Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Almost 4 year I used this dac and have no fault, the sound is satisfied but.....I have several complain about the smoothness..
This year I modified dac, 4 month of trial and error with many premium parts such as Blackgates, Riken resistor, Dale resistor, Hexfred, SCR capacitor, silver solid cable and change opamp.
the result is more satisfying..
sound more cleaner, treble more smooth, mid more silky, soundstaging more wide, bass more deeper and dynamic.

dochroch

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $1200.00 from Ovation

Summary:
I read the other review (which appears to be duplicated) and I needed to respond. I have a Rotel RCD-961 CD player, which as the time was an excellent product (and probably still is). I'm an analog/LP person and I've never been satisfied with the sound of CD. I"ve been upgrading my CD chain for a while and, after reading the Stereophile review of this product, decided to take the plunge into DAC-land.

Briefly, the sound quality, and specifically the LP-ness of the sound, is much improved with this product vs. the Rotel. I've A-Bed the sound and I can't go back to the Rotel. The rest of the audio chain is Plinius/Dynaudio with JPSlabs wiring everywhere, so I'm listening with high quality componts.

That said, this is still not LP sound, even with incredibly high-quality recordings such as the Steve Hoffman DCC Joni Mitchell "Blue"....but it's coming close to holography.

Poorly mastered CDs still sound horrible through the A324...probably worse.

Strengths:
Clean, pristine sound. Quiet, friendly, locks on to thte signal instantly. Cool blue lights.

Weaknesses:
Won't turn your CDs into LPs.

Similar Products Used:
This is my only DAC

jandl100

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
2.17 of 5, 18.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00 from Dealer demo

Summary:
Open and detailed, but tonal balance is heavily treble-dominated / bass light. Definitely a "try before you buy" product.

Strengths:
Open spacious soundstage, especially with 196KHz upsampling where the detail really shines through. Well & solidly made.

Weaknesses:
Tonal balance is very treble-dominated, this really irritated after only a few minutes - I couldn't live with this. Bass is weak and a little loose. Limited inputs; only 1 co-ax and 1 optical input. Irritating clash between the front panel red power light and the blue status lights - yuk.

Similar Products Used:
Benchmark DAC1, Eastern Electric Minimax CD, Meridian 563 (tha bass champ!), Mark Levinson 39, Perpetual Technologies PA1 & PA3, Quad CDP99.

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Well made, hefty. Good detail & soundstage, but let down by lightweight balance. Obviously very system dependent - a definite "try before you buy".

Strengths:
Good presentation of detail, especially with 192KHz upsampling. Open and spacious. Treble is smooth and extended. Quite good focus and transparency, especially for the price.

Weaknesses:
Overall tonal balance is treble-dominated and started to really irritate after only a few minutes. I could not live with this. Bass is a little loose and very lightweight. I've owned & enjoyed many MF components over the years, but this is the worst musical balance I have heard from them.

Similar Products Used:
Benchmark DAC1, Eastern Electric Minimax CD, Quad 99, Meridian 563, AudioNote DAC3, Mark Levinson 39, Perpetual Technologies PA1 & PA3, MF FCD