Simaudio Driver

June 2020

Simaudio Moon 680D Streaming DAC
Great build quality, great looks, greatsound.
Review By Will Wright Of Positive Feedback

Simaudio recently introduced a new streaming digital to analog converter to their Moon product line. The 680D ($9000) streaming DAC slots in somewhere between the 780D v2($15,000), and the 280D ($3000). As with many, if not most of the products in the Moon series, the 680D has the same width and depth (18.75 x 16.8 inches) only varying in height. Additionally, it shares other cosmetic touches in industrial design, including the heat sinks on the side panels, height adjustable aluminum feet at the four corners, and a rather massively built chassis with a shipping weight of 38 pounds. This means that Moon series products can be easily stacked. There are three cosmetic options, including all black, all aluminum, or two tone black with aluminum. I personally prefer the two tone option.

One-box centerpiece With connectivity accented on digital audio, as well as a plethora of analog line-level inputs, and a phono input, the 240i Integrated Amplifier can easily become the one-box centerpiece of your music and entertainment system. Drive speaker loads without difficulty With its full external control (in. Simaudio has brought a DAC to market that is a strong, clear, decisive performer, and it deserves to live in an audiophile’s dreams. It makes very high quality sound, and sells for an extremely low price. Besides some subtle lightness in bass and body, there was hardly any difference between the 100D and its much more expen - sive brother.

From the Simaudio site: ' The MOON 300D Digital-to-Analog Converter features 1 USB input allowing for seamless integration with a computer, 1 optical TosLink input and a pair of S/PDIF (RCA) inputs. Sampling rates are 32, 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4 & 192kHz. Bit-depth range is from 16 through 24 bits with internal processing at 352.8kHz.
The W-8 ($10,200) is the first of Simaudio's Moon series to incorporate the new Evolution cosmetics and new circuitry. I loved its predecessor, the Moon W-5, which was one of the first power amplifiers I reviewed for Stereophile (March 1999, Vol.22 No.3). I also loved the 'new and improved' W-5 when I wrote about in the May 2001 issue.
Simaudio 820S, Part 25 Posted by Luminator (A ) on January 17, 2021 at 00:23:14 For over two years, an audiophile would check in with me, and broach topics about Simaudio's Evolution series products.

For those unfamiliar with Simaudio, this Canadian company was founded in 1980 under the name Sima Electronics and focused on Pro Sound equipment. In the 1990s Sima Electronics was reorganized into Simaudio Ltd and shifted its focus to consumer electronics. The Moon Limited Edition series was established in 2004, the company's 25th anniversary.

Features
Utilizing the MiND 2 app, the 680D is a Roon ready device and includes MQA Technology. The 680D features nine digital inputs including USB, AES/EBU, threeS/PDIF, two optical, Bluetooth, aptX, and Ethernet. It supports native DSD up to DSD256 and PCM up to 384kHz. This dual-mono design is powered by Moon Hybrid Power, a high performance supply using conductive polymer capacitors, high speed digital switching, and analog linear regulators. There are also two stages of low noise DC regulation, four stages of independent inductive DC filtering, a very short signal path using a DC servo circuit, and proprietary 18dB per octave analog filtering. There is a RS-232 port for firmware updates, a 12 Volt trigger output for remote operation, and an IR input for external control. For those that feel the internal supply to be inadequate, the 820S external supply can be added for an additional $8000. If you will be using the 680Ds USB input with a Windows computer you will need to download the driver from the Simaudio website.

The front panel display window indicates the selected digital input, its corresponding sample rate frequency of the source material currently being played, and/or assigned input label. To the left of the display are four buttons. They are Standby, Display, Up, and Down input selection. Standby disengages all outputs from the rest of the 680D's circuitry and turns off the display but leaves digital and analog circuitry powered up. The Display button allows three levels of brightness or off. Even in the off position the display will still light up briefly whenever any buttons are pressed. To the right of the display are four more buttons used for customization of the numerous software functions available. They are Setup, OK, Up, and Down. For each of the nine inputs you can assign a label, or disable the input completely if not in use. I won't cover every possible customization here. Check the website for more info. The 680D includes an excellent user's manual with detailed instructions on customization.

The back panel is comprised of connections for the balanced and single ended analog outputs, the nine digital inputs, 12V trigger input, IR input, Simlink in/out, RS-232 port, the IEC power input, on/off switch, and twoWi-Fi antenna connections. A very nice remote is included that offers most of the front panel functions plus additional features for use with other Simaudio products.
The 680D uses the ESS ES9028PRO chipset in a fully balanced differential configuration. Dynamic range and signal to noise ratio are both listed as 123dB, and intrinsic jitter is one picosecond RMS. These are excellent specs, and my listening experience with the 680D leads me to believe them.

Setup And Listening
The 680Ds chassis is built more like a power amp. It is very solidly constructed and beautiful to behold. The heatsinks on the side are likely there to cosmetically match it to the other components in the Moon series. During the review period the top of the chassis never got above room temperature. I used the 680Ds balanced analog outputs to connect to my preamp. The first thing I noticed in my initial listening session was less output than I was expecting. A quick look at the specifications page in the user's manual confirmed that both the single ended and balanced outputs were rated the at same output voltage. In a true balanced circuit the output voltage is usually double the single ended output. Ultimately, this only affected the position of the volume control.

Although I tried a lot of the various streaming features to confirm their functionality, my primary listening to the 680D was via its USB input connected to my music server. Through that input I was able to play upconverted audio files at the DACs native rate of 352.8/384kHz for PCM. I also tried native DSD, although I usually run DoP (DSD over PCM) from my server.

The user's manual recommends a burn-in period of 400 hours. Initial listening confirmed the need for it. I ran the 680D continuously with the Purist Audio Design System Enhancer disc on repeat for a micro fortnight. The next reviewer in line won't have to go through that. My hard work was ultimately rewarded as the 680D opened up. Spoiler alert: This DAC sounds great!

Pace, Rhythm, and Timing were first rate. The 680D could really boogie when called upon. When the music was lively you had to be on your feet. It sure made me dance. The 680D also had a knack for mining the gold out of recordings. For instance, when playing one of those early CD transfers that sound so hard and flat at times, the 680D could pull out content and detail that helped rescue the listening experience. It didn't make bad recordings good, but it made them more listenable. No matter what material you threw at it, the 680D was unfazed and always composed.

The 680D had excellent clarity and definition. Bass articulation and extension in particular were superb. At this juncture, it ranks as the best bass reproduction I've heard in my system. Midrange and treble were also clear and distinct, the sound never becoming hard, brittle, edgy, aggressive or analytical unless the music was. Both male and female vocalists were free of sibilance or chestiness. Piano music was reproduced with good balance between body and string tone if the recording permitted. The overall tonal balance of the 680D was even, with no spotlighting of any particular frequency range.

Imaging was also well done by the 680D. For instance, studio recordings where the instruments and vocals are panned to specific locations in the mix were easily deciphered by this DAC. Each object had its own cocoon of space within which macro and micro detail, tonality, and texture were all revealed. This made it easily possible to focus on a specific instrument and follow it through the mix. The 680D also captured the air and ambiance of live recordings, realistically portraying the venue and crowd sounds. The soundstaging of the 680D was compact with reasonably good width and depth, but a perspective slightly more distant than my reference.

As one would expect from the excellent specifications hiss, noise, and distortion were essentially nonexistent. Dynamics were first rate, going from a whisper to a roar with equal clarity and definition retaining the dynamic envelopes of individual instruments even during climaxes. There was little or no change in perspective with signal level.

Conclusion
Great build quality, great looks, great sound. Who could ask for anything more? In case you missed it, I loved this DAC. If the 680D falls within your budget, you should definitely check it out. It took me a couple of weeks after the departure of the 680D before I could readjust to my system without it. As far as I'm concerned, the only thing wrong with the 680D is that it is no longer here.

Specifications
Type: Hi-Res Audio digital-to-analog converter
Frequency Response: 2Hz to 100kHz (+0/-3dB)
THD: 0.0005 %
Intermodulation Distortion: 0.0003 %
Dynamic Range: 123 dB
Signal-To-Noise Ratio: 123 dB @ full output
Channel Separation: 120 dB
Intrinsic Jitter: 1 pico seconds RMS
Analog Output: 2.0 V
Analog Output Impedance: 100 Ohms
PCM Bit-Depth: 16 to 32 bits
PCM Sampling Frequency: 44.1 to 384 kHz
DSD: DSD64, DSD128 & DSD256
Dimensions: 18.75' x 4' x 16.8' (WxHxD)
Price: $9000

Manufacturer
Simaudio Ltd.
1345 Newton Rd.
Boucherville, Quebec, J4B 5H2
Canada

Voice: (450) 449-2212
Website: www.SimAudio.com

Making Way for More Equipment at John Thompson's The Record Centre. Is This the Future of Hi-Fi Selling?

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column; Created: 01 February 2021 01 February 2021

In 1979, Bob Geldof’s Boomtown Rats released “I Don’t Like Mondays” and instilled the idea that bad things happen on the first day of the workweek in an entire generation. But one particular Monday—December 11, 2017—wound up being a revelatory day for me. That was the day I first set foot inside The Record Centre, which is located in Ottawa, Canada, the city where I live. But I wasn’t there for the records—a friend had told me that the store was selling new and used hi-fi gear, so I wanted to see its stock for myself.

MayFly Audio Systems MF-201A Loudspeakers

Details: Written by Diego Estan Diego Estan; Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews; Created: 01 February 2021 01 February 2021

Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.

MayFly Audio Systems was founded in 2020 by Trevor May, an engineer and musician who had begun his research and prototype development two years earlier. May lives and operates MayFly out of Ottawa, Canada, the city I live in—in fact, he lives on the street I grew up on. That made for quick, easy deliveries.

I Hate Streaming

Details: Written by Ken Kessler Ken Kessler; Category: SoundStage! UK SoundStage! UK; Created: 01 February 2021 01 February 2021

After last month’s wander down the Format Memory Lane and my continued bleating about open-reel tape, many of you might assume that I am a dyed-in-the-wool Luddite, but that is not the case. Yes, I champion tubes, vinyl, and open-reel, as well as the 45-year-old BBC LS3/5A, Decca cartridges, Quad Electrostatics, and other hoary, venerable items, but my work demands that I use current, up-to-the-minute equipment for reviewing, while I adore SACD and do not write with a quill. No, my issue is with streaming.

Recommended Reference Component: Pro-Ject Audio Systems RPM 10 Carbon Turntable with 10cc Evolution Tonearm

Details: Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors; Category: Components Components; Created: 01 February 2021 01 February 2021

SoundStage! founder Doug Schneider and senior contributor Aron Garrecht both went turntable shopping in January. Independently and physically distanced, of course. They each wanted to find a top-tier turntable that would allow them to review the ever-increasing number of turntable-related products on the market, such as phono stages, whether standalone or built into a preamplifier or integrated amplifier, and other components and accessories. For advice, they consulted SoundStage! vinyl guru, Jason Thorpe, who told them both to buy a Pro-Ject Audio Systems RPM 10 Carbon turntable with 10cc Evolution tonearm, which he’d reviewed for SoundStage! Ultra on December 15, 2017. Jason had owned a Pro-Ject RPM 10 before reviewing the RPM 10 Carbon, its successor, and immediately sold it and replaced it with the newer model for the improvements in sound and build.

Hegel Music Systems V10 Phono Stage

Details: Written by Jason Thorpe Jason Thorpe; Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews; Created: 15 January 2021 15 January 2021

Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio Electronics Lab, click this link.

Have you ever looked closely at the coils of a moving-coil cartridge? If you have a jeweler’s loupe and a cartridge with a relatively open body, it’s worth exploring this tiny, elegant universe. The coils themselves are so small that it seems impossible they could be made by hand, or mounted inside a cartridge, or that they can work at all.

Three Reasons Why the SoundStage! Network Has So Many Websites (Important Lessons for Aspiring Online Hi-Fi Publishers)

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column; Created: 01 January 2021 01 January 2021

Last month, I wrote about our 25th anniversary of online publishing. In that article I described how we began, how the SoundStage! name came about, the events that took place before we secured the soundstage.com domain name for the initial website, and some of the other things that helped us to get off to a pretty good start.

Yamaha A-S3200 Integrated Amplifier

Details: Written by Roger Kanno Roger Kanno; Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews; Created: 01 January 2021 01 January 2021

Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio Electronics Lab, click this link.

Though now perhaps best known for their motorcycles and other vehicles produced by their Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. division, the Yamaha Corporation has a long, rich musical history—the logo of even the Yamaha Motor Co. is still a trio of crossed tuning forks. Founded as Nippon Gakki in the late 19th century, the Yamaha Corporation began as a maker of pianos, and has since become the world’s biggest manufacturer of pianos and other musical instruments. Yamaha has made audio equipment since the 1920s, and what many would consider high-fidelity audio components since the 1950s.

Inexpensive Outboard Alternatives: Bellari VP549 and NAD PP 2e Phono Stages

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Category: System One System One; Created: 01 January 2021 01 January 2021

In August 2020, I reviewed the Hegel Music Systems H95 integrated amplifier-DAC for this site. If you read that review, you’ll know that the H95, which is priced at $2000 (all prices in USD), is a good performer and good value, but you’ll also see it’s not as feature-rich as some other integrated amps on the market. For example, like all of Hegel’s integrated amplifiers, it has a built-in DAC but lacks a phono stage. Vinyl playback is a pretty big thing for hi-fi buyers across all price ranges, and many lower-priced integrated amps answer that demand, so I intended to criticize this omission in the review.

Formats Gone but Not Forgotten

Details: Written by Ken Kessler Ken Kessler; Category: SoundStage! UK SoundStage! UK; Created: 01 January 2021 01 January 2021

You have to laugh: there’s an ad on TV in the UK plugging some financial app for people who want to invest in shares but are clearly too stupid to seek out a legitimate, accountable broker. Whatever. Anyway, the gist of the ad is that you wouldn’t ask your brother-in-law or bartender for stock market tips, and it shows some grubby-looking, beardy, unkempt schmuck suggesting one should invest in LaserDiscs to the far cooler-looking target of the advertisement. Chuckle? I almost fell off the sofa.

Recommended Reference Component: Technics EAH-TZ700 Earphones

Details: Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors; Category: Components Components; Created: 01 January 2021 01 January 2021

Simaudio Moon Usb Driver

In Brent Butterworth’s review of the Technics EAH-TZ700 earphones, which appeared on SoundStage! Solo in October, he highlighted that they “employ an unusual design that almost no one uses, and that’s for very good reason. From an engineering standpoint, it makes a lot of sense. But from a marketing standpoint . . . not so much.” Brent went on to explain how “the design packs a single driver into a tiny enclosure made from highly non-resonant material,” which, he said, “adds no significant resonance of its own” and, due to its small size, negates the “need for a long or twisty soundtube between the driver and your eardrum.” The result, Brent summed up, has the listener “hearing the driver and almost nothing else.”

Foxcable625