I have a Soekris dac2541 as a loaner, here are my toughts:
These are tonally identical, organic and realistic sound (organic= lifelike, natural)
- Soekris does seems to have more detailed sound.
- Vio has a larger image
- Soekris has more impact, but vio hits with a larger volume
- Separation is not as simple to describe, Vio image is larger, and sound placement it easier, however Soekris has a cleaner sound
and as such instruments are cleaner in that narrow space
- Vio sounds vintage in comparison, but not in a bad way. The analogue approach is better suited for some.
- Midrange is identical
I will say that Soekris is the winner here, tough I'm not changing my DAC to it. V850 stacks nicely with my V222
Just a remark: If there is time between dac changes, I would have a hard time to separate these two.
EDIT: After some more listening:
- Midrange still identical
- The detail goes like this: With Soe I notice a detail that I have not heard or focused on before, but then when I listen with Vio, it is there also, just did not hear it before.
- Vio sounds clearly smoother, and the vocals are slightly closer to you also.
- Bass is almost identical, cant even describe what is different with these two
I am listening Tool - Chocolade Chip Trip FLAC
Doing this comparison made me realize how hard DAC comparisons are...or my Stealths / Elites are just not detailed enough