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发表于 2008-8-19 13:37:47
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下一回合很关键: 音质. 毕竟买回一台解码器最关心的还是它的音质.
(我旁注一下: DA10的声音风格和DAC1是很不同的,所以各人的主观结论会很不同. 我们在此只看看国外一个专业音频人士的看法.)
在音质这个回合上,作者也花了最多的笔墨. 我完整地帖出来大家自己看. 结论是Dan Richards认为DA10的音质把DAC1(注意是06年版)彻底打趴. 注意我加黑的那段,显示的是为了做好这个回合的比赛,使用的诸多专业级别的监听喇叭,耳机,重播系统,和接线.
After covering a lot of aspects of the DA10 and DAC1 standing still, we take them into the area of sound and everyday use. This is not a "honeymoon" review. We've reviewed too many products over the last several years to worry about being the first review out, or trying something out of the box for a day or two - and then declaring to high heaven about the next product you can't live without.
We received the Lavry DA10 in February of 2006. I'd had a Benchmark DAC1 in my studio as my main DAC since it was introduced in 2002. We have had the DA10 and DAC1 in use and comparison listening tests for around five months. The listening tests have been conducted in several rooms and on several systems and sources. Source files and formats used to conduct the tests consisted of Audio CD's, 24-bit AIFF master stereo files, Nuendo 2 multi-track soundfiles recorded at 24-bit 44.1, MP3's of various bitrates, and internet streaming audio.
Monitors included Dynaudio AIR 15's, Dynaudio BM6A's, Klein and Hummel 0300D, Yamaha NS-10M's/Bryston.
Headphones: Ultrasone Proline 650, Extreme Isolation Headphones, AKG K141, AKG K240
Playback systems included Mac G4 S-Drive, Tascam DV-RA1000, Nuendo 2, iTunes.
Various interconnect cables were used by Gotham, Requisite Audio, Monster, Mogami.
Source music over several months included a wide variety of genres. You name it: we played it.
A bias: If there's any bias here - it's towards the DAC1. I've owned one since they first came out in 2002. And ever since then had commented regularly that the DAC1 was the one single piece of gear I would not swap out of my studio in exchange for something else. Also, just the fact that I owned the DAC1 would somehow make things easier if I just liked it better and shipped back the review unit of the DA10. Liking the DA10 is more of a pain in the butt, 'cause then I've got to go to the trouble of selling the DAC1 and then ponying up for the DA10. Ah, decisions, decisions...
On the first evening of listening to the DA10, it was apparent that the soundfield is wider than the DAC1. It also seemed that there was a hole in the the middle of the soundfield on the DA10. But I later found out - as my ears adjusted - that there was, in fact, program material there in the middle, but due to my ears being used to the DAC1 it wasn't apparent at first. If your ears/brain have been exposed to one stimulus, it can take some time before traces of the old stimulus aren't engrained along with the new stimulus. That's why I feel it's important when doing comparisons - to do them over a longer period of time and in various situations.
I've read enough "honeymoon" reviews - where someone gets a new piece of gear and runs excitedly to the forums to post something on the order of, "Hey, I just got the BingBong 2000, and we've tried it tonight on female vocals and acoustic guitar, and it KICKS ASS!" I don't get much out of people's reviews until they've lived with the gear and have passed the initial excitement stage, and can at least attempt to give a sober opinion of the gear in various applications, on different kinds of music, and on different sessions.
So, after living with the DAC1 and DA10 for over five months - what's the conclusion? The DAC1 was sold about a month ago, and the DA10 is sitting snug in my rack as my main DA. And while the DAC1 was a formidable opponent to the DA10, in the end, sonically I found the DA10 to be superior on every level. I was happy enough with the DAC1 - until I was shown a better way. It's as if I'd gotten used to a pair of prescription eyeglasses, and then a visit to an optometrist and a new prescription yields clearer, more accurate vision with more depth of field.
After listening through the DA10 and then back to the DAC1, the DAC1 began to reveal what could be described as a "grainy" sound. And I found this to be most evident in the high-end. Compared with the DA10, the DAC1 could also be described as "colored" by some - even if small amount of - distortion. After using the DAC1 and then switching to the DA10 - everything just clears up. With the DAC1 instruments and sounds seemed less separated, whereas with the DA10 - instruments and sounds are presented in their own respective space.
The overall soundfield widens when the DA10 is employed, and shrinks when the DAC1 is put back on duty. And what I found most striking with the DA10 is that the three-dimensional depth of the soundfield is just - well - deeper. Everything is more alive with the DA10. In fact, after about a month of testing, unless I was specifically testing the DAC1 and the DA10, I was using the DA10 as my DA. On a few occasions I even tried to leave the DAC1 patched into my system after testing, but found I couldn't. The DA10 just sounds that much better. Once you go Lavry Black - you never go back.
I don't claim to know the precise inner workings of convertor chips. And even someone who does, and can read all the specs, still can't apply that to the way something's actually going to sound. You've gotta listen. I do know that there are only a handful of converter chip companies, and that as the technology of their chips increases - so, too, does the sonics of every company's gear that uses the more advanced chips. And many of us have heard the increase in better sonics over the last several years in converters. In that light - the DA10 is simply newer technology - by some fours years. And in computative years - that's a lifetime. And perhaps that's at least partially responsible for what gives it this sonic edge.
I have a part of me that's still old school, and I'm still coming off the shock of the loss of ubiquitous analog technology, and everything moving digital. In the bigger picture - I still think PCM digital sounds like ass compared to a good analog system. But year by year digital's getting there. And the DA10 puts across a much more relaxed and effortless soundfield - that makes both listening for enjoyment, as well as tracking and mixing, a much more pleasurable experience.
I still miss some of the added interconnectivity of the DAC1, and would like to see an additional headphone jack as well as another pair of outputs on the DA10... And, I can't say that I don't miss that nice, juicy knob on the DAC1. But sonically, I just can't go back. The DA10 offers too big of a step forward in DA technology. Whatever Dan Lavry and Lavry Engineering are doing - they're doing it right. Consider me converted.
Final Score: In a technical KO based on superior overall sound and performance
the Lavry DA10 is declared the winner. |
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