Best AFFORDABLE HiFi DAC ? Musician Audio DRACO REVIEW !

Рет қаралды 21,693

Күн бұрын

This is my video review of the Musician Audio DRACO HiFi DAC which is an affordable and good sounding balanced R2R Resistor Ladder DAC with various digital inputs and both single ended and balanced outputs. A couple of months ago I reviewed the Musician Pegasus DAC and I was very impressed with it for its sound quality for its price and the Draco costs not much more than half and is trying to offer Audiophiles their R2R technologies at a lower price point and I think that is great.
www.musician-audio.com/en/col....
To buy the Draco see here aoshida-audio.com/products/mu...
For my Review of the Musician Pegasus DAC see here • IMPRESSIVE £1k R2R DAC...
To buy the Pegasus DAC aoshida-audio.com/products/mu...
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Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:19 The Draco
3:20 Digital Inputs
5:20 Sound Quality
8:01 Comparison
10:30 Final Thoughts
Thanks for watching - Terry Ellis Pursuit Perfect System
#R2RDAC #MusicianAudio #HiFiReview
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Пікірлер: 107

@dougg1075 2 жыл бұрын

You’re in the zone man. Great review

@PursuitPerfectSystem 2 жыл бұрын

All my reviews are great 😉 thanks

@everypersonsguidetocreativ3326 7 ай бұрын

Well, I went ahead and ordered this DAC during this past Black Friday sales. A month or so previous to this purchase I had bought the Denafrips Ares II (12th) and although it sounded 'fast' and musically engaging it also 'rolled off' the high frequencies a bit too much for my 'I like it real' tastes. Luckily for me that Denafrips DAC had its problems (extraneous noises came creeping in from time to time disrupting the listening experience, so I had to return it). I can say I like the Draco much more than the Denafrips because of the more 'natural' sound coming out of it. And the 300-hour burn-in period is totally true (at first it sounded way too compressed, unnatural, etc.). After the burn-in period, this thing has opened up and has been churning out great sounds ever since. The bass is tight, strong, and fast, the mids and highs are 'correct' too. I've been listening to all sorts of old CDs that I thought I knew well but to my surprise, this DAC presents much more detail and holographic presentation than I had experienced before...a total shock! I did change the power cord and the 2 fuses inside so that might have helped. Another thing to keep in mind is WHERE you connect it. The sound is completely different if your power source is clean than if it's just plugged into a regular outlet...so experiment before returning! 😁

@ProjectOverseer 2 жыл бұрын

Interesting review, Terry with good insight 👍 I thought I was familiar with most HiFi terminology, but "Hoover Smooth" is a new one to add to my HiFi black book of lingo 😅

@PursuitPerfectSystem 2 жыл бұрын

Not Hoover "UBER" haha I have been thinking about this and couldnt work out what I was supposed to have said - the penny just dropped ahaha

@ProjectOverseer 2 жыл бұрын

@@PursuitPerfectSystem Haha ... Okay, I hear that now. I'll add that instead 😅

@ProjectOverseer 2 жыл бұрын

@@PursuitPerfectSystem I was just jesting with you, Terry. A little bit of leg pulling ... you're doing a great job as always.

@theodoroschronis2966 28 күн бұрын

thank you for your very precise and informative reviews! Would Draco be an upgrade to a Chord Mojo 2 as a dac to a hifi system? Are there any similar differences as with Chord Cutest? Thank you in advance!

@Percival1919 Жыл бұрын

Hi There, interesting review. I'm looking for the right Dac for my budget. I recently have considered the EARMEN TRADUTTO. But I like the fact the Draco has a hdmi (i2s) input, as I want to connect my TV

@PursuitPerfectSystem Жыл бұрын

The hdmi i2s is not for connecting to tvs it’s for connecting to music players. If you connect it to a tv you will break it, please do not do that

@kyleconnolly4440 2 жыл бұрын

Cool review. Out of curiosity, in NOS mode, did you try oversampling from your computer with something like audirvana (sox filter) or hq player? I have a nos r2r and I experience aliasing if I don't upsample the single before pushing it to my DAC. You should try it out if you can. Cheers!

@juanvillalba5879 2 жыл бұрын

Chinese Dac's like Topping and Smsl (especially the high-end ones) has very good critics. We would like to know your impressions about them. Regards, good review as always.

@Temmple 2 жыл бұрын

I am wondering how the Draco would compare to the internal DAC on the newer BlueSound Node N130.

@IrenESorius 2 жыл бұрын

👍‍‍👍‍‍!

@riccitone 2 жыл бұрын

Really happy you reviewed the Draco as an option to it''s higher-priced sibling. Thank you. I've been wondering about the potential benefits and flexibility gains from a decent DDC. Totally wondering if it would be better to do what you suggested, that it could be an option to save some money and implement a DDC. Can I ask, which DDC you are about to bring in? Anyway, now on the fence between a Musician Draco or a Toppings D70s!

@PursuitPerfectSystem 2 жыл бұрын

I bought a Singzer SU6 but I havent even taken it out of the box yet

@flatericy 2 жыл бұрын

Comparison vs ares 2 is a real test :)

@andrewfurst5711 2 жыл бұрын

Yes, though I'd also like to see a comparison to Bifrost 2.

@klepp19 2 жыл бұрын

I own Qutest, Ares II, Pontus II & so far Draco is more musically revealing!

@rajendrabiswas 2 жыл бұрын

What do you feel About schiit Modi multibit ?

@brandonm8416 10 ай бұрын

I’m so confused with so many good DACs on the market (and not being able to preview them I’m my system) it’s insane. Think I must retreat and go back to a turntable 😂

@pjlett5688 Жыл бұрын

Over sampling is on with the nos light Off, the review forgot to mention !!

@fletchermunson6225 2 жыл бұрын

Maybe you should set up a ten DAC shoot out competition. Nothing is impossible for someone who doesn't have to do it himself.

@PursuitPerfectSystem 2 жыл бұрын

A dac shoot out could be interesting 10 is quite a lot though :)

@fletchermunson6225 2 жыл бұрын

@@PursuitPerfectSystem Asking was easy.

@andrewfurst5711 2 жыл бұрын

@@fletchermunson6225 Ha ha, that's a great quote about "Nothing is impossible...". I do appreciate the thorough review by PPS here, and yes it's kind of greedy on our part to want more comparisons to many other DACs.

@fletchermunson6225 2 жыл бұрын

@@andrewfurst5711 You say "greedy" like it's a bad thing.

@andrewfurst5711 2 жыл бұрын

@@fletchermunson6225 "Greed is good", to quote Gordon Gekko. I'm greedy about these comparisons too. The comparison I'd like to see most (at the moment) is the Draco vs. the Bifrost 2.

@lextr3110 2 жыл бұрын

how do they fare against the holo spring 3..

@nc3419 2 жыл бұрын

Looking at the Aoshida web page on this unit, the output voltages on both xlr (2.8v/2.0v)and rca (1.4v/1.0v) outs appear low. Any thoughts? Reason why Chord Qutest sounded louder.

@PursuitPerfectSystem 2 жыл бұрын

What product are you looking at? It sounded louder than the Pegasus - not the Draco - I had the Qutest set to 2V - that could be why though yes. The volume thing is not really a big deal as you just turn the master up and down to compensate, it was just a point of observation

@nc3419 2 жыл бұрын

@@PursuitPerfectSystem I saw the published values on the Aoshida site. The Drago page has a test parameters chart showing the output voltages for both PCM and DSD using xlr and rca outs. Other dacs are outpointing more voltage at both xlr and rca which would make the volume louder hooked up to an integrated amp all things considered. Forget about what sounded louder, I'm asking about the published numbers the distributor has provided.

@gregjun5011 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for the review. How do Musician Audio compare with the Denafrips?

@rezaestacio3445 2 жыл бұрын

I'm also curious about this.

@rickyblair8802 2 жыл бұрын

Yeh tell us!

@apj.-.-.-.-.-.-.-119 2 жыл бұрын

theyre literally the same thing look up the internals

@mehmetcamat4458 Жыл бұрын

Have you tried the denafrips ares 2? If yes how would you compare it to Pegasus Drako and Pegasus?

@PursuitPerfectSystem Жыл бұрын

Sorry no I haven't

@bliiblaablue 2 жыл бұрын

I hear these R2R dacs need weeks of 24/7 runtime before using them, the sound should change A LOT, taming down. Any idea if this was the case with this review, meaning the reason for that raw sound?

@PursuitPerfectSystem 2 жыл бұрын

Maybe raw is the wrong word - by raw in raw out I meant the signal is not messed with, not upsampled and then made to sound a certain way - I left the dac on solid for the best part of 2 weeks thats should have been long enough

@stevengilmore1509 Жыл бұрын

my ladder dac is on 24/7

@Gez492 2 жыл бұрын

Do you think the Draco may be better suited to tube amps?

@PursuitPerfectSystem 2 жыл бұрын

I think a lof of these R2R DAC's would work well with Tube amps, yes possibly, or maybe warmer solid states maybe like Arcam and others

@ramalingam108 2 жыл бұрын

Very good DAC but hard time to connect with the USB of my MacBook Pro, I return it and had easy refund, I had like to be able to keep it !

@beslemeto 2 жыл бұрын

There should be no problem at all to connect that DAC to your Mac!

@ramalingam108 2 жыл бұрын

@@beslemeto But I have tried with more than one USB cables without success, now it’s doing well with a Aune S8 DAC ! But when the Pegasus could connect the sound was great. Did you tried the Pegasus with a USB-C connection of a MacBook Pro ?

@clarice1001nights 2 жыл бұрын

Clarice Carter The diodes on my unit would indicate OS never light up. They should. If I turn on a different input source, the DAC lights up immediately. There is no way to determine if you are doing 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, DSD, or 48K. If the claim is that os is automatic, the diodes should shine. If not that is a mistake of the manufacturer. What I find extraordinarily odd is that the Musician Draco and the Dynafrips Ares ii when opened look like the same machine. In the Ares every thing works, in the Musician (in mine at the very least) some important things don't. Critics are told that the OS is automatic??? But why would diodes not work, and programming them also fail to work?? How is it that critics do not show how the oversampling can be set? OS makes a difference in detailing, but if we fly over that detail, we miss a significant selling point. The Ares can and the Draco can not, that is a knock off. Am I missing something, or are we all missing something? The leading seller is in Singapore and the other in China. That is quite a physical distance for a coincidence. If one is getting the better boards and paying for design and manufacturing, is the other providing products that are good, but at lower price point with warts the other will not put into their Brand. I do not want to be negative. I bought the Draco and found the sound musical, but selling a product that does not do what the other does and changing similar money for, does not seem like the right way to treat customers

@PursuitPerfectSystem 2 жыл бұрын

There is only oversampling on or off not a choice through different oversampling modes?

@TransformerVolumeC 3 ай бұрын

399 on wallapop

@bobb.9917 2 жыл бұрын

Good review, I guess? (not your fault). As a consumer I am just going to continue to use the DAC in my Marantz SACD 30N. That may change…but to a simple consumer it is so…so…so…OVERWHELMING!.. DACs from $300 to $5000 and beyond….and "I" just have no reference point with words describing sound quality when I watch these reviews. It is a little crazy out there….as you mention….and look…The prices are dropping significantly like on The Aries. I am sitting back and enjoying what I already have in DAC land…I am thinking that a couple of Rel T/5x Subs will make a much more noticeable change in the sound quality of my system for money spent. 😁👍🏼

@PursuitPerfectSystem 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks man, fwiw dacs can make a very big difference to the sound obviously different to adding subwoofers. If you don't have subwoofers and do have a dac then maybe the subwoofers make more sense anyway. In saying that all the dacs I have heard that are built into amps don't sound nearly as good as external ones so you might get a big benefit from checking this out when the time is right for you

@bobb.9917 2 жыл бұрын

@@PursuitPerfectSystem yes..you have the luxury of listening to a lot of different DACs. My Marantz SACD is not an amp. It is a Streamer and SACD/CD Player. Again, I have no idea how good the DAC is in the unit. It’s my only reference. I do agree with you that internal DACs are not as good as external units, but only because everything I read says so. I have no 1st-hand knowledge of that. For me…and many, I have no idea "how much" of a change/improvement in the sound is from a $400 unit to a $5000 unit. And as you say here, some may prefer the sound of the Draco over The Pegasus. It brings me back to "OVERWHELMED". These things are not a small amount of money, either. Thanks so much for the conversation, more info is always better! 👍🏼

@PursuitPerfectSystem 2 жыл бұрын

@@bobb.9917 if the dac is in the CD player it's probably good, I am sure some amp ones are too depending on lots of factors. I think the hardest thing with thr tyrrany of choice is just that and then getting products to demo can be hard too as really you need to try a dac just to see if it's worth it. That's not always easy with some of the products out there but that seems to be changing which is great

@bobb.9917 2 жыл бұрын

@@PursuitPerfectSystem yes…and another VERY important point. I would absolutely need to hear the DAC in my system for it to have any meaning "to me" whatsoever. Hearing one in a demo room somewhere I think, would be next to useless. Great conversation, Terry! Rel…hear I come! 😎

@PursuitPerfectSystem 2 жыл бұрын

@@bobb.9917 defo thats why I said about the subwoofers making more sense if you don't have them as that's adding something new, I always used to think get the best dac you can and then build a system around it, I still do think that is a great approach. But over the last year I have heard quite a few different ones and its very possible to use them as a system sound tailoring tool as well.

@PAULGRILL 2 жыл бұрын

Does the Draco pop or crack when switching samplerate/bit depth (especially in combination with a Bluesound Node n130)?

@PursuitPerfectSystem 2 жыл бұрын

No idea on the bluesound aspect but I didnt hear any pops or clicks

@PAULGRILL 2 жыл бұрын

@@PursuitPerfectSystem Thank you!

@Temmple 2 жыл бұрын

Did you end up finding a good dac match with the Node?

@PAULGRILL 2 жыл бұрын

@@Temmple Aune X8 with Sparkos opamp sounds fine and is reasonable priced.

@Temmple 2 жыл бұрын

@@PAULGRILL That one does look promising with options to swap out OP Amps. Thank you 😊

@1800Swagg 2 жыл бұрын

Hmmm. This leaves me conflicted. As if it’s a R2R but without the R2R sound. The Ares II is a bit large for my desk. Maybe I’ll have to consider the Bifrost after all 🤔

@PursuitPerfectSystem 2 жыл бұрын

Thats not really what I said or meant if you look at the spec of a lot of the newer Chinese r2r dacs they are all doing upsamplon to DSD which changes the sound. That's not r2r sound its a version of it they want you to have. Thr draco sounds more like a straight sound not messed around with

@1800Swagg 2 жыл бұрын

@@PursuitPerfectSystem thanks for the clarification.

@petermartin9494 2 жыл бұрын

It is too bad that you did not review this dac with the input that most people use, USB.

@krancan25 2 жыл бұрын

Soooo a real comparison would be against Denafrips Ares II... :)

@PursuitPerfectSystem 2 жыл бұрын

Denafrips 2 is twice the price of this

@backrack01 2 жыл бұрын

@@PursuitPerfectSystem its only appx $100 more.

@PursuitPerfectSystem 2 жыл бұрын

@@backrack01 I was looking at the wrong currency

@backrack01 2 жыл бұрын

@@PursuitPerfectSystem i think it would prob would be a good comparison. Denaphrips 2 has pretty much established itself as the only affordable R2R worth buying...and since they just raised their prices(i think it was just under or around 700 not to long ago)...it'd be nice to see it have some competition.

@PursuitPerfectSystem 2 жыл бұрын

@@backrack01 they are DEF not the only R2R dacs worth buying thats for certain they ate just talked about a lot

@classicaudio9249 2 жыл бұрын

Which one is better? Qutest and Draco.

@apmihai82 2 жыл бұрын

I had a look on website and both the Draco and Ares 2 have eerily similar internal designs. Makes one wonder..

@PursuitPerfectSystem 2 жыл бұрын

If you check the google images they are actually nothing alike - they have to have rows of resistors thats how R2R works - that is not exclusive to Denafrips - they might have copied other companies from years ago

@digianalogy4444 Жыл бұрын

this dac or peagasus? what's prefer

@PursuitPerfectSystem Жыл бұрын

The Pegasus I think sounds the smoother of the two, the Draco was a little more raw sounding and rougher around the edges as a result. Its more affordable too

@HungryEatNow 2 жыл бұрын

Seriously just get Pegasus

@supes323 2 жыл бұрын

So still no review of any of the denafrips dacs?? I dont understand why there arent many youtubers that have reviewed both the denafrips and pegasus dacs back 2 back? Conflict of interest perhaps? What happened to good honest unbiased reviews? It is very easy to assume that these reviewers are in bed with one or another manufacture in some capacity. Just calling out the obvious but hopefully I stand to be corrected.

@PursuitPerfectSystem 2 жыл бұрын

I think you are making assumptions based on speculation with 0 facts. I reviewed 5 different R2R Dacs this year from 3 different manufacturers ranging from £600 to over £6000. I compared them two several other high end Dacs I gave here between £1k -£4k Where is there a conflict of interest there?

@funkyfurballs1078 2 жыл бұрын

Looks an awful lot like a NuPrime product?

@PursuitPerfectSystem 2 жыл бұрын

Not in the flesh, Nu prime is a very different- its just got an angled front plate I think like NuPrime have something similar.

@aussie8114 2 жыл бұрын

Why would they end the price in 99 cents. Do they really think we are that stupid.

@beslemeto 2 жыл бұрын

Psychological game.Works slow, but it is efficient.

@aussie8114 2 жыл бұрын

@@beslemeto Not for me. I want at least a full off 😂

@beslemeto 2 жыл бұрын

@@aussie8114 Yes people like us are prepared and this trick does not work on us rather than making us angry, because we accept that as a humiliation.But of course companies don't give a shit about that...If it works it works if not they have nothing to lose...

@aussie8114 2 жыл бұрын

@@beslemeto Very much so. I see it as them treating the buyer as fools, and don’t worry, I tell them that 🤬 Well sometimes I do 😂

@beslemeto 2 жыл бұрын

@@aussie8114 Well i have been reading some psychological books and believe me consistency can do miracles sometimes...Personally if i was selling something i wold put a price ending with .98 so i would be even cheaper than the competition. 😅

@pjlett5688 Жыл бұрын

Try breaking it in first 300 hours first ,you didnot !

@PursuitPerfectSystem Жыл бұрын

To be fair I don’t remember how many hours went onto this dac, possibly not 300 but that’s on the manufacturer not me. I can’t give that much run in time to every piece of gear I would only be able to produce 12 videos a year.