System Comparison
Since the Conductor is a DAC/amp-combo, a review of the Conductor should at least compare it as a package to a relevant competitor. So I did some brief rounds setting up the Violectric V200 amplifier and the matching V800 DAC comparing it to the Conductor using its internal DAC. The Violectric stack comes out slightly more expensive, but not by much. They offer pretty much the same features, except the Violectric cannot be used as an analog pre-amp.
LCD-2 rev.1 Playing BMX’s “Bergen Open” the Conductor makes me feel like there is more happening in the treble region, the Violectric is making me feel like more is happening in the lower regions. There is more grunt to the Violectric, but the Conductor punches when asked to. The strings of the Alban Berg Kvartett sounds thinner with the Conductor, but also more precise, making busy parts slightly less busy sounding, giving better separation at the cost of fullness.
Conductor >< Violectric
HE500 Playing Smashing Pumpkins’ “Rocket”, the Violectric combo sounds fuller, fatter, punchier and smoother. The Conductor is thinner, brighter, lighter. On this track, I prefer the Violectric, the same with Portishead’s “It could be sweet”. Playing the Emerson String Quartet the Violectric again is the fuller sounding, there is more body to the strings, like the violins are bigger and bolder. The lighter and airier touch of the Conductor has an appeal, but it doesn’t hold up, even though there is a nice bit of extra bite up in the higher mids.
Violectric > Conductor
I tried some more headphones (including HD650 and Q701), and all in all, the comparison of the DAC/amp-combos falls in line with the experiences of the amplifier comparisons. Finding that the Conductor had a brighter and lighter sounding amplifier section as well as a DAC, while the Violectric had the smoother, more laid back signature on both components, I expected to get the sound signatures adding up, making the combos come sonically further apart than when comparing the Conductor and the V200 using the same DAC. However, this didn’t happen to any significant degree, at least in my ears.
Continue reading on the next page (click below)……
