Demograf Audio Hyperion vs dCS Debussy: an owner’s blind comparison

In November 2014 the owner of a Demograf Audio DAC on the Cirrus Logic CS4397 chip, who posts as Rutger, took it to a fellow forum member’s home and compared it blind with his host’s dCS Debussy DAC. His unit was an earlier, simpler build with an EL8 tube output stage and no USB input, and it is not a current catalogue configuration. The current Demograf Audio DAC on the CS4397 is the Hyperion. Below we summarise his report: the set-up, the blind test, how each DAC sounded to him and the conclusions he drew.

These impressions are summarised and translated from owners’ posts on an audiophile forum. They are the subjective views of their authors, not measurements or claims of Demograf Audio.

The set-up

• Source: a TEAC VRDS-10SE CD player used as a transport, since the CS4397 unit had no USB input.
• CS4397 DAC: connected at first by an optical cable (WireWorld Supernova 7), with Demograf Audio interconnects.
• dCS Debussy: connected by a Shunyata Research Python ZiTron coaxial cable, with Shunyata Research Anaconda ZiTron XLR interconnects.
• The CS4397 unit’s output level is higher than the Debussy’s maximum, so the volume was raised or lowered by one step at each switch.
• Music from the owner’s own genres: Still Life’s self-titled album, Royal Hunt’s “The Watchers”, The Moody Blues’ “Every Good Boy Deserves Favour” and Guns N’ Roses’ “Use Your Illusion I”.

The owner points out that the cabling favoured the Debussy, the optical link to the CS4397 DAC most of all, since it adds a second conversion. But the inputs and outputs of the two DACs left no other way to switch quickly between them for a blind test.

The blind test: nine out of ten

They began with ten blind trials. Both the owner and his host identified which DAC was playing in nine cases out of ten. To him this showed above all that the two DACs present music very differently, and that the difference is plainly audible.

dCS Debussy: how it sounded

Very neutral, cool and analytical: precise and even across the range. Stage, detail and separation were, in his words, at the highest level. Yet something was missing for him. The sound felt detached and schematic, “too audiophile”, and it did not move him.

The Demograf Audio CS4397 DAC: how it sounded

Tonal balance

• Not neutral: a slight colouring in the midrange, but in his words a beautiful one, warm in character and felt above all in the midrange.

Soundstage

• Slightly smaller than the Debussy’s, and more intimate.

Bass and density

• A denser, meatier sound, most noticeable in the bass.

Resolution

• Slightly lower. Separation was not a problem, but micro-detail was somewhat smoothed over in some particularly complex pieces.

Character

• More “analogue”, with a soft, comfortable sound for the music lover.

A fault and a change of cables

At one point, with the CS4397 DAC playing Royal Hunt, heavy distortion appeared. By swapping cables the two listeners traced it to a recurring tube problem in the unbalanced section of the host’s headphone amplifier. They then connected the CS4397 DAC with the host’s Shunyata Research cables and listened to it again before returning to the Debussy.

With these cables the CS4397 DAC sounded better, which the owner puts down partly to the cables and partly to its tubes having warmed up. The midrange colouring almost disappeared, and the stage, detail and separation all grew. He was struck by how much the Shunyata coaxial cable lifted the CS4397 DAC.

The owner’s conclusions

When he ordered the DAC, the owner had explained to Dmitriy Gubchenko both his music (art rock, hard rock, progressive rock, heavy metal and power metal) and what he wanted from the converter: an analogue quality, detail, involvement, clean sound and musicality. After a couple of weeks with it he concluded that every one of these requirements had been taken into account.

• He sees the CS4397 DAC as well suited to rock in all its forms, and as a DAC for the true music lover.
• He sees the dCS Debussy as an uncompromising DAC for the true audiophile, though its presentation is far from his own taste.
• Technically the CS4397 DAC is slightly behind the Debussy on some points: stage width, separation in some pieces and micro-detail in complex passages. All of this, he notes, was audible only in a direct comparison.
• On the “analogue” quality of the sound (a term he admits may not be quite right, but which for him describes a component’s sound clearly), on involvement and on musicality, he clearly preferred the CS4397 DAC.

He stresses that his conclusions rest on recordings of the genres he listens to.

Summary

Two listeners told the DACs apart in nine of ten blind trials. The owner heard the dCS Debussy as neutral, cool and analytical, ahead on stage width and micro-detail. He heard his Demograf Audio CS4397 DAC as warmer, denser and more involving, with a slightly more intimate stage. Better cabling and warm-up narrowed the technical gap. His preference followed his music, rock and metal, and his wish for a musical rather than an analytical presentation.

Which Demograf Audio piece fits

• Hyperion is the current Demograf Audio DAC on the Cirrus Logic CS4397. It takes USB (Amanero) up to 24-bit / 192 kHz and DSD256 as well as S/PDIF coaxial. The stock output stage is solid-state; a tube output stage, EL8 and AL4 among the options, can be fitted to order. More owners’ impressions are in our Hyperion owners’ reviews. Optical, AES/EBU and BNC inputs are available on request.
• Hades (Class D amplifier) and Bellerophon (Class AB amplifier) carry a built-in DAC chosen at order time, with the CS4397 as standard.
• Other owners compared their Demograf Audio CS4397 DACs with the Lampizator Golden Gate II, MSB Analog DAC.

Every Demograf Audio converter is made by Dmitriy Gubchenko. Each is made to order and covered by a one-year warranty (extra warranty available: +1 or +2 years).