I got back from a very busy weekend in San Francisco, where the main thrust was our yearly meeting to discuss Tape Project business. Luckily part of that business was done at Paul Stubblebine's mastering lab, and since he has a couple of Pacific Microsonics Model 2 a/d d/a converters there it seemed like a great opportunity to compare the Bottlehead DAC with that gold standard for DACs.
Model 2s were discontinued when the very rare transistors used in them went out of production. They are highly sought after in the industry for their amazing resolution and tube-like musicality, and these days one typically fetches around $16-$17K. So the BDAC had it's work cut out for it.
The situation was not optimal because the BDAC only got an hour or so to warm up and stabilize before we started the A/B. It seems to open up quite a bit more if left on overnight. Even so it did not embarass itself in the presence of the 10X more expensive Model 2. I gave a nod to the Model 2 for a little higher resolution and a little more relaxed sound. I thought the BDAC did maybe a little better job on the bottom end definition - particularly after we figured out the Bag End subs were not running with the Meyer Sound HD-1 monitors and switched them in. FWIW Paul had to push a lot fewer buttons (none) to set the sample rate on the BDAC.
At some point I realized that I had set the power switch on our protoype battery supply to run both the wall wart and the battery together. When I switched the wall wart off so the BDAC was strictly on battery power the gap closed up quite a bit, with the top end of the BDAC getting smoother and less compressed sounding. That matches my experience in my reference system.
I was also relieved to find that the $1550 BDAC easily outdid an Apogee MiniDAC in Paul's home system. Let's hope so!
Of course you have to take my opinions with a grain of salt since I am so heavily invested in the product. Paul, on the other hand, has at least a couple Model 2s that he uses constantly in his work system. He can and will buy what he feels is the best tool for the job at hand. I was happy to learn that he ordered two BDACs for his home systems.
