Home Source Components

So I've been listening off and on to my Thorens TD160 and so far I've got to say that I'm pretty unimpressed. Now, I know full well that I've probably got a crap cart on there and that it's not setup right but before investing in at least a Mid-Fi cart (you can expect a thread on that one too) I figured it'd be a good idea to at least get what I've got setup right. I'm not averse to spending a little money on this project but if someone tells me that I need hundreds of dollars of kit to setup my $200 vinyl rig that'll be the end of it. So what's the sane way of going about this? *paging postjack, paging postjack*

Has anyone heard one in it's final form? I'm looking to get a phono preamp instead of using the Metric Halo ADC. I liked the early ss prototype and have always liked Craig's gear. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

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.…

Well my black D02 arrived yesterday, I picked it up at the post office on the way home from work. Unfortunately I had to go to my in-laws for supper so I didn't get to listen right away but I did open the box to get a look. Boy, this is one stunning piece of equipment, the case work is just incredible, pictures just don't do it justice. This is the type of case you would find on multi-kilobuck gear not something that sells in the $500 range. Another unfortunate occurence was customs opened the box and it appears they didn't repack it very well so the bottom back corners suffered some damage, nothing too serious just a bit disappointing. When I finally got my new b…

Does anyone have any experience with any of the docks that bypass the iPod's internal DAC? I'm thinking about buying such a device to use with my home DAC, and would appreciate any relevant info. I'm aware of the Wadia and the Onkyo, any others of note? A decent used Wadia 170i goes for about $250, and that's appealing.

A friend of mine has an ackDac whose battery just died, and he's wondering if it's worth it to replace the $75 battery (if he even can?) or if there's a good current DAC for around $200 that he should just upgrade to. I'm long since out of the market for DACs in that price range -- anyone know? Doesn't even need USB, just RCA.

My Zhaolu won't receive a coax or optical signal....I can hear a current rush through the headphones when I power it up, but then it goes to mute.. and then nothing.... Headphone amp module doesn't work either. I use it for late night TV with an M^3, but it stopped working yesterday. It just goes to mute after I turn it on. Here are some pics, maybe some of the DIYers can spot what's wrong with it. All the leds inside light up and the muting led flashes. Nothing looks burnt or leaking, what do you guys think? Thanks for taking a look. USG

SACDMODS DENON 2910 I gave Matt Anker my Denon 2910 to mod at the meet. He is a very nice fellow and is eager to work with you. He does not talk above your level of understanding nor does he insult you by shortchanging you on information. I can do some of this stuff and some I can't. I understand the basic operating premmis on most everything but sometimes get overwhelmed by the details. However Matt will make it simple and understandable for you. I was able to visit "SACDMODS International LLC. INC.". It was the No.2 site in Columbus, Ohio on seventeen sprawling acres of land with more than nineteen buildings and wharehouses. He has his own Gymnasium and football …

I am bringing my old Dual CS-721 (vintage 1976) out of retirement. I had some work done on it around 2002 and it works great. The cartridge on the other hand needs some help. It currently has an old Ortofon LM30 cartridge. A replacement stylus costs about the same as a new cartridge of comparable quality. Therefore, I am looking at alternative cartridges for this table. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated, especially from those using older direct drive turntables

His budget is 350 bucks... I don't think he minds camping ebay/audiogon, but if its something that is immediately available then that would be more ideal. I know sony direct drive for cheap bucks is a pretty good deal so maybe a list of models/links for those would be perfect.

Anyone heard it or heard anything about it? MUSIC HALL/SHANLING CD-T200A TUBE SACD PLAYER - elusivedisc They run ~$1500 range used on Audiogon. Nice looking unit when it has the silver posts instead of the gold. Two of the tubes power the output, the other two tubes power a headphone amplifier (output on side of unit). It also has preamp functionality (onboard volume). Shanling = Music Hall, which is a good thing I guess. I've never heard Music Hall stuff but I've heard good 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?

There is a basically new Pro-ject RM-5 SE table on the 'Gon right now for a pretty good price, and I know someone here has one (can't remember who right now). Just wanted to know what the owner thinks about the table.

Well I'm not anywhere near the point that I *really* need to be making a decision but I have a source for the stylus and have thought about ordering a few to hold me for quite a while. http://www.lpgear.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LG&Product_Code=ATSAT0160ML But, I'm still not sure. The cartridge itself is kind of old and the metal around the top is a little corroded. It sounds GREAT though and this is why I haven't wanted to ditch it. Getting a replacement for $80ish is way better than a new cartridge every time. My table is a Denon DP-59L, their top of the line direct drive from 1984. The tonearm isn't super special but I don't have …

Has anyone here used an iPod as a jukebox? I was thinking of getting DLO's Music Remote and use my video iPod to play through my stereo. I will re-rip my music at a very high bit rate. My main concern is what effect the dock will have on the sound in the way of noise. Does anyone here have experience with this?

Audiolab, design by John Westlake. I'd like to hear these. Sabre32 DACs, really reasonable price. Audiolab 8200CD and 8200CDQ CD Players - eCoustics.com A forum that John has been posting on as of late: At last...................... - Page 29 - pink fish media

Does anyone here have the USB Off Ramp Turbo 2? I know of only one person on Headfi that has one and he said it was an improvement over an Audiophile USB as transport to his DA10. I'm a bit skeptical and Empirical Audio makes no mention of a money back guarantee. Their engineer posts a lot on Headfi and AudioAsylum. Website: http://www.empiricalaudio.com/

What do you guys think are some good low cost DACs? I'm not opposed to going the DIY route. Just needs a set of analog outs and one digital in (size/form factor not an issue, same with looks could be used uncased for all I care).

My latest signal path has started with Roon, which is a piece of software I really enjoy. It sounded excellent, but recently I found that I could fuck with it a little more and spend time twiddling knobs, and I'm powerless to resist that. Most notably, Roon makes it simple to delegate all the actual "file playing" duties to another program, HQPlayer. Roon and HQPlayer represent significantly different approaches to music playback and management. Roon focuses on metadata, art, liner notes, reviews: basically the kind of edifying stuff you read and think about while listening to music. HQPlayer focuses on filters, and by Jesus are there ever a lot of them. And…

Does anyone have experience with effectively demagnetizing vinyl and how? I have Nitty Gritty record cleaning machine and this helps some. I use a carbon brush on each side of play. I also have a Zerostat (slow squeeze in near the record and then discharge away fro the rrecord) but I hear little effect with this. I know there are a several of machines, one in the $300-400 price range, which I'd consider if it was truly effective. I am looking to cut down on the crackling and/or static type of noise. Am I correct in attributing this noise to static charge?

I would like to use the Pico amp/dac as a DAC, connected to my powered computer speakers. I tried measuring output voltage by connecting one of my multimeter (set to AC voltage) to the 1/8" output and the other to ground (while playing 60Hz tone through the computer but having no headphones/speakers plugged in). I was getting readings that were really low when the volume was low and it got about to 2V on high gain about 3 o'clock. Does this seem correct (who knows if I was doing it right)? I decided to trying using it as a DAC with the volume at 12 o'clock and and the gain on high. There seems to be enough volume for listening at my desk. Is there a correct setting…

Been looking at 'gon and notice that there are few Ayre D-1xe on sale at somewhat attractive prices. Right now I use a Linn Klimax DS to feed a speaker system with headphone amps connected via loop out from the preamp using RCA. If I were to get an Ayre player, I would use that as a dedicated source for my headphone amps using the balanced connection, instead of RCA. I have heard Ayre's current line of CDPs, but have not done any comparsion with the Linn (never saw the point). Will I be totally bumbed going from a top Linn to a very old top Ayre? Anyone heard both and can comment?

So there have been a few threads that have touched on it, but let me ask directly - for those have compared... A) Which is the better at DAC only duty? Which is better as a DAC/head amp combo for occasional transportable use with low impedance cans and which for high impedance cans? Any words of advice would be appreciated and if you could qualify/quantify the preference it would be doubly so. Obviously, these two units were designed for different uses, but they are priced similarly and often touted. Finally, personally I already have the Pico which I'm currently using as a DAC, so any comments especially from Duet fans if it's worth switching over would be…

I have managed to score a Rega Planar 3 for about $US70 which I think ? is a good deal. It doesn't have a tonearm, but is otherwise is in good working condition. This was somewhat of an impulse buy, as bloody usual. And I am just about to prove my ignorance of all things vinyl. This will be hooked to a WOO 2. So I am going to need a tonearm, cartridge and a Phono stage of some sort. I am willing to spend a few hundred on each. So a few questions:- Is the Rega RB300 a good tonearm for the money?? I have seen different opinions here and on the other site. I could be very easily persuaded to look at other options. What is a suitable cartridge to go with the RB300 …

I have a handful of redbook CD digital transports. For the purpose of this post, I'm going to concentrate on three: the Sonic Frontiers SFT-1, Micromega Drive 3, and Parasound C/BD-2000. It's interesting to note that both the SFT-1 and Drive 3 use the same Philips CDM 12.4 drive mechanism, while the Parasound of course is a belt-driven CEC jobbie. I have always felt they all had their own sound, however I was extremely happy with the Micromega Drive 3. Either way, I bought a Genesis Digital Lens for yuks to see if it would make them all sound the same, because I really like using the Parasound thanks to its unique user experience of sliding open the door and pla…