Its any update abouth this product? I already have moded VE megatron and its sound very good. So i interested on the prime to compled my colection
Im search any review for the prime but not found
Its any update abouth this product? I already have moded VE megatron and its sound very good. So i interested on the prime to compled my colection
Im search any review for the prime but not found
Just realized there was a dedicated Prime thread...
My little gold brick (aka VE Prime Pure DAC Gold) is still performing brilliantly especially now with the newest addition to the chain a SACThailand Silk Classic TVA Passive Preamp... that is not TVA as in Time Variance Authority but rather Transformer Volume Attenuator. My tube amp is now set on unity gain (max volume).
Be warned the Prime Pure DAC runs 4.054 V on both 4.4TRRRS (4.4BAL) and 3.5TRS (3.5SE) outputs! Would love to chat with other Prime owners about their source and component volume settings.
Took me a lot of DACs, ranging from a ~US$50 Meizu HiFi Pro and ~US$80 Topping D10... to a ~$2000 Benchmark DAC2 D / DAC3 L (from my two-channel days) and Holy Audio Spring 2... and upwards to the~$13,000 Chord Dave (which I fortunately was able to borrow from a friend for a few weeks but found it did not synergize well with my setup), before I finally came upon the Prime on a complete lark when a friend encouraged me to take home and audition his standard edition Prime which immediately blew my pants off with it's ear friendly signature and synergy with my tube amp! I tend to not hear and/or distinguish a huge differences between DAC chips per se but rather do immediately detect 'listening fatigue' often times coupled with a headache/earache.
Bold Purple = Best Synergy w/ My Setup
Bold Black = Good Synergy w/ My Setup Non-Bolded Black = No Synergy w/ My Setup
Benchmark DAC2 D (owned this - gifted)
Benchmark DAC3 L (owned this - sold)
Benchmark DAC3 HGC (auditioned)
Cayin RU6 (auditioned)
Cayin RU7 (auditioned)
Chord Dave (auditioned; a friend owns this and I honestly didn't like the pairing at all... thank goodness!)
iFi Audio ZEN DAC Signature V2 (Burr Brown; owned this - hammered it to death)
Meizu HiFi Audio Pro (CS43131; still own this)
Questyle M15 (auditioned)
Quloos MUB-1 (auditioned)
RME ADI-2 DAC FS (owned this - traded)
Schiit Audio Bifrost 2 (auditioned)
Schiit Audio Modi Multibit (owned this - sold)
SMSL VMV D1 (owned this - traded)
SMSL VMV D2 (owned this - traded)
SMSL VMV D3 (auditioned)
SMSL M400 (owned this - traded)
SMSL SU-9n (owned this - sold)
SMSL VMV D1se (auditioned)
Sony NW-WM1A (S-Master HX; auditioned)
Topping D10 (owned this - gifted)
Topping D10S (owned this - gifted)
Topping D30 Pro (owned this - gifted)
Topping D90SE (owned this - traded)
Venture Electronics Prime Pure DAC (ES9018K2M; still own this)
I am still waiting to demo a Matrix Audio X-Sabre 3; Denafrips Pontus II/Venus II; Bryston BDA-3; Gustard R26; Luxman DA-250; Soekris DAC2541; and Schiit Audio Yggdrasil with the later two probably being the least likely to happen as they are hard to find over here in Asia. Really don't think I will seriously consider any DAC costing much over US$3,500 for my setup so there is not really much left for me to audition... thankfully the Prime Pure DAC is thus far serving me admirably.
Well, I have auditioned another nine DACs over the past month and I have come to the conclusion that nothing can beat the VE Prime Pure DAC in my system when it comes to both synergy and fatigue-free listening bliss. And in fact, I unknowingly have had an in-grown bias and preference for it (more info down below)!
As I have stated before, I tend to not hear and/or distinguish a huge difference, if any, between DAC chips per se but rather do immediately detect 'listening fatigue' which is often times coupled with a headache/earache. Usually, it takes only but a few minutes for me to detect this fatigue. The best performing DACs, in this recent batch of auditions, were the Schiit Audio Yggdrasil (circa 2015/6) and the Gustard R26 (which really surprised me with it's resolution and ability to handle electronica being a R2R). The Yggdrasil was slightly too laid back and lacked some dynamics I wanted for electronica as did the the R26. Both were excellent DACs though and do rate highly on my list. As much as I liked the looks and workmanship of the single solid-chassis Matrix Audio X-Sabre 3 I disappointingly found it immediately too edgy and fatiguing so I promptly returned it. The Denafrips Pontus II and Venus II were excellent performing DACs, in both workmanship and performance, but not quite my cup of tea as when inserted into my audio chain they were a tad too smooth (syrupy?) and perhaps too slow for the type of music I tend to mostly listen to (electronic: modern classical; ambient; and soundtrack)... after thirty minutes or so I found them both fatiguing which probably was a good thing as their three-legged design would have driven me crazy no doubt! The ROHM-based SMSL VMV D2R for some strange reason introduced noise (a very faint hissing and humming sound that I have never ever experienced before in my system) which prompted an exchange but the issue persisted with the replacement unit... it was an interesting sounding (romantic?) delta sigma DAC for sure but probably too warm to be coupled with my tube amp and headphones. The Bryston BDA-3 (fatiguing), Luxman DA-250 (too warm perhaps), and Audio-Technica AT-DAC100 (fatiguing) did not perform well in my system and unfortunately, my being over here in Asia I was unable to get my hands on a Soekris DAC but now am thinking that I most likely haven't missed anything.
Bold Purple = Best Synergy w/ My Setup with No Listening Fatigue
Bold Black = Good Synergy w/ My Setup with Little To No Listening Fatigue Non-Bolded Black = No Synergy w/ My Setup and/or Too Fatiguing
Audio-Technica AT-DAC100 (auditioned)
Benchmark DAC2 D (owned this - gifted)
Benchmark DAC3 L (owned this - sold)
Benchmark DAC3 HGC (auditioned)
Bryston BDA-3 (auditioned)
Cayin RU6 (auditioned)
Cayin RU7 (auditioned)
Chord Dave (auditioned; a friend owns this and I honestly didn't like the pairing at all... thank goodness!)
Chord Hugo 2 (owned this - sold)
Chord Mojo (owned this - sold)
Chord Mojo 2 (auditioned)
Chord Qutest (auditioned twice and returned)
Denafrips Ares II (owned this - sold)
Denafrips Pontus II (auditioned)
Denafrips Venus II (auditioned)
FiiO Q11 (auditioned)
Gustard A26 (auditioned - returned)
Gustard X16 (owned this - traded)
Gustard X18 (owned this - sold)
Gustard X26 (owned this - sold)
Gustard R26 (owned - returned)
Holy Audio Spring 2 (owned this - traded)
iFi Audio Nano iDSD BL (owned this - gifted away)
iFi Audio ZEN DAC Signature V2 (owned this - hammered it to death)
Luxman DA-250 (auditioned)
Matrix Audio X-Sabre 3 (auditioned - returned)
Meizu HiFi Audio Pro (CS43131; still own this)
Questyle M15 (auditioned)
Quloos MUB-1 (auditioned)
RME ADI-2 DAC FS (owned this - traded)
Schiit Audio Bifrost 2 (auditioned)
Schiit Audio Modi Multibit (owned this - sold)
Schiit Audio Yggdrasil - circa 2015/6 model (auditioned)
SMSL VMV D1 (owned this - traded)
SMSL VMV D1se (auditioned)
SMSL VMV D2 (owned this - traded)
SMSL VMV D2R (owned-exchanged - returned)
SMSL VMV D3 (auditioned)
SMSL M400 (owned this - traded)
SMSL SU-9n (owned this - sold)
Sony NW-WM1A (S-Master HX; auditioned)
Topping D10 (owned this - gifted)
Topping D10S (owned this - gifted)
Topping D30 Pro (owned this - gifted)
Topping D90SE (owned this - traded)
Venture Electronics Prime Pure DAC (Dual Mono ES9018K2M; still own this)
So the overall top performers with my system were:
Venture Electronics Prime Pure DAC
Sony NW-WM1A
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Schiit Audio Yggdrasil (circa 2015/6)
Gustard R26
Chord Qutest
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Gustard A26
Chord Mojo 2
Meizu HiFi Audio Pro
I found the VE Prime Pure DAC and the Sony NW-WM1A to be on a completely different tier than the Yggy, R26, and Qutest both in synergy and listening ease. Too bad the Sony NW-WM1A is an old school DAP with no desktop charging & usage mode as I truly liked the signature it presented especially when fed into my tube amp (it would have also served well as a mobile unit to boot!). The Qutest came very close in doing many things right but sadly was slightly fatiguing to me as well.
DISCOVERED BIAS
Powered on 24/7 now for the past five months, slowly burning in my brain, the VE Prime Pure DAC has really grown on me and upon the completion of this last batch of auditions I was prompted to investigate further why I am preferring this oversampling bypassed, dual mono ES9018K2M implementation so much. Dumb-founded, I shockingly discovered that I have a strong bias and preference for it! My beloved CEC CD5 CD Player, that I had sold back in late 2020 when ending my fiendishly-wild two-channel days, uncannily used a similar implementation of the ES9018K2M chip! Imagine that, I was already fully programmed to like it, LOL!
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