Very liquid with smooth bass, very good detail and resolution with excellent transparency and big sound stage. Excellent clarity and no detectable noise.

The treble is clear but a little subdued for my tastes.

The Transcendent 8 or T8 DAC is a Vacuum tube DAC and one of three types that Frank Van Alstine makes. I believe it retails for $1400 not the $999 which is what the Solid State Insight DAC sells for. I had a chance to audition this DAC as well as the SS Insight and the SS/Tube hybrid DAC called the Ultra. First off, none of the 3 DACS has a solid state sound and they don't really have a Tube sound either. They all have a more natural inbetween sound with the T-8 having the warmest sound out of the 3. Bass is smooth and treble is clear but a little more subdued compared to the other 2 DAC's. The sound stage is huge and transparency is excellent. This is a very liquid DAC with excellent clarity and resolution. The Ultra Hybrid DAC however beats it in resolution, detail, sound stage and transparency, and deeper bass but it cost $300 more.

If your looking for a DAC that is crystal clear, very liquid and smooth then this is the DAC for the job. As a side note, all three of the VA DAC's sounded much better than my Cambridge Audio 840c CDP which I sold in favor of the VA hybrid DAC.

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Similar Products Used:

Van Alstine Insight DAC, Van Alstine Hybrid DAC, Cambridge Audio 840c