Home Source Components

I did promise some internal pics a long time ago but here they finally are. I did manage to fuck up the shots of the other side of the board so only the top part shown. The SR-X Mk3 Pro used to show just how tiny this DAC is. Not that many parts used but the quality is very high indeed.

http://www.psaudio.com/products/digital_link_iii_overview.asp Seriously, there's like nothing in there. Seems overpriced..

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…

Crap. Can the powers in control of this not sit down for the good of the consumer? Such potential but greed will keep us from really enjoying it for years to come is seems. Sorry if already posted but what a damn way to start the day. http://www.avrev.com/news/0107/04.total_hd_disc.shtml

Just wanted to start a thread about this dock. Not sure how many have use for a product like this, but I did, and someone else may too. I'm very impressed with build quality. The remote is simple and it works well (unlike the Wadia dock). As for the sound...well it's as good as what you put onto your iPod or iPad. I've been very happy, and the unit works better than I had hoped for. To say that I haven't reached for a CD since the dock arrived pretty well sums up my feelings. The one quirk I have noticed is that the dock needs about 2-3 minutes from the initial docking of the iPod/iPad to play well. Before that interim it will have dropouts every few seconds. If you…

Teaser: So my local dealer has the entire Audio Aero CD player lineup, SE & non SE, but they were always setup in different systems and I never got to hear them on the same gear. Until this past weekend. In short, the SE is better, but I still don't think it's worth nearly as much as they're charging for the upgrade, which is quite a few hundred bucks. As a person who knows which end of a soldering iron to hold, chances are I could do the upgrade myself for a hell of a lot less. Of course, if one can afford a Capitole at retail prices, money probably isn't an issue. Gear: Artemis Labs LA-1 linestage and SP-1 power amp, with Wilson-Benesch Discovery speakers. I w…

I know that Audio-gd products are not popular here, but under my budget, I'm looking at Audio-gd NFB-11(Sabre32 9018 ) and NFB-12(dual WM8741s). Since they are the same design except for the D/A chip, I'd like to know how Sabre32 9018 compared to WM8741. There are negative comments about 9018. DIY'ers didn't like the fact that the chip cannot be obtained thru "normal means" nor even the white paper. MSB even concluded: "So the hot new 32 bit DAC is actually a 6 bit DAC! Right from their own white paper. It is undoubtably a good DAC for the mass consumer market it was designed for. It is certainly nothing of interest to the high-end community, especially as the the D…

Just curious what the real benefits are of running a low output MC cart vs a high output MC? For example my next phono will be best suited for medium to high output carts unless I used step up transformers. To use an example with the Dynavector 20X. Is there any benefit to getting the .3 mV with SUTs vs the 2.8 mV without any transformer in the signal path? Quirky enough I know I've read that some people prefer the high end SUTs (OOP S&B silver transformers) with normal phono-stages... Just looking to maybe learn a thing or two

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.).

While my Marantz has been very enjoyable for the short time I've owned it, I cannot help but wonder what I will move to after I am finished with this unit. Really it comes down to sticking with redbooks and simply moving up to a better cdp (Cambridge 840C, Marantz SA8001 are a few possibilities) or keeping the 5001 as a transport and grabbing a dedicated DAC (CIA VDA2 interests me greatly). The flexibility of a standalone DAC would be nice, but is not totally necessary. Budget will probably be under $1,000. The rig as it sits now is CD5001 > SP MPX3 > JVC DX1000/Denon D2000. All suggestions are appreciated, thanks much.

Oz, at Let There Be Sound Just got in a few of these new USB DACs from Cayin. It has a USB in on the front of the unit as well as a mini headphone jack. It also has controls on the front of the unit, including volume control. It also comes with a remote. There are two DAC chips. Analog out 1 uses a TDA1543 and Analog out 2 uses a PCM2706 which is also volume controlled. The iDAC can be used as a preamp through the second analog out. I finally got into my music room to try it out. I am using it as a pre at the moment through a Berendsen STA 150 power amp and my System-Audio Ranger speakers. The only headphones I have at the moment are ER-6is. I haven't tried them yet. As y…

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 …

Slot-loading compact disc drive Asynch USB up to 96 kHz / 24-bit Ethernet link for iTunes and UPnP libraries S/PDIF inputs (AES/EBU, RCA, Toslink) iPhone/iPod Touch remote control XLR and RCA outputs, fixed or variable. Drool. Sounds like it's going to be expensive though. $6K or so.

Five Players Enter, One Player Leaves This is an epilogue, of sorts, and in another way, it?s the beginning for me. As some of you may have noticed, I bought an Arcam FMJ CD36 last week. This is the tale of what went before? I listened to the $50,000 dCS Paganini system three weeks ago and returned to hear more CD players to inform my final purchasing decision. If I won the lottery today, I would certainly give serious consideration to the dCS Puccini player or perhaps the EMM Labs CDSA SE, but that is currently happening only in a parallel universe, with more goatees. I would like to thank Michael, Leland, Angie, and Arnold at American Sound in Richmond Hill, Ont…

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.

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…

I'll put up unresized images either when I can access my FTP or when Head-Case makes the switch to the new forum software.

The Emotiva Lounge - DAC Poll Price

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 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

Anybody else interested in the Olive One Music Player? I am kind of surprised that this interests me, but it does.

I bought a NOS dac (audiosector/audio zone) and love the sound and am wondering about these (audial see below) or other higher end NOS dac's. I know the arguments against these (noisy, no resolution etc) not interested in a debate. Any help with these dacs would be appreciated. Audial :: High Quality Audio Equipment

I've been looking through 10 pages of google results and nothing. If there is a webpage somewhere that lists sources and their respective DAC chips I'd love ot have a look. Or if someone here owns a Marantz vc5200 and knows the answer that'd be great. I got this 5disc player back in 2001, loved it, and was never curious about what's inside. But recently I crawled out of the rock I was living under and bought an entry set: hd650, gilmore lite, pico dac. So while I'm biting nails through this 3-4 week wait time until shipment I research what I have, feed my curiosity, and try not to bother justin everyday ..wasn't sure if I should have put this post in the "Genera…

Hey guys, i have done extensive reading both here and on "that other site" and i more or less decided on buying a Pico because i read some glowing reviews from experienced and well respected members,but then i read some not so glowing reviews ,not a suprise since this happens with just about anything in audio. plus it is really hard to keep up with all the new DAC's,so i was wondering if you could tell me that the Pico is still the best at it's price range or would you recommend i'll go for something else,all i care about is SQ and not features and connectivity etc. 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.