Here is another take on the May KTE after another in depth listening on Friday and Saturday. It's been on and running music through it since January 6th; which is about 360 hours now. And the low-end has improved and I now hear bass again in my system that was lost by swapping in the May over the Moon 280D. The May still has amazing detail retrieval and the separation of vocals and instruments is wonderful. But it is still not what I remember I loved about the Bartok. Yes its detailed and presents a good soundstage besides the center issue but something is missing from what I remember from the dCS Bartok and PSA DSD w/ Lumin being in my room.
So I took it with me to JS Audio on Saturday to demo side by side with the 15A's there. This way I could setup a blind test to see if I can tell the difference or pick a winner overall between it and dCS. Setup was ARC REF 6SE and 160S into the 15A's to mimic my home listening session.
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Steve from JS went ahead and cabled up my May KTE with exact cabling for power and interconnects as the dCS. The dCS was even fed its network connection off of the Fiber switch SmallGreenComputers provided with the Sonore. We then grouped them in Roon so when a Track was played it was played in both DAC's at the same time. Steve then plugged each DAC into separate inputs on the back of the REF 6SE. With out me knowing which input was which I had no idea which I was playing, liking, or choosing. We then held my db meter in the listening space and made sure each input was volume matched to 80db. When doing so we found out that both DAC's were on 26 of the 6SE. So that was easy.
First tracks were off of "Wandering" by Yosi Horikawa or course, my go to. I'd do 20 or 30 seconds of "Bubbles" and then Steve would switch inputs and I'd do the same 20-30 seconds for the next input. We did that for the entire "Wandering" album. Detail retrieval on both were very good but one was definitely giving more retrieval and a much wider and deeper soundstage. In the track "Bubbles at the 10 second mark there is a very small ball dropped which is either a ball bearing or maybe a BB but when it was dropped it sounded as if it hit right behind my left ear. Now I hadn't heard it like that before so I knew one was definitely out performing the other in detail retrieval and soundstage or it was this untreated room which I doubt. Also with one DAC all of the ball dropping was wider then 180 degrees and all around me in the room. just crazy and gave me such a better listening experience.
Next up was the "Letter" one DAC made the writing on the paper so fluent across the front soundstage and the hands appeared huge up in front of me. That DAC didn't skip over the center part of the soundstage. So with this track I was beginning to know which input was which since I remembered how badly the May KTE did with center stage imaging and how it missed or jumped over 2 to 3 feet right in the center when flowing back and forth from left to right.
Then "In the Distance" was played for me and I heard that skipping in the center again that I was getting at home just a day ago and last week. Like Yosi is running across the mic field and jumping or disappearing from the very center. Then Steve switched over the input and I started the track again. Right off the bat I could hear Yosi, or whoever he recorded walking towards the mic field, like he was walking up from 20 feet behind the speakers. The imaging was so much better and when he runs across the mic field it was fluent and no missing in the center. I knew then that one DAC was better then the other and had my ideas as to which one was which.
Steve then suggested we play a track of music to see which one outperforms the other. So I selected "Tin Pan Alley" again like last week when demoing the amps with his brother Dave. It is one of my favorite tracks for testing. We also double checked the volume levels again to make sure the track was at 80db since the music was a little lower compared to the album "Wandering". We started the track and I went right to the 3:30 mark in the track to hear those guitar riffs and Stevie's voice when he is singing the line Roughest Place I've Ever Been at 4:30 and how it sounds. It sounded good and was very impressed. You could hear him singing the word
Been well and how his voice is using his throat to carry out the note. Then I stopped it at the 6 minute point. Everything sounded great. So I said lets switch DAC's. Holy $H!t what a change. The riffs were huge and sounded amazing. When Chris Layton hits the side of the drum with his stick every 4 to 5 seconds it is so defined and crisp. When Stevie is singing that same line you can hear him go in and away from the Mic and how close he gets. Then the spot where he talks about the 44 and making the shot sound you could hear more definition in the crackling sound. The music was just amazing and sounded wonderful.
That's when I paused it and was like Ok I have to see which is which because I knew one input just outperformed the other. And of course it was the dam dCS at $18k compared to the $6k for the May KTE. So for $6k could I live with what I was missing from hearing the dCS again? To be honest I don't think I can. And the reason for that is because we then swapped out the 160S for the Boulder 2160 and tried the same DAC's again with that same 3-6 minute portion of the song "Tin Pan Alley". Everything improved and I mean everything for both DAC's by say 50% increase in performance. That Boulder 2160 is just amazing but when he swapped the input to the dCS, I just fell in love with the 15A's all over again. I was shocked at how those speakers sounded. I was enjoying them so much that I listened to more songs and I went on for another hour in the store. Steve and I were both blown away at how the dCS, REF 6SE, Boulder 2160, and the 15A's performed. Steve, just like his brother Dave last week, was blown away at the presentation and performance the 15A's had with that Amp swap. Call it synergy or call it being stupid drunk in love with that gear, either way I want that in my room and want to hear that music reproduction at home with my 15A's.
So I'm going to have to make some changes in my system and life to come up with the means of getting that dCS and Boulder into my room and playing through my 15A's. I have to, or I'll always listen to my rig now knowing what it should sound like instead. It may be 2 weeks or 2 years with a lot sacrifices with selling things and saving but it has to be done.
In conclusion the $5,828.00 May KTE is good and it's a great DAC for the price point. But in the end the dCS Bartok just outperforms it in every way; But at 3x the cost it should. I'd make the comparison of these DAC's like this; the May KTE is a New York strip from Outback. A very good steak and you can live off of that steak forever if only have tasted that NY Strip; and be very satisfied. But the dCS is like having a Dry Aged Prime Rib cooked by Gordon Ramsey at his restaurant. Once you have tasted the difference in steaks and chef its hard to go back to just Outback NY Strips forever? By the way I love Outback. LOL
Hope my review helps others understand what they are getting from the May KTE in that it is a solid, well built, good sounding DAC with lots of detail retrieval for $6k. But is it the best DAC since slice bread according to some reviewers on YouTube and Online? No, not for me with my very revealing 15A's.
