nurxhunter

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Price Paid:  $425.00 from Agon

Summary:
Long and short. Compared to the Cal ALpha 18 and even 24/96--when these have Russian or Chinese tubes--the M1b wins in every regard. With the right NOS tubes (see my review of Cal Alpha), the Cals edge this out slightly in my opinion--but only slightly. In fact, the EVS M1b has better bass. I am so impressed that a SS piece at this price can have such fine mids and glare free highs. The high cut-off switch is great to tame bright speakers or with headphones.

Long and short--kudos to RS. Amazing for the money.

Strengths:
Detailed, wide stage, pretty good depth, great mids, great glare fee highs. Six-star value, 5-star perfromance.

Weaknesses:
Transformers can hum--but one can eliminate by getting the screws that hod the two transformers down just right--not too tight and not too loose. Placing some dampening material underneath also helps. Only single coax dig. in--but that keeps price down. In any case, hum does not feed through analogs to speakers--only box hum.

Make sure to tighten screws when you ship and loosen when you receive.

Similar Products Used:
MAny

Price Paid:  $600.00 from direct from EVS

Summary:
I bought this unit totally on the word of all the faithful reviewers. I had earlier read all the praises on the Rega Planet and thought that it would take an expensive DAC (over $1,500) to really surpass this unit but was I ever wrong.

Now that has been some 8 months after receiving the unit (being one of the last to get the 1B), I thought that if I am still so impressed with this unit, I should give Ric Shulz the credit he really deserves.

The vocals & instruments sound more natural and there is a more noticable imaging with even added soundstage. The CDs are much more musical and the CD harshness seems gone. I agree with the earlier reviews and have not been noticing any shortcomings of this fine DAC. Ric's digital cable was a great addition as well.

Ric, please try (if you can) to keep the DAC II upgrade price worthwhile to the faithful people who already own the DAC I. Otherwise, there may be a glut of the DAC I's for sale (as many owners will just sell their I to buy a completely new unit) and the mainstream listeners might think less of your great product. I may probably upgrade my unit even though it will take a lot for me to be any happier than with the DAC Ib that I still enjoy.

The biggest statement that I can make is that I find myself listening to my system a lot more to which I offer you Ric, my sincere thanks.

My other components:
Morrison ELAD preamplifier (This is also as great as its reviews)
conrad johnson MF 2200 amplifier
Rega Planet (used as transport only)
EVS Millennium DAC 1b (also use the EVS digital cable)
Thiel CS2 2 speakers
Velodyne ULD 15 subwoofer
Harmonic Technologies Truth Link interconnects
Tara Labs Master Generation II speaker cables
Chang 6400 ISO Litespeed power conditioner for the front end
Stealth FAC power cord for DAC
Cableplex power cord for preamp (very nice cord)

Strengths:
Transparancy, Soundstage, Detail, Price

Weaknesses:
None that I know

Price Paid:  $1.00 from On line at ricks

Summary:
Check out this one...

Strengths:
New Dac2 is out soon. Order now get it in 7 weeks...
1200$

Price Paid:  $600.00 from direct from EVS

Summary:
After my wife forced me to part with my CAL cd-player, I purchased a Sony CDP-88ES cd jukebox to hold all 200 discs. Brrrrrr... The sound was cold and harsh. The Sony only had optical/toslink outputs, so I added a Monarchy DIP mk.II, and DH Labs aes/ebu cable from the DIP to the EVS DAC-1b balanced input. Out of the box, I was enthralled with the EVS/Monarchy combo. The sound, while adding great detail to the entire frequency range, still got warmer and less "grainy". Cymbals sounded like cymbals, not hiss, and bass lost its "boom" without losing impact. I especially liked the delivery of female voices (try Kendra Shank's "Afterglow" from Mapleshade) and acoustic guitar. My speakers receded and the soundstage grew. All this after just 4-6 hours of listening. Ric from EVS told me that mine was the last DAC-1b produced, now being replaced by his new upsampling DAC. If he can keep this level of performance/price, he should be enshrined. A truly unbelievable product. Now if I can get a real cd transport...

Associated equipment:

Lexicon DC-1 v.4 pre/pro (synergistic research interconn.)
ADA PTM-6150 amplifier (Kimber Kable hero interconn.)
Analysis Plus Oval-9 speaker cables (another great value)
M&K S-125 l/c/r speakers and M&K MX-125 mk.II sub
Synergistic power cords, vibrapods, blu-tak, etc..

Strengths:
Detail, soundstage, unbelievable value for the $$

Weaknesses:
none

Price Paid:  $600.00 from direct from EVS

Summary:
After my wife forced me to part with my CAL cd-player, I purchased a Sony CDP-88ES cd jukebox to hold all 200 discs. Brrrrrr... The sound was cold and harsh. The Sony only had optical/toslink outputs, so I added a Monarchy DIP mk.II, and DH Labs aes/ebu cable from the DIP to the EVS DAC-1b balanced input. Out of the box, I was enthralled with the EVS/Monarchy combo. The sound, while adding great detail to the entire frequency range, still got warmer and less "grainy". Cymbals sounded like cymbals, not hiss, and bass lost its "boom" without losing impact. I especially liked the delivery of female voices (try Kendra Shank's "Afterglow" from Mapleshade) and acoustic guitar. My speakers receded and the soundstage grew. All this after just 4-6 hours of listening. Ric from EVS told me that mine was the last DAC-1b produced, now being replaced by his new upsampling DAC. If he can keep this level of performance/price, he should be enshrined. A truly unbelievable product. Now if I can get a real cd transport...

Associated equipment:

Lexicon DC-1 v.4 pre/pro (synergistic research interconn.)
ADA PTM-6150 amplifier (Kimber Kable hero interconn.)
Analysis Plus Oval-9 speaker cables (another great value)
M&K S-125 l/c/r speakers and M&K MX-125 mk.II sub
Synergistic power cords, vibrapods, blu-tak, etc..

Strengths:
Detail, soundstage, unbelievable value for the $$

Weaknesses:
none