Simaudio Moon 100D
- Thread starter Bigerik
- Start date
I swapped some stuff for mine, so I can't say exactly what I paid. Last time I checked they were right around $600. And worth every penny of it!
crisco
Member
Hi guys.
After wading through the crowded waters of sub $1000 DACs, I decided to (hopefully) put an end to my confusion as I just this week joined the Simaudio Moon 100D DAC club.
I'm looking forward to building a reasonable computer based front end around it. I've been busy this week so I have only listened to it briefly for less than a total of 1 hour. So far so good. Just wondering what each of your experiences with 'burn-in' as suggested by Simaudio were? Did you notice any change to the sound as you accumulated hours of playback?
thanks!
After wading through the crowded waters of sub $1000 DACs, I decided to (hopefully) put an end to my confusion as I just this week joined the Simaudio Moon 100D DAC club.
I'm looking forward to building a reasonable computer based front end around it. I've been busy this week so I have only listened to it briefly for less than a total of 1 hour. So far so good. Just wondering what each of your experiences with 'burn-in' as suggested by Simaudio were? Did you notice any change to the sound as you accumulated hours of playback?
thanks!
slippers-on
Music...let it move you!
I don't have that DAC...but do have a question if you could be so kind. What are those speakers like? I know they are German made but never mheard a pair. they sure are nice looking and have that typical German fit and finish.
crisco
Member
Well, i really do like my asw's. The fit and finish are excellent. A very solid speaker. Most importantly i feel they sound just right. The frequency curve is very flat, and the impedence curve is extremely flat as well, even though it hovers just beween 4-5 ohms throughout most of the range. This, along with its 91db efficiency makes it fairly easy to drive and tube friendly. The 504's reproduce bass very accurately. They disappear well for a large floorstander. No toe in needed. I am really enjoying them. Thanks for asking. They are not too common this side of the pond.
Cheers
slippers-on
Music...let it move you!
Cool...I have a German speaker as well....Canton Vento's...they also need no toe in and disappear well...and not to common, so I know what you mean.
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Lots of great speakers from Germany that just aren't popular here. I've heard some great music through Elacs. Very interesting, very German approach to speaker design.
BTW, congrats on the 100D. Really a VERY nice sounding DAC.
crisco
Member
Those Vento's look beautiful. Do they really go down to 27 hz? That is impressive for a standmount speaker!
crisco
Member
Thanks! Im looking forward to getting to know it over the coming days and weeks.
My next step will be to add some sort of usb/spdif interface, a better laptop as what im using presently is low on ram and is 10 yrs old.
slippers-on
Music...let it move you!
Thanks...Don't know if they do but they can go deep for a stand mount speaker. I have no problem in the bottom whatsoever. They probably measured 1 feet in front of a mike.
crisco
Member
Update: Since last Friday, I've had the DAC hooked up to my laptop feeding it a steady stream of WAV files for nearly 100 hrs continously.
Had a friend drop by on Sunday evening for a "test" session after about 50 hours of burn in. He brought over his netbook with JRiver and a Bladelius DAC (USB) along with his interconnects (including an Audioquest Forest USB cable). My system consisted of my Creek Evo CDP feeding my amp etc through some Ultimate cables RCA interconnects (line 1), my 10 year old Dell Inspiron running Windows Media Player, a cheap USB cable that I found in my basement storage, the SimAudio 100D, and some Radio Shack RCA interconnects (line 2), and finally my friend's netbook setup into line 3.
We used the same tracks and staggered them by 30 seconds each, so we could toggle between lines 1, 2 and 3 every 30 seconds - which basically allowed us to hear the same passage of music through each of the sources in succession - being careful to make slight adjustments for level differences.
To make a long story short, all three sources were fairly close. All 3 were virtually identical in terms of soundstaging, imaging, detail retrieval and bass resolution. While I could gladly live with any of the 3, I'd give the edge to my friend's setup which tended to have the most air around voices and intruments, followed closely by my CD player, and the Sim DAC. But of course, I was placing the latter at a great disadvantage with the setup (Window Media Player / lousy cabling). In fact, we briefly swapped out my generic USB cable for the Audioquest and it made a discernable improvement. I think the addition of a newer laptop, better media player (e.g., JRiver), decent cables, and importantly, an SPDIF/USB interface will elevate the Simaudio 100D to excellent levels - all these little things might add together for a very meaningful result. Furthermore, the DAC had about 50 hours of burn in at the time of our little test session. Hopefully the sound will continue to settle in as the hours accumulate on the unit.
I was somewhat skeptical of the whole burn in process. But I noted a considerable improvement in bass resolution from 0-50 hrs of burn in, for what it's worth. That's not my ears adjusting, since I didn't listen to the unit between 1 hour and 50 hours of burn in. The difference was very noticeable as I was able to compare identical tracks played through my CD player vs the Simaudio.
Taken together, I'm very satisfied with the DAC and look forward to adding to its capabilities in the coming weeks - I thnk I'll really like this unit.
Had a friend drop by on Sunday evening for a "test" session after about 50 hours of burn in. He brought over his netbook with JRiver and a Bladelius DAC (USB) along with his interconnects (including an Audioquest Forest USB cable). My system consisted of my Creek Evo CDP feeding my amp etc through some Ultimate cables RCA interconnects (line 1), my 10 year old Dell Inspiron running Windows Media Player, a cheap USB cable that I found in my basement storage, the SimAudio 100D, and some Radio Shack RCA interconnects (line 2), and finally my friend's netbook setup into line 3.
We used the same tracks and staggered them by 30 seconds each, so we could toggle between lines 1, 2 and 3 every 30 seconds - which basically allowed us to hear the same passage of music through each of the sources in succession - being careful to make slight adjustments for level differences.
To make a long story short, all three sources were fairly close. All 3 were virtually identical in terms of soundstaging, imaging, detail retrieval and bass resolution. While I could gladly live with any of the 3, I'd give the edge to my friend's setup which tended to have the most air around voices and intruments, followed closely by my CD player, and the Sim DAC. But of course, I was placing the latter at a great disadvantage with the setup (Window Media Player / lousy cabling). In fact, we briefly swapped out my generic USB cable for the Audioquest and it made a discernable improvement. I think the addition of a newer laptop, better media player (e.g., JRiver), decent cables, and importantly, an SPDIF/USB interface will elevate the Simaudio 100D to excellent levels - all these little things might add together for a very meaningful result. Furthermore, the DAC had about 50 hours of burn in at the time of our little test session. Hopefully the sound will continue to settle in as the hours accumulate on the unit.
I was somewhat skeptical of the whole burn in process. But I noted a considerable improvement in bass resolution from 0-50 hrs of burn in, for what it's worth. That's not my ears adjusting, since I didn't listen to the unit between 1 hour and 50 hours of burn in. The difference was very noticeable as I was able to compare identical tracks played through my CD player vs the Simaudio.
Taken together, I'm very satisfied with the DAC and look forward to adding to its capabilities in the coming weeks - I thnk I'll really like this unit.
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MWalt
Super Member
If it was worth it at $600, it's even more worth it now...:thmbsp:
Thanks for the responses. I'm trying to decide between this unit and the Bitfrost.
MWalt
Super Member
I haven't heard the Bitfrost, but it does have a good rep. Is there any way you can demo them before you decide?
Unfortunately, I don't think so. I suppose I could always resell whichever one I picked for close to what I payed if I didn't like it.
The 100D sounded a little brittle for awhile, but it has come around very nicely in a very short time. I'm also breaking in Tekton Lore Reference at the same time, so it's difficult to sort out. I'm also auditioning the Beatles in mono CD box set while everything else is cooking, so that's been fun. Everything is really starting to work together. I just couldn't seem to relax with my Maggie MG12's because of the brightness, but the Tektons and the Moon seem to be gettin' it together. I'm a happy man!
