Canada Loaner Program (Round 2)

[ujamerstand]

I'll be interested in trying out the D100. I'm located in Toronto.

Thanks!

[claude]

Hi , i am from Amos , Québec and i would like to audition the beast....
thank you , Claude

[NekoAudio]

Hi, Claude. I've added you to the queue.

[NekoAudio]

The D100 Mk2 loaner will be going out shortly! Thank you kindly for all your patience.

[Genetic]

I got the Dac this afternoon. So the Québec-Canada Tour (If I may rename it... ) has officially left the starting blocks.

Amicalement from Québec,

Dany

[Genetic]

Hello from Québec,

Toby is suppose to get it in the next 48 hours....

Amicalement from Québec,

Dany

PS
I had the chance to test it yesterday and I can already say that it a very important to try it with as many liason cables as you can get. Specially the liason between my transport and the D100 was under the variable I tested the most. I'll write about it as soon I can find free time.

[NekoAudio]

Just waiting for an update from Toby as to when he has shipped the unit to ujamerstand.

[ujamerstand]

Just a short impression:

During the past two weeks, I used the exstata hybrid amplifier to drive STAX SR-507 while trying out the D100. In this combination, music blended together very well. I also felt a greater sense of space compared to the parasound DAC 1600, this made listening to the ambient electronic genre a treat. Overall, I think those who are looking for a smooth analogue sound will like the D100 very much.

[claude]

I got it !!! This device is to be seriously taken...
My system:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/849/neko002.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/21/nekoq.jpg/
This dac is luxurious and tempts me to listen to some music all night long !!!
Very pleasant sound.

[NekoAudio]

Thanks for sharing photos of your system, Claude! What speakers are those? They remind me of Zu Audio.

Here is Toby's review as well (he sent it to me in an email). Toby has also posted it on CAM.

I have had to be out of town for most of my tryout period so I have been unable to listen to the converter for very long ( or ship it on promptly, for which I apologize ). However the three short sessions I did have left a strong impression with me.

I remember reading at least one listener's comment to the effect that the unit did not deliver as much detail as some others. At first I thought this was the case myself, which shows how wrong first impressions can be.

I installed the DAC in my bedroom system, which consists of a pair of Air Tight Bonsai speakers driven by an Audio Space AS-3i tube integrated which uses EL-34s in push-pull. The source is a PURE 1-20 iPod dock linked to a Stellavox ST-2 DAC via an Atlas Opus cox cable 1.5m long. Cables are Ensemble Masterflux with ETA connectors, and Furutech OCC 12-gauge speaker wires.

All music files were Redbook, played from a 3G iPod Touch. This setup gives better resolution than my best CD spinner, an Esoteric P-10.

I listened to a Mozart sonata for keyboard and and violin played by Gary Cooper and Rachel Podger. This 24/88.2 file was downloaded from HDTracks, then redithered and downsampled using Audiofile Sample Manager. I also listened to the first track of Meditations by Munir Bashir on the oud ( Inedit label ).

The first time around I thought the Mozart sonata lacked a bit of detail, as though the trailing edges of the notes were rounded off. However the background was extremely quiet, there was no noise at all. I then swapped in my Stellavox ST-2, a NOS DAC few people have heard of, which has an extremely musical character as well as lots of detail. I was surprised and dismayed to hear the Stellavox injecting a whitish noise, so that detail was obscured. The music was certainly detailed and intense, but the background was too distracting. I swapped the Neko DAC back in.

Now the noise disappeared absolutely. The emotion of the performance was still there, though, and in fact there was more of it. The super-silent background allowed me to hear things I had been missing. At one point, listening to the second piece, by Munir Bashir, I could hear him shift his playing position as he came to a demanding passage The fact that I was able to hear his whole body move was very important to the intensity of the performance. Although I must have listened to this piece about thirty times, this was the first time I'd heard that.

I wonder why my first impression had been that detail was lacking. I am sure it was an illusion, and I think the extremely black background was the reason. I was just not used to it, but I WAS used to the noisier version of the other DAC, and that noise masqueraded as detail.

So I cannot agree that the Neko D100 provides less musical detail than other units. The Stellavox ST-2 is an older design but a superb one, and it provides both excellent detail AND musical intensity. The Neko DAC was able to better that. Actually, I'm thinking of sending my ST-2 in for service now. So even though the Neko was only a visitor, in my house for a short time, it will have helped to improve my system over the long term.

Thank you very much indeed for the chance to try it out.