SW1X DAC III

I ordered the DAC3 SPX from the Dutch distributor, Callas Audio. I have been friends with Callas for 15 years, but that is not the reason for the purchase.
The DAC3 SPX will replace my Lampizator Amber 4 DAC.
The reason for the switch is not that I don't like the Lampizator. It is a good and musical DAC, which sounds relaxing.
The SW1X DAC3 SPX is in a different league. To begin with, I find the build quality of the SW1X DACs to be of a much higher level. The internal finish and components really caught my eye. I'm not going to bring Lampizator down here, but it's my opinion based on what I've seen from the inside.
When I opened up my Amber 4 for tube rolling I was a bit shocked. The soldering and how the cabling is pulled too tight by tie wraps. I think it looks like a DIY project. It says nothing about the sound, but I see very big differences between the two brands in the way of building.
I want to emphasize that this is my opinion and I say this because it has been the reason for me to look at a new DAC with, in my opinion, a higher build quality.
When I have the SW1X in my setup in two months and it's broken in, I'll share the differences based on my opinion and my set.

A short update and mini review from Amsterdam. I have now received the DAC3 SPX.
Unpacking was a party. The D3 is luxuriously finished with beautiful materials. It hurts to hide the D3 in the rack, because it's too beautiful.
I let the D3 burn in for three days with no signal. The last two days only left on at night and turned off during the day. I have now listened to some hours of music. I had expected a heavy break-in period, but after a few hours the D3 starts to play very nicely.
The very first thing that strikes me is the musicality. It is balanced over the entire frequency range. Round and full tones from bottom to top.
The Lampizator Amber 4 had more aggression in it. The midrange was slightly behind compared to the lows and highs. Clearly more gain and push in the sound. It sounds heavier than it was, but there is clearly a big difference between the two.
I can't fully judge the D3 yet, but my experience is that this will only get better and the D3 will show very special things. The combination SW1X D3, CEC TL5 and Hijiri cabling works incredibly well. The balance between the components is magical and musical.
I will share more later, but it is clear that SW1X build a very special DAC that just play music in a smooth relaxed way without it becoming boring or too romantic. Clarity and detailing is sufficient without dominating.
My compliments to the UK.

I find the DAC III SPX to be a wonderful DAC! I've tried to do some further investigation into what is going on with it in my system chain, what I perceive in my listening. First, the dac III has opened up, soundstage and details has developed as expected - any even more so, I really comes across as a free soul, extremly attentive to the music signal. The initial warmth/sweetness and I presume level of "magic" has come perhaps down a tad, at the same time opening up a landscape of an exact, precise and "very true" reproduction of the musical event being played. I do think I can clearly hear the difference of the chip used in the III, the 1541 with a (little) more weight and organic touch on vocals and instruments than the PCM56.



To me there seems to be no limit to the level of detail and resolution found in the dac III SPX. My Pro-ject CD drive come with the new CD-PRO 8 drive - a real improvement over previous drives I think - together with a SMPS. I bought a LPS, and that made a difference to the quality of the signal (I use Duelund silver/slik 2.0 for all cabling except for the Mogami 3173 digital interconnect). Listening to the dac III, I though there were even more potential with an improved signal, so upgraded the LPS for the drive to an Edisoncreation Extreme 20v version, and room and detail got even better. The dac III with its SPX tube selection seem to be totally open and completely dynamic to the signal fed, and my conclusion is that it will not constitute any kind of bottleneck in any system. I really get some extraodinary results in my old, all wooden listening room with the dac III SPX!

How to describe my renewed joy of music? This morning has been devoted to acoustic guitar. It’s luscious sounding – the timbre is palpable; the decay gently fades after each stoke and pluck. I’m really at a loss for words.

If we were sitting down together listening to music, I could point out all the different sounds I hear. I need a musician to teach me the correct vocabulary in order that I can better describe my experience.

My DAC III is the best part of my audio system. I’m already planning to get better speakers to take better advantage of what my DAC III provides.

Stunning…delicious…musical…clear…personal [Is it odd to say ‘personal’?] The guitarist is sitting across from me delighting in my delightful smiles. I guess that’s personal. Fortunately, my wife hasn’t become jealous. Even she can hear how great the music is – and she has a very limited repertoire of music she prefers.