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I sold my McCormack DNA-500 to a guy with an agreement that he could audition it and decide whether to go through with it. He uses his Bel Canto Dac3 as source and preamp. He goes directly into the amp, and I have asked whether he uses balanced XLR cables or s/e RCA cables but I have not heard back yet. The amp sounds great with his Wilson Benesch speakers, but the problem is a buzz/hiss that is present and presumably most noticeable in quiet passages or when there is no music playing. He has contacted SMc Audio, Steve McCormack's shop, and has done what they have suggested (cheater plug, switch outlets, try a line conditioner and direct into outlet, etc) to no avai…

Hi, does anyone know what this is worth and how's its performance? I'm looking for a DAC, and this popped out. But a quick search turned up the newer models, I think this one is a very old model (I'm assuming the first). It has balanced outputs which is nice, but I was wondering about its performance... Thanks for your help HC!

I found one of these locally for about $1k, and I'm tempted to pick it up. The problem is I can't audition them (not that I would have a decent reference to begin with), so does anyone here besides Nanoha (he had a unit, but hasn't logged in since August last year) have any experience with this converter? or have any info that might be useful in helping me decide? Thanks

Last Tuesday DHL came to my door with heavy package, so, after two weeks waiting glad I was... I had day off from work, but was to busy with my son to set it up directly, however open up anyway to make first check. It was very interesting for my boy as well, cos he loves all that buttons. First impression wasnt shocking, cos I have seen this mashine in real life before, but getting one myself still exciting after all. Build quality is good, nothing fancy, just simply good. Metal case, massive metal front panel and some useful stuff on it, like display and buttons...:)Display light is not irritating at all, mild green color with quite huge indication of what happenin…

Yes another USB converter.... I have an easy one for you: do these USB converters are that truly different from each other? I mean are they realy on different levels if you compare the ones you can find used like the affordable RedWine Audio to the crazy expensive Empirical stuff? I like the Canto presentation but at $500 (US) this need to be good. Thanks in advance. Amicalement

For sale on Agon for a very decent price This is an outstanding CD, SACD and DVD-Audio player. AudiogoN ForSale: Denon 3930CI ps. Not mine by the way, this is just a public service announcement

Just saw this on ebay and wondered if anyone here has heard one? 1 Grado Lab Series Wood Tonearm Transcription Turntable - eBay (item 200282360211 end time Feb-28-09 08:49:43 PST) I've not come across this setup before but looks interesting -- great pics, anyway. Pretty solid-looking deck. k

Before I start would like to say that this is my first CD player, which I can call HIGH END. Not because of his MSRP price only, but for his futures and quality of sound level of course. Another thing is, I am not an professional reviewer, but somebody who write about things based pure on emotional experience of music listening. As last one to mention, my XLR cables aren't fully burn yet, they need about 100 hours, but I do hear changes already ( +/- 30 hours ), become more fuller and warmer than the first 20 hours, I believe. System: Unison Research Unico CD player uses 2x ECC82=12AU7 NATIONAL 5814A ( re-branded Sylvania 5814A ), Mullard ECC82 CV4003 1960, Tung Sol…

My apologies if this has been posted before, but hadn't seen much info on this one: [/snip] [The dock features] Analog Devices AD21369 32-bibit floating-point digital signal processing core and 96kHz/24-bit converters for analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog, resulting in a 110dB dynamic range with distortion of under .004 percent. The dock will also include DSP technologies for improving sound quality: Adaptive Dynamics (restores the sound quality of compressed audio), X-Matrix (virtual surround sound for two speakers or headphones), and Extrapolator, which turns the iPod's stereo signal to 5.1- or 7.1-channel sound. All of these signal processors have separ…

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…

Hello all, I recently purchased an Audio Alchemy DDE v1.2 off of ebay. I guess this is my fault for the most part since I didn't ask questions before I bought it but it did not come with a power supply. Well, I have a few AA power supplies lying around but none of those have the same connection as the PS5. It's connection looks identical to an S-video connection. A 4 prong din. So now I'm stuck with this unit and have no way to use it. Does ANYONE on this forum have one they're NOT using? I will gladly take it off your hands. Thanks, Adam

Denon's DVD-A1UD: world's first universal (SACD / DVD-A) Blu-ray player - Engadget SACD, DVD-A and Blu-ray player... for the small sum of $6k

Unveiled at CES and almost no one noticed, where was all the press? I demand impressions even if they're only visual! Accuphase DP-600: Accuphase Laboratory, Inc.?DP-600 (MSRP unknown) Luxman D-08: On a Higher Note :: D-08 Stereo SACD / CD Music Player ($14K) And even Denon's new DCD-SX: Denon unveils Flagship SACD player, DCD-SX - SlashGear Zero chance I'll buy any of these but Luxman's other new D-06 CDP is only $8K which is kinda awfully tempting... (and I gotta say, these new Luxman CDPs are very nice-looking)

Hello all, I am a newcomer to the forum. This would be my 1st post. My name is Adam. I enjoy long walks on the beach. LOL. J/k. Anyway, I use Audio Alchemy gear for my digital front end. I am using a AA DTI-32PRO with a DDE v3.0. I use a Rotel transport (not high end but no analog output). At this time I'm using coax cables with BNC connectors to connect the 2 AA products. My AA owner's manual claims that the I2S bus is the BEST way to connect these units. Well, I bought these units used and I do not currently possess a I2S cable. I was wondering if anyone on here knows where I can get my hands on one.?? I feel I'm not getting the most out of this gear and am …

I currently have a X-Fi Elite pro containing the CS4398 DAC which it seems to share in common with headroom's ultra micro DAC. Is this an adequate DAC? Should I look to upgrade? I have a incoming beta22 and a friend mentioned that the sound card dosen't have a proper "line out" to run to the b22. Thoughts?

I agreed to trade my RSA XR-10B for a Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum cartridge, which arrived yesterday for a trial before I ship out the phono stage. I gritted my teeth and decided that, dammit, the first cartridge I ever install might as well be a $6,000 wood cartridge without a cantilever cover for protection! The cart was re-tipped already by van den Hul due to a defect that was original, so you will see the sticker in place on the cart. I had a couple beers to steady the nerves, and spoke with my life coach, JP Numbers, to get some perspective and some tips on how not to break off the tip of this beautiful creation. After various oaths and regrets that I …

The Denon DA-500 I started a thread back when I bought my first Denon DA-500. Since then, Deepak has picked one up, and I've picked up a second one, and others have been looking for one. So it's generating a little more interest. Now talk has turned towards possible improvements. The basics: PCM-1702 based buffered op-amp output stage? 3 optical inputs 2 coaxial inputs 1 optical output 1 coaxial output 1 analong output This isn't meant to be strictly a modding thread. But I thought it would be good to grab the posts regarding the DA-500 from some other threads and get them all together. From my previous threads: A good modding threa…

Just thinking of grasping this but there're little reviews out there. I wonder how does it stand against other commercial DACs like the DAC1,DA10 and DA220MKII? And, most importantly, can it be configured to have USB input?

Anyone have pointers to the differences between AA DACs, particularly the DDE series (1.0, 1.3 is it?, 3.0, etc.) I'd like to pick something up (cheap) with AD1862 DACs and PMD100 that I could play with (ouput stage, etc.).

The EAR Acute CDP Or, how does one decribe the goodness of an Ansel Adams photograph? Is it the technical mastery? Ansel Adams was afterall a master with his darkroom work and the technical aspects of his pictures, the exposure, contrast, detail, sharpness, tone, and so forth are outstanding and beyond reproach. But there's a lot more to his photos than that, the composition and how he captures a scene, the artistic aspect combined with the technical mastery is what makes them truly great. There's a lot of things which can't be described with words, but if you see the photos you instantly know that it's something special. And that's the problem I have when try…

Try comparing this to Foobar. There's definitely a difference and I'm not just talking about volume. Could it be a DSP effect? The demo's easy to find but the unlocked software costs 72 euros. I need some opinions because this thing sounds good, but why?

I've owned the VDA2+VAC1 for about a year now, and there are two criticisms from The Great DAC Search thread that I agree with: that the rendering of more complex passages can be somewhat "messy", and a little 'raw' sounding from my perspective; and that there is a bit of "shrillness" audible in the top end at times. It doesn't help that my speakers are not very forgiving either. I know the VDA2 is a good DAC--it wiped the floor with the OMZ DAC I owned--and I may be nit-picking a bit--but I was wondering if there is anything else at this price point (used or otherwise) that would be a better selection for my system. Admittedly I haven't compared the VDA2 to much else.…

Thought I would start a new thread to ask all my newbie questions and host the pictures.

Actual impressions to come later, only a pic for now. Plinius is less deep and slightly shorter, and the curves are sharper on it.

I had occasion to open up my ECD-1 a few nights ago to dim the bright blue LEDs, and I thought I'd take some pictures. I didn't have the proper hex wrenches for the digital section, so the aluminum cover remains in place for now. Should anyone be dying to see it, I'll happily pop it back open. The external hex bolts were a bitch to get off, so I had to dremel two of them into flathead bolts. Having done that, the cover comes off easy now