Most my friends would agree that, relatively speaking, digital is the weaker side in my rig. And I'd be quick to admit-- done on purpose, otherwise, I see no reason to have gone into this hobby and would have happily remained on the pro-audio side of the fence. Needless to say, while playing CDs, it always feel like I'm just giving analog a rest although, not too often, my condition is such that I don't trust myself operating any piece of machinery more complicated than a flushing lever
My digital setup hasn't changed in years-- CEC TL1 transport feeding a Museatex Bidat DAC, this product developed by one Ed Meitner during the '90s retains a singular distinction-- it's perhaps the only digital component that has doubled in price since it went out of production! If you're wondering whether that's an aberration, owweh owweh oh, it surely is!
The Good. The Bidat's strength is simply that it behaves like both an oversampling and non-oversampling DAC going through an incoming signal. Click here for an excellent discussion on sampling and notice how the Bidat worked its way into that discussion. While I had been a fan of non-os dacs early in this hobby, and had owned a battery-powered Ack, since switching to this stock Meitner I had stayed put, promising myself that I'll send this DAC in for upgrading to super-Bidat status "sometime".
Then there were challengers, good ones too-- Naim CDX2 and Talk Thunder CD players, some DACs-- dAck v2, Hagtech Chime and the Citipulse. I knew the time had come for a Bidat upgrade but, in the meantime, what to use?
As a fan of the Ack dAck, it was easy for me to drink the battery-powered Kool Aid, word was there's this DAC, the Altmann Attraction that's so good but, well, unusual. This reviewer went as far as saying it's the best cost-no-object, if only one can bear to live with...
The Batt(ery). Optima Red Top, Model 34, as prescribed by the manufacturer. Now we're to add "charge discipline" onto our list of maintenance duties and, very slightly, I cringe.
And then, one would think that a product called Attraction would look, well, attractive. Opening this package, I couldn't help but think of the next agon schmuck who's gonna have to convince himself it's worthwhile living with car parts and driftwood, I wasn't a happy camper, in fact, I was already in remorse.
The Ugly. I'm not an engineer and seeing these "parts" doesn't excite me so, whatever the "Attraction," heh heh, it certainly isn't visual. Now, let's see how this bad boy stacks up--
Moments after being fed by the CEC, I felt the first pang of pain, and it's a bad one. The sound is just the same ballpark as the Bidat. We could split hairs, nothing major league, while the friggin' plank had better dynamics and low-level treble resolution due to a much lower noise-floor, the Bidat was more rhythmic and sounded more continuous. The Attraction sounded like a good non-os DAC and that's all she wrote. A couple tracks later I stop, a cocoon of disappointment wrapping over migraine, and consoled myself in not having punched holes through this wooden Nordost QF box to hide this... this...
The next day I emailed the seller (he had bought this DAC just a few weeks before) but at a deeper level, I must've been looking for someone to share misery. Half-talking to myself I told the seller I'm gonna try one last thing, and run the Altmann upsampled.
Now, let me backtrack a bit and tell you how much I hate upsampling. While I believe upsampling creates an impression of "more resolution", everytime I hear an upsampling player I also can't help feeling that the sound is "mabalahibo" (hirsute, if you will). Especially noticeable in steel string guitar, that "balahibo" somehow makes a guitar's body sound less woody and more "fiberglass" or composite. I believe it was HP who, in comparing solid-state with tubes, recently wrote-- "solid-state appears to modulate noise as part of the signal unlike tubes where noise is more like 'dirt on a windshield'" (or something to that effect).
For me, upsampled noise is an artifact that I dislike especially when it's referred to as "more air". So sorry, upsampling fans, I'd agree it's "air" if it's imprint (ringing) wasn't also noticeable down below. Call it the Nykvist power demon.
But then my back's to the wall so I dig out my old RME/Nuendo Multiset soundcard, hook it up to the Dell notebook in the bedroom, then ran a 30ft optical toslink (yeah, yeah, but this Altmann's got Jisco) to the DAC in the living room, kicked off foobar upsampled to 96khz (the Attraction can handle up to 192khz sampling rate input) then stepped into my living room and saw Lorca's duende neatly wrapped up in a carpet burrito.
Pardon the incoherence, that happens from time to time when I get frothy at the mouth, but there it was, duende in a burrito
The fun doesn't really start until 96khz on the Altmann, then you start feeling the "crave," not unlike a dCS stacker, wanting more of that friggin' master tape. But foobar and my Nuendo card can only do 96khz. Still, it is the best digital sound I have ever heard, bar none, on my rig, as well as extrapolated onto others. Revelatory isn't a word I've used only because I'm very suspicious of those who heave all these platitudes only to hear a something betterer and bestestest a few months down the road. But let me stake my cred here, this DAC is revelatory. So much so, I've decided the Bidat won't need beauty school anymore, so goes the CEC.
TV on my bedroom and a wireless-assembled playlist, I close the door and see the Yorke shiver, this DAC has a sound after all, but it's a sound I won't describe until I'm done frothing at the mouth. I'm truly sorry, fellow pinoydiophiles, but I don't trust myself (or other reviewers) in this state, and don't want to spout all "pros" about how this product sounds without being able to go into "cons". There has to be a weakness, dammit!
In the meantime, let me divert your attention, wow wow wah, with uglydac's prettier, Teutonic sister. Since my Tron phono, Dyna arm and cart will be making its way to RMAF without me, I thought it would be nice to have a battery companion for the Altmann. Enter Trigon.
Just received a few hours ago, this Trigon Advance phono is capable of running on battery power for ~6 hours. Set to 60dB gain through dip switches on its underbelly, immediately I notice this phono still sounds like its breaking-in despite its previous (original) owner having used it for 5 months. Although the promise is there, I predict it won't be anywhere as special as the Altmann. Having said that, the deck is favoring digital now and I'm feeling a bit uncomfortable
That's it folks, thanks for reading!
