Review B.M.C. Audio Ultradac

Comparing

Our reference dac in this price range is the Sonnet Morpheus. The Morpheus is a NOS dac without bells and whistles and without headphone output. The Morpheus has different strenghts and chooses purity and honesty above anything else. An ideal dac to test with, but also one to enjoy immensely. The Morpheus sounds flawless on the AHB2 with an authority at the bottom end that you wouldn’t expect. The bass is incredibly fast and loose; like a sprinter that barely touches the ground. In the Ultradac the low tones resonate a bit longer. A striking difference between both dacs. 

The Morpheus is faster and fiercer than the Ultradac which counters with a pleasant fullness that works well with a leaner speaker. Imaging by the Morpheus is slightly better than the Ultradac, the Morpheus pulls everything a little more apart, but detailing as such is on the same level. Still, the Morpheus goes a bit further on almost every level but all in all the Ultradac holds it’s own. And when it comes to emotion and involvement the Ultradac wins by a hair.

Headphones

Since the headphone amplifier also received a lot of attention during the design process, we took the time to thoroughly test and compare this section with our HPA4. We take out both our Hifiman Sundara and a Fostex TH900 MK2. By the way, thanks to Mafico for providing us with the Fostex.

Our Sundara is not really hard to drive but through our fine it sounds rather plain. When we attach it to the Ultradac or HPA4, it comes to life. We listen to new work from Tricky and the Ultradac really squeezes the last percent of sound out of these great budget-friendly headphones. The balance especially is excellent. The beats come through tightly and the voice of Marta Zlakowska (Tricky’s new muse) inspires. We don’t hear any noise when we turn up the volume (without music) and there is enough power on board to control the Sundara smoothly.

Japanese tradition versus Deutsche Gründlichkeit

This is different with the Fostex. We have tested it before and were only moderately enthusiastic at the time. It’s quite expensive and the sound wasn’t quite convincing. Nevertheless, the Fostex has a lot of qualities. From the bark to the finish, it’s made entirely by hand by a craftsman and equipped with perhaps the most beautiful lacquer paint on the market. It also sits comfortably on the head, a quality that is often underestimated. A nice bonus is the included headphone-holder so you can hang this gem carefree. How will these ‘cans’ perform on the Ultradac?

Handling these headphones is easy and not a problem what so ever, the volume even has to go down a little in relation to the Sundara. Even on a phone or computer these headphones will perform effortlessly. What immediately strikes us is the beautiful bass! We hear much more impact and information than through the Sundara. Everything sounds more open and so it should be considering the price difference. The TH900 MKII is not a hyper-realistic performer, but one that focuses on emotion and involvement. 

High frequencies don’t come accross as sharp on the Ultradac, in contrast to the experience of colleague Yung on the Bryston BHA-1 (Dutch). Bizarre. Let’s see if it works well with our Benchmark HPA4. Again, the ‘match’ is not ideal. With the Ultradac the balance is just right and the warm blanket, that we already heard through the speakers, does wonders.  A tube amp could also work well we believe but it’s still striking how difficult it is to find a suitable amplifier for the TH900 MKII.