After sitting on the fence for a while, I decided to upgrade from MK1 to MK2. I was blown away by the significant difference in sound between the two. The sound was much louder, and instruments and vocals were right in the middle of the room, directly in front of me. There were incredible amounts of detail, almost to the point of being overwhelming. The music hit me right in the face, so I adjusted the volume on MK2 to 88. It was almost too much of a good thing.
Then, I let it play music for two weeks without using any amplifiers or speakers. Last night, I finally sat down to listen and had a huge smile on my face. The soundstage was expansive, stretching across the entire front wall, with an abundance of details. I heard nuances in the music that I hadnāt noticed on MK1, and the overall soundstage was softened and more pleasant to listen to. Vocals and acoustic instruments sounded absolutely fantasticā¦ wow. Iām so glad I upgraded from MK1 to MK2; itās many times better.
I could have easily lived with the MK1, which was already very good, especially with the latest Sunlight software update. However, I received a great trade-in price from my dealer and couldnāt resist. Havenāt heard a modded MK1 but I suppose itās closer to the MK2 than standard MK1ā¦
Still with the handwringing over inaudible ultrasonic noise in the pretty much infinitely upgradable Mk2 DAC
Iāve had the Mk2 since late January and well before JAās somewhat inartful review. It (the Mk2) smoked the Mk1 and it took me basically zero days to know that Iād be returning my Mk1 as soon as I could get around to it.
It was even better with some break-in and then even better first with an SR Purple fuse, and now with an SR Master.
First, I want to say that it took me about 5 minutes to know that the MK2 was noticeably superior in SQ than the MK1.
I finally had a chance to watch the entire Ted and Paul discussion. I can tell you. based on my education and experience, that everything that Ted said is the right thing to do and I have no reason to believe that Ted would mislead us. I personally confirmed with Ted that he did noise shape to upsampled data to DSD256 and not DSD128 as suggested in the HiFi News review. If I get the chance I will conduct some noise studies of my own.
Including mine, the first used MK2 for sale, Iāve seen a total of three. Depending on the number of total sales, this might simply be statistically normal. People change their gear all the time. Just wanting to remove a streamer/endpoint would result in a sale of a MK2.
I have mine up for sale now.
Itās a good DAC and sounds great.
I will say the Stereophile noise thing got me curious about other days and how they measure.
I did some reading which stimulated that audiophile upgrade itch.
I hadnāt planned on actually buying something new but came across a great deal on a Mola Mola Tambaqui that I couldnāt pass up.
Iāve found the Mola Mola to be an upgrade in build and sound quality.
It would be up to each listener to decision if itās worth the extra $5000
So the Stereophile noise review and buggy roll out did stimulate me to check out other DACS but these werenāt deal breakers for me. Iāve had no tech issues and think it sounds great
