Couple of guys have been asking impressions, so i decided to share as my new toy syndrome is mostly over.
I use un-buffered ladder output. This is a must for low level sounds, texture and 3D soundstage.
The sound is impacted a lot from filters, i use Nyguist ''C128_100dp'' by spzzzkt right now.
I use a simple regulated LPS for power and JLsounds USB interface. Reportedly some quality power can improve things further.
Bass:
Vs everything i have heard so far, the dam has excellent bass performance. Compared to D-S dacs i have owned, the D-S dacs have next to no resolution in bass at all. BMC puredac is finest D-S i have had and it is a blurry mess in bass vs the Dam in direct a-b comparo. The bass has room information from Dam. Very first time i listened to the Dam i thought the bass sucked. Soft, cheesy and weak in volume. This was because i listened to Biffy Clyro. Once i loaded some Daft Punk or Hanz Zimmer or Tool i almost fell off of my chair.
Mids:
With this filter, no hash, no grain. Meat on bones. I am beginning to really appreciate HD800 midrange.
There is life to the vocals i have previously only heard through vinyl turntable setup.
Highs:
In some ways this was the most shocking part for me. The highs are much more extended and resolving up to my hearing limits. I was under false belief that anything past 9-10kHz has no significant meaning. Ahh, no glare either.
Soundstage:
Real 3D, not like a wall of sounds. Most annoying thing for me while listening headphones is this 'paper-stage', sounds come from sides, above and under, nothing in front or behind, all D-S dacs i have heard have this shape of soundstage, only some are not showing it clearly. I instantly remembered the soundstage shape of an Ayon CD player, that i think had pcm1702 or pcm1704 chips.
Bass has room cues, even with speakers. To me it is spooky. I got a glimpse of that with HD800, but i first thought it was their shortcoming. Now i know better.
Recordings ambiance and soundstage shape is extremely recording dependent. Some tracks come out of a tin can while others are reminiscent of a choir in cathedral. Good ones are awesome.
Comparing to other filters i think this one needs the most work on sounstage shape, it sometimes feels like being under a roof. Maybe height is missing a bit. This could easily be just some of the recordings that i have, i know better once i setup my speakers in larger room.
Resolving power:
It is clear that this dac can out-resolve good/decent amplifiers. This was not a problem for me with BMC. I need to upgrade my chain for HD800. So far Genelec monitors out-resolve HD800, which is very unexpected.
Separation, clarity:
The Dam never runs out of 'steam' in complex passages, i thought this was a strength of BMC, but it got dethroned here too, easily. Nothing sticks together in multi-organ+bass guitar passages. BMC was great at that in midrange, but ran short in bass and highs.
Filters: So far i think the C128 is the best filter, among best resolving and tonally most neutral, maybe slightly dark. It retains original samples. Has slow roll off, so it is ca 3..4dB down at 20KHz. But only a dB down at 19kHz. Other good ones have larger soundstage or are airier sounding, but are not sounding as real to me.