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I wouldn’t consider myself to be an audiophile. I love music, and I love gear, but I don’t believe you have to spend vast amounts of money to get the most out of both.
That all being said, I recently purchased a DAC WOW from Dave over at Hotaudio. It seemed to fit my 95% perfect for 20% of the price rule.
I had been using it for a few weeks and had some questions, so I emailed him. Through a little back and forth, he offered to ship me one of his hand made Wood DAC’s so I could do an unbiased listening comparison for him.
I have two systems that I use in my house. Both were built with a desire to have as few components between source and speaker as possible.
First is my everyday work/gaming computer desk. It’s simply setup with one of these two DAC’s directly connected to a set of Audioengine A5+ speakers. I use custom built RCA cables.
My other system is very custom. I designed and built a set of infinite baffle line arrays.
The speakers consist of:
• Dayton Audio PT2C-8 planar tweeter (4 per side)
• The Pioneer 4” buyout nicknamed NSB (16 per side)
• Dayton SD270A-88 10” DVC Subwoofers (2 per side)
Gear consists of:
• Crown Com-Tech 800 (2) and Com-Tech 200 amps
o Low and Midrange = 800
o High Frequency = 200
• Behringer ULTRADRIVE PRO DCX2496 speaker management system
• Custom RCA->XLR cables
• One of these two DAC’s
If you want speakers with extremely low distortion and amps with enough power to make you feel like you are at a live concert, this is the system for you. It is capable of creating a soundstage that kind of freaks a lot of people out the first time they hear it.
Individually, these DAC’s are both great products. That being said, they are each great products in a different set of circumstances, or for a different type of audience.
The Handmade wood DAC is a great looking product. It looks like it would be just as comfortable sitting on a desktop, or on a shelf in a living room beside other high end stereo gear. The one I received is stained a nice natural wood color. Unfortunately, the speakers in my system that it sits on are the black Audioengine A5+. If I owned the Bamboo versions it would blend in beautifully. I would feel terrible if I dented or scratched it. It’s that nice.
The DAC WOW is a non-descript black box that you stuff behind your computer. It’s functional and tough. In the process of doing this review I must have knocked it off my desk 4-5 times and never felt bad about it, or worried about breaking it.
I generally listen to alt rock/classic rock/live recorded music. I have also been known to dabble in other genres such as electronica, and metal.
All my source music is coming from Tidal Hifi streaming service.
Here is a list of some of the music I auditioned. These were all picked because I know them all very well, they serve as a good mix of genres and music that a wide range of people listen to, not necessarily because they represent the greatest recordings ever.
- Foo Fighters – Dear Rosemary
- Coheed And Cambria – Pearl of the Stars
- Crash Test Dummies – The Ghosts that Haunt Me
- Incubus – Dig
- Blue Rodeo – 5 Days In May
- AC/DC – Moneytalks
That all being said, I recently purchased a DAC WOW from Dave over at Hotaudio. It seemed to fit my 95% perfect for 20% of the price rule.
I had been using it for a few weeks and had some questions, so I emailed him. Through a little back and forth, he offered to ship me one of his hand made Wood DAC’s so I could do an unbiased listening comparison for him.
I have two systems that I use in my house. Both were built with a desire to have as few components between source and speaker as possible.
First is my everyday work/gaming computer desk. It’s simply setup with one of these two DAC’s directly connected to a set of Audioengine A5+ speakers. I use custom built RCA cables.
My other system is very custom. I designed and built a set of infinite baffle line arrays.
The speakers consist of:
• Dayton Audio PT2C-8 planar tweeter (4 per side)
• The Pioneer 4” buyout nicknamed NSB (16 per side)
• Dayton SD270A-88 10” DVC Subwoofers (2 per side)
Gear consists of:
• Crown Com-Tech 800 (2) and Com-Tech 200 amps
o Low and Midrange = 800
o High Frequency = 200
• Behringer ULTRADRIVE PRO DCX2496 speaker management system
• Custom RCA->XLR cables
• One of these two DAC’s
If you want speakers with extremely low distortion and amps with enough power to make you feel like you are at a live concert, this is the system for you. It is capable of creating a soundstage that kind of freaks a lot of people out the first time they hear it.
Individually, these DAC’s are both great products. That being said, they are each great products in a different set of circumstances, or for a different type of audience.
The Handmade wood DAC is a great looking product. It looks like it would be just as comfortable sitting on a desktop, or on a shelf in a living room beside other high end stereo gear. The one I received is stained a nice natural wood color. Unfortunately, the speakers in my system that it sits on are the black Audioengine A5+. If I owned the Bamboo versions it would blend in beautifully. I would feel terrible if I dented or scratched it. It’s that nice.
The DAC WOW is a non-descript black box that you stuff behind your computer. It’s functional and tough. In the process of doing this review I must have knocked it off my desk 4-5 times and never felt bad about it, or worried about breaking it.
I generally listen to alt rock/classic rock/live recorded music. I have also been known to dabble in other genres such as electronica, and metal.
All my source music is coming from Tidal Hifi streaming service.
Here is a list of some of the music I auditioned. These were all picked because I know them all very well, they serve as a good mix of genres and music that a wide range of people listen to, not necessarily because they represent the greatest recordings ever.
- Foo Fighters – Dear Rosemary
- Coheed And Cambria – Pearl of the Stars
- Crash Test Dummies – The Ghosts that Haunt Me
- Incubus – Dig
- Blue Rodeo – 5 Days In May
- AC/DC – Moneytalks
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