Transparancy, Soundstage, Detail, Price

None that I know

I bought this unit totally on the word of all the faithful reviewers. I had earlier read all the praises on the Rega Planet and thought that it would take an expensive DAC (over $1,500) to really surpass this unit but was I ever wrong.

Now that has been some 8 months after receiving the unit (being one of the last to get the 1B), I thought that if I am still so impressed with this unit, I should give Ric Shulz the credit he really deserves.

The vocals & instruments sound more natural and there is a more noticable imaging with even added soundstage. The CDs are much more musical and the CD harshness seems gone. I agree with the earlier reviews and have not been noticing any shortcomings of this fine DAC. Ric's digital cable was a great addition as well.

Ric, please try (if you can) to keep the DAC II upgrade price worthwhile to the faithful people who already own the DAC I. Otherwise, there may be a glut of the DAC I's for sale (as many owners will just sell their I to buy a completely new unit) and the mainstream listeners might think less of your great product. I may probably upgrade my unit even though it will take a lot for me to be any happier than with the DAC Ib that I still enjoy.

The biggest statement that I can make is that I find myself listening to my system a lot more to which I offer you Ric, my sincere thanks.

My other components:
Morrison ELAD preamplifier (This is also as great as its reviews)
conrad johnson MF 2200 amplifier
Rega Planet (used as transport only)
EVS Millennium DAC 1b (also use the EVS digital cable)
Thiel CS2 2 speakers
Velodyne ULD 15 subwoofer
Harmonic Technologies Truth Link interconnects
Tara Labs Master Generation II speaker cables
Chang 6400 ISO Litespeed power conditioner for the front end
Stealth FAC power cord for DAC
Cableplex power cord for preamp (very nice cord)

musicality, inner detail, soundstage, price

none yet

I am still burning in my DAC, however in just 72 hours there already is no comparision to the last unit I had in my system, the highly regarded Meridian 508.24. The combination rig of the EVS Millennium DAC, EVS digital cable, and EVS modified Sony XE500 transport sounds as Ric says "way better" There is much more inner detail revealed, more anolog like sound, more transparency, better soundstage. This is INCREDIBLE gear for the price of around $1500.00 for all three components. Check out Ric's site at www.tweakaudio.com You will be hard pressed to find better gear anywhere near the price. This DAC competes with DAC's costing $2000.00 to $3000.00. And I might ad, Ric himself is such a pleasant guy to deal with. He is so helpful with all his knowledge. This industry needs more guys like Ric to produce incredible sounding components and more than fair prices. I look foward to all the new products he has on the horizon. A follow up review will be in order once this rig is fully broken in.
Everything that previous people have wrote about this DAC is right on the mark.
Equipment list:
EVS Millennium DAC
EVS modified Sony XE500 transport
EVS digital cable
Blue Circle BC-2 monoblock amps
Virtual Mode Veritas 3 passive preamp
Newform Research R645 ribbon speakers
Omega Micro interconnects and speaker cables
Tekline PC12W powercords

Similar Products Used:

Wadia 830, Meridian 508.24, Resolution Audio CD50, modified Assemblage DAC, Theta

New Dac2 is out soon. Order now get it in 7 weeks...
1200$

Check out this one...

Everything

no areas are weak

I too must post a follow-up review. I have been thoroughly impressed with Ric's DAC for the last 3 weeks. However, I should mention I have modified the unit and my previous review was based on that modification. Do not get me wrong the DAC out of the box is still KILLER! For those of you who are interested in greatly improving the performance of an already great product here is a tweak you can easily do but unfortunately it is not cheap. A company called Audiocom in England makes ultra low noise discrete positive regulator boards(officially called Q-Power regulation) which can replace the standard 5V and 15V
3-pin regulators.(These are actually small boards with a bunch of blackgate caps, an opamp, and a transistor-thus the term discrete) They have a standard board($90.00ea), A reference board($135.00ea.), and a new reference+ board($180.00ea.). Each regulator replaced makes a substantial improvement in all areas. Again, can be very costly but maybe necessary for someone looking for ultimate sound. Audiocom mentioned that a negative regulator board will be out soon to further improve sound so that means a total of nine discrete regulators! Also, being a crazed audiophile I will be trying the JISCO unit on this DAC and see what differences come about.

highly refined, yet rich timbre

none

The EVS Millennium DAC is an extraordinary piece of electronic equipment. Most conspicuous among its virtues is a complete absence of "electronic" sound: it is highly refined, portraying instrumental timbre with great richness, while at the same time imbuing the sound with an unforced, even gentle quality, that is evocative of live, unamplified acoustic music. Other digital equipment I've compared it to, some costing considerably more (e.g., EAD 2000 CD player) by comparison with the EVS sound downright crude. Note that refinement in this case does not mean lack of detail, which the DAC has in spades, but the presentation of detail in the context of the musical whole, which makes listening to music through this DAC quite a transcendent experience. The high level of performance of the Millennium DAC, for about $600, strongly suggests that the price/performance ratio of a great deal of high-end equipment results either from less than competent engineering or from more than cynical pricing. So, the price/performance ratio of the EVS DAC is highly subversive of current high-end pricing, and we all benefit!

Transparency, musicality, soundstage, and price!

Makes me wish I could have Ric tweak all my stuff!

I feel extremely fortunate to have found out about Ric Shultz through a review here at Audioreview. I purchased the Millennium DAC hoping it would make my modest system better. Ric's DAC not only made it better, it made such great improvement that I listen for hours on end. The detail and resolution are outstanding. The width and depth of the soundstage is simply amazing! I'm also feeding the DAC with the Perpetual Technologies P-1A, but I agree with Mr.Thomas, the EVS DAC is doing most of the work, and is the primary reason for my renewed love of the CD. I'll have a more involved review on my homepage at www.bluemarble.net/~gbeard sometime in May. If you're interested check it out!

Similar Products Used:

No other standalone DAC's, Marantz CC65SE CDP, Sony DVP-7700 DVD, and Cambridge D500 CDP.

price, quality, naturalness, accuracy, musicality, resolution

none

I have read a lot of product reviews in Audioreview and I know from auditions and purchases that there is a certain amount of ratings inflation. So when an excellent product comes around, it might not stand out as much as it should. This is unfortunate, because the EVS Millennium DAC is one of those outstanding components that push the envelope in revealing the incredible amount of musical information encoded digitally in compact discs.

I agree with previous reviewers as to the naturalness, accuracy and musicality of the DAC. The resolution and soundstage are fantastic. I can listen to cds for hours - there's no sign of digital fatigue (which had not been true of the MSB LInk DAC, at least in my system). What impressed me the most is the ability of the Millennium DAC to extract information from old recordings. I always liked soprano voices, and depending on the playback system, it can easily go from sublime to annoying to downright painful. My favorites include arias by Maria Callas, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Beverly Sills recorded in the 50's and 60's; a lot of them are in mono, with technical shortcomings.It sounds like an old cliche, but the Millennium DAC gave new life to these cds. The voices are beautifully rendered, and reveals a lot of the emotion and passion that I could only previously discern in the lp versions of these recordings. Another example of the extraordinary resolution of this DAC (even though this one has nothing to do with music) is a passage in a Philips recording of Mozart's piano concerto # 25 (Brendel and Marriner), towards the end of the first movement. There is a good amount of noise from the audience, mainly coughs and sneezes, but in this particular instance one can clearly hear, underneath the fairly loud music from the orchestra and the piano, footsteps down an aisle crossing part of the soundstage, a door opening and a cough - it really startled me!

The Millennium DAC is an outstanding value and I highly recommend it. The more I tweak my system (with Ric's help) the more I come to realize it's the best upgrade I made.

System:
EVS modified Sony XE500 cd player
EVS Millennium DAC
EVS Ultimate Attenuators
Spectron Musician amplifier
Magnepan 3.3r speakers

EVS digital cable, Harmonic Technologies Precision link interconnect and Melody line speaker cables

PS Audio PS300 power plant

Also used with the DAC: Panasonic A120 DVD player, Pioneer Elite laserdisc player

Similar Products Used:

MSB Link DAC

naturalness, accuracy, musicality, pace

not as good as the NEXT dac Ric Schultz designs

A Ric Schultz-modified Pioneer DV-414 transport, together with his Millenium DAC, unquestionably bettered any digital configuration I had listened to previously. I sold my Theta Data Basic II and Audio Research DAC-1 on the used market, bought Ric's products new--and still had money left over! When was the last time you upgraded and had money left over?

The Modified DV-414|Millenium DAC combination sounds incredibly smooth, natural and involving. I for one will never go back to the so-called "high end" with its overpriced, "sacred" name brands and a 500%+ retail mark-up. Magazines like Stereophile don't even turn my head anymore toward products that are insanely expensive while at the same time sonically inferior to the likes of products such as the Millenium DAC. This is the real High End: a ceaseless, impassioned, no-compromise quest for the reproduction of MUSIC at an affordable price; Ric Schultz and the wonderful products he offers personify real High End. Period.

Similar Products Used:

MSB Link w/upgraded power supply, Theta Pro-Basic IIa, Audio Research DAC-1-20, Theta Miles, Theta Data Basic II

depth, imaging, realism...

NONE

First let me say that this is the best bang for the buck dac on the market and probably one of the best out there period.(my feeble opinion) For 650 you can have a incredible dac and with the money saved, buy a nice transport.. ala Rick's modified sony. Since Ric sells direct there are no middle men and no outrageous markups. If this unit were sold by the local salon, you would pay at least twice what Rick is selling them for. Add a pretty chassis and wala.. your paying 3 or 4 grand. I mean cmn, this is a NO-BRAINER... buy the dac if you have any inkling to improve your system, you will not be sorry.

How does the dac sound? In a word, incredible. My modest setup that includes Adcom gfp 750, Sonus Faber Concertos, Sony dvp550, Acurus a150, has never sounded better! Old cds have been resurected from the dead and some have also been sold:). Tis true, this dac reveals all, some cds are elevated to a higher level, while others are exposed for the garbage they truly are. As mentioned below, the Millenium Dac adds nothing, it faithfully reproduces the music as the artist..er um.. the recording studio intended it.

To say that i am pleased with this dac would be a understatement.. I am ecstatic!! The purchase of this dac has led me to become romanced again by the music...I am no longer just listening to the music!, i am listening to the instruments that are making the music! Uh hmm if that makes sense.

Btw, if you are even loosly interested in this dac, give Rick a call. Rick is very knowledgable and doesnt mind speaking his mind about audio in general and where its heading. Try it, you want be sorry.

www.tweakaudio.com

Similar Products Used:

AudioAlchemy Dac, sony dvd player,

Everything

Still looking...

I let it cook 48 hours, and sat down last night around 9 to see what's what. After 20, or perhaps 30 discs, I went to bed at 5 am! On a school night! I haven't played 3 discs in a row in five years let alone 20. The improvement in sound quality is one magnitude at least. I am tweaking and tuning per Ric, for now, this is a $2000 dac in a $600 box, folks!

Ric also modified my Pioneer 525 dvd, the combo seems preferable to both a Wadia and a full blown Theta rig [by the owners of those front ends! Ric is God or the closest approximation in my 20 years of audiophilila. Next up, $800 digital amps for all!

Similar Products Used:

Wadia/Theta/Pass