Hearing Test Auralic Vega

Letter from Hong Kong (20-7): Another step closer to CAS Nirvana? Eric L makes a major acquisition

Editor: This installment of Eric's is fascinating; it made me want to actually hear one, no mean feat (as I am so set in my ways)! But, for low tech me, I find some of the proceedings puzzling.

Most expensive equipment in HiFi

What is the most expensive or invaluable Hifi equipment? Full range speakers, megawatt power amps, DACs or exotic cables? Before, I would not hesitate to point out the answer, which is the listening room, especially in HK where a square foot of an average flat can easily cost up to USD 2000. Today, I found out I was wrong.

I realize (but may have tried to avoid that) that, as you grow older, your hearing ability would deteriorate, and the ability to hear high pitch decreases year after year, and ear after ear. If your eyesight has deteriorated, you can wear bifocal lenses to adjust and you can still take photos with it. But if your listening ability has deteriorated, then the "air" of the ambience and instruments cannot be picked up. Have I been hearing music with highs chopped off? With all the great delicacies and fine wines in this world, I could not imagine my taste buds becoming insensitive... So I took the test below:

Some friends reached the limit at 11khz; some just slightly above 10khz. I was lucky to reach  13.5khz, but it got very hard to hear the pitch when approaching my limit. Now I would like to confirm the ability to hear high pitch is the most valuable asset to evaluate sound quality [Ed: see Footnote 1] Music appreciation and understanding of what is good sound quality can be acquired, but, once gone, loss of hearing ability cannot be recovered...

CAS Journey Ongoing, A Step Closer perhaps, A Proper DAC for Hi-Rez Files

While BT is definitely a good and handy streaming method, my curiosity led me to explore more options. During the search, I have come across so many new and really hard to understand technical terms which prove to be very difficult for me to comprehend. All I know is that I would need a DAC that can handle high bits, up to 32bit/384ks for PCM or 1 bit with 512 times oversampling for DSD. But what these numbers stand for I as a civil engineer  really don't get; I have to bow to the electronic engineer! Of course the DAC should preferably have a decent quality USB input with low jitter noise. Another thing that I don't fully get is the "clock". With so many different protocols on how it works, it's definitely proven too much for an old man like me. The higher the numbers the better? I was trained to be skeptical that it could well be a gimmick to make HiFi users pump in more cash to upgrade to ever improving digital equipment. The biggest question to me is that I always believe in KISS [Keep it Simple, Stupid] and have been a fervent less-is-more practitioner. So, is this one of the biggest scams of the audio industry, a most lucrative market waiting for innocent sheeps like I to fall into the trap? Before, 4x O/S was the most I would need and NOS has been my preferred DAC mode...

Gone are the Benchmark DAC1 and iFi Zen Blue thanks to the active 2nd market in Review33, a well known audio forum in HK for trading 2nd hand gears. Those 2 pieces of equipment proved not to be my taste unfortunately. While I was happily waiting for my new NOS Lite DAC AH to arrive, something happened, as Forest Gump had said, "Life is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you going to get!" While regularly searching on Review33 for anything new in the DAC and CAS categories, usually nothing much would register. One day (there is always that "One Day"), something caught my eye, an Auralic Vega DAC (original version, not G1 or G2) on sale at an unbelievable price (MSRP of $3500USD). However, the USB does not work and the seller was selling as is. I knew it would be gone real soon. Immediately I made some inquiries and at the same time began extensive research on the internet to find out more about this once reference DAC for many HiFi reviewers and users. I do have reservations, since I am not a high-bit believer and it really violates my general "beliefs". And then there were some less favorable comments from some of my knowledgeable HiFi friends. Also, this DAC had been around for 7 years and was replaced by the what the factory claimed to be far superior G1 and the even better G2. Given the ultra fast pace of advancement of the CAS technology, is it obsolete? There were so many odds that I had to consider. I remember Vega when it was first released. I had read a rave review from 6 Moons, which compared it favorably to the Metrum's Hex, while portraying their difference as Starred Michelin Restaurant (Vega) vs hearty and delicious meal at home (Hex). Which one do I really like? If the food analogy is correct, Hex would be more to my taste. In reality I wanted for a little more guts from the Metrum Adagio that I had auditioned earlier, so perhaps the Vega would be a better fit? At the price, if I find it not to my taste, I can re-sell it in seconds. So I decided to take a plunge. Seller is a really nice Malaysian Chinese who, because of personal reasons and the recent social happenings in HK, has decided to move back to Kuala.Lumpur. Since I was the first one to approach him and have shown the most interest, he gave me 24 hours to make the decision. Cut the long story short, I bought the DAC and become friend with the seller (C) and he actually took my recommendation to buy a pair of GAC4 I.C. from Gotham and it replaced the PAD he has been using with immediate good results.

Auralic Vega , My Cup of Coffee?

The way I approached this DAC in the beginning was very simple, I even thought about getting the contact of the second-in-line who approached C after me, Well, I have heard and read enough to "predict" that this DAC would not be to my taste. Too sterile, over-analyzing things, unnatural and inorganic. Well, I always want to hear for myself. at least while I can still hear up to 13500Hz~

CD Playback To start, I hooked it up to my Sparkler CDP as a DAC and A/B'ed with or without Vega. Gotham GAC4 was used as I.C. and Mogami was used as Digital cable. The Vega allows you to change Clock Accuracy and Filters. Initially, the DAC will set the clock as Auto and after an hour's run in, you can adjust it to Coarse, Fine or Exact. Coarse mode means you can feed it anything, even material with a lot of jitter. Fine and Exact mode will stutter from time to time if signal is noisy , but yields better Sound Quality (SQ). When I played Youtube through my Laptop without proper run in, it really stuttered. However, there was never a glitch with my Sparkler, even using Exact mode when the DAC is ice cold. As for Filter modes, 1 is for Orchestral music, 2 is best performance but only good for measurements only, 3 is for Jazz and Piano while 4 is for best overall. I found out that Mode 3 suits me best with enough punchiness and pace to sound lively. After extensive listening, I found out both CDP alone and with the DAC are very close in terms of performance. Sometimes I would prefer Sparkler to Vega, but Vega has the better resolution and instrumental separation which allows one to hear deeper into the music, though in terms of excitement the Vega is slightly behind Sparkler.

USB Vega does provide a USB connection and, though C said it was not working, I decided to give it a try. With my office laptop running through Windows, I downloaded the Auralic driver to my laptop and connected it to a Black Cat USB cable which was gathering dust in the cabinet. Connection was easy and swift to my pleasant surprise. On the DAC, it registered 44.1ks but the sound coming out was lacking in highs and dynamics, and soundstage crumpled. Playing through Tidal improved things a bit but it was yet far from the best. Compared to H10U, my reliable BT Receiver, I would prefer the H10U. My initial guess is I need a proper streamer to make things work out and I began to hunt for a streamer on the market [2].

Laptop Upsampling I keep thinking if I had missed anything in the setup. I search through the tedious sound setting in the Laptop and finally got to the performance column and it allowed me to push up the bit/sampling rate! from 16 to 24 bits and 44.1 to 384 kHz! I maxed it out and started playing again. With the change, I heard a major upgrade in SQ across the spectrum. The level of details and information, the ultra quiet background allowed me to hear more deeply into the music, and instrumental separation, staging and extended highs were all present. The sound did not sound even a tad clinical, but very transparent and natural, in a cooler manner which was not unwelcoming though resolution is not of top notch, as expected. However, the transients and PRaT are still slightly behind Sparkler alone. Judging from the performance, it had bettered the H10U hands down. But that should be the case, given the huge price difference! But H10U can hold its head up high! [3]

Tweaks Approaching the end of the week , I also picked up a power cord for my Vega to replace the cheapo cord. After a few days, it did sees some improvement, but nothing too dramatic. Then yesterday, on a whim, I put the cheap Taobao bought "Finite Element" look-alike device under my Laptop; they were just lying around unused, no harm giving it a try. To my utmost surprise again (I was surprised time and time again this week), the sound took a big leap. I streamed a lot of Cantopop (singers like George Lam, Lowell Lo and Danny Summer) through Tidal. The result was so musical, yet detailed; I could hear, in every instrument, every note played with different touch; the singing technique was laid out with ease; not a bit mechanical and with lots of emotion, heart and soul. All the songs that I play frequently in my Tidal playlist yielded the same results. I could fully immersed myself in the world of the musicians playing great music! I was often forced to focus on the music while doing something else!

Back to CD performance of Vega. To test, I mainly revert to the Sampler CD from Manger, which I think is the most musical, dynamic, natural disc; I can enjoy the music content while ticking all HiFi boxes [4]. I liked both with or without DAC to be honest, now that the Vega had picked up a lot more PRaT, probably due to the power cord? Vega has more authority and weight: the instruments have more body and speed; attack is 90% of Sparkler but the slower passages are simply superior, enhanced by the abundance of details. Summing up, it has speed, attack, authority and control. The Sparkler's take no prisoner approach generates oodles of excitement but falls behind Vega in slower passages. I can easily live with both settings. So I'll call it a near-tie, with the Sparkler retaining a slight edge over Vega, just that slightest edge. Sparkler is definitely no slouch at all!

Verdict

After a week of listening and letting the DAC settle down to my system, I would say this DAC is a keeper, maybe until the day I can afford the Vega G2, Cee's Sonnet, red hot Denafrip Terminator, Totaldac or Rockna's Wavelength? But would I even bother to spend more than 5 to 8 times to get 20 to 30% improvement?

SQ improvement on my computer streaming using USB  is totally out of my expectation. You Tube playback definitely benefits from upsampling and the result is more harmonics, details and extension while being quite musical. Tidal music upsampled to 384ks is highly satisfying most of the time as well. However, (quoted from internet source) "AURALiC introduces several cutting-edge technology for VEGA: Megahertz upsampling algorithm up-samples all PCM music to 1.5MHz in 32bit.".

While some say this DAC musically does not connect, I am of the opinion that this DAC is neither colored nor clinical, but more of what-you-see-is-what-you-get unit; it may just as well be a problem elsewhere in the system and the Vega reflects it honestly! Well, I will keep listening more to double confirm my impression.

Which makes me wonder if I ever need to buy a proper Streamer to further eliminate the noise and jitter? But who knows, at least I'm totally happy right now with the overall performance coming out from my current system! Wait, I still haven't put any spikes under my DAC yet!

That said, my friend who carries British brands and Portuguese made Innous, will lend me a discontinued demo streamer Zen Mini Mkii for trial. Why not I said, I'm always open to anything new and am excited about the proposition! It'd also be interesting to compare the SQ of ripped files to the original CDs.

SQ of CD is still highly respectable despite its humble 44.1 format. I do not see I would abandon this format in the near future.

Which is the happier news, being able to hear close to 14000Hz or the positive result of streaming? I cannot tell but will gleefully accept both results. Until then, adios~~

P.S. I did not forget about the Lite DAC, I will lend it to my friend first and see how it fares in his system. I 'll then bring it back to have a face-off with the Vega later on. Right now, I would not hurry; given the sheer enjoyment my current setup is giving me, I'm a step closer to HiFi Nirvana!!

Editor's Footnotes: 1) I have always meant to write about this, but Eric beat me to it! :-) Well, not quite. The medical auditory test, which I went through as recently as 3+ years ago, is absolutely fascinating. It is conducted in a heavily damped room, as in a recording studio, possibly anechoic. The subject is alone in the isolated chamber, with the technicians in a booth, and asked to wear a headphone, and to press the button every time he hears a note. Now, the notes are delivered random in pitch (not a sweep; no predictability) and vary in loudness, from audible to barely audible. Sometimes it is almost like a tactile thing, even if barely audible. My former student (who is actually also an audiophile), who conducted the test, told me he was amazed, as I scored in the 95th percentile for my age. Now, the catch. The test is only for speech frequency, up to only 8-9k Hz! So I cannot claim golden ear! Now, let's go into the medical aspect of this. A sudden hearing lost can be a harbinger of disaster. I didn't learn this in medical school, but from an audiophile!!! Many years ago, in HK, I had an audiophile friend whose moniker was blanka (a very nice fellow). He suddenly lost his hearing one day, went to the general doctor, who gave him some pills and, when he did not improve, consulted an ENT specialist, who told him it was too late. See, usually, this has a prodrome, or is an aftermath of a viral infection. But, if you don't get to the specialist within a 48-hour window and take high-dose steroid for a month, you are at risk of losing your hearing. My episode was not related, but a year later I saved my wife, who had problem with one ear after mild flu symptoms. Testing showed she suffered severe hearing loss, and the steroid therapy saved her! Back to my friend blanka, he is still listening to music and enjoying audio with just one ear! NOW, back to the Eric test, I don't think we need to take it too seriously. Perception of musical values is a notoriously complicated thing and cannot be laid down to simple and rigid parameters. Also, we accept a +/- x db loss in normal audio use, and a reasonably loud level (speech level) to be tested at. So, if you ask me, better use this test with an earphone in a quiet environment, and your device, with a cheapo "full-range" driver, most likely may not have the frequency demanded (better USB out to a DAC). For myself, I just listened to it and could not hear beyond 11kHz on the laptop, but through my LS3/5A I could hear to 12.5k! I'd like some feedbacks from regulars. In any case, I am not sure high frequency is the most important aspect in hearing; 2) This is a somewhat implausible scenario. The Vega is noted for its USB input. Eric's initial finding is at total odds with all the reviews. As much as I don't care about those, I'd not think they are totally off. My humble Micromega MyDAC does very well by USB, and it is simply hard to believe that such a statement product does not; 3) This is even crazier! Any signal into the Vega gets upsampled to to 32/1.5M. As it is now, some upsampling is done at the laptop (Eric and I back and forth'ed many times on this; he thinks it is the Auralic Driver that upsamples, but it looks like the laptop to me; see pic below). But the Vega will further upsample to 32/1.5M anyway. The implication is the partial computer software upsampling somehow improves the sound, and that the Vega likely handles data with higher bit rates and oversampling better than redbook 44.1/16 (but then CD sounds fine to Eric). This despite the Vega using a costly oversampling in order to bypass the oversampling of the Sabre chip. Eric's finding can be further tested by losslessly ripping a CD, then compare its playback with or without computer upsampling to 24/384. This brings also the question of whether BT will sound better if oversampled. Unfortunately I cannot conduct the experiment, as my current cheapo chromebook and Windows 10 Home do not have the option in Sound Settings (My Micromega MyDAC is only 24/192); 4) The Manger CD is also a personal quick-test favorite; I use only a few tracks (don't like derivative Livingston Taylor tracks, and there are too many jazzy tracks).