Cool, thanks! Not sure how similar I'd actually think they sound in back-to-back tests, but your impressions remind me of some of the thoughts I have with my Classe DAC-1. More so than how you described the SFD-1.

Q1 is realistic for Yggy. What we had at RMAF was essentially a finished Yggy, minus board errors and a couple of firmware tweaks so it lights up the correct LEDs. It wasn't a "Ragnarok at RMAF" last year. And, when it ships, for the first time in about 20 years, we'll have a new DAC capable of playing PCM as it should be played...similar to the Theta days, but with a whole lot more processing power. And a better power supply. And more modularity. And a 5-year warranty.

And yeah, it was a different world back then--all the protestations of the DSD apologists at the DSD apologist-central site notwithstanding. I had a great laugh when they implied Mike didn't know enough about digital to grok DSD.

I doubt it, since I have not received my Rag after waiting for 4 weeks now!

I really hope DSD does not take off; it was not even intended for PC-playback for god's sake. Sony has been downright hostile to PC based playback for many years, and the result is that DSD is very, very hard to get it right on PC (no tagging, no compression, no standard, USB required, etc)

The funniest thing is DSD only got off when people were finally able to rip the SACD using PS3 around 2009, and began to illegally share the files among other audiophiles. Before that, there was literally no mention of SACD on digital audio forums other than occasional question for playing SACD on the computer.

Sony and those DSD advocates owe dirty file sharers tremendously for popularize DSD format... This is classic case of solving chicken-egg problem.

There's a line for the Rag and they are difficult to build and have a lot of parts. How long they tell you the wait was going to be? Would be good to let others know.

Hi,

Did you think the Theta sounds leaner than the SFD1 ?

The SFD-1 is bassier, warmer, muddy vs. Gen VA. SFD-1 has the disadvantage of tubes, probably high output Z because its cap coupled with caps that are too small, and the UltraAnalog R2R modules. Every UltraAnalog based DAC I've heard has always been on the warm side. From super thick and syrupy to slightly warm. I went for the SFD-1 SE+ upgrades because I felt the tube section could be improved. Let's see how the guys at PCX address this.

The Theta Gen V is neutral to me. (Taking into account things being relative to my own perspective). Benchmark DAC1 is leaner. Vega is leaner in bass and brighter in treble. PWD DS DAC is lean and upper-mid forward. M7+OR5 was slightly warmer with a bit a syrup.

It's difficult to quantify because these DACs of that era are so different in terms of timbre, texture, and tonal density. Bottom line is that I would not say that the Gen V is bassy or warm either. The words I would use are kind of a juxtaposition: punchy, fast, deep, light, fat, subdued, pressurized.

That being said, if your system needs a bassy and warm DAC, Gen V might not be it. I'd use the SFD-1 instead.