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I own an NM24 DAC by Monarchy Audio. This unit sports a tube dac, an ss dac, and a tube line stage and has been my main dac for about 19 months. So far I have been very satisfied and recently I was thinking of a way to further improve its performance. Thus I thought of getting the Monarchy DIP/Upsampler. The DIP/Upsampler Combo sells for $399 and its specs are ... Decodes 16 to 24 Bits Inputs: Opto, Coax, AES/EBU Balanced Outputs: Coax, AES/EBU Balanced Upsamples from 44.1 to 48 or 96 Khz (user selectable) Outputs 24 Bits Has anyone here used one? Thanks.

Found this Techmoan video on MQA-CD when I was checking out Meiko's latest album from Chesky Records, Playing Favorites: I'm going to sit this one out for a while. It seems to be a Japan-only phenomenon for a while, and there are no mainstream players.

Recently upgraded my DAC from Stello to MSB Power DAC (no USB, but with remote volume control). Some basic ergonomic gaffes: - No volume indicator - Volume setting isn't saved after unplugging the DAC, and the default seems to be minimum volume - No mute button - Remote control's power button doesn't do anything (the DAC's power button switches between pure battery to battery + charger) Also, the volume control is digital, so I have it at max whenever possible. Tested using either HP-2 + ECSS or Tetra 120U + Gainclone. As of now, I only have my integrated sound card's digital out (waiting for a decently implemented and priced USB->SPDIF converter). Sound…

I have this in my system now for about two days. Inside pictures later when I can figure out how to open it up and get my camera back. It is stock, not modded by John Wright. I've been comparing it with my also Parasound DAC1100 (using Squeezebox 3 as digital transport). The Bitstream is definitely on the same level as the 1100. The Bitstream has more presence in the upper mids which opens up the Omega 2 a bit. The high freq extension is also exceptional on the Bitstream. I will run some test tones later, but right now nothing is missing from the highs. Bass might also have a bit more oomph, but this is too close to tell at this point. Both the Parasound and Museate…

I am looking for a good way to implement a music distribution system in a largish space. The space is ~10,000 sqft with several rooms and several levels. The space is a noisy workshop, so audiophile sound is not really a consideration. I would like to have multiple nodes that play music and that can be synchronized, or be used independently. The more wireless the system is, the better. I would like to accomplish two distinct things: - the first is to allow multiple users to play music from a central server to one or more nodes. - the second is to allow users to play music from a device (laptop/phone/etc) to send to the rest of the system. There is a large ser…

I find myself in a pickle today. I turned on my old, Win XP audio PC/music server and found it broke. Specifically, 2 separate components were malfunctioning. One was the Rocketfish eSATA hard drive enclosure, which housed my 3.5" drive with Win XP OS AND music (I do have data backup), which developed some kind of error, leading to my PC not even booting up, at times citing "disc read error" or "I/O error," depending on which time I rebooted. I temporarily solved the issue by simply moving my hard drive inside my PC in SATA bay. This is not optimal because I had previously found my system to sound cleaner and purer with the hard drive outside the computer via eS…

Anyone here own an Aurender or Lumin or something similar as a music server vs a PC or Mac. I use a mac mini and lately my mind has been infected with the thoughts of the Aurender N100 anyone else go that route or hear comparisons?

Hopefully this is the right place. For 22 years I've gone from not knowing what DACs are, or what EQ and DSPs are good for (didn't even know the term DSP existed), to experiencing the best sound quality I've ever heard through headphones, due to learning a ton this past week or so. I thought I'd share. I made some tweaks to foobar's DSPs that are all incredible sound-quality improvers. ...For headphones, at least. (I have Denon Ah-D2000s.) I'll type up a guide about it now! (This is copied from my journal. I wonder if it's a decent newbie guide.) Everyone's audio system is different, so the guide may not produce a purely positive result without further tweaking.…

I just recieved my MAS Link II today, and so far my impressions are good.

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…

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…

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

I've been trying to think of a nice digital home transport that would be able to feed the digital part of my rig. My iRiver has served me well, but its optical out is probably less than ideal. It's also running out of space... I used to have most of my music LAME-APS encoded, but I've recently moved to wavpack (a lossless format similar to FLAC, both of which is supported natively on the rockbox'ed iRiver). Also, I don't want to be forced to have a computer running nearby in order to enjoy my music. Solution? Squeezebox. It can stream the music from my linux server in the closet (where I can't hear it) to my home rig. There are also various ways to remote control it (u…

Just kind of grasping at straws ATM, but I'm at a point where the bottleneck in my rig seems to be my source/transport. Currently I'm using my Onix as a transport (to my Lavry) and I was thinking about something like a Sony 9100ES (which probaly would go in for SACD mods at some point) or something like a Denon 3910 or so... Any other players I should be considering?

Well, the package arrived! Wuhoo! Unpacking... Hmmmm... What is it? The Denon DA-500 With its most important feature, to me at least... The ALPHA processor! I've long loved the Denon pieces as mid-fi sources. I like the smooth presentation and warmth that their DAC and ALPHA processors provide, and it's something I've kind of built my headphone and speaker rigs around. Unfortunately my luck with Denons as transports has been, well, horrible. And now they only offer the ALPHA processor in pieces well out of my price range. So I started looking for other options. I came across this, which I hadn't seen before and figured it was worth a shot. I was…

After over 12 years of service, my "home" source, a portable Panasonic SL-S160 player, might be finished. Yesterday afternoon, I heard a popping sound (like static) every few minutes about a half hour into listening to some Jane Monheit - suddenly, the volume dropped out entirely. I turned the amp off, disconnected the line-out and re-connected it, and turned the amp back on. The sound came back, but much quieter, very echoey and distant. At first, I panicked and thought either my headphones or amp was dying. Some testing today proved that both seem to be fine. If I fiddle with the line-out (pull the plug slightly out) on the player, I can get the volume back without e…

Vinyl Source: $400 direct drive turntable first manufactured in 1978. It has gone through no changes since then. It is generally believed that there is too much rubber in the design, and the tonearm is obsolete. $200 phono stage with a 12ax7 tube from some company called Bellari $85 Audio Technica cart. Total: just shy of $700 Digital Source: Modwright Sony 999es. The mods alone cost $1150, I don't know what the 999es goes for on the used market. Mods include: So what we are probably looking at is the digital source runs roughly twice the cost of the analog, and it just doesn't sound as good. There is a realness, a presence, and a delicious liqu…

NAD's Hybrid Digital DAC Amplifiers, especially the 388 look awesome. What do people think of them? https://nadelectronics.com/product/c-388-hybrid-digital-dac-amplifier/

No thread for the latest ladder DAC on Head-Case I believe it does HDCD, looks like it does it through the custom DSP filter? Naim Audio # Chassis: The 3mm aluminium chassis and die cast fascia provide the fundamental structural rigidity necessary for low microphony. # Printed Circuit Boards: Six layer glass fiber PCBs optimised for low microphony and high speed data transfer. # Analogue Filters: Two Cascaded third order Sallen-Key active filters giving 36dB/Octave roll-off. Each stage incorporates Naim zero-feedback complimentary buffers. # I to V Converters: Convert the current output of the digital to analogue converters to a voltage waveform ready for…

Just wanted to throw out there that I may possibly want to move away from the Meridian sound that I have been listening to for the past year or so, and try out something else. Budget is around $1500 +/-, the more below that the better. Used is just fine, in fact I would prefer used because that means it is probably a $2000+ unit and we all know that the more expensive something costs the better it sounds What I have liked and enjoyed about the Meridian sound: Great soundstage - to hear actual soundstage depth that is cohesive and captures all of the spatial information on a recording, probably the best Meridian trait. All of my headphones and amps that I have run t…

The two sources are: An Oppo DV-980H and a PS3. The PS3 has no analog outputs as I'm sure everyone knows. I need a headphone amp or some kind of hybrid setup that can handle both of those sources at the same time. Ideally, the Oppo should be connected via left and right analogs for SACD and DVD-A playback and the PS3 would have to be connected via optical output. This is for my sister who's ready to start getting more serious about headphones now that she is using my AKG 701s while I've moved to the Sennheiser 800s. Ideally, she doesn't want to spend more than about $500 if it can be helped. Ideally, I would steer her towards something like the Gilmore Lite…

Hi all, I posted this on head-fi as well, but figured the folks here might have some input as well since there seems to be quite a few DAC users... Well, I am still strongly considering the Lavry Black as it seems to be a perfect solution for my needs. I will be using a Slimdevices Squeezebox to feed it and initially will drive my HF-1's from the headphone output and my balanced K340's from the XLR outputs. Now, the QC issues that are being discussed on the Lavry forums combined with Ori's recent review that seem to be giving the nodd towards the Zhaolu have me concerned. What I'm wondering, is there any similar DAC's out there that I may want to consider? Things…

Hi, I bought some shiny new records for my vinyl collection but they seemed a little odd. These things are like shiny silver on one side with graphics and stuff on the other, and they're smaller than my 45's. I put them on my record player and tried the 45 RPM setting, but it didn't work, and I couldn't get music out of them, only a horrible scratching sound. I tried the other side and got the same thing. What am I doing wrong?

My son is getting into vinyl and I'm not much into it myself so I don't know what a good entry turntable is. Any good suggestions?

I often play a movie to help me fall asleep. Of course, this means that a DVD can run overnight or even for days at a time if I forget to remove the DVD. I've gone through a series of inexpensive (<$100) DVD players. They run fine for a couple of months and then I'll find the image frozen on the screen and the player will no longer initialize a DVD. I thought that maybe the laser lens was dirty so I took the most recent failure apart to see what was going on. It turns out that the drive will no longer spin the disk. The machine is a Toshiba SD-K840 (a Costco special) and the drive seems to be direct (i.e. no belt). I considered getting a new drive, but decided inste…