Digital Drive: REVIEW: Lavry Engineering Lavry DA-10 (Black) DAC Processors by Mel

Model:	Lavry DA-10 (Black)
Category:	DAC Processors
Suggested Retail Price:	$975
Description:	DAC with Reclocking
Manufacturer URL:	Lavry Engineering
Manufacturer URL:	Lavry Engineering

Review by Mel ( A ) on June 02, 2006 at 07:12:52
IP Address: 70.23.87.153

Add Your Review
for the Lavry DA-10 (Black)

I decided on a DAC after my modified Philips DVD-SACD player gave up the ghost. It was unfixable; even authorized Philips repair facilities couldnâ€™t obtain a schematic. So no more mods for me, and when I got a new player I decided not to pay too much attention to the sound, but to get a reasonably good DAC instead. Moreover, a reclocking DAC seems to all but make the player not matter and it will move over eventually to the next technology player, high def, blue ray or whatnot. It was about that time that there was much internet buzz about the Lavry. It seemed to have everything including favorable comparisons to its near rivals. The reclocking scheme seems to be particularly elegant. There is no resampling or upsampling involved. If Iâ€™ve got it right, the data merely go into a buffer and are released in synch with its internal clock. The data are said to remain unchanged from how they are on the disk. So I put myself on the waiting list and after about 5 weeks it came. That was about 4 months ago.
Up until now I have been a vinyl kind of guy, with a decent two channel system. I could never listen to CDs for an extended period without getting restless. I was never terribly impressed with SACDs at least with my equipment, my ears, and only two channels. To get right to the conclusion: I like this DAC. But put this in perspective. I have never had any other DAC in my system.
An example or two may suggest why I am impressed. On the original Mercury CD of Dorati conducting Prokofiev the difference between the dry acoustic of Northrop Auditorium and the far larger acoustic of the Watford Town Hall is made very clear as the walls drop far away on the latter. I have never heard that difference made so clear. Itâ€™s very hard to distinguish between the Kodaly Hary Janos CD and LP, except for the surface noise. My LP copy was bought used. Although this has to be from memory, I find that the CD layers of hybrid disks now sound more natural than the SACD layer did. For example, there is a much improved sense of space on the Cliburn Rachmaninov 2nd than I recall on the SACD. I also now find the front to back layers of sound more clearly articulated on the Alison Krauss "New Favorite" hybrid disk. Instruments have a more rounded, fuller body sound. Itâ€™s easier to â€œseeâ€ them. The bass has a very full sound as it does in person. Everything is there. There is nothing thin or irritating about this DAC, yet the detail is there. On a favorite track of Swedish folk singing that I have listened to a lot for 12 years, I just discovered there are two guys singing behind the two women in the foreground.
Of course it works on DVDs and as a bonus I have hooked up my over-the-air Hi Def TV receiver to it by Toslink, and with a flip of a switch on the DAC some TV sound is brought to the same level. The current jazz series hosted by Ramsey Lewis on the PBS feed is a great example.
Iâ€™m not saying this DAC is better than any other DAC for I really donâ€™t know. But it makes this vinyl lover smile. Now I have to get some more CDs to listen to; I donâ€™t really have too many. Suggestions would be welcome.
Though the DAC has a step attenuator and can be used as a preamp (but as of now without remote) that is not a function I have used, except to match the level to my phono pre.

Product Weakness: None that I have discovered. Some complain about its lack of remote capability and cheap appearance.
Product Strengths: Seems to provide low level information, including spatial clues and full harmonic envelopes.

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Sim W5
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Sim P5
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	VPI TNT
Speakers:	VS 4JR
Cables/Interconnects:	Cardas, Coincident, Kimber, Monster, Belden
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	as above
Room Size (LxWxH):	22 x 13 x 7
Time Period/Length of Audition:	4 months
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	Panasonic S97 DVD-CD Player
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

Product Weakness:	None that I have discovered. Some complain about its lack of remote capability and cheap appearance.
Product Strengths:	Seems to provide low level information, including spatial clues and full harmonic envelopes.