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Aesthetix Pandora Tube DAC+Tubes+Speakers Cables


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Item: Aesthetix Pandora Tube DAC
Location: Hills District Sydney
Price: $3,400 including postage (RRP $8,500)
Item Condition: Excellent without a mark on it.  Original packaging and a brand new unopened remote still in bubble wrap
Reason for selling: NLR
Payment Method: Pickup - Cash, Bank T T
Extra Info:

 

Upgrade of tubes to NOS Telefunken 12ax7 smooth plates. Tubes only a few months usage.

 

Also included in the deal are the below used tubes:

Tungsol 12ax7 x 2 

Tungsol 12ax7 gold x 2 

Electro Harmonix 6922 x 2

 

I'm the second owner, bought it from an SNA member here. 

 

This is the probably the most musical DAC I have ever heard. Extremely emotionally engaging and brings soul to your music. Please see below as to how it compares to my previously owned PS Audio Perfectwave Mk2 with bridge:

 

A few reviews for the Pandora DAC (Note that Aesthetix’s Pandora DAC is identical to the Romulus CDP minus disc transport):

 

"This all-tubed CD player and DAC is one of the greatest bargains in high-end audio today. What makes the Romulus special is that it sounds so "un-digital," particularly at this price. Rather than sounding flat and congealed, the Romulus opens up the spatial presentation and gives instruments and voices room to breathe. The player has an expansive quality along with a sense of top-octave air and openness. The tonal balance is rich and warm in the bass, which, coupled with the treble smoothness, results in an immediately engaging and fatigue-free presentation. The Romulus doesn't sound "tubey" in the classic sense, but neither does it sound like solid-state. The design and build-quality are beyond what's expected at this price. If you have no analog sources, the Romulus can serve as a preamplifier and DAC with multiple digital inputs, provided you purchase the variable-output option ($1000). Thanks to an innovative hybrid analog/digital volume-control, there's no loss of resolution no matter what the volume setting." -Robert Harley, The Absolute Sound Golden Ear Award (September 2014) (note that )

 

 

"Excellent dynamic impact and bass slam with sweet mids and highs." -Jon Iverson, Stereophile Class A Recommended 

 

 

"The Romulus is another home run for Aesthetix, combining innovative circuit design, premium-quality parts and construction, and first-rate sound. This player was never anything less than musically communicative and immensely enjoyable, even in the context of a cost-no-object system. The Romulus is a flat-out bargain at its price, and invites comparison with much more expensive players. In fact, I’d call the Romulus a giant-killer, offering one of the highest price-to-performance ratios in digital playback today". The Absolute Sound

 


Pictures:

pandora front2.jpg

pandora front.jpg

pandora side.jpg

pandora side2.jpg

pandora back.jpg

pandora top.jpg

pandora remote.jpg

old tubes 12ax7.jpg

old tubes 3922.jpg

Edited by steven365
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Ahh it was you that beat me to it, haha. This would be an awesome dac, I have since got the Ayon Sigma which might be similar, one of the best things I have ever done is to introduce tubes to the equation. Had made all of my rock, metal etc 110% more engaging, just beautiful. Telefunkens would make it even better I imagine. Awesome price, GLWTS. It must be something very special to move on from here.

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1 hour ago, Darren69 said:

Ahh it was you that beat me to it, haha. This would be an awesome dac, I have since got the Ayon Sigma which might be similar, one of the best things I have ever done is to introduce tubes to the equation. Had made all of my rock, metal etc 110% more engaging, just beautiful. Telefunkens would make it even better I imagine. Awesome price, GLWTS. It must be something very special to move on from here.

Yep, tubes are addictive, aren’t they? : )  I have since acquired an AYON S-10 Streamer/DAC/Pre. The AYON sounds organic, detailed, transparent, live and holographic. However, Pandora has a much bigger sound stage and heavier punch. When it comes to emotional engagement, I reckon Pandora also  have a slight upper hand. Pandora is more tube rolling friendly so that the sound can be fine tuned to your like as well.

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Yep, tubes are addictive, aren’t they? : )  I have since acquired an AYON S-10 Streamer/DAC/Pre. The AYON sounds organic, detailed, transparent, live and holographic. However, Pandora has a much bigger sound stage and heavier punch. When it comes to emotional engagement, I reckon Pandora also  have a slight upper hand. Pandora is more tube rolling friendly so that the sound can be fine tuned to your like as well.

I think he wants you to to buy it[mention=140952]Darren69[/mention] and maybe you should! Lol... Sounds like it will be an upgrade!

 

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@DMax

Nope, not really trying to convince anyone to buy.  Just sharing my honest opinion. If you read the link I posted above you’d realise that I was quite passionate about Pandora and was thinking of upgrading the Pandora to the Eclipse version until I realised the upgrade cost ($9000AUD) is out of my budget.

 

I’m sure @Darren69‘s Ayon Sigma is a wonderful piece as I’m using Ayon S-10 and I’ve been quite impressed. Having said that I do occasionally miss the deep emotional engagement that Pandora gave me.

 

Not sure about you @DMax, but I think each DAC has their strengths and weaknesses(in relative terms) even the high end ones. 

 

 

Edited by steven365
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Now will include for free a pair of Anticables speaker cable (7 feet level 3.1 speaker cables with spade terminals at amp end and banana terminals at speaker end). This is probably the most organic sounding speaker cables I’ve ever heard!

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