Home Source Components

I know that some of my pals here are transferring their vinyl collections to digital. Most are using some kind of DAW to split, trim and perhaps add fades to the resulting files which are usually the size of an album side. I'm a big believer in "less it more" in audio and that goes double for editing digital. Light weight programs tend to sound better, are much faster and above all, are a breeze to learn. To that end, I have 5 different programs that I use for audio editing/processing depending on what needs to be done. I could have one DAW that does all that (maybe lacking one or two of the functions) but they tend to be what folks call "bloatware" and have 100's of …

Computer audio novice trying to figure out whether an interim set up would work: If I get a MacMini could I use the USB connection on an Oppo BDP-83SE as an external DAC? OPPO BDP-83 Special Edition Blu-ray Disc Player If not, is there another way to use the player as a DAC for computer based audio until I move to an external DAC?

So I just bought a CKKIII with a built in Alien DAC and the Alien just isn't cutting it for me. The CKKIII is a big upgrade for me, and I thought it was amazing from USB until I hooked it up to my parents cheap CD Player ( JVC XL-FZ158 ) and then it sounded a LOT better. So I think I need a new source to bring to college. Problem is that I don't have a lot of money to spend. For reference I have K701s and Headphiled SR225s. I like the K701s better as of right now. My budget is around $300. I was thinking of several things: The cheapest solution would be to use the Wolfson in my iPod. I could hook up my iPod to my Meier Move, which would function as a pre-amp. I'…

Finally got it

I've been bitten by the upgrade bug, and once I liberate some gear, I'll have about 1k to spend on a new source to replace my mf a3.24. Two questions: Firstly, will 1k be enough to purchase a source that is several steps ahead of the MF dac, and, if so, then what would you recommend?

I think I'm going to forgo my desire to get a Rega P3, I doubt it would be a huge upgrade from my current MMF-5. And I've received some feedback from the SH forums saying as much. The MMF-5 is a great table, I'd just like to make another intermediate jump before going all out. So I've budgeted $1000 plus or minus a little bit for just the turntable and arm. I'm open to spending a decent percentage on the cart as well. But I want to figure this part out first. The VPI Scout/JMW9 is at the top of my list, even though I know a couple of people here aren't fans. And I won't have any problems selling it which is also a big plus. And I've heard a nicely modded Aries3 on num…

Well the darn thing won't turn on. Google comes up with a couple of hard resets, both don't work. Don't have another box or power adapter to test that. It was being real funky yesterday and kept on trying to re update when it had been updated already. Yarg!!!

See Olive just released a lower priced model today. If the O3HD is like the OH4D (no O3HD page up yet) it will have a digital input too. $1K and DAC duty makes this a bit more interesting. Still seems a bit cumbersome to have another library for other devices (iPod, etc.), but curious if any here have experience with their previous models?

I am thinking of getting a Rega Apollo R as a transport for my headphone rig (transport -> PS Audio PWD MKII -> BHSE). I need something that is a half rack size and this seems to be pretty nice. I like that it loads from the top too. Anyone know any reason to not get it? The other option would be a CD player that would be used as a transport and dac (instead of the PWD). This could be full size. It would need to have optical in so that I could play music from my Apple Express.

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…

Read some comments about the dac being especially good in the Pico. The real star of the unit. What's peoples experience trying it with their headamps etc. I thought of hooking it up with a glite for a nice little combo, but maybe the lite would be more sideways than better than the internal amp.

Picked one up mostly due to an interesting feature set. I've had good experience with RME gear being technically impeccable, but falling a bit short in listening tests. The ADI-2 Pro was intended to be an office rig, but I lug it to and fro work, it's that good. Ended up buying one of the limited Anniversary Editions, cuz it's black and has moar pretty. It runs my HD800 balanced with 6x OPA1688 chips pre channel. Sounds as good or better as I've heard any HD800 perform. It also does 5 band PEQ which makes HD800's actually listenable. For my Equator Q12 I use the back XLR's and intend to hook up a MiniDSP via optical to integrate two custom 15" subs. …

At Auriculares.org, the Spanish headphones forum a mate has posted a link to an Ebay shop in Taiwan. They sell a NOS DAC with USB and coax inputs, which doesn't look bad at all and is selling for USD180. I wonder if any of you have tried that unit or has some reliable third party opinions. I'd be glad reading them

Size is getting to be important and looking for a small cheap CDP with digital outs. Coming to you all for help. Used fine. Haven't had luck finding much, but something along the lines of this would work. Otherwise seems to be more DVD players (though not always with displays) in this range. Basically going for a Squeezebox/Lavry/GS-1 rig so trying to keep width near or less than 10". And Dusty Approved Black. Anyone know of any CD models I should consider or DVD players usable with an external display? If only my DVD-2900 was about a quarter its size.

I know that Audio Aero Prima SE and Opus 21 have it, but are there any others? Few others I've seen has been well over my budget. I can spend up to $3000, though less is always preferred.

Anyone keeping an eye on this one? Might be of some interest... Teddy Pardo TeddyDac DAC review - nightmusic - Digital Drive Teddy Pardo home of TeddyCap TeddyXPS power supply for Naim Audio replaces HiCap and XPS

I've had my CDP-2 for a year and a half now, and I really like it. It's the best source I've ever owned. It doesn't have all of the slam that the four DAC chips inside my Adcom GCD-750 produce, but it's much more nimble sounding. Oddly enough, it has great synergy with my 12L Actives. It's not a fair fight, but I prefer the sound of my CDP-2 to my humble Pico DAC (which is great for what it is.) In fact, I like it better than any of the other DACs in my house. The CDP-2 goes for $1200-ish new, AFAIK. What I'd like hear about is any DACs in the price range that best it. I read in another thread on here that the $1500 price bracket for DACs is a crowded one. A num…

Good day everyone, I am in the process of purchasing a new DAC.... So Far, I bought a pair of Sennheiser HD800 and a WOO Audio 6 SE headphone amp. All my music is on Apple Lossless on an external hard drive. My last step is the purchase of a new DAC..... AUDIO-GD is what I have in mind so far.... This company has a lot of fans on Head-Fi, but it doesn't seem to be the same thing here.... The DAC I will buy should last at least 10 years.... maybe more, like my HD800 amd my headphone amp. As I will not have the chance of listening to the DAC before I buy it, I seek for your help... I am thinking of the Audio GD NFB 8 or REF 5 or Wyred 4 Sound Dac 1 o…

Stereophile blog entry Google

For anyone curious I just put an order in for the AudioByte Hydra Vox dac a Romanian manufacturered component and sister company of famed Rockna Audio . It’s a interesting dac , it’s configured to stack with separate power supplies, yes plural and soon to be released server named the Hub . The dac is FPGA based , pure one bit and no dac chip and much more including a superb purpose built headphone input. I believe M***.com is the US distributor and ***.com a dealer where I placed my order I’m sure there are other dealers however I found Vlad owner of *** out of Minnesota to be fabulous to deal with.

Well, seems like I've been gone way too long, but I guess nobody missed me either here or on Headfi. Oh well. Anyway . . . looking for a cheap DAC/Headphone amp for my office. I've had plenty of nice ones that I liked (Bryston, Benchmark, etc.) but would like to get decent quality, and a built-in headphone amp. I know in the upper end, there are some good candidates -- Benchmark, Lavry, Grace, Mytek. But what about in the $500 range or below? I researched and researched, and came across the Teac UD-H01. So, at the risk of asking a stupid, headfi-like question, is this thing any good? I mean, I want cheap, but I don't want to crappy. All the buzzwords seem to …

I`d appreciate some help I am looking for a usb powered 'dac/amp' to feed a pair of srh1540 headphones, low volume listening, no background hiss and sounds good with linux (youtube, podcasts, radio, cd`s ripped to flac/wav). I currently use the motherboards onboard audio which is a 'TI ne5532' amp chip. This does well with very low background noise but audio could be bettered. have just been using a soekris dac1101 but find it to have audible background hiss when outputing audio (this cuts off shortly after no audio is being pushed). budget of $800 or less top of my list to try currently is an 'IFI Micro iDSD Black Label', thoughts on th…

I get the jitters reading this. http://www.audiostream.com/content/qa-john-swenson-part-2-are-bits-just-bits

I'm going to be upgrading my SACD playback soon. I've taken an interest in this player. Looks like it offers native DSD, which is what I want. More interested in that than getting 20 playback combinations from the Esoteric. I realize this has digital input and no USB, but I dont currently give a damn about computer based playback, I like just grabbing a disc these days. I doubt anyone has actually heard the thing, but I'm just asking if anyone sees anything that should make this instantly disqualified when only considering sound quality and build/design quality. I dont know we can tell if the balanced output is done 'correctly' from the pics or not. I…

So, I'm looking to grab some sort of external sound card for a number of purposes. My requirements are: PC based External >= 24/192 I need to be able to use this with RMAA, SpeakerWorkshop, LSPCad, etc. hence the PC requirement. The 24/192 is a requirement on the analog inputs for things like RMAA and needle-drops eventually. Budget is flexible One that caught my eye so far is the Edirol FA-66, but I'd be interested in seeing what else would qualify.