OK, finally received the long awaited Holly Grail DAC (arguably the best bang for the buck currently on the DAC market). Many people from many walks of life are gushing about Caiman, so I had to give it a try.
First impressions: right out of the box, sounded bigger than anything I've heard so far. There's just more of everything, but in particular, definitely loads more of bass. The first song I played was "A Whiter Shade of Pale" from Annie Lennox's CD "Medusa". Sounded breathtaking. What used to be just a dull slap of a synthesized bass has now been transformed into a warm, melted chocolate full bodied bass. In addition, there's just so much more information revealed on that track. Sounds I've never heard before started emerging. Vocals and background voices became crystal clear. It was as if someone had drawn a thick curtain away from the soundstage. Amazing clarity. Next song: "Waiting in Vain" (same album): nylon string guitar now sounds so much more intricate. I can hear those micro nuances that only an experienced guitar player can detect. Pure delight! Plus, there's so much more bass on here, deep bass notes I've never heard before. And yes, the background vocals are amazing, so clear and present. Next vocalist: Maria Bethania. Stunning. I can clearly hear her taking in each and every breath. And of course, that voice! By now, I'm forming an impression that adding this DAC pushed me over into the pure analog sounding territory. Everything sounds super warm, super sweet, silky and smooth. I then switched to Les Nubiens; again, amazing detail in female vocals (duet). But one thing grabbed my attention: the highs sounded a bit rolled off. Very, very soft, laid back. Hmmm. Moving on to James Brown: "Licking Stick". The opening guitar is to die for. It is as if someone is literally playing it in my living room. James's voice is so present. However, after a few minutes, my wife, who had been up until that moment very impressed, turned to me and said: "I'm going to tell you something blasphemous -- James now doesn't grab me the way he did through the old player!" Ouch! Paying a bit closer attention, I attribute this lack of bite to the very perceptibly rolled off highs. They just don't bite anymore. Highs are now very tame, without even a trace of harshness to them. Quickly verified that by listening to some other material replete with cymbals and other bells and whistles. Indeed, the highs are extremely tame now. The overall impression that the system now lacks any traces of digital harshness, glare and brittleness can probably be attributed to this pronounced roll off in highs. Consequently, although the sound is extremely warm and analog-like, it lacks the previously pronounced bite and slap and slam. In short, Caiman makes my system sound very, very polite. Not sure if that's what I'm necessarily interested in. I like my system to have balls and guts, even if at the expense of good manners. True, Caiman introduces much more control into the sound, and consequently makes everything sound much more effortless. And, indeed, there is way less fatiguing with this component. But I'm missing the aggressive bite, the impoliteness of the old kludgy DAC (the one that is built into the Squeezebox Duet player). One thing I know for sure: Maggies don't lie, and they are revealing to me the true nature of this component. Now, everyone claims that Caiman needs some serious burn in before it can be judged fairly. Maybe that's the case here as well. I left it on repeat, in the hopes that the burn in will eliminate this overly pronounced politeness in the playback. Is that really the case? Does anyone have similar experiences to share? What can I expect after several days of 24/7 burn in? Will the highs become less subdued, more pronounced? As it stands now, this DAC appears to be very bottom-heavy. Not sure if that's exactly what I'd like to live with in the long run. I need to hear the entire audible spectrum in all its shameless glory! -- magiccarpetride ------------------------------------------------------------------------ magiccarpetride's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=37863 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=78291 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
