Home
AudioAsylum Trader
Digital Drive: REVIEW: Scott Nixon TubeDac Plus DAC Processors by Nico

Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it.

For Sale Ads

FAQ / News / Events

 

REVIEW: Scott Nixon TubeDac Plus DAC Processors

68.161.184.209


[ Follow Ups ] Thread:  [ Display   All   Email ] [ Digital Drive ]
[ Alert Moderator ]

Model: TubeDac Plus
Category: DAC Processors
Suggested Retail Price: $450 (assembled)
Description: TubeDac with Black Gates & other upgrades
Manufacturer URL: Scott Nixon
Model Picture: View

Review by Nico ( A ) on July 02, 2004 at 09:51:24
IP Address: 68.161.184.209
Add Your Review
for the TubeDac Plus


To start off, I was very curious as to the numerous positive user experiences with this unit, so I decided to try one out for myself. I managed to acquire a Tubedac+, with the optional power supply, a few weeks ago from an Audiogon'er. It came with the stock Groove Tube, as well as a no-brand chinese 6922 tube. Upon initial inspection this two-box unit looks very well put together in a no-fuss/no-frills kind of way. It's small enough to be unobtrusively tucked away on my rack. I wasn't worried about the reversed polarity issue because that can be switched from my preamp. The rest of the system consists of a Sony XA9000ES SACD/CD player, BAT VK-40 preamp (with six-pack), BAT VK-200 amplifier, Revel Ultima Gem speakers, and REL Strata III subwoofer.

I intended to examine differences between the stock redbook out of my Sony XA9000ES (no slouch in this department) and the Nixon Tubedac+ with 3xac power supply.

First few hours of listening:

Well, the first few hours with both the Groove Tube and the Chinese tube were not disappointing, but not tremendously inspiring either. Compared to the XA9000ES there was less air, less sense of space, and significantly less bass punch and depth. This was pretty obvious and I was consistently preferring the Sony over the Nixon on just about anything I was throwing at it, from Stacey Kent, to Dido, to solo piano, etc. To be fair, the Nixon was rather very pleasing to listen to, and sounded very smooth and polished.

As you can imagine at this point I was wondering what all the fuss was about. I decided to try out another tube to end the matter once and for all, and opted on a $80 NOS Mullard E88CC. I put it in, listened for a few minutes, didn't notice any significant changes, and left it to burn in for a few days (had to leave for a few days on a trip).

So, four days later I come back and fire up the rig. Threw on the Kodo 24k gold Sheffield labs recording, and prepared to do some heavy-duty A-B'ing from my preamp. Wow! Now we're talking! The Nixon's highs REALLY opened up in a big way. It was particularly noticeable in the small cymbals(?) midway through track two--tons of palpability and air/separation around each instrument. I was hearing a LOT more detail in the highs that I didn't even think were there on the Sony. Quickly AB'ing between the two made it even more obvious that the Nixon's highs were clearly superior. I didn't expect it, but there was a whole lot more high-freq info coming through on the Nixon that wasn't coming through on the Sony. The drum thwaps had more liveness to them, and you could clearly hear the visceral "whap!" on the tightly stretched skins of the Japanese drums that were hardly there on the Sony.

On other tracks I played with, the Nixon appeared to now consistently top the Sony in terms of listenability, fatigue (or lack thereof), and smoothness. The only thing the Sony one-ups the Nixon is in the bass department, where it appears to be fuller and more enveloping. I can now safely say that the Nixon is a tremendous step up over stock redbook performance on the Sony XA9000ES, even you sacrifice a little bit of low-end grunt. And to think I was originally planning on relegating the Nixon to my bedroom rig!


Product Weakness: you lose a little of the low bass, but you gain impact
Product Strengths: High frequency extension, air, separation, staging


Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier: BAT VK-200
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): BAT VK-40
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Sony XA9000ES
Speakers: Revel Ultima Gem, REL Strata III
Cables/Interconnects: Harmonic Tech Pro Silway 2's throughout, Pro-11 speaker. Kimber DV-30 digital
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Classical, female vocal, light rock, jazz
Room Size (LxWxH): 25 x 15 x 10
Room Comments/Treatments: Lots of tube traps, rugs
Time Period/Length of Audition: One month
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): Monster 2500
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner




This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  VH Audio  



Topic - REVIEW: Scott Nixon TubeDac Plus DAC Processors - Nico 09:51:24 07/2/04 ( 1)