The Best Ears on Earth
We put the imersiv D-1 DAC to the ultimate test in the studios of over forty classical recording engineers, acoustic music producers, top mastering engineers, and film score composers.
The result?
I must warn you — once you experience the D-1 DAC, going back to whatever you are currently using, no matter how much you paid for it, is going to be difficult.
Honestly, I can’t confidently identify any real differences in the sound quality of today’s professional high-end DACs. That opinion changed when I dropped the D-1 into my studio playback system. It’s not hype; this D/A is a game-changer. Its ability to provide depth and separation is breathtakingly 3D. I urge professionals and hi-fi enthusiasts to take a listen to the D-1.
John Cuniberti, Multi-Grammy awarded, countless platinum and gold record producer. Inventor of REAMP audio processing. Joe Satriani, Tracy Chapman, Sammy Hagar, Thomas Dolby, Paul Gilbert, Mickey Hart.
WOW!! The integration of your DAC into my stereo mix chain is astounding! Man, what a difference in dimension and resolution. Really incredible. Congratulations!!
Dennis Sands, Multi-Grammy awarded, Oscar-nominated film and music mixer with over 400 credited films, including Avengers: Endgame (2019, $2.8B) and Shawshank Redemption (IMDB #1 film).
This converter is like no other I have heard other than my M** DAC. But! Your converter takes it to another level. It combines all the elements of what we love about analog and what we love about digital. It’s truly the future. Sub bass clarity, top end quality, attack (punch/definition) and of course resolution are A+++. I could go on about my observations and benefits BUT the truth is as follows:
When the converter left my room and I went back to my Hot Rod System, I went into shock at how my chain was not as good as I thought. Beautiful Job!
Jack Joseph Puig, Multi-platinum, Multi-Grammy award winner — Green Day, Stones, Counting Crows, Diana Ross, Chaka Kahn, Clapton, Dire Straits, U2, etc.. https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jack-joseph-puig-mn0000117563#credits
It really is an insanely rare time that a piece of gear changes the landscape.
It’s in the detail and higher transients that I notice how good it is. A snare may sound nice on my B** convertor but with the imersiv I hear a clearer image of the edge of the attack. Cymbal crashes sound less harsh. Electric bass seems more defined. Wow! And acoustic guitar clarity; once again the edge of the note/string attack is more detailed and opens the sound up more.
Today, I mixed 3 songs through the D-1. Electronic-based darker pop music. I felt I was better equipped to place deep low synth parts. Mostly I was able to work faster, especially in iZotope RX11 where I was cleaning up vocals and some parts. Imersiv opens up the sound so much! I’m shitting bricks up here! This is stellar!
Larry Crane, Engineer / Producer. Founder and Editor, Tape Op Magazine
https://tapeop.com/issues/
I started using the D-1 DAC while mixing the latest Alison Krauss & Union Station record.
I began with my normal mix and monitoring path, then midway through the mix switched to the D-1. Alison noticed it immediately — without knowing I had changed anything — and was genuinely taken aback. Her reaction confirmed everything I was already hearing.
The width, depth, and dimensionality are remarkable. The image opens up, the low-level detail becomes easier to hear, and the space around the vocal and instruments feels more natural, more revealing, and, to me, more emotional. It gives me a clearer, deeper, more musical window into the mix, and once you hear it, there’s no going back.
Gary Paczosa, Ten-time Grammy-winning engineer / mixer / producer
Alison Krauss • Nickel Creek • Billy Strings • John Prine • Sierra Ferrell • Dolly Parton
Just wanted to let you know this DAC is astonishing. I’m working on a remaster of the classic Albert King/Stevie Ray Vaughn live album, “In Session.” Source was 30 IPS, 1/2 -inch 2-Trk mix masters. I’ve level matched outputs on your DAC to the M** DAC and I can select on the Maselec monitor control. The difference is truly amazing. The best way I can describe the difference is the M** DAC is like 35 mm film – beautiful in its own way. Your DAC is like switching to IMAX. The color, depth, and low-level detail is breathtaking. The M** sounds very muffled and lacking low level detail like room reverb and “air” around the vocal and sound in general.
This DAC is amazing, really, and I think you have breathed a whole new life into PCM! It’s mind blowing to me that this detail is actually already preserved in the PCM recording and this DAC is capable of retrieving it.
Paul Blakemore | multi-Grammy nominated Chief Mastering Engineer, Concord Music ($5B portfolio value)
We have dozens of DACs here, some of which are considered to be “the world’s finest”. Frankly, the sonic differences near the top of the line can be considered “incremental”. But that just changed. The imersiv D1 is exponentially better than all of those. My best recordings sound like good recordings on all those other DACs, but on the D1 they feel like live performances! The musicians are transparently right in front of me! The D1 somehow captures the dynamics, ambience, impact, transients and three-dimensionality of real life. You’ve spoiled me. It’s a new listening standard which has reset all my expectations.
Then I measured the D1 with my Spectraplus analysis system, just to see the numbers. The D1 noise floor and distortion is so low that I had to use special techniques to measure it. It exceeds the performance of “standard” DACs by orders of magnitude, so my ears definitely weren’t fooling me!
Bob Katz, Recording, mixing, mastering engineer on hundreds of records, including three Grammy winners, author “Mastering Audio: The Art and Science” (in 3rd printing), Paquito D’Rivera, Ron Carter, Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, Livingston Taylor… Inventor of the K-System and the K-Stereo process
Hey John, what you and your team have done is incredible. DACs have evolved over the decades to get to a measure of minute differences between them — polishing the paradigm to a finer and finer degree. However, the D-1 is an entirely new evolution of DAC technology. And the result is simply stunning. A relaxed clarity that has depth and detail that pulls me into the music. This is where low-level information like localization cues, transients and overtones are revealed — dramatically opening the realism in music. It’s relaxed and yet obvious at the same time. It’s all in the details. I can’t wait to see where this new approach leads the industry. Congratulations to you and your team, John. Simply Amazing!
Michael Romanowski, five-time Grammy winning engineer / producer. Founder of The Tape Project, Michael has mastered more than 3000 releases and is a pioneer in immersive recording. https://www.coastmastering.com/
I am completely blown away. This is how recordings should sound. It’s like the artists are here in my studio with me. All the passion and breath I remember from the sessions. The Imersiv is not going back!
Cookie Marenco, Five-time Grammy Producer nominee (Windham Hill), musician / producer / engineer. Over 1000 engineering credits. CEO, Blue Coast Records.
Tony Furtado, Charlie Haden, Tony Levin, Ralph Towner, Paul McCandless, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Art Lande, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Mark Isham.
https://bluecoastrecords.com/
This is a great accomplishment. Congratulations. I’ve yet to hear anything, including in cost no object audiophile setups, that offer this much clarity and detail while maintaining the proper tonal balance.
I’ve attached some tracks that I’ve been using for auditioning. All things that I recorded and have heard 1000 times. Where I hear the biggest difference is at the beginning of notes. Whether it’s the vibration of a bassoon reed, the attack of a harp or the silvery sound of gut on strings, the detail is amazing yet natural. The same thing can be said about the depth and imaging — amazing! Yet entirely natural.
My most dramatic ‘Wow’ moment was listening to the first DSD track. It’s a very simple song with two sops and two altos, a male voice joining for the chorus. Again, it’s in the stark realism and depth of attack. My “big3” = G**, C** and M** all sound slightly foggy in comparison.
Brad Michel, multi-Grammy, multi-every-audio-award-winning engineer/producer https://www.bradmichel.com/about
I just spent two years shooting out high-end DACs.
The imersiv is a cut above.
I was stunned. More depth, dimension, and detail.
Pete Lyman, Infrasonic Sound, Nashville TN
https://infrasonicsound.com/