Some listening notes on Channel Islands DAC V.2 and Musical Fidelity X-ray V3

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

I decided I would listen to a couple of outboard DACs to see how they stacked up against my McIntosh MC201 player and more especially each other. I won't call this a review because of the short duration of the period, 2-3 weeks. System is the 201 player, a Sonic Euphoria passive pre amp, a McIntosh MC275 IV (the modern design), Merlin TCM MMs with a 10 sealed sub from Adire.
I started with the X-ray DAC used with wall wart power supply. I had the X-ray player for about a year and liked it quite well. I listened for a week or so with the Mac as transport. Pretty much as I remembered the X-ray player the DAC is quiet in operation, clean and fairly smooth without a trace of added warmth. Switching back and forth with the Mac as full player a clear difference in overall balance was easily discernable. As you anticipate the Mac was warmer overall. I listen to a variety of rock, pop, whatever on redbook.
The Channel Islands DAC I bought new. There did seem to be some break in over the first few days but not extreme. It is $599 delivered. This was a little bit of a learning experience for me as I was able to hear some artifacts in the X-ray I would have sworn were not there. The CI is also somewhat lighter in tonal balance than the Mac but perhaps a bit fuller than the X-ray. Many would say it is natural in presentation and the Mac is warm. Probably depends on what disc you have on. The difference is not extreme but is was easier to discern whether Mac or CI was playing if I didn't know. Using the Mac as transport all I had to do was switch sources on the pre amp for a basic AB comparison. Often if I got up to do something and I came back I couldn't tell which was running. Switching back and forth yielded a pretty similar sound overall, balanced I think accurately from top to bottom with no obvious glare on top. However when pushed or challenged by material that had strong or over overstrong treble, higher pitched horns or loud and complex passages the Channel Islands DAC always retains a clear open sound compared to a little grittiness or grunge, or electronic glare on the X-ray. I was disconcerted to hear this for some reason but I really couldn't go back to the X-ray now. This remained apparent on disc after disc. Thats not to say that the bad recordings sounded good on the CI, just that some situations brought out a difference in the two players. Not always, just when it counted as it were. There was no contest. I have the dedicated power supply on order from Channel Islands and look forward to some fine listening. I was really pretty amazed. I have usually been a mid fi guy. I did have an Arcam FMJ CD 23T when they were the thing and brought home an A5 player from Musical Fidelity for an audition. In my world the Channel Islands DAC V.2 is a very fine piece of equipment strongly recommended for audition. I'll be back in 6 months or so for a review. Larry

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Topic - Some listening notes on Channel Islands DAC V.2 and Musical Fidelity X-ray V3 - rasmussen 17:18:00 08/14/06 (0)

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