Since getting into audiophile-grade digital music, I have always owned and used a dedicated DAC. Each successive DAC has outperformed the one I used before it. But as of a week ago, I stopped using my Tambaqui DAC. Why?
Quite by accident, I discovered (with the help of a knowledgeable Lyngdorf dealer installer) that a better experience could be had by connecting a USB cable into my Lyngdorf MP-60 directly from my K22 server. After 4 years of having acquired and loving this SSP, I had always discounted its ability to rival some of the better DACS out there in my price range. Long story short, boy was I wrong! Turns out I was doing it wrong! In other words, I had an inexperienced installer who gave me bogus guidance with respect to 2-channel stereo.
But now that I’ve got it sorted out, I have to say I am blown away, and thanks to the remarkable EQ software that is RoomPerfect, I am done with DACS. Yes, the Lyngdorf uses a type of DAC, but it is “proprietary,” and nobody quite knows how it does what it does to convert digital to analog, but the results are nothing short of stunning.
Several of my friends who know my system well experienced “jaw drop.” Now I understand why people labor over DSP and HQPlayer and such. But with RoomPerfect, I’ve come to appreciate that in the history of marketing, I don’t know that a more apropos name has ever been assigned to a product. Why? Because RoomPerfect literally makes the room “perfect.” I’m hearing nuanced sounds and detail and “perfect” tight bass with a greatly enhanced sound stage that I’ve never heard before. Now I hear distortion using the Tambaqui DAC feeding the Makua preamp. I mean, I’ve got decent room treatment in my listening room, but clearly not of a magnitude sufficient to accomplish. What room perfect is able to deliver.
The way it was explained to me is that I now have a purely digital path from my K42 server/K22 player to my Lyngdorf via USB, and there is nothing “lost in translation.”
I know Lyngdorf is selling a ton of the TDAI 3400 integrated units, and now I understand why. There is magic in RoomPerfect in 2-channel, just as there is in my Dolby Atmos 5.2.4 system. At the end of the day, I suppose what this established beyond doubt is that when Antipodes is able to do its job communicating directly with the output source with “perfect” EQ calibration, sound for me becomes the best— far better than my best expectations. It’s truly extraordinary.
Lyngdorf’s philosophy holds that the most important source in our system is not the CD transport or the streamer or the turntable or anything OTHER than… the room itself! It’s kind of like garbage and garbage out. Once you clean up the room and make it “perfect,” then all of our high-end gear can shine in a way it never could with a flawed room, and their belief is that every single room in the world is innately flawed— hence the need for room treatment and our elaborate DSP programs. But with RP, all you have to do is plug in the mic and let it do its thing. Lyngdorf has had the approach that by solving the source of the problems presented by every listening room in the world, then the best equipment could deliver the best-sounding music. My Antipodes gear and Lyngdorf SSP are a match made in heaven.
Does anyone else use RoomPerfect as part of their 2-channel listening ? Frankly, I, for one, can never live without it. I was actually thinking of buying a standalone Room Perfect device (MEN220) manufactured by McIntosh, but it’s $6500 and is actually no more than the software licensed from Lyngdorf - delivered in a shiny McIntosh iconic-looking box. I even thought of dropping in a TDAI 3400 in between my Makua preamp and Krell amplifier, but to their credit, Lyngdorf told me to save the money. “You are not going to be able to improve upon the sound quality that we are getting via the MP-60.” I think he is right.
I actually had a dealer installer tech tell me he too advises clients to “lose their DAC’s” once he installs an MP-60 or MP-40. Lyngdorf spent 9M to develop RoomPerfect about 20 years ago. Today that’s about 15M ! I can’t think of even the largest company spending that kind of money to develop proprietary room equalization software. Not even McIntosh.
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But inasmuch as I am convinced that there is inherent superiority in parts and such in the Mola Mola gear, it does not have RoomPerfect and I remain convinced that it is the RP that accounts for the significantly better net result - superior SQ.
