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Except for its funky dual-purpose volume which the wand changes without moving knob whilst manual use obviously does turn the knob to mandate auto resets when switching between control modes, the DAC-100 had none of the DDA-100's fulfillment conditions. To take its pulse as USB DAC I juxtaposed it against the Muses Edition Xonar Essence One. As a company Asus obviously crushes NuForce on size as they do anyone else in our biz. This allows the Taiwanese IT giant to offer a directly competing DAC for $599 that has fully balanced circuitry, XLR outputs, discrete volume controls for 6.3mm and line-out outputs and socketed opamps for rolling. The Muses Edition upgrades to six very costly NJR/JRC designer opamps and retails for $899.
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iMac with OSX 10.8.2 and Audirvana 1.3.9.10 or PureMusic 1.86, KingRex uArt USB Y cable, Bakoon BPS-02 uninterruptible battery supply, €24.000 Concert Fidelity preamp on short-term reader loan, GigaWatt PC3SE Evo conditioner
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These machines proved quite evenly matched. Both excelled at fine needle-point articulation and admirable depth layering to convey precision, exactitude, self-assured sorting and well-mapped space. Where my insanely costlier APL Hifi NWO-M renders everything more softly whilst showing off far more connective tissue between notes, these value-priced contenders were pricklier and sharper. Despite such deliberate language this wasn't off-putting. It was essentially starker and less fluid if one favored the NWO-M gestalt; or more concise and defined if one favored the budget champs. More on that dichotomy below.
On tonal robustness or timbre intensity, the Asus had the small advantage. Its images popped more loudly on color as though a saturation command had been notched up a click or two. Turning to AKG's K-702 headphones rewired with ALO Audio braided silver stretched that delta. The Asus headfi circuit behaved as though it had more raw crunch and drive. As USB DACs I saw them as essentially equals. As headphone amps the Xonar Essence One with its luxury opamps was the more robust and self-assured. Once I factored into the equation its true balanced outputs, lower price and subtracted the somewhat garish blue power light ring, the Asus emerged as the winner.
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Moving on to Burson's $1.850 Conductor—both as fixed-output DAC which subtracts the volume control from the signal path; and as headphone amp with three discrete gain settings—applied the same quality which had separated NuForce and Asus in headfi mode to speaker drive. The margin simply grew larger. This built out tone, weightiness, color density and dynamics to enter a higher octave of performance. In DAC/headfi combo mode this compounded yet further. It created a very clear good/better/best hierarchy from NuForce to Asus to Burson. Increased retail pricing never is any failsafe prediction for clear sonic lock-step. With Burson's taller sticker it simply held true. Its added expense still fell on the very effective side of diminishing returns. The unexpected shuffle was the Asus. It overtook established NuForce hifi from left field and did so for an even lower price.
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Such comments aren't of school-yard brawls and bloodied knuckles. They paint rough placement inside a bigger picture. Here the essential task was distinguishing between two core flavors. One was exemplified by the Conductor which shuns integrated opamps to champion fully discrete; and which is realized even more fully albeit for a truly horrendous price by Alex Peychev's rebuilt Esoteric UX1 aka NWO-M. The other was represented by the Asus and NuForce machines. Into their grouping I'd add the Benchmark Media and CEntrance units I reviewed. These four seem engineered as pro-audio mastering machines where neutrality, linearity and high resolution are king. If that sounds slightly matter of fact, it can be. Hifi writers press this point with a letter recital. All the words and punctuation marks are always already on the page. The difference is in their meaning which depends on who reads the letter aloud. Any delivery with its very individual inflections, pauses, liberties in speed and such will impact context and emotional weighting.
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FirstWatt SIT1 monos, GigaWatt PF2 line filter, Aries Cerat Gladius, all Zu Event cabling
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Don't shoot the messenger is one demand. Don't interpret but deliver the straight facts explains it. Another expectation wants meaning. In a way that's about reading between the lines. Here the Burson-type sound or Aura Mosfets with linear PSU from the previous page went deeper. They filled out draftsman-perfect lines with colors and textures. I'm overdrawing but the effect is very basic. A pure line drawing has the higher contrast ratio. It's about where figures and elements start and stop. Sonically this conveys higher perceived leading-edge precision. If what follows the transient isn't as saturated, the attack stands out. That feels more articulate and detailed. Since it's spikier and thus more percussive, the rhythmic qualities of PRaT could seem higher too. When what immediately follows the transients gets drawn more completely, emphasis shifts away from sonic beginnings. Events grow fuller and softer.
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Wherein lies the rub. To some folks 'softer' of any sort immediately equals less precision, greater indecision, slight fuzz, blur or thickness. Depending on your ideal balance and ancillaries, a more front-heavy attack-focused source could have your nod. If your ideal balance is geared more towards colors and textures—what Zu simply calls tone—the very same softer sound will feel more developed, fluid and organic. To finalize the obvious point, the NuForce DAC-100 belongs to the former school. |
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To crassly oversimplify again, think of it more as the Beryllium/ceramic driver sound versus the textile/paper school. With nods to exceptions, that underscores the essential point. Some folks disliked Wilson speakers only to have a conversion experience when hearing them with valve electronics. I don't believe their altered opinion was about frequency response or tonal balance. I believe it redressed the attack/bloom balance in their favor.
Modern DACs at specific price points and developed by credible designers tend to be far more alike than not. Their specs slaughter even the very best speakers and amps. What can still distinguish them at least to my ears is how they are weighted: more on edge or more on body.
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The NuForce DAC-100 is a cost-effective full-featured machine if you don't need XLR. By tripling as headphone amp and preamp, it can become a system's corner stone or serve as stepping stone. It belongs to the modern sonic school which pursues detail magnification and articulation over image density and tone. This can make for the perfectly complementary counterpoint to more 'vintage' speakers; or further highlight those same qualities in a system that's been deliberately dialled for them. As with the DDA-100, the small remote is essential to get the circuit from standby (set with the mains rocker on the rear panel) to operational. It's the only functional weakness of the minimalist fascia approach. The headphone output is powerful enough to handle the majority of popular cans from Beyerdynamic T1 to Sennheiser HD800 and AKG K702.
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With its new 100 Series, NuForce takes pricing down-market without sacrificing much of their established signature sonics. Given that this budget-priced gear will primarily sell in mass-market stores, it reaches out to a far larger audience than entrenched audiophiles. This should prep a new generation if NuForce's business plan is successful. For that attempt alone this expanding firm deserves credit and best wishes! |
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NuForce comments.
As one of the first products of its type available to the audio consumer, the DDA-100 represents a product that will surely cause many to reevaluate the underlying principles of good sound. It is interesting that the reviewer noted an improvement in sound quality as system volume was increased. Measurements alone give us little indication as to why this might be, as they reveal that low-level information is not significantly truncated by digital attenuation within the DDA-100 and overall distortion levels remain very low at all attenuation settings. Yet the reviewer clearly noted an improved presentation as system volume was increased.
Specifications alone do not tell the whole story though. Component matching and system 'synergy' are equally vital for superior performance. There exists the phenomenon that a given system won't 'blossom' until a certain minimum volume threshold is reached. Please note that over most of its volume range a loudspeaker manifests distortion in a relatively linear progression, with increasing volume levels yielding commensurate increases in distortion. Using a standardized set of electronics, we have found that accurate (read: low distortion) speakers generally require somewhat higher (to a point) volume thresholds to achieve good sound. We are not alone in this, as many have attested to this observation over the years.
It is likely that the 'micro distortions' generated by the sum of all equipment plays a part in overall system sound quality and compensates to some degree for losses in the recording process. Reference the case of vinyl recordings. Despite vinyl's obvious measurable shortcomings compared to digital, the format continues to retain its devoted enthusiasts. Do we find ourselves having gone full circle in a similar controversy with the 'all digital' DDA-100 and the low levels of distortion it exhibits? Possibly. Just as with any other product, it's certainly not perfect. What we do know is that when mated with the typical 87dB @ 1/W/1M set of speakers located in a listening room of typical size, under typical listening distances and volumes, exceptional performance results and has been attested to by many.
Component matching and synergy will always be a part of good sound regardless of system cost. We suspect that the combined accuracy and relative higher sensitivity of the review speakers may not be a good match for the DDA-100 – at least with respect to situations where moderate to lower listening levels are desired. The DDA-100 is being offered for use with and is best mated with equipment of commensurate quality and price. When this is done, it is our conviction that the consumer will experience a level of performance and value that was heretofore unavailable at its price point.
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