Ontic Oren

Once I get started, it’s hard to stop. After picking up the NHT, I of course had to look around on the internet some more, and opened my eyes up to the world of DACs. (head-fi.org is pure evil. If you value your wallet, do not visit.) Not content to wonder, I ordered two DACs. One was almost the same price as the NHT PVC, the other twice as expensive.

NHT PVC PC

What: A passive volume control. Simply attenuates whatever is fed into it. In home computer use, the claim is keeping your computer audio at maximum, and then using this analog controller provides better audio quality. Includes ground loop eliminator.

Connections: RCA in and out. Hook up to monitors only. No power. No headphone.

Aural: Compared with direct, it’s honestly hard to say. In my case, the ground loop noise was BAD without this. With, it’s clean and nice. I’ll call this baseline, but I honestly don’t know if it sounds better barring the ground loop noise.

Purchase: ListenUp.com. $179 delivered.

Fubar III

What: A small little integrated USB DAC and amp. Front features a big smooth pot, headphone jack, and two LEDs. Bottom blue led is power. Top led indicates active audio source. Green when active. Red when unplugged or computer is sleeping. The bottom blue one is so bright it’s distracting. 2-3x brighter than the green/red one. At eye level, it’s almost blinding. Off-axis, it’s just damn annoying. It’s always on.

Connections: USB to computer for DAC. Just plug in, and the mac automatically routes audio out to it. Truly PnP. Provides line-level ouputs as well as headphone jack. Headphone and line-out are active at same time, i.e. plugging in headphones does NOT turn off line-out audio. I left speakers always plugged in, but turned off when not in use. Unplugged headphones when not in use. 12V DC. Includes cheapo wall wart. Offers upgrade for another $100. Didn’t purchase upgrade.

Aural: A clear step up from the PVC PC and iMac. Enhanced, broader and clearer imaging. Better overall definition across the range. Slightly less boomy sounding on the NHT M-00 (though it’s still there, and annoying me more and more). Getting into serious audio realm. Check out this great review of the NHT/Fubar combo for more details. He does a better job than I, so I’ll leave it to him.

Other: Every 20 min, I’m getting audio drop out and stutter for 1 second. Annoying, and not sure what’s causing it yet.

Purchase: Audiophile Products. $238.97 delivered to California. Although in Canada, cheapest shipping took exactly 1 week door to door. Between this and the PVC, it’s a NO brainer. Dump the PVC, get the Fubar III instead.

Apogeee Duet

What: Firewire AD/DA. Targeted to musicians. Mac only. Level meters and big old knob on top. Build like a brick. Perfect fit in a mac environment from build and looks.

Connections: XLR mic input, 1/4″ instrument input, 1/4″ monitor out, 1/4″ headphone jack. The 1/4″ monitor is running straight into my NHTs. First, I set the levels from a test signal to 94db (84db with -10db test signal) on both the duet and the Fubar. Since the NHT have both 1/4″ and RCA in, I was able to leave both DAC hooked up, and switch in the Sound control panel back and forth.

Aural: I A/B’d this with the Fubar for about 6 hours of listning. Music included:

• Joshua Judges Ruth by Lyle Lovett
• Speakerboxxx / The Love Below by Outkast
• Don’t Mess With The Dragon by Ozomatli
• O by Damien Rice

plus a smattering of Paul Simon, Imogen Heap, AC/DC, and Vampire Weekend.

Compared with the step from the PVC to the Fubar, the difference between the Fubar and the Duet is relatively small. The first thing I noticed is an unveiling (sorry Tara, not quite an unleashing) of the music. A layer of gauze has been removed: the soundstage is broader, the layers of the music clearer, the tone more balanced. There’s a sense of space that emerges in the Duet that is totally missing from the Fubar. Interestingly, the Duet is less sibilant than the Fubar. I can’t tell which is more “accurate”, but I am preferring the Duet.

Unlike the PVC/Fubar comparison, which it instantly recognizable as better, the Duet requires more careful listening to appreciate. Further, I’m very aware of the price bias I have. My wife and I setup a little ABX test, and we both could actually tell the difference. In her words, “the duet sounds clearer”, which is just about the perfect description.

Other: Apogee has done a great job integrating this into the Mac. The volume control is unified - changing the system volume with the keyboard is the same as turning the wheel. Turning the wheel displays the volume on screen. It feels like a part of the normal flow.

The Duet is actually designed for input - instruments, mics, etc. I am NOT the target audience here. I’m hoping to use it for some podcasting work moving forward as well, but frankly that’s just icing on the cake.

Purchase: Sweetwater. $495 delivered.

What am I keeping?

The Apogee Duet. It sounds better. It’s integrated. It doesn’t skip every now and then. It has input, which I can at least pretend I’ll be using at some point. Plus, it looks damn good on the desk, and doesn’t have those insanely bright LEDs. The Fubar is sitting in full on sun right now, and the blue LED is STILL too bright.

For those headphones users - I compared the Fubar and Duet with my Sennheiser 580 for an hour or so as well. I couldn’t balance the levels very easily and thus can’t really tell to accuratly. I’d say the Duet sound better, same comments as above. Perhaps better bass and cleaner power delivery.