS - still in my WP! :MILD:

Yes and I wondered where you had got to! I saw the suggested input mods but was unsure where to source the tranformers.

So if the Sowters are no good, I may as well not bother?

I wonder if Sowter would like a review of those 9330 transformers?

Tenson, thanks for the PM. Pity we are on opposite sides of the country!

 

Hi,

Nah, this £ 20 Car driver equipped "Best Loudspeaker In The World" which cannot even work properly without EQ has been subject to some ridicule here.

FWIW, it may even be pretty good, i would not know, but around 99% of the technical claims on their site are so out of phase with reality that they strike me as inhabiting a alternate universe whose physical reality is at maybe 120 - 160 Degrees phaseshift to the one I inhabit.... ;-)

I am not saying Sowter's are no good, merely that my experiences to the larger part have not been very positive. Custom designs (in other words one off specials) where Sowter does not charge design costs seem to have an amount of design work in them equal to what you paid, making the performance often less than it should be. Even some "fully developed" stock transformers are pretty poorely performing, with no discernable pattern as to which (eg you get duff MC Stepups, Lien Transformers, SE and PP outputs as much as you get good ones or more). Equally, quite a few of the Sowter transformers I encountered where rather good. Go figger.

Shame S&B are so overloaded with work.

Ciao T

 

Oh goodie! Please send me a copy of the review! I am actually of the belief that the whole thing is a big joke by some rich dude lol. I once traced the company through trading standards and it ended up in New Zealand!

 

I hope that you will appreciate that it wouldn't be ethical for me to discuss these issues on a public forum. But as far as I know, the company are based on the south coast and do take their speaker very seriously.

 

Hi,

Sure.

It is good that they take their product "serious". One would wish however that the UK Patent Office would take their job equally serious. I have just amused myself perusing the "Patent".

In effect what is being patent is almost ANY kind of speaker.

The Design sketches show this to be a direct copy of the "Kapellmeister" (unsurprisingly) which was also recomemnd with cheap car coaxials. Clearly, in this day and age prior publication, dozends of patents on identical designs and so on do not prevent anyone to patent the blindingly obvious. BTW, the Kapellmeister does qualify as fun "cheap trick" but it is hardly even a "Quality" speaker.

I giuess I should patent the Car, with 4 Wheels. Should make me a nice penny when all these car makers pay me licences backdated to 1898!

Ignoring at the monet the issues of stuffing a cheap car driver into a enclosure designed by someone else and having the chutzpah to seek patent protection for THAT, the specifications are very seriously questionable even IN ROOM, in fact, I think Resolutions website deserves a Nebula Award!

Ciao T

 

I've got a DEQ2496 on the way to me!

I'm going to start with digital in and digital out and I have looked at the necessary info on Thorsten's Yahoo group.

One question though:

Where can I buy non-inductive resistors of the values required? I've looked all over the place and there don't seem to be any available in the UK.

 

I used quality wire-wounds and it sounds just fine. They were £6 each though.

 

Thanks Simon. And I thought the non-inductive Rhopoints were expensive at £4 each (and they don't have them in the right values anyway)!

 

Actually are you talking about the digital interconnect as per your PM? I have not made any digital leads. What I meant was I used the resistors in the mod, after the DAC chip.

 

Hi,

rswww.com?

Ciao T

 

They have some planar types in 150R and 220R (min order quantity 5) but no 91R. And that's all I can see on the RS site.

I have some old carbon types upstairs. What's special about the Allan Bradly types?