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THE PS AUDIO DL III DIGITAL LINK DAC WITH CULLEN
CIRCUITS DL3 STAGE III MODIFICATIONS
(Part One)
This is what happened.
Late last summer, I was looking around the Internet and found the website
www.audiophileliquidator.net. While it sounds like something my wife might
wish to investigate, in fact it is a site selling well-known audiophile
components obtained from stores that have gone out of business. In
checking out the CD/SACD player listings, I found Marantz SA-11S1 SACD
players selling for $2000. Here was a near-state-of-the-art SACD/ CD
player selling for less than I had seen these players sell for used. It
certainly appeared to be the front-end upgrade for my main system that I
was considering when I wrote my September 2007 article. Click here to
read that.
My Perpetual Technology dac pair, the P-1A and P-3A, were nearly five years
old at the time—an eternity in terms of digital playback or so we are led to
think. The idea of replacing my Sony SCD-C333ES and PT equipment with
something like the Marantz was really appealing. It would potentially
upgrade my system's CD playback, which is of course the whole point, while
retaining SACD capability. And if I sold my PT equipment, I would only need
to find about $1400.
Only $1400.
You can call me unrealistic but you cannot say that I am not up for a
challenge. I had gotten the upgrade virus once again so I started doing the
things I always do to raise money. I started going through my accumulated
stuff to see what could be dispensed with, did a garage sale, and looked for
things at garage and estate sales that I could resell. It took a couple of
months, but I got together about $1100.
During the entire time I was raising money, I did research. I read reviews of
new and used equipment and checked out everything that looked even
remotely interesting. I searched Audiogon regularly just in case something
turned up that would improve the quality of my CD playback--whether CD
player, SACD player or DAC--for the money I had at that point. I found
numerous relatively inexpensive new DACs and CD players that, in my
opinion, were unlikely to be any improvement over what I had. I saw lots of
used equipment that was just as old as or older than what I was using. I
did see a lot of equipment that I would have loved to hear but nothing that
I loved enough to actually want to buy for the privilege of hearing it. I saw
a lot of equipment that was way out of my price range, too. Nothing I
found appeared to be the ideal upgrade that the Marantz potentially was,
assuming I could ever get the money together.
I found some disconcerting information as well while doing this research.
There seem to be problems with the transports on some high-end SACD
players. It is hard to judge how widespread these problems are from what
is out on the Internet, but this made me wary of buying a number of
different players, particularly used, even assuming that I could afford them.
In late October 2007, two things happened: my ability to raise any more
money pretty much stopped—I ran out of stuff to sell—and Audiophile
Liquidators stopped selling the Marantz SA-11S1 as Marantz had just
introduced the SA-11S2. I had failed in my effort. Getting together two
grand was just too difficult.
Thanks to all the research I had been doing, however, I had a fall-back
plan. I reconsidered a modified dac which I had looked at when I first
started on my CD upgrade quest. This was a modified PS Audio DLIII
Digital Link DAC being offered through Underwood Hi Fi. It seemed to me
that, given the rave reviews the stock DLIII had gotten, a modified unit
would definitely have the potential to improve my main system’s front end.
It was worth considering and was in my price range.
www.underwoodhifi.com
My interest was in the Level-1 modification. The modification itself was
$400, plus shipping, if you already owned a DLIII. If you bought a new
modded dac, though, the total price was only $1180 and it came with full
PS Audio factory warranty. A much better deal, in my opinion. A more
extensive Level-2 mod was also offered for $1590 total but it did not strike
me as being nearly as good a value.
The Level-1 modification substituted better parts for stock ones and I liked
what I saw. The stock input jacks were replaced by WBT nextgen™ 210
copper jacks; fast, soft recovery diodes and Riken resistors were used;
internal wiring was by DH Labs; internal sound coating was added; and the
dac got sorbothane feet. All of these changes struck me as worthwhile and
reasonably priced. I had bought my Perpetual Technologies pair from
Underwood Hi Fi, so I sent an email to Wally Liederman, the owner. I asked
him if he thought the Level-1 mod would be an improvement over my PT
dac. He called me back a couple of days later.
The dac modification situation had changed.
Wally was now offering an alternative dac mod that he thought would be
the improvement that I was seeking. It turns out that the PS Audio DLIII
was originally built by Rick Cullen of Cullen Circuits in southern California
(www.cullencircuits.com) Pressure to keep the selling price at $995 had
caused PS Audio to move the production of the DLIII to China. (Mine is
made in China.) Cullen Circuits was now going to take over the modification
end of things. The Cullen mod cost $1590 but did everything the original
Level-2 mod did while adding a clock modification as well. This seemed like
the way to go. Presumably, the man who had built the original dac would
know best how to maximize its performance. While more expensive, I felt it
was exactly the sort of thing that I was looking for. This just felt right.
(For information on the specific changes made to the DLIII for this
modification, check either the Cullen web site or one of Wally’s Audiogon
ads. Other levels of modification are also available and listed on the Cullen
web site.)
Now that I had decided what I wanted, there was still the rub of getting the
money together. I was $500 light. I could sell the PT pair but I really
wanted to hang onto them so that I could do some comparison listening to
the Cullen Dac after I got it.
It was at this point that Fate stepped in and I found a used Technics SP-10
Mk II turntable at a garage sale. I hauled it home and cleaned it up. This is
an amazing turntable. Built around 1969 and selling for $1,000 without
arm, cartridge, or base*, it feels like it is machined from a solid block of
heavy aluminum. There is an outboard power supply and the ‘table offers
speeds of 33, 45, and 78 rpm. I ran it for over a week to check it out. It
turned too silently to hear anything at all while it was running. Only a very
minor eccentricity in the platter mat gave any indication that the platter was
turning at all and I had to be right on top of the SP-10 to even detect
that! Speed changes took a literal instant. The strobe was so steady that
it was only possible to tell that it was actually tracking the platter rotation
by changing speeds; the strobe would flicker and then settle back into total
motionlessness. It worked perfectly. What was even better was that I
found that it is a cult item today, particularly, it appears, in Britain. I sold it
on Audiogon for $500. I had the money for my DAC. (Click here for a
photo of the SP-10 Mk II if you are too young to remember it.)
It took about ten days to get my new Cullen Dac, as I am going to refer to
it. I have actually had it in my system since mid-November. PS Audio
makes no mention of break-in time in its well-written owner’s manual, but I
wanted to have at least 100 hours of actual playing time on it before I did
any serious listening. I had very little opportunity to do any listening during
December so getting enough hours on it has taken some time. I have
heard very little change in the character of the Cullen Dac since I put it in
my system. A trace of initial brightness, only evident on a few CDs, has
completely disappeared. I ended up with about 150 hours on it before I sat
down and got serious.
DESCRIPTION
The only external indications that the Cullen Dac differs from a stock unit
are found in its WBT nextgen™ 210 copper input jacks and the small Cullen
sticker on the rear. I was impressed by how large and heavy one of these
dacs actually is. It measures 3 X 8.5 X 14 inches, plus the depth of the
jacks, and feels much denser than I had expected. There is an on/off
switch on the rear as the unit is designed to be left on all the time. There
are three blue leds on the left of the front fascia that display the input
being used. The choices are coax, optical, and USB. Outputs are either
unbalanced RCA jacks or balanced XLRs. I like the idea of having the
balanced outputs even though I have no expectation of using them in the
foreseeable future. The Cullen Dac will search for the active input and
choose it or, if there are multiple inputs, the selector button can be used to
choose the desired one. When the transport is turned off, the Cullen Dac
scrolls through its inputs two times looking for an active input before giving
up and turning off its leds.
On the right of the fascia are three more blue leds for locked, 96/24 kHz
upsampling, or 192/24 kHz upsampling. I have done all my listening to
date using 96/24 kHz upsampling. I will report later on how the 192 kHz
sampling rate sounds.
After dealing with the very tight rear panels of the PT pair, the space the
Cullen Dac offers for connections is really welcome.
Click here and here and here for photos.
SET UP
PS Audio recommends using either their AC conditioners or plugging the
dac directly into the wall. I ran the Cullen Dac directly into the wall of a
dedicated 20 Amp service while comparison listening**. Power was
provided via a PS Audio Plasma power cord. The Plasma is an older cord
that appears to be identical to the Super Punch but without the double
shielding. (I am pretty certain.) All other cabling is the same as I have
used with the PT equipment.
LISTENING—FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Listening to the Cullen Dac shortly after I received it revealed two areas in
which I heard differences between it and my Perpetual Technology reference
pair. The first was bass performance. The bass seemed subjectively
deeper and more dynamic than I was used to hearing. It was a noticeable
but not enormous difference, however. Still, each dac I have owned since
the Muse 2 has offered improved bass performance. The difference
between the PT pair and the Muse 2 was substantial; the difference
between the Cullen DAC and the PT equipment was considerably smaller.
The second area was soundstaging. The Cullen DAC offered a slightly wider
soundstage with about the same depth as I was used to, which is to say
that both width and depth were very very good. My initial notes recorded
that on the Ray Brown CD, The Very Tall Band (Telarc CD-83443), the
sound also seemed to be less connected to the speakers. This was most
evident on Track 6, which features a Milt Jackson vibraphone solo. While
the Magneplanar MG 10s float everything between and behind them in a
very believable, three-dimensional soundstage, sounds close to the
speakers themselves are hard to evaluate due to the size of the speaker
panel. Still, extreme right and left sounds sounded more detached from
the MG 10s than they had been with the PT equipment.
Treble, mid-range, low-level detail and other sonic parameters were the
same between the two dacs. Both dacs, to my ears, sounded dead
neutral.
I had bought the Cullen Dac without hearing it. I was relieved that all early
indications were that it was every bit as good as the PT equipment, while
the slightly wider sound stage gave an indication that it might offer
something beyond what I was presently enjoying.
LISTENING SERIOUSLY
I sat down to compare the Cullen Dac directly to my reference Perpetual
Technology*** equipment, as I have already noted, after I felt comfortable
that it was fully broken-in. I was able to adjust the volume difference
between the two dacs very closely using the original Stereophile Test CD;
the Cullen Dac’s output is higher. Having a remote control that lets me
change both preamp input and volume allowed me to stay in my seat while
making reasonably quick changes between the two dacs. I listened to a lot
of different CDs and the differences that I heard were consistent with
virtually all of them.
For fun, I got out Enya’s Watermark CD, (Geffen 9 24233-2). I have not
listened to this in quite a while and I wanted to compare soundstage size
between the two dacs. Both dacs offered very wide, deep, and high
soundstages. Instruments and voices appeared from different locations
within the soundstage and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing this CD again. The
sound of the track “Orinoco Flow” was less billowy and better defined than I
had remembered it via both dacs and probably more accurate, although,
frankly, I kind of enjoyed the billowiness. I have owned this CD since it
came out in 1988 and, like the Cowboy Junkies’ “Mining for Gold,” it has
been interesting to hear how its presentation has changed with the
changes in my system.
The Cullen Dac moved the whole soundstage slightly forward, so that its
near edge was just beyond the front of the speakers, while it retained the
same overall depth as the PT. The front of the soundstage through the PT
equipment stayed in the speaker plane. The Cullen Dac fleshed out the
images within the soundstage and reproduced them as more three-
dimensional than the PT equipment did. The sides of the sound stage
reached slightly beyond the outside of the MG 10s with the Cullen Dac,
while the PT remained within the outer edges of the speakers. Either
presentation was very enjoyable but the sound was fuller and slightly richer
through the Cullen Dac.
I have gotten a great deal of enjoyment from Feist’s The Reminder
(Cherrytree/Interscope B0008819-02.) This CD is wonderful from start to
finish and I keep finding more things to like the more I listen to it. Feist can
sound a bit like Rickie Lee Jones in places but with better diction. “The
Water” is a beautiful song with some subtle sonic effects. There is the
suggestion of surf rising and falling in the right channel that sounds to me
like it is produced using a gong or large cymbal—something shimmery. It is
a very nice effect and was more easily heard through the Cullen Dac. Both
the dacs offered wide soundstages with well layered depth. The difference
between them was how the Cullen Dac made Feist’s center image more
clearly three-dimensional. The PT rendered her image with the same width
and height but not with the sense of her voice and body having a front to
back dimension. It is a noticeable difference and one the makes the singer
seem more present and real.
On the song “1234” there was no difference between the two dacs except
for the difference in sound stage perspective that I had heard on the Enya
CD. I think that the reverb on this track obscured the differences between
the dacs.
“Brandy Alexander” offered a slightly wider soundstage with the Cullen Dac,
again consistent with what I had been hearing, as well as a more three
dimensional center image. “Sea Lion Woman” and “Honey Honey,” two of
the other outstanding songs on this CD displayed the same sonic picture.
I listened to The Very Tall Band CD and particularly to Track 6, “Nature
Boy,” again. The vibraphone through the Cullen Dac extended across a
wider soundstage just as my initial listening had heard it. The PT dac kept
the sound between the speakers. What was clearer now, with some hours
on it, was how the Cullen Dac presented the vibraphone as having a depth
of its own. Milt Jackson’s mallets were striking bars that were discernibly
closer and farther from him (and also the listener) depending on where he
was playing. Again, the Cullen Dac exposed depth within the sound stage
itself. Other sounds, such as the huge reverb that occurs a couple times
during this track, were essentially identical through both dacs.
There was a satisfying fullness to the sound of Handel’s Concerti Grossi
Opus 6 as played by the Academy of Ancient Music conducted by Andrew
Manze through the Cullen Dac. (Harmonia Mundi HMX 2907228) The sound
through the PT equipment was somewhat leaner and drier by comparison.
Not a huge difference, but the orchestra was fleshed out in a more realistic
and satisfying way through the Cullen Dac. Musical details and locations
within the sound stage remained equally precise with both dacs.
SONIC CONCLUSION
The sound from my reference PT dac and new Cullen Dac differed
consistently in three ways on most of the CDs that I listened to.
First, I think the bass is actually slightly deeper and better defined with the
Cullen Dac; in any case, it has excellent bass performance.
Second, while soundstage depth was essentially the same with both dacs,
the Cullen Dac brought the entire soundstage slightly forward compared to
the PT pair, which made it feel more spacious. Sound stage width was
somewhat greater with the Cullen Dac and the sound was definitely more
detached from the speakers. I consider all of these differences as subtle
but worthwhile improvements.
Third, and pretty much regardless of the CD or type of music, the Cullen
Dac was able to offer a more three-dimensional presentation within the
already excellent sound stage depth. This resulted in a sense of the
performers being more real and existing in a more tangible space. This was
readily audible. I have listened to the PT equipment for five years and have
always totally enjoyed it. Having heard the difference the Cullen Dac makes,
however, I have to say that I clearly prefer what it is doing.
Call me fickle if you want.
MUSICAL CONCLUSION
What describing the sound does not convey is the way the Cullen Dac
affects the musical and emotional presentation.
While listening to Diana Krall sing “I’ve Got You Under My skin” from her
Live in Paris CD (Verve 440 065 109-2) through the Cullen Dac, I felt like I
was hearing this song, emotionally, for the first time. The three
dimensional quality that the Cullen Dac imparts to the sound facilitates the
musical and emotional connection between the performer and listener.
Whether it was Diana, Madeleine Peyroux singing Tom Waits’ “Looking for
the Heart of Saturday Night” on her Half the Perfect World CD (Rounder
11661-3252-2) or the Lindsay Quartet playing Haydn, I got chills up my
spine. The Cullen Dac simply provides an enhanced musical and emotional
connection. It also offers much of the same sense of ease that I hear from
SACDs.
I love it. It is the improvement that I was hoping for.
FINAL CONCLUSION
There are two questions regarding the Cullen Dac that I wish I could
answer. The first being: how much of the sound quality comes from the
basic design and how much comes from the modifications? I would be
curious to know myself. At the same time, I consider the question
essentially irrelevant. If you can afford the Cullen Dac, get it. You will know
that you are getting the best version of the PS Audio DLIII available. You
can stop worrying about the sound and just enjoy the music.
The second and more compelling question is: how does it compare to more
expensive equipment? My feeling is that you will have to spend a lot more
money before you get something better sounding or more musical.
Underwood Hi Fi's description of the modded dac claims it competes with
dacs in the $3000 to $5000 range. I have little doubt that it probably
does. Had I actually gotten a Marantz SA-11S1, I am not sure it would
have made as big an improvement as the Cullen Dac has.
Two questions that I will answer are these:
Is there any difference in sound quality between the 96 kHz and 192 kHz
upsampling rates?
And…
How does the sound of the Cullen Dac compare to SACD playback?
The answers to these two questions will be found in Part Two of this review.
Kent Johnson
February 13, 2008
Associated Equipment
*This is back when $100 for a complete turntable was considered
extravagant by most people.
**I have listened with the Cullen DAC plugged into the Tripplite LC-1200
that I used with the PT equipment and into the wall and can hear no
difference. I will continue to use the Tripplite. Perhaps eventually I can
afford one of the PS Audio units.
***Which is still available. Check www.av123.com. I do not know if the
current version is exactly like mine or not, however. I was disappointed
that Perpetual Technology never got around to offering the 24/192 upgrade
that it advertised; the potential for upgrading it was one of the reasons
that I bought my unit.
CIRCUITS DL3 STAGE III MODIFICATIONS
(Part One)
This is what happened.
Late last summer, I was looking around the Internet and found the website
www.audiophileliquidator.net. While it sounds like something my wife might
wish to investigate, in fact it is a site selling well-known audiophile
components obtained from stores that have gone out of business. In
checking out the CD/SACD player listings, I found Marantz SA-11S1 SACD
players selling for $2000. Here was a near-state-of-the-art SACD/ CD
player selling for less than I had seen these players sell for used. It
certainly appeared to be the front-end upgrade for my main system that I
was considering when I wrote my September 2007 article. Click here to
read that.
My Perpetual Technology dac pair, the P-1A and P-3A, were nearly five years
old at the time—an eternity in terms of digital playback or so we are led to
think. The idea of replacing my Sony SCD-C333ES and PT equipment with
something like the Marantz was really appealing. It would potentially
upgrade my system's CD playback, which is of course the whole point, while
retaining SACD capability. And if I sold my PT equipment, I would only need
to find about $1400.
Only $1400.
You can call me unrealistic but you cannot say that I am not up for a
challenge. I had gotten the upgrade virus once again so I started doing the
things I always do to raise money. I started going through my accumulated
stuff to see what could be dispensed with, did a garage sale, and looked for
things at garage and estate sales that I could resell. It took a couple of
months, but I got together about $1100.
During the entire time I was raising money, I did research. I read reviews of
new and used equipment and checked out everything that looked even
remotely interesting. I searched Audiogon regularly just in case something
turned up that would improve the quality of my CD playback--whether CD
player, SACD player or DAC--for the money I had at that point. I found
numerous relatively inexpensive new DACs and CD players that, in my
opinion, were unlikely to be any improvement over what I had. I saw lots of
used equipment that was just as old as or older than what I was using. I
did see a lot of equipment that I would have loved to hear but nothing that
I loved enough to actually want to buy for the privilege of hearing it. I saw
a lot of equipment that was way out of my price range, too. Nothing I
found appeared to be the ideal upgrade that the Marantz potentially was,
assuming I could ever get the money together.
I found some disconcerting information as well while doing this research.
There seem to be problems with the transports on some high-end SACD
players. It is hard to judge how widespread these problems are from what
is out on the Internet, but this made me wary of buying a number of
different players, particularly used, even assuming that I could afford them.
In late October 2007, two things happened: my ability to raise any more
money pretty much stopped—I ran out of stuff to sell—and Audiophile
Liquidators stopped selling the Marantz SA-11S1 as Marantz had just
introduced the SA-11S2. I had failed in my effort. Getting together two
grand was just too difficult.
Thanks to all the research I had been doing, however, I had a fall-back
plan. I reconsidered a modified dac which I had looked at when I first
started on my CD upgrade quest. This was a modified PS Audio DLIII
Digital Link DAC being offered through Underwood Hi Fi. It seemed to me
that, given the rave reviews the stock DLIII had gotten, a modified unit
would definitely have the potential to improve my main system’s front end.
It was worth considering and was in my price range.
www.underwoodhifi.com
My interest was in the Level-1 modification. The modification itself was
$400, plus shipping, if you already owned a DLIII. If you bought a new
modded dac, though, the total price was only $1180 and it came with full
PS Audio factory warranty. A much better deal, in my opinion. A more
extensive Level-2 mod was also offered for $1590 total but it did not strike
me as being nearly as good a value.
The Level-1 modification substituted better parts for stock ones and I liked
what I saw. The stock input jacks were replaced by WBT nextgen™ 210
copper jacks; fast, soft recovery diodes and Riken resistors were used;
internal wiring was by DH Labs; internal sound coating was added; and the
dac got sorbothane feet. All of these changes struck me as worthwhile and
reasonably priced. I had bought my Perpetual Technologies pair from
Underwood Hi Fi, so I sent an email to Wally Liederman, the owner. I asked
him if he thought the Level-1 mod would be an improvement over my PT
dac. He called me back a couple of days later.
The dac modification situation had changed.
Wally was now offering an alternative dac mod that he thought would be
the improvement that I was seeking. It turns out that the PS Audio DLIII
was originally built by Rick Cullen of Cullen Circuits in southern California
(www.cullencircuits.com) Pressure to keep the selling price at $995 had
caused PS Audio to move the production of the DLIII to China. (Mine is
made in China.) Cullen Circuits was now going to take over the modification
end of things. The Cullen mod cost $1590 but did everything the original
Level-2 mod did while adding a clock modification as well. This seemed like
the way to go. Presumably, the man who had built the original dac would
know best how to maximize its performance. While more expensive, I felt it
was exactly the sort of thing that I was looking for. This just felt right.
(For information on the specific changes made to the DLIII for this
modification, check either the Cullen web site or one of Wally’s Audiogon
ads. Other levels of modification are also available and listed on the Cullen
web site.)
Now that I had decided what I wanted, there was still the rub of getting the
money together. I was $500 light. I could sell the PT pair but I really
wanted to hang onto them so that I could do some comparison listening to
the Cullen Dac after I got it.
It was at this point that Fate stepped in and I found a used Technics SP-10
Mk II turntable at a garage sale. I hauled it home and cleaned it up. This is
an amazing turntable. Built around 1969 and selling for $1,000 without
arm, cartridge, or base*, it feels like it is machined from a solid block of
heavy aluminum. There is an outboard power supply and the ‘table offers
speeds of 33, 45, and 78 rpm. I ran it for over a week to check it out. It
turned too silently to hear anything at all while it was running. Only a very
minor eccentricity in the platter mat gave any indication that the platter was
turning at all and I had to be right on top of the SP-10 to even detect
that! Speed changes took a literal instant. The strobe was so steady that
it was only possible to tell that it was actually tracking the platter rotation
by changing speeds; the strobe would flicker and then settle back into total
motionlessness. It worked perfectly. What was even better was that I
found that it is a cult item today, particularly, it appears, in Britain. I sold it
on Audiogon for $500. I had the money for my DAC. (Click here for a
photo of the SP-10 Mk II if you are too young to remember it.)
It took about ten days to get my new Cullen Dac, as I am going to refer to
it. I have actually had it in my system since mid-November. PS Audio
makes no mention of break-in time in its well-written owner’s manual, but I
wanted to have at least 100 hours of actual playing time on it before I did
any serious listening. I had very little opportunity to do any listening during
December so getting enough hours on it has taken some time. I have
heard very little change in the character of the Cullen Dac since I put it in
my system. A trace of initial brightness, only evident on a few CDs, has
completely disappeared. I ended up with about 150 hours on it before I sat
down and got serious.
DESCRIPTION
The only external indications that the Cullen Dac differs from a stock unit
are found in its WBT nextgen™ 210 copper input jacks and the small Cullen
sticker on the rear. I was impressed by how large and heavy one of these
dacs actually is. It measures 3 X 8.5 X 14 inches, plus the depth of the
jacks, and feels much denser than I had expected. There is an on/off
switch on the rear as the unit is designed to be left on all the time. There
are three blue leds on the left of the front fascia that display the input
being used. The choices are coax, optical, and USB. Outputs are either
unbalanced RCA jacks or balanced XLRs. I like the idea of having the
balanced outputs even though I have no expectation of using them in the
foreseeable future. The Cullen Dac will search for the active input and
choose it or, if there are multiple inputs, the selector button can be used to
choose the desired one. When the transport is turned off, the Cullen Dac
scrolls through its inputs two times looking for an active input before giving
up and turning off its leds.
On the right of the fascia are three more blue leds for locked, 96/24 kHz
upsampling, or 192/24 kHz upsampling. I have done all my listening to
date using 96/24 kHz upsampling. I will report later on how the 192 kHz
sampling rate sounds.
After dealing with the very tight rear panels of the PT pair, the space the
Cullen Dac offers for connections is really welcome.
Click here and here and here for photos.
SET UP
PS Audio recommends using either their AC conditioners or plugging the
dac directly into the wall. I ran the Cullen Dac directly into the wall of a
dedicated 20 Amp service while comparison listening**. Power was
provided via a PS Audio Plasma power cord. The Plasma is an older cord
that appears to be identical to the Super Punch but without the double
shielding. (I am pretty certain.) All other cabling is the same as I have
used with the PT equipment.
LISTENING—FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Listening to the Cullen Dac shortly after I received it revealed two areas in
which I heard differences between it and my Perpetual Technology reference
pair. The first was bass performance. The bass seemed subjectively
deeper and more dynamic than I was used to hearing. It was a noticeable
but not enormous difference, however. Still, each dac I have owned since
the Muse 2 has offered improved bass performance. The difference
between the PT pair and the Muse 2 was substantial; the difference
between the Cullen DAC and the PT equipment was considerably smaller.
The second area was soundstaging. The Cullen DAC offered a slightly wider
soundstage with about the same depth as I was used to, which is to say
that both width and depth were very very good. My initial notes recorded
that on the Ray Brown CD, The Very Tall Band (Telarc CD-83443), the
sound also seemed to be less connected to the speakers. This was most
evident on Track 6, which features a Milt Jackson vibraphone solo. While
the Magneplanar MG 10s float everything between and behind them in a
very believable, three-dimensional soundstage, sounds close to the
speakers themselves are hard to evaluate due to the size of the speaker
panel. Still, extreme right and left sounds sounded more detached from
the MG 10s than they had been with the PT equipment.
Treble, mid-range, low-level detail and other sonic parameters were the
same between the two dacs. Both dacs, to my ears, sounded dead
neutral.
I had bought the Cullen Dac without hearing it. I was relieved that all early
indications were that it was every bit as good as the PT equipment, while
the slightly wider sound stage gave an indication that it might offer
something beyond what I was presently enjoying.
LISTENING SERIOUSLY
I sat down to compare the Cullen Dac directly to my reference Perpetual
Technology*** equipment, as I have already noted, after I felt comfortable
that it was fully broken-in. I was able to adjust the volume difference
between the two dacs very closely using the original Stereophile Test CD;
the Cullen Dac’s output is higher. Having a remote control that lets me
change both preamp input and volume allowed me to stay in my seat while
making reasonably quick changes between the two dacs. I listened to a lot
of different CDs and the differences that I heard were consistent with
virtually all of them.
For fun, I got out Enya’s Watermark CD, (Geffen 9 24233-2). I have not
listened to this in quite a while and I wanted to compare soundstage size
between the two dacs. Both dacs offered very wide, deep, and high
soundstages. Instruments and voices appeared from different locations
within the soundstage and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing this CD again. The
sound of the track “Orinoco Flow” was less billowy and better defined than I
had remembered it via both dacs and probably more accurate, although,
frankly, I kind of enjoyed the billowiness. I have owned this CD since it
came out in 1988 and, like the Cowboy Junkies’ “Mining for Gold,” it has
been interesting to hear how its presentation has changed with the
changes in my system.
The Cullen Dac moved the whole soundstage slightly forward, so that its
near edge was just beyond the front of the speakers, while it retained the
same overall depth as the PT. The front of the soundstage through the PT
equipment stayed in the speaker plane. The Cullen Dac fleshed out the
images within the soundstage and reproduced them as more three-
dimensional than the PT equipment did. The sides of the sound stage
reached slightly beyond the outside of the MG 10s with the Cullen Dac,
while the PT remained within the outer edges of the speakers. Either
presentation was very enjoyable but the sound was fuller and slightly richer
through the Cullen Dac.
I have gotten a great deal of enjoyment from Feist’s The Reminder
(Cherrytree/Interscope B0008819-02.) This CD is wonderful from start to
finish and I keep finding more things to like the more I listen to it. Feist can
sound a bit like Rickie Lee Jones in places but with better diction. “The
Water” is a beautiful song with some subtle sonic effects. There is the
suggestion of surf rising and falling in the right channel that sounds to me
like it is produced using a gong or large cymbal—something shimmery. It is
a very nice effect and was more easily heard through the Cullen Dac. Both
the dacs offered wide soundstages with well layered depth. The difference
between them was how the Cullen Dac made Feist’s center image more
clearly three-dimensional. The PT rendered her image with the same width
and height but not with the sense of her voice and body having a front to
back dimension. It is a noticeable difference and one the makes the singer
seem more present and real.
On the song “1234” there was no difference between the two dacs except
for the difference in sound stage perspective that I had heard on the Enya
CD. I think that the reverb on this track obscured the differences between
the dacs.
“Brandy Alexander” offered a slightly wider soundstage with the Cullen Dac,
again consistent with what I had been hearing, as well as a more three
dimensional center image. “Sea Lion Woman” and “Honey Honey,” two of
the other outstanding songs on this CD displayed the same sonic picture.
I listened to The Very Tall Band CD and particularly to Track 6, “Nature
Boy,” again. The vibraphone through the Cullen Dac extended across a
wider soundstage just as my initial listening had heard it. The PT dac kept
the sound between the speakers. What was clearer now, with some hours
on it, was how the Cullen Dac presented the vibraphone as having a depth
of its own. Milt Jackson’s mallets were striking bars that were discernibly
closer and farther from him (and also the listener) depending on where he
was playing. Again, the Cullen Dac exposed depth within the sound stage
itself. Other sounds, such as the huge reverb that occurs a couple times
during this track, were essentially identical through both dacs.
There was a satisfying fullness to the sound of Handel’s Concerti Grossi
Opus 6 as played by the Academy of Ancient Music conducted by Andrew
Manze through the Cullen Dac. (Harmonia Mundi HMX 2907228) The sound
through the PT equipment was somewhat leaner and drier by comparison.
Not a huge difference, but the orchestra was fleshed out in a more realistic
and satisfying way through the Cullen Dac. Musical details and locations
within the sound stage remained equally precise with both dacs.
SONIC CONCLUSION
The sound from my reference PT dac and new Cullen Dac differed
consistently in three ways on most of the CDs that I listened to.
First, I think the bass is actually slightly deeper and better defined with the
Cullen Dac; in any case, it has excellent bass performance.
Second, while soundstage depth was essentially the same with both dacs,
the Cullen Dac brought the entire soundstage slightly forward compared to
the PT pair, which made it feel more spacious. Sound stage width was
somewhat greater with the Cullen Dac and the sound was definitely more
detached from the speakers. I consider all of these differences as subtle
but worthwhile improvements.
Third, and pretty much regardless of the CD or type of music, the Cullen
Dac was able to offer a more three-dimensional presentation within the
already excellent sound stage depth. This resulted in a sense of the
performers being more real and existing in a more tangible space. This was
readily audible. I have listened to the PT equipment for five years and have
always totally enjoyed it. Having heard the difference the Cullen Dac makes,
however, I have to say that I clearly prefer what it is doing.
Call me fickle if you want.
MUSICAL CONCLUSION
What describing the sound does not convey is the way the Cullen Dac
affects the musical and emotional presentation.
While listening to Diana Krall sing “I’ve Got You Under My skin” from her
Live in Paris CD (Verve 440 065 109-2) through the Cullen Dac, I felt like I
was hearing this song, emotionally, for the first time. The three
dimensional quality that the Cullen Dac imparts to the sound facilitates the
musical and emotional connection between the performer and listener.
Whether it was Diana, Madeleine Peyroux singing Tom Waits’ “Looking for
the Heart of Saturday Night” on her Half the Perfect World CD (Rounder
11661-3252-2) or the Lindsay Quartet playing Haydn, I got chills up my
spine. The Cullen Dac simply provides an enhanced musical and emotional
connection. It also offers much of the same sense of ease that I hear from
SACDs.
I love it. It is the improvement that I was hoping for.
FINAL CONCLUSION
There are two questions regarding the Cullen Dac that I wish I could
answer. The first being: how much of the sound quality comes from the
basic design and how much comes from the modifications? I would be
curious to know myself. At the same time, I consider the question
essentially irrelevant. If you can afford the Cullen Dac, get it. You will know
that you are getting the best version of the PS Audio DLIII available. You
can stop worrying about the sound and just enjoy the music.
The second and more compelling question is: how does it compare to more
expensive equipment? My feeling is that you will have to spend a lot more
money before you get something better sounding or more musical.
Underwood Hi Fi's description of the modded dac claims it competes with
dacs in the $3000 to $5000 range. I have little doubt that it probably
does. Had I actually gotten a Marantz SA-11S1, I am not sure it would
have made as big an improvement as the Cullen Dac has.
Two questions that I will answer are these:
Is there any difference in sound quality between the 96 kHz and 192 kHz
upsampling rates?
And…
How does the sound of the Cullen Dac compare to SACD playback?
The answers to these two questions will be found in Part Two of this review.
Kent Johnson
February 13, 2008
Associated Equipment
*This is back when $100 for a complete turntable was considered
extravagant by most people.
**I have listened with the Cullen DAC plugged into the Tripplite LC-1200
that I used with the PT equipment and into the wall and can hear no
difference. I will continue to use the Tripplite. Perhaps eventually I can
afford one of the PS Audio units.
***Which is still available. Check www.av123.com. I do not know if the
current version is exactly like mine or not, however. I was disappointed
that Perpetual Technology never got around to offering the 24/192 upgrade
that it advertised; the potential for upgrading it was one of the reasons
that I bought my unit.