Article: Auralic Vega Digital Audio Processor Review

[The Computer Audiophile]

You can view the page at http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content.php?r=531-Auralic-Vega-Digital-Audio-Processor-Review

[Savage]

Hey, look...there is still a CASH list...poke poke

[dummy]

Hey Chris,

 

Are you sure about Björk's Biophilia 24/96 in your playlist? HDtracks says it is 24/44.1 ... I never bought it because I wasn't sure If It was really genuine and read here some tracks had some problems when It came out.

 

Just curious to know If its 24/96 or 24/44.1.

 

Thanks!

[christopher3393]

Thanks for the review, Chris. Clearly sounds like the best dac I can (barely) afford! I am still left wondering about the volume control on the Vega, particularly regarding possible sound quality degradation when playing music at low listening levels. Probably a minor concern for most, but I often listen at low levels with a near-field set-up. Different reviewers have presented what appear to be conflicting opinions regarding the need for an analog - or some very high quality- volume control for best performance at low volume levels when using the Vega. One extra difficulty for me is that the preamps used for these reviews are often reference quality and so very expensive. So I'm still wondering how necessary a preamp is going to be for me, and if it is, if I can find a reasonably priced one to do the job. While auditioning the Vega would be great, the wait is 3-4 months last time I checked. I hope this review will stimulate some responses regarding optimal performance volume control from members with experience with the Vega.

[ejn1]

Thanks for the review, Chris. Clearly sounds like the best dac I can (barely) afford! I am still left wondering about the volume control on the Vega, particularly regarding possible sound quality degradation when playing music at low listening levels. Probably a minor concern for most, but I often listen at low levels with a near-field set-up. Different reviewers have presented what appear to be conflicting opinions regarding the need for an analog - or some very high quality- volume control for best performance at low volume levels when using the Vega. One extra difficulty for me is that the preamps used for these reviews are often reference quality and so very expensive. So I'm still wondering how necessary a preamp is going to be for me, and if it is, if I can find a reasonably priced one to do the job. While auditioning the Vega would be great, the wait is 3-4 months last time I checked. I hope this review will stimulate some responses regarding optimal performance volume control from members with experience with the Vega.

Christopher, well said and I'm in the same boat albeit not a near field setup with such low listening levels. Fingers crossed mine arrives next week and i will try it out as a pre for several weeks and make a call... It's my dealers personal dac and he swears the performance is so close that its not worth the extra complexity and cabling to introduce a separate pre unless you already have a Class A pre... and this is coming from someone more than happy to sell me another piece of equipment

[untangle]

Great review with the most cogent argument that I know of for "why I should want DSD capability in my DAC."

 

Add measurements (gasp) and your reviews would be the best in the business.

 

Truly outstanding.

 

Bob

[Vangelis]

Chris, I noticed that you were using single ended interconnects to your preamp. The Vega has balanced outputs and I've always been under the impression that Spectal was optimized for balanced use. Did you try it via its balanced outs? The Vega's voltage outputs showed the numbers for both balanced and single ended which suggests it may not be fully balanced. I would appreciate your thoughts on this.

[ejn1]

Chris, I noticed that you were using single ended interconnects to your preamp. The Vega has balanced outputs and I've always been under the impression that Spectal was optimized for balanced use. Did you try it via its balanced outs? The Vega's voltage outputs showed the numbers for both balanced and single ended which suggests it may not be fully balanced. I would appreciate your thoughts on this.

I specifically asked the Auralic owner and he emailed me that it was a fully balanced designed.

[dallasjustice]

The output impedance is 4.7 ohms over xlr and 50 ohms single ended. It looks like the vega wouldn't sweat driving even the spectral amps which are better over single ended. There's no info available except thru ess concerning possible volume dithering scheme. Seems like this DAC was specifically designed to drive amps without a preamp. Without more info about the volume control, I guess it's just guesswork to say the vega would sound better without the analog volume control interposer.

[pwhinson]

Great review. One question: is there U.S. based service (warranty service or otherwise) available on the Vega?

[labjr]

I asked the question about USA dealers in the other thread. Would be nice to know you'll be able to have your equipment serviced or upgraded years from now.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Guys - Thanks for the kind words.

 

Bob - Measurements are expensive. I'd love to include them. :~(

 

 

 

I'll try to address some questions.

 

 

 

Hey Chris,

 

Are you sure about Björk's Biophilia 24/96 in your playlist? HDtracks says it is 24/44.1 ... I never bought it because I wasn't sure If It was really genuine and read here some tracks had some problems when It came out.

 

Just curious to know If its 24/96 or 24/44.1.

 

Thanks!

 

The track Cosmogony is 44.1 but all my other tracks say 24/96.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris, I noticed that you were using single ended interconnects to your preamp. The Vega has balanced outputs and I've always been under the impression that Spectal was optimized for balanced use. Did you try it via its balanced outs? The Vega's voltage outputs showed the numbers for both balanced and single ended which suggests it may not be fully balanced. I would appreciate your thoughts on this.

 

Your impression of Spectral being optimized for balanced connections is the exact opposite of reality. Spectral doesn't offer a balanced preamp currently. The factory strongly recommends single ended use between all components even though my DMA-260 is balanced.

 

 

 

 

 

Great review. One question: is there U.S. based service (warranty service or otherwise) available on the Vega?

 

I will try to find the answer to this important question.

[elcorso]

Hi Cris,

 

Nice and detailed review.

 

My only complain is: 'Windows only' review?

 

Thanks,

 

Roch

[ted_b]

Great review, Chris.

 

In my eval of the Vega I was not smitten with the internal volume control (I haven't been since my Antelope Gold) so I continue to listen via my Concert Fidelity CF-080 single ended preamp. A great dac, especially with a clean USB signal path and Exact Femto setting.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Cris,

 

Nice and detailed review.

 

My only complain is: 'Windows only' review?

 

Thanks,

 

Roch

I also used the Aurender W20. It runs Linux :~)

[phaeton]

Thanks for this detailed and effective review. I'm a Vega owner since a couple of months, and I can find in your review a lot of what I hear daily.

 

Usually I use the Vega with my Stax combo (323S+507) during the week, and then on the w.e. with my setup (Spectral 30SL G2 + Pass X150.5 + Amphion Xenon II).

 

I've tried going directly to the Pass via an XLR cable, and found no really big differencies with the Spectral (RCA from the Vega, XLR to the Pass) with the volume level I usually listen to (something around 65-70 on the Vega display). Please note I've set my Pass to 30db instead of the factory default 26db, and my loudpseakers are something about 86db/w on sensibility.

 

Down to 50-60, music remains very enjoyable, even if some differencies with the Spectral start to come out, mainly in terms of liveliness. Going down further, say to 30, sound seems to "collapse" in terms of dynamics, but then you are at a very very very low listening level (at least with my setup).

 

I think this is an incredible DAC for the price. I have done direct comparisons with some other well respected (and much higher priced) dacs and even if there were some differencies in terms of sound, by no means the Vega has been badly defeated.

[pwhinson]

I will have an opportunity to listen to this unit soon here in Atlanta. At present I run my Bryston BDA-1 dac (which doesn't have a volume control) through an Aesthetix calypso linestage/preamp. Forgive me if this is a newbie question but what does one do when you have a unit like this with its own volume control if you want to continue to control volume with and run the analog output through the Calypso? Do you just set the volume control on the Vega at an arbitrary level? Is there a unity gain setting on these and similar units? If so do I just get a big "0" on the volume control reading on huge display on the Vega? I'm very glad by the way that this unit displays the current sampling rate in a format hopefully large enough for even me to read (wish it were as large as the volume control display, or better yet the volume display could have been configured so that when you're adjusting the volume, the display shows the current volume setting, but when the volume remains at its setting for more than a few seconds, the large volume display could have reverted to show the sampling rate; perhaps impossible I don't know but with my eyesight deteriorating further as the years go by I could easily get used to that large display.

[phaeton]

just leave the Vega at max, i.e. 100 on the volume scale, and then adjust the volume on the Calypso.

[ejn1]

Thanks for this detailed and effective review. I'm a Vega owner since a couple of months, and I can find in your review a lot of what I hear daily.

 

Usually I use the Vega with my Stax combo (323S+507) during the week, and then on the w.e. with my setup (Spectral 30SL G2 + Pass X150.5 + Amphion Xenon II).

 

I've tried going directly to the Pass via an XLR cable, and found no really big differencies with the Spectral (RCA from the Vega, XLR to the Pass) with the volume level I usually listen to (something around 65-70 on the Vega display). Please note I've set my Pass to 30db instead of the factory default 26db, and my loudpseakers are something about 86db/w on sensibility.

 

Down to 50-60, music remains very enjoyable, even if some differencies with the Spectral start to come out, mainly in terms of liveliness. Going down further, say to 30, sound seems to "collapse" in terms of dynamics, but then you are at a very very very low listening level (at least with my setup).

 

I think this is an incredible DAC for the price. I have done direct comparisons with some other well respected (and much higher priced) dacs and even if there were some differencies in terms of sound, by no means the Vega has been badly defeated.

Very useful information. Thanks. I have a Bryston amp that i have via XLR. It has a 2 switch setting of either balanced (guess its no db boost) or +6 db balanced... I keep the former setting now so the volume dial pushes higher and it keeps the noise floor lower on the amp. My suspicion is that this will put me in the 60-100 range of normal listening with the Vega connected....

[phaeton]

.............. My suspicion is that this will put me in the 60-100 range of normal listening with the Vega connected....

 

in that case you'll be just fine with the Vega directly driving your amp, at least this is what it's happening in my setup....

[Johnny Moondog]

I also used the Aurender W20.

Will we be seeing a review of the Aurender W20 anytime soon? Haven't found anything anywhere yet...

[The Computer Audiophile]

Will we be seeing a review of the Aurender W20 anytime soon? Haven't found anything anywhere yet...

Oh yes.

[michael123]

thanks for the review!

There is an emphasis in couple of places that this is the best DAC for under 3500$.. which means that..

Why? What are the less strong sides of this DAC.. comparing to dCS Debussy, for example?

[ejn1]

thanks for the review!

There is an emphasis in couple of places that this is the best DAC for under 3500$.. which means that..

Why? What are the less strong sides of this DAC.. comparing to dCS Debussy, for example?

I noticed the same point.... I have heard that this DAC punches well above its weight making it also a great value but this didn't seem to come out in the review.

[pwhinson]

My apologies if someone has answered this question in some other thread or maybe I'm overlooking it but do they have U.S. based repair/warranty service somewhere? I've since read a review in another magazine - probably online - in which the review sample had to be repaired or replaced via a "quick return trip" to Hong Kong. All I see on the Auralic website is a non-functioning(?) link to a list of US dealers. If the Vega is as good as I imagine it is, with this feature set, I am definitely interested.