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Just got this in yesterday and cold right out of the box, put a big smile on my face. This thing has gobs of PRAT and I now have BASS like I never had before. BIG SOUND out of this black box. Hate to use this cliche but I am hearing things (minute details) that I never heard before. Could be a keeper.

So I've been thinking (with a little help from some of the discussions here) of seeing what vinyl has to offer and it turns out I can get hold of this table for less than the replacement price of just the Virtuoso cartridge it comes with. Financial considerations aside, though, would this be a decent place to plant a flag? I believe it's an upgraded and rebadged Clearaudio Emotion table and it comes with their Satisfy tonearm and aforementioned MM cartridge. Michael Fremer and Robert Greene both gave it good write-ups a few years back, for what that's worth.

https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-x-airist-audio-r-2r-dac/talk/2101227?utm_source=linkshare&referer=TYMJB2 On the left, sosolar's design since 2015, on the right "Massdrop Made" by Airist audio. That's a new low for Massdrop.

I've had the Maverick Audio TubeMagic D2 DAC for a while and I've been going back and forth between using LM4562 Opamps and the OPA627 Opamps that came pre-upgraded with this unit (each two single OPA627 OpAmps on an adapter board to create a dual opamp). Each had it's pros and cons but neither really seemed to be giving me everything I wanted. The OPA627 seemed more smooth, but almost too smooth, to the point of lacking texture in some cases. The LM4562 had more of the texture that I preferred, but can also be just a bit harsh, especially for long listening sessions. The tube output, using a Sylvania 5670W tube, did help, but only so much. http://gotnorice.com/B…

Associated Equipment: Sources: SOTA Star Sapphire Seris III table Fidelity Research FR64fx arm (Effective mass 20-22 grams) Benz Micro Glider L2 cartridge (Low output MC, 0.3mV, medium compliance) Merrill Heiloom table Eminent Technology ET2 arm Ortofon MC20 cart (Info on this is lacking, but IIRC I've seen an ad for this same cart in a magazine from the 1970's. What I read is very LOW output, very LOW compliance. I would guess an output less than or equal to 0.15mV, based on comparison to my Glider) Phono Stages: Benz Lukaschek PP-1 (pre-dates T9 version) Rogue Stealth (version 2.0 circuit board, has a pair of AD 797 opamps) Preamps/Headphone Amps: Eddi…

Bitstream: CEDIA: McIntosh's SACD/CD Player Not cheap, obviously, but considering all that it does and such, this might fill a void for some folks around here, especially if you kill a bunch of birds with one stone like what this thing does.

Has anyone had a chance to hear the new McIntosh SACD/CD beast yet. I'm pretty sure this uses the new ESS ES9018 chip. It also has SPDIF in so this is certainly a contender for the 2-channel system. Well except for the fact it has a $6500 MSRP and at that price point it better be pretty special.

I am looking for measurements of the voltage out level of various sources, commercial and otherwise. Nominally, sources are "line level", but this turns out to be a term without a lot of real adherence. Consumer gear is said to be at -10dBV, which equates with ~0.316V RMS, but most sources seem to run hotter than that. Pro gear has a US standard (+4dBu or ~1.228V RMS which is 1.78dBV) and a German one (+6dBu, 1.55V RMS or 3.78dBV). Notice that V RMS, dBV, dBu, and dB are all different things -- you can convert between some of them at dB dBu dBFS dBV to volts conversion - calculator volt volts to dBu and dBV dB mW - convert dB volt convertor converter calculation onli…

Not sure if this is the right forum for this, as it's not a source component... but then again it doesn't really fit anywhere else. I'm sure you know Jan Meier and his work. He just released an interesting new product, which - if anything - is certainly innovative. An external DSP box for headphones and speakers, with digital ins and outs, and an analog section with headphone and line outputs. All controls happen with physical buttons but on the digital realm, with an EQ, crossfeed (as expected), and then a number of more unique features I haven't come across before. More details here. I've been following the development of it via his newsletter, it's …

https://www.mhsecure.com/mhdirect/product.php?productid=49&cat=0&page=1 Wow UNL-8 without mic pre amps for $4K great price and now for those that wanted a stripped down version here it is. I love my Sonic 305 (ULN- but this is $2 less and the dac section is absolutely world class.

I haven't seen this DAC being talked about here so I will just leave this here. Designs-wise, the DAC interesting because apparently it uses 4 "industrial-grade" non-oversampling DACs (2 per channel) whatever they are and it doesn't have a digital filter. Price-wise, it seems reasonable enough. The most expensive model with black anodized case and external PSU will set you back €710 or a little less under $1000. Shame it's still single-ended and has no built-in USB. Here is the home-site and a white paper posted there detailing this NOS digital filter-less concept. I wonder what do our resident DAC experts like Filburt and Colin have to say about this as the con…

Just got this stack last week (except the top bit). As a combo, it sounds really fantastic and it's really got me listening to my headphones again. Way better than the Desktop DAC in that little convertible (that isn't wildly surprising...). I was somewhat skeptical about the X-10 (tube buffer), but I think it sounds better with than without so it can't be complete BS. Anyone else heard this setup? (I'm selling the X-CAN v3 that came with it if anyone wants it...). I see there is a new MF X-DAC v8 (3 + 1 = 8?) which includes the PSU, and tube section, as well as USB input in 1 bigger box. Glamour shot attached

Just got this baby installed. It sounds a little better than my Moodlab did, still breaking in, only 1 hour old. Have a 1962 GE tube in it, been conjuring up the wallet resources to get a fancier tube like a 396 or a Bendix *shudder*. Seems to be more musical than other DACs as people have told me...you really get a feel for the instruments not just fancy bold noises and sounds. And with that, I'll take any questions. MHDT has good service, they took about a day to get back to me and then I got set up. DAC took 4 days to come. Shipped Saturday, came Wednesday. They're turbo fast, it cleared customs in 4 hours luckily enough. There was a powdered Chinese tube …

Just reading this review over at audio asylum. Chinese made top loading/upsampling (192khz) redbook CDP. Employs two 12ax7 tubes. $689 at Pacific Valve. Your thoughts?

Universal Audio | 2192

Per 6Moons news snippet: I've liked their products I've had or heard, this sounds pretty nice. Sounds far enough off, we'll see if it comes in with that estimated price intact....

http://picasaweb.google.com/asebastian2/DoubleCrown/photo#5107114672554852322 So pretty! These are the ultra rare and highly acclaimed double crown version of the 20 year old R2R non-OS Phillips TDA1541A chip. Haven't been tested by my DAC builder to see if they are legit ;p But hopefully they are! They use this chip (only 1 or 2 though) in the highest end Zanden dac and various old school players like the Marantz CD-7. Apparently crazies in Japan build dacs with 32-64 of these chips per channel. Very pricey at $100-$150 if you can find them ;p Asebastian sourced them for me and is planning on sticking them in a modified version of this dac: http://www.ecdesi…

Here it tis. The Apollo mod, as little modding as it is.

Ok - its time for me to spend a little $'s on my hobby. I'm trying to decide what I want next. I bought the Sony c555es with the intention to have it modded - but it hasn't happened yet. Instead I ended up with a squeezebox & a DA100 DAC. Now I'm wondering if the modded 555es will best the DA100. I don't have lots of experience with sources so hopefully someone will have some good suggestions for me. My amp is a SP PPX3 slam & my cans are RS1, Darth Beyer V3 & AT 900 ltd.

I finally spent some time critically listening to my recently-modded (by a Head-Caser, who shall remain anonymous) CA Azur 640C V2 after putting it off for far too long. Mods to the CDP included: - caps on main power, secondary, filter input, filter output, and de-coupling rolled to Rubycon Black Gates (not sure what was in place before) - 5 filter op-amps socketed and rolled to National LME49720 (from stock TI NE5532) - WIMA 0.1uF C0G cap inserted across the rails Before: (click for larger) After: (click for larger) And How Does It Sound? I tried to replicate my original 2006/07 setup as best as I could. The original setup back then was:…

Someone on the other board mentioned: I've not heard of this. Can anyone shed some light on what this accomplishes and who this RWA is?

Hey everyone I have been feeling an itch to to get a DAC capable of 24bit/96Khz or better. I currently have and love my Stax DAC talent. About what level of current DAC would exceed the quality of my current DAC? Do $500 DACs now exceed the quality of classic DACs? Or would I need to spend over $1000 or more to notice a difference? For those that don't know the DAC has a Burr Brown PCM63P which can do 20bit/48Khz. Some specs are Digital Filter: 20bit Oversampling: 8x Bit conversion: 20/16 Total harmonic distortion: 0.0015% (1kHz, 0dB) 0.015% (1kHz,-20dB); 1.5% (1kHz,-60dB) Frequency response: DC ... 20kHz (± 0.5dB) S / N ratio: 118dB Dynamic Range: 104dB C…

I am very happy with my PS Audio DLIII, but I was thinking about someday doing the stage 3 or 4 Cullen mods to my PS Audio DLIII - PS Audio DAC, GCHA, GCPH modifications - Cullen Circuits It wont void the warranty and reviews have been very positive. But someone else recommended another company that did his PSA DLIII mods: Reference Audio Mods, cd player mods,audio mods, audio modifications Do any of you guys have any experience with either company and have any opinions you could share? I'm posting here because at the other forum I expect to get too many conflicting thoughts and opinions from people who have never even heard the mods. Like I said, I am very hap…

It arrived yesterday, didn't get around to taking any pics till tonight though. here's some internal shots of the external tube rectified ps: and a few shots of the 9100es internal and external: Initial impressions are positive so far, it has absolutely killer bass and I'm pleasantly surprised by it's ability retain a coherent stage regardless of the complexity of the music.

I'm considering a Transporter as a source upgrade in the not so near future and I was just wondering if anyone here has heard the Modwright modded Transporter? Dan Wright sent one to CanJam but I didn't get a chance to really listen to it. I did play around with Grahame's stock Transporter and liked it but wasn't sure if it was playing by itself or if it was hooked up to Al's Amarra. Any opinion or impressions would be greatly appreciated!