AMR DP-777 (dual dac).... NEW SE version
- Thread starter bmichels
- Start date
Nice! Does it do DSD?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Audioseduction
Active member
...And is terrific out of the box.
Does is sound better then the Lumin built in DAC?
Mike,
No DSD. I ordered this unit a year ago and had not, at the time, really even heard of the Lumin. Avatar nicely lent me their demo unit while I waited. A one or two month delay for the SE turned into almost a year. It is very easy to A/B the units since I'm driving the 777 with the Lumin's BNC digital out. (And controlling both with the Lumin app... Like an Aries.) It's as easy as just flipping the inputs on my pre.
What really impressed me early on with the Lumin is that I could not tell the difference between the S1 and the original 777. I felt it would be good, but not the AMR's equal. The AMR was the best PCM player I had heard at the time. For that virtue alone, I knew the Lumin S1 was a keeper. The new 777SE only has an hour on it and I can't say it's better yet at PCM, but I think it has potential to have a little more body and maybe more air around instruments in the higher frequencies. It does have that special something now that I can't quite put my finger on.
The Lumin is staying for sure... I love everything about it. World class sound, simplicity, and it's stable operating system. I love the NAS approach. The Pixel Magic guys have their act together!
The AMR has a reputation of needing many hours to get the best out of it. As I just mentioned, It's as good at CD ripped PCM files as the Lumin fresh out of the box. I've not spent any time yet time listening to higher rez files for comparison. The AMR also has digital inputs for a transport if needed that the Lumin does not offer. I purchased a Black Cat BNC cable to connect the Lumin to the AMR.
I'd HIGHLY recommend the AMR for an under $10k dac. But many feel that way. AMR supposedly plans a DSD upgrade for the 777 at some time and based on their success with iFI, I'd bet it's good.
No DSD. I ordered this unit a year ago and had not, at the time, really even heard of the Lumin. Avatar nicely lent me their demo unit while I waited. A one or two month delay for the SE turned into almost a year. It is very easy to A/B the units since I'm driving the 777 with the Lumin's BNC digital out. (And controlling both with the Lumin app... Like an Aries.) It's as easy as just flipping the inputs on my pre.
What really impressed me early on with the Lumin is that I could not tell the difference between the S1 and the original 777. I felt it would be good, but not the AMR's equal. The AMR was the best PCM player I had heard at the time. For that virtue alone, I knew the Lumin S1 was a keeper. The new 777SE only has an hour on it and I can't say it's better yet at PCM, but I think it has potential to have a little more body and maybe more air around instruments in the higher frequencies. It does have that special something now that I can't quite put my finger on.
The Lumin is staying for sure... I love everything about it. World class sound, simplicity, and it's stable operating system. I love the NAS approach. The Pixel Magic guys have their act together!
The AMR has a reputation of needing many hours to get the best out of it. As I just mentioned, It's as good at CD ripped PCM files as the Lumin fresh out of the box. I've not spent any time yet time listening to higher rez files for comparison. The AMR also has digital inputs for a transport if needed that the Lumin does not offer. I purchased a Black Cat BNC cable to connect the Lumin to the AMR.
I'd HIGHLY recommend the AMR for an under $10k dac. But many feel that way. AMR supposedly plans a DSD upgrade for the 777 at some time and based on their success with iFI, I'd bet it's good.
Congrats! I plan on performing the SE upgrade on my CD-777 in the near future.
Zero, My experience with Avatar tells me they will take good care of you. I'd like to have that player... Good luck!
Loop4Fun - Thanks for taking the time to extrapolate your thoughts on the AMR and the Lumin. The fact that the Lumin competes evenly with the original AMR DAC in your system says a lot for the Lumin. AMR knows their shiz, especially when it comes to working in the digital domain. And yep, the boys at Avatar are also fantastic. 
bmichels
New member
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2013
- Messages
- 225
- Thread Author
- #33
I also just received (for 2 weeks of test) an ARM DP-777 SE (the new version).
It has Only 50 hours so far, and... I hope it will improve with the break-in because so far it is good but not really much better than my HUGO.
- How much break-in does it need before providing it's best SQ ?
- I have 2500 CD in red-book format, so I need a DAC that is best with 16-44 music.
--> Is the ARM a good choice for people having much more 16/44 than higher res files ? are there other DAC better optimised for 16/44 ?
thanks
It has Only 50 hours so far, and... I hope it will improve with the break-in because so far it is good but not really much better than my HUGO.
- How much break-in does it need before providing it's best SQ ?
- I have 2500 CD in red-book format, so I need a DAC that is best with 16-44 music.
--> Is the ARM a good choice for people having much more 16/44 than higher res files ? are there other DAC better optimised for 16/44 ?
thanks
Attachments
It should be much better than the Hugo since it's almost 3x the price after 50 hours. The AMR is optimized for redbook, and that's where it should sound it's best. The original DP-777 was not great for Hi-Res formats (or USB input of any kind). Had issues with my AMR DP-777
cmalak
Active member
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2013
- Messages
- 2,304
Hi audiolove and welcome to AS....can you expand more on what problems you had with the DP-777 (are we talking operational issues requiring it to be serviced or features not working as advertised or simply sound quality that was not up to your liking)?
Sure, with one of them I had the famous tube roll issue that killed both channels. With another, it would lock about one of 50 times, not recognizing the source. LCD would read "Locked". It needed a couple of power cycles before it would recognize a source. A similar issue would happen where the left channel wouldn't work if it was left off for an extended period of time. A few restarts and it would come back on. The BNC is very, very sensitive. Breath near it and it clicks. I don't get that with my Chord dac. Sound quality did go flat (on-and-off) for the first few hundred hours, then stayed consistently good. I do like the sound quality. But if you have more tube gear downstream in your system I would probably go with Chord or DCS...or some other high quality solid state DAC to not get an overly warm sound.
It's just one of the finicky pieces of equipment that has unpredictable quicks that drives you crazy if you expect consistency out of your gear (Krell, VAC, Audio Research, Chord). I remember going to another audiogon guys house to pick up a piece of equipment and he had the AMR sitting there, unhooked. I asked about it and he just shook his head like "i just want to chuck this through the window". But he did praise the sound quality as well. Then we listened to his system with a lampizator in it, as he had moved on. It's a love-hate piece of gear.
It's just one of the finicky pieces of equipment that has unpredictable quicks that drives you crazy if you expect consistency out of your gear (Krell, VAC, Audio Research, Chord). I remember going to another audiogon guys house to pick up a piece of equipment and he had the AMR sitting there, unhooked. I asked about it and he just shook his head like "i just want to chuck this through the window". But he did praise the sound quality as well. Then we listened to his system with a lampizator in it, as he had moved on. It's a love-hate piece of gear.
Cyril, I never had one glitch at all with my 777 over the last year. But, I never tried to open it up and tube roll.
I've got all tubes downstream.