What is the NOS DAC sound?

Yogus - way I looked at it was that, at the price, it was well worth a punt. Not exactly a huge risk to buy and try. Of course, if you find yourself in Melbourne you'd be welcome to come over to listen to mine.
Stuart.

 

yogus - yep - forward but not biting - to me the sound simply moved from coming out of the speakers to being in front of the speakers, hope that makes sense.

as for the midrange - female vocal stuff -is mostly my thang and its just sublime with the NOS

go one, get one orderdered - yo know you want to.

Stuart - bake off in sunny melboune - now there's an idea!! cant see me getting approval from SWMBO though, heck i cant get budget approval for a new amp and thats nothing like as pricey as Club Class return to your fair continent, seems a life time since i was floating serenely around Sydney harbour, beer in one hand, Sheila in the other.........ahhh, the memories!

 

Has anybody had the chance to compare Derek's NOS against the Belcanto DAC 2.

The price of the NOS with the new offboard power supply, plus shipping, is only £45 -50 behind what I can buy a BC DAC 2 for.

Ken

 

I'm in Melbourne often enough... bake off then??

I'd dare say I'd be taking a punt

 

Well worth the punt I'd say. None the less, if you want to try before you buy, shoot me a PM and we can sort something out. SM.

 

No need for that. If you hate it, you can sell it to me.

 

OK Dev...

It's a deal. If I dont like the NOS-- you and I will strike a fine deal.

I am betting though, I'll like it. When one audio guy says something-- who cares??

But when lots of audio guys says the same thing-- I start to care.

And when I start to care, I start to buy. And that's what I did.

We shall see in just a short week or two if my 'many guy' theory of audio holds. Wait-- 'many guy'-- that didnt come out right...

Aw screw it. I'll just let you know what I think.

David

 

My NOS arrived today. First impressions in the 15 minutes or so I have had to listen to it are that the bass is tighter than my Rotel 970BX, and there is more detail. I think the output voltage must be a bit lower because it doesnt sound as loud at the same volume on my amp. I'm hearing strands of music that I hadnt really noticed before.

A fuller review will be posted in the next few days.

I'm using the supplied power supply plug thing at the moment.

 

The Derek Shek custom power supply for my NOSdac arrived this morning!

After an hour of using it with the DAC my initial impressions are that it has improved the bass and increased the soundstage.

A more substantial power supply is the way to go if you want to extract additional performance from the DAC.

Aitcho

 

Aitcho - do keep us posted on your impression of the upgraded PSU. My NOS finally arrived back with Derek, hopefully it will be on its way back this week. Once i'mhappy its ok i'm pretty sure i'l be looking for an upgraded PSU

Chris

 

My NOS arrived yesterday and was quickly plumbed in with a DVD player as transport.
Interesting comparison with the CD5i.
The NOS isn't as fun, bouncy or groovy, certainly doesn't make your feet tap as much. However, it does make the CD5i sound positively synthetic and artificial in comparison, the NOS being far more natural.

I actually think that the choice between the should be system dependant. If you have a system requiring some life injecting into it, the CD5i is awesome. For more revealing systems, the NOS is brilliant, even more so for the ridiculously low price.

As a summary, the CD5i has already got an agreed sale and I'm looking for a better dedicated transport.

 

Welcome, brother.

This is the transport you need:



-- Ian

 

Nice move Mike...and yes, welcome to the brotherhood of NOS...we'll be rivalling the NAS brotherhood soon

Michael.

 

Michael - buy a NAS and merge the brotherhoods. Next stop, world domination!

 

The Mafia is keeping a watchful eye

 

Plug the NAS into the NOS? Genius

 

NAS, NOS -> Nelson Pass -> ???

-- Ian

 

-> Mornington Crescent!

 

I've had the NOS for about ten days now. Things I notice are the sheer detail, the bass is incredibly well produced and solo guitar sounds awesome. I'm going to have to get a 1 amp power supply for it to see what improvements you get.

 

Another NOS DAC !

I have just ordered a NOS DAC with external power supply.

Another bl00dy impulse buy.

Ken