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Exogal Comet DAC Review

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Black-Comet

Exo-galaxy

When I first heard the name “Exogal,” I associated it with the host of Marvel Comic superheroes being made into movies. It seems the list of characters that haven’t been immortalized in film is growing thin, as evidenced by the recent addition of Ant Man. Exogal conjured in my mind some waif in an Iron Man-like getup. As far as comics go, it wouldn’t be far off, as it doesn’t take much imagination to make a superhero movie nowadays.

What does take a bit of imagination is the creation of a new DAC, or more precisely, a new method of rendering digital media such that music sounds more natural. In order to do so, Exogal has done away with the typical treatment of zeroes and ones by choosing not to merely oversample and upsample, but rather use an algorithm to create an entirely new digital signal for conversion to analogue. More on that momentarily, but first, an introduction to the team at Exogal.

There are no women on the team, a real shame, for it prevents me from continuing with the heroine theme. We’ll have to settle for the four principals who migrated from Wadia when it went through what I’ll call a business conversion and final assimilation by the Fine Sounds Group. Jeff Haagenstad, the CEO who sets the agenda for product development, in an interview shed further light on the other partners. Jim Kinne, whom I had the pleasure of meeting along with Jeff at dinner one evening during Axpona 2015, is the Chief Technology Officer. The Exogal website states simply, “Jim’s philosophy is to design products for optimal listening, not just to test well in a lab. If it’s optimized for listening, inevitably it will test well. The reverse is not always true.” Larry Jacoby is Vice President of Manufacturing Engineering, and Jan Larson is the Chief Operating Officer. Read more about the company on the blog at the Exogal website.

I will begin my accolades early, as rarely have I seen a company bring its first product to market in such a well-planned and executed fashion. The Exogal Comet is a “total package” device, thoroughly thought out and beautifully crafted. It appears more like an offering from a company in the game for decades rather than one established in 2013. When a team of leaders having depth of experience pools their resources, a quality product had better result, or they might be ex-industry members! There is too much competition for a garage startup outfit to support four men who have had careers in HiFi. Aspirations run high for Exogal, as evidenced by the name referring to “Out of this Galaxy,” sound.

 

What is the Comet?

Jeff stressed that the Comet is not just a DAC, as a DAC is normally occupied with crunching numbers through interpolation, either oversampling or upsampling, and filtering the result. The attempt is made in most DACs to accept the signal entering the device and bolster it, unless it is a non-oversampling DAC. Either way, the signal retains its “sharp corners” as Jeff states, a truncated waveform not resembling analogue waveform. Output filtering is typically put into such DACs to smooth the result. Conversely, the Exogal software calculates the slope and rate of change across the samples to smooth the waveform, resulting in a massive DSP re-rendering of the waveform. In fact, the original signal is not converted into the analogue waveform, but rather an improved copy without the digital artifacts, is created, a form of signal replacement. Consider it to be like Invasion of the Body Snatchers for a digital signal.

Imagine a 20-mile long mountain road that winds through a pass at varying inclines and degrees of curvature. Further, imagine that every 1,000 feet there is a lengthy patch of unfinished road where there is a drop off of two inches to a gravel stratum. This is like the typical digital signal. Exogal is a creative road crew that goes the extra mile, calculating the variables in the road and instead of inserting virtual filler, creates an entirely new road without patches. The result is a much smoother ride. You may not be on the original road, but you’re going to like the trip a whole lot more!

 

Cute as a button

Hey! Where are the buttons? The Comet has no buttons because it’s intended to be less like a vintage component and more like a contemporary lifestyle device fit to integrate with phones and streaming audio. The chassis is a buffed aluminum compartment with mild curvature and flat black inset top, perhaps only 1/3 the size and weight of a standard component. The front display is not only unobtrusive, it’s nearly non-existent! At a bit larger than one square inch, it was all but indiscernible from my listening chair 12 feet away. The only thing I could read was the volume level. The lighting and angle of viewing had to be just right, for if I had the wall sconces on, all was ok, but when the ceiling can lights were on, it was useless.

How can such a glaring mistake be made on a component designed by four industry experts? It is not a mistake but intentional, as Exogal does not wish for the owner to actually use the display. The goal was to make the Comet thoroughly compatible with handheld devices such as a phone. The Comet has a downloadable Apple Device Application which will allow it to be used with any Apple iPhone 4s or newer, iPod Touch (5th Generation or newer). As I have a Samsung phone, I had to content myself with other means of control pertaining to my Apple iPad.

I use a $5 app called Splashtop, which puts my Mac Mini’s screen on my iPad. The music software I have been using is called HQPlayer, and it has capacity to upconvert 16/44.1 to 32 bits and absurdly high clock frequency rates. With the Comet, I have successfully converted standard redbook quality files to 32 bit and clock frequencies of both 2.8GHz and 6.1MHz. Unlike most DACs that are limited in the clock frequency, according to Jeff, the Comet is potentially unlimited. I was able to get the HQPlayer software to cooperate in rendering the upconversion at 32 bit/ 6.1MHz ! Merely changing the setting of file playback from 2.8MHz to 6:1MHz was efficacious enough to merit that setting continuously.

There are plenty of debates regarding how to control the listening level when using multiple devices with volume controls. I opted to peg the Comet’s preamp output at 100 and control volume from the HQPlayer software on the iPad. I would rather have the convenience of remote volume than get my butt off a chair every time I switch a track and seek the optimum level. There are very few times when convenience may trump performance, but having a remote control volume is what I consider a necessity.

The first remote supplied was the SR71 Smart Remote, a pittance of a pointer with a narrow and limited IR range. Thankfully, it seems from customer feedback, Exogal sent an improved, that is marginally larger, remote, which fit the bill. It has basic functions; the left/right buttons adjust down/up volume, the top button steps through the Inputs (AES/EBU on XLR, SPDIF on 75Ohm BNC, Toslink, USB-B, Analog on isolated RCA), and the bottom button switches between Main outputs and Head (phone) output.

8 Responses to Exogal Comet DAC Review


  1. Just a few comments:

    First, our entire marketing team is female! And we couldn’t run this place without Heather who handles all the day to day details like finance and production! We certainly think they’re all superheros!

    Second, while the choice of display was intentional, we’ve heard loud and clear that not all customers approve and so we’ll handle the issue of displays differently in the future. However the emphasis on device apps won’t go away. That approach simply allows us too many cool feature and control options!

    Third, customers can find links to Clarity and WyWires on our web site as well as the instructions for changing the umbilical.

    We’re glad you liked the Comet! Thank you very much for the kind words.

    Jeff Haagenstad
    CEO, EXOGAL

  2. Jeff,
    God’s Peace,
    Thanks for the additional input on the unit. The truth is that there are a lot of heroic women supporting the luminaries in this industry! God bless them for patience and consistency to help out their half-crazed inventor husbands and the sacrifices they’ve made to float a business!

    I still have to do that power supply cable upgrade, and I’ll try to report on it here it it happens. Hey, WyWires, you seeing this? 🙂

    Blessings,
    Douglas Schroeder

  3. Brian Walsh says:

    Doug, thank you again for a thorough review. I’m glad we had a chance to get together and for the opportunity to introduce you to the Comet early on and to Jeff and Jim at AXPONA.

  4. Hi Doug,

    Kudos on a well done review. I own a Comet with the upgraded power supply and can recommend the Comet without reservation. Regarding the umbilical to connect the power supply to the DAC, it’s available now. We are still collecting comments from our beta test team and expect to be able to formally launch before Thanksgiving. If you like, I can send you one. Please contact me.

  5. Alex,
    God’s Joy to you,

    Thanks for responding to my inquiry regarding the umbilical!

    For the community’s information, I have corresponded with Alex and arranged to have a Wywires umbilical sent to me. I look forward to seeing how it influences the Comet’s performance.

    Blessings,
    Douglas Schroeder

  6. Craig says:

    Doug,

    Per this review I’ve been playing around with HQPlayer streaming to my Comet. So thanks for the introduction. But I do have one point of clarification…

    You say you have HQPlayer converting to 32/6.1MHz. Unless I am missing something, this seems to be combining facets of PCM with DSD output. In order to get to 6.1MHz HQPlayer will be churning out a DSD stream which is only 1 bit. On the other hand, if you choose PCM as the output you can get your 32bits but the Comet will max out at 384KHz. You can set HQPlayer to a higher PCM sample rate, but the results are not correct. (The music “slows down” at a rate consistent with the multiple over 384. Ie. twice that sample rate causes the music to slow to half speed. Four times will slow to quarter speed, etc.)

    If I am wrong, please correct me as I would also like to get a true 32/6.1MHz if that really is possible.

    Thanks.

  7. Craig,
    God’s Peace,

    Thank you for the analysis of the output! I will not debate your analysis, frankly, mostly because I have moved on from the HQ Player quite a while ago and do not have the equipment, nor the time to revisit it. I have been through at least two other digital sources since then, and currently use the Small Green Computer server with dedicated power supply paired with the SONORE Signature Rendu SE and the systemOPtique add on. See my review of these both here at Dagogo.com if you wish to explore.

    Your best bet is to contact Jeff Haagenstad at Exogal, and he will know immediately whether I misspoke or whether 32/6.1MHz is possible.

    I do know that the Comet is advertised to be agnostic to incoming signals, and I have found over time that the variances in sound quality are far finer, and often indiscernible, with the Comet than with any other DAC I have used. Jeff states clearly that you will hear no difference regardless of the incoming signal. While I at times believe I do hear differences, they are much less than with other DACs.

    I use ROON’s user interface now, and in all the comparisons between ROON’s Digital Engine settings I found that they were insipid, and I concluded that I was better off turning the entire Digital Engine function Off, and reverting to use of native 16/44.1 signal. As they say, YMMV.

    Blessings,
    Douglas Schroeder

  8. Christopher says:

    I was pretty much sold on the Exogal Comet Plus but have an opportunity for a very good price on a COS D2V. I am running potent class D and using Magnapan LRS and servo open baffle subs.
    Does anyone have any input regarding the two. I hear the Exogal is more tolerant and the COS is more detailed to be very general.
    I listen to mostly classic rock, prog rock and female voices.
    The idea of American made is of interest in these times as well.
    Thanks

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