lasercut
Felt I should give small initial update because things are moving slow and might be a while before everything is optimised enough to give a more conclusive and thorough report.
DAC lite is set up in semi-rough state, with basic enough power supplies (1 rail and 2 ultrabib between XO supply and FIFO Aux+DAC supply).
Using PPG 22MHz for now, DRIXO 5.6MHz eventually.
CS8416 toslink to I2S for FIFO input
Still, I’m hearing an almost unbelievable level of detail from the DAC already…
“detail” doesn’t even seem like the right word for it, familiar tracks almost sound unfamiliar there is so much new information being exposed… but in a natural, not overly forward way, which has got to be one of the most common problems in DACs I’ve experienced.
dam1121 for example, genuinely very resolving compared to most with a realistic presence (the reason I chose to buy dac lite as they share similar architecture) but had a particularly bright and forward character.
It was forgivable, but very glad not to have to deal with it.
The dac lite has a sort of dense tonality that I didn’t love it at first but is now starting to grow on me, though with burn-in time still in single digits and an endless amount of things left to experiment with and optimise it makes little sense forming any judgements yet.
It is very clear already this system has some huge potential, had plenty of faith it would but you never know until you listen for yourself.
How much the DAC, XO and FIFO are each contributing will be interesting to see also.