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Item: Bel Canto DAC 3.5VB Mk II DAC and VBS 1 Power Supply (black faceplates) with VB Ref Cable
Location: Melbourne
Price: $2500.00 + Postage
Item Condition:Excellent -3 year old, with original boxes
Reason for selling: surplus
Payment Method: Pickup - Cash, Bank Transfer COD Only or Post to Australia wide at buyer expense
Extra Info: See Below
I bought this wonderful DAC for the use in my second system last year from fellow forum member Galactic Soap who in turn bought this unit from other forum member Rossb, please see the original posting link.
However, after the purchase, I have realized that I only listen to my main system most of time. Hence this DAC has not been used very much and probably only use 50 hours at max since I brought from Galactic Soap. I’ve got all the original boxes, packaging, manuals and remotes so I could ship so long as you cover the risk and postage costs.There are many reviews of this great DAC on the internet and following are the few from the original posting.
Here’s a link to @rossb’s original classified ad. The unit’s haven’t moved from my rack since the journey from his place to mine:
http://www.stereo.ne...1-power-supply/
Some reviews I’ve borrowed from Ross’s ad:
The sound of the Bel Canto DAC 3.5VB Mk II is huge, lifelike and enveloping. It has tonal richness, taut bass and outstanding dynamics. There have been many reviews - here an extract of one from ultra audio (http://www.ultraaudi...ink-vbs1-vb-ref):
The word that best describes my first experience with the Bel Canto stack -- and this took me, oh, maybe ten minutes to conclude -- is relaxed. It wasn’t that the sound was necessarily relaxed, but that I quite easily relaxed while listening to music through these products. I began with Enya’s most recent album, And Winter Came . . . (16/44.1 AIFF, Reprise), then listened to her third, Shepherd Moons (16/44.1 AIFF, Reprise), from way back in 1991. All the characteristics inherent in Enya’s music -- the massive soundstage, the enveloping atmosphere, the ethereal vocals -- were reproduced without flaw. I didn’t find myself focusing on any microscopically small aspect of the sound, as we audiophiles sometimes do, but simply enjoyed the performance and the sound quality as a whole. ...
Two other DACs I’ve listened to in the past year helped me place the Bel Cantos in greater perspective. When I reviewed the Hegel Music Systems HD25 ($2500), I concluded that though it had a slightly softer, less resolving sound than the dCS Debussy ($11,499), its inherent musicality made it just as enjoyable to listen to as that more-than-four-times-as-costly product. The Bel Cantos’ sound was similar in musicality to the Hegel’s, but closer in detail retrieval to the Debussy’s. The Calyx Femto is closer in sound to the dCS Debussy than to the Bel Cantos, with a still greater focus on resolution and airiness in the highs. In many ways, the Bel Cantos might be the best-balanced of the bunch, though that conclusion will surely come down to taste....
As for sound, the Bel Canto stack stacks up well against the DACs that many feel are among the best available, and at less than Arab-sheik prices. They’re sonically very well balanced across the board, but are simply superb in the midrange, where lots of music needs it most. Although the Bel Cantos won’t beat every competing product in every sonic area -- what high-end component does? -- they can stand toe to toe with the best of them, and offer their owner a beautiful view into the heart of the music.
Stereophile's review is here http://www.stereophi...vb-da-converter and concluded:
I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Bel Canto's e.One DAC3.5VB. It does everything you might ever need a DAC to do, and I'd put its sound as being among the best I've heard. In fact, the only other digital sound I've enjoyed significantly more (in an environment I was familiar with) was when I heard the Meridian 808i.2 CD player ($16,995) at John Atkinson's house. Yes, I do think the e.One DAC3.5VB is good enough to stand comparison with a front-end of the Meridian's caliber and price. The Bel Canto's styling, build quality, and performance make it an obvious contender for Class A of our "Recommended Components," and one of the best D/A converters I've heard. And though I've heaped an embarrassing amount of praise on the e.One DAC3.5VB, I'm sure the good Minnesotans at Bel Canto won't let this review go to their heads.
Positive Feedback (http://positive-feed...elcanto_dac.htm):
The Bel Canto 3.5VB strikes as a fundamentally honest DAC. … No doubt a lot of listening went into the design but this isn't a DAC that sounds voiced. It's more about fidelity to the source. … It has a super-clean, upfront presentation … It sounds full-blooded, yet not afraid to the let sharp, edgy attacks through. This increases the jump factor … The utter lack of noise present in the unit … super-clean … no muffling on either a macro or micro level. What's there is heard. … Great detail with no slurring anywhere in the frequency spectrum. … Lack of roll-off at high frequencies … Low noise plus high frequency purity and extension yielded the best sense of attack … The high resolution/low noise also likely contributes to the superb handling of decays through the Bel Canto … never seemed foreshortened … I still value an upfront, direct communicator above all. I'd sacrifice the subtle, beguiling midrange glow of the Ayre, and the slightly deeper, more 3D presentation of the Berkeley for the direct feed quality of the Bel Canto.
Here is a comment from Computer Audiophile:
I've owned the PS Audio PerfectWave DAC (PWD) for about a year, but once I heard the Bel Canto DAC3.5 with the VBS power supply its superiority became immediately apparent. The PWD is a very good performer, but the BC beats it soundly in the naturalness of high frequency reproduction which is easily the best I've heard from digital. The Stereophile review confirms this assessment.
It also excels at presenting a sense of spaciousness around each instrument being reproduced, which helps to more realistically create a visual image of stage positioning and the original recording venue. The natural decay of musical information is reproduced in an exceptionally realistic manner. It is really eerie in this respect with well recorded material. The BC DAC just recreates music with a natural, effortless and spatial presentation which I find to be the most engaging and enjoyable digital playback that I've yet heard.
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