Hard to tell. I honestly think it was partially going from a NOS DAC to the Classe DAC-1 and partially testing it at first with my modded HD650. I think the NOS DAC sort of alleviated the somewhat rough and often quite present upper treble on the modded HD650, think mostly above 10KHz. The modded PM-2 doesn't exhibit this so much and is much easier to listen to on the DAC-1. NOS made things easier to listen to in general from a fatigue perspective, and I often find myself getting listening fatigue for reasons I can't explain. DAC-1 just seems to bring out all the warts in my system, which I suppose is what you'd expect from a good piece of gear. And then there's the fact the weather is getting dry out here and I have chronic sinus issues. I'm sure the headaches from that aren't doing me any favors for listening ease. :/

One particular comment you made on the Theta might explain the DAC-1 as well, maybe not. Would have to hear it. "Unadulterated attacks. Sharp un-smoothed, un-blunted attacks and fast decay." DAC-1 isn't necessarily artificially forward with detail, like the DA8 could be at times, but doesn't necessarily smooth or dull it either. The way you described the bass on the Theta sounds similar too. DAC-1 isn't necessarily warm (I'm not sure I'd call it cool or lean like what I've read from others after listening for a while), but it has a lot of power, kick, and clarity down low. Just sounds big and powerful. And what you said about soundstage too...3D and airy sound. Again, would have to hear them side by side, but impressions sorta kinda seem to match based on what I've compared the DAC-1 against (admittedly, not much).

We'll see if I keep the Classe DAC-1 forever. For my sensitive tastes and ease of which I get listening fatigue, I'm thinking it might pair well with something like the Black Diamond. I'm very impressed with the DAC-1 every time I listen and am hoping I can build a setup around it that will help reduce listening fatigue without having to go back to a NOS DAC or something. Anyway, sorry to ramble. The Theta Gen V seems great, and I'd love to try one sometime.

$889 + Ship for that broken Va.  Mind=Blown!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Theta-Digital-DS-PRO-Generation-V-Signal-Processor-DAC-Gen-5-Vintage-For-Repair-/251678450982?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=CMd4Fh5wkAbTd30GJRw4KAQOf0E%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

$889 + Ship for that broken Va.  Mind=Blown!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Theta-Digital-DS-PRO-Generation-V-Signal-Processor-DAC-Gen-5-Vintage-For-Repair-/251678450982?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=CMd4Fh5wkAbTd30GJRw4KAQOf0E%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

And it's not a Va. It's a V. Which means teflon analog boards and a bit more insanity than the Va. Va was post-Mike, hence the HDCD support. Still the same basic analog stage and PCM63, though, which means *very* good. Teflon was a bit of uber-tweako craziness that we did back then.

I bid on it, since I have the schematics, and it's an easy fix (most likely the VAS stage smoked, they ran VERY hot). But in the end, it was a little too rich even for my blood. Still would have been fun to compare to Yggy.

"Unadulterated attacks. Sharp un-smoothed, un-blunted attacks and fast decay." DAC-1 isn't necessarily artificially forward with detail, like the DA8 could be at times, but doesn't necessarily smooth or dull it either. The way you described the bass on the Theta sounds similar too. DAC-1 isn't necessarily warm (I'm not sure I'd call it cool or lean like what I've read from others after listening for a while), but it has a lot of power, kick, and clarity down low. Just sounds big and powerful. And what you said about soundstage too...3D and airy sound. Again, would have to hear them side by side, but impressions sorta kinda seem to match based on what I've compared the DAC-1 against (admittedly, not much).

I'm at at advantage because I use my own speakers and I can pretty make them however I see fit, primarily with driver selection (at 1/4 to 1/2 price of most headphones), x-over, or EQ (digital or otherwise).

One thing I did want to elucidate in the context of the "Unadulterated attacks. Sharp un-smoothed, un-blunted attacks and fast decay" was that the Gen V does these things with a natural ease - without adding crap. It's absolutely sublime.

For example, instruments like harmonica or violin in real life can make the hairs stand up on your back. (One of my kids is running around with one tonight, argghh!) I found the Gen V fully capable of making the hairs stand up on my back, but without feeling like a screwdriver was being driven into my ears. I mean, the typical modern DAC is just so nasty sounding. With a well mastered recording (esp. if sourced from analog tape), the Gen V sounds very much like vinyl - except better.

In terms of where the Gen V stands - the difference between the Gen V and my previous reference the AGD M7 (i2s/OR5+Wyrd) is significantly greater than the M7 and the Gungnir (SPDIF/OR5+Wyrd). In other words, while the M7 is slightly better than the Gungnir, the Gen V crushes the M7.

I'm troubled at the state of hi-fi.

I'm troubled at the state of hi-fi.

Indeed. It's kind of funny. '90s era amps were all about chasing specs at the expense of sound. Many of the ultra high-end models were not very good. Today amp designers have learned to focus on sound instead of how many zeros of THD, and amps are perhaps better than they've ever been (Class D nonsense excluded).

With DACs it's kind of the opposite. Today's high-end DACs are far superior at dealing with source jitter than stuff from the '90s, but if you have a very low jitter source like an OR5, that doesn't really come in to play. Everything else though is about spec chasing and "good enough" parts selection. Sound is obviously not that important when a $300 Musical Fidelity can get "Class A" status in Stereophile.