Home Source Components

About a month back I picked up the Kora Hermes DAC after reading about it on Agon and AA. It was a reference for a bit for a few reviewers so O thought I'd give it a go. I am using it slightly unconventionally in a computer as source rig with a hagusb/aes converter to take the usb signal out of my apple mac mini to the aes input of the Kora dac. I have been on a search for the holy grail for a while now looking for a dac that would plit the difference between the thicker analog sounding wadia/opus21 sound and the faster but brittle sound of some of the newer top gun dacs. Having gone through the wavelength cosecant, transporter, transporter APL modded and apogee mini dac …

Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone knew the output voltage of Cambridge Audio Azur 840c? Oddly enough, the information isn't in the manual (or I'm an idiot and may have simply missed it) and I haven't heard back from Cambridge Audio about it.

This is the stock layout, not columns ur or any third party! So clean and white and minimalisticly Scandinavian! Its got a freaking spectrum analyzer! No more firing up audition to check out the graphs... The graph on the pic- first half is 192 cbr mp3, then i switched to a flac, you can clearly see the ownage.

So I'm finally getting off my lazy ass to seriously start planning for my wireless music setup. My question is, disregarding SQ difference since this will be used only for casual listening via speakers, what does Squeezebox have over Airport Express? I will be using it to feed a DAC via one of my Macs, most likely my iBook, and just about all of my music files are in ALAC or AIFF. Squeezebox sure do look pretty, especially in all black, but is it worth 3x that of Airport Express for my application?

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…

I've been looking for internal photos of the Reimyo CDP-777 since the thought first entered my mind that I might own one. Over the past 11 months when the occasion presented itself, I have done numerous in depth searches for such images, but to no avail. so as far as I know, these are the first internal pictures posted on the net. enjoy the gut pics of my CDP777...

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.

Just got this stack last week (except the top bit). As a combo, it sounds really fantastic and it's really got me listening to my headphones again. Way better than the Desktop DAC in that little convertible (that isn't wildly surprising...). I was somewhat skeptical about the X-10 (tube buffer), but I think it sounds better with than without so it can't be complete BS. Anyone else heard this setup? (I'm selling the X-CAN v3 that came with it if anyone wants it...). I see there is a new MF X-DAC v8 (3 + 1 = 8?) which includes the PSU, and tube section, as well as USB input in 1 bigger box. Glamour shot attached

Got in the Seduction today. No SUT until at least thursday, so I swapped out headshells (once again, Technics for the win. I love having multiple carts on hand, prealigned for quick install) and went from the DL-103 to the AT440MLa so I could go ahead and give the Seduction a listen. Wide open, warm sound, lifelike midrange, very detailed without being too neutral or boring. The brightness of the AT440MLa is greatly reduced, which is a surprise. While I have always respected this cart, I am seeing now that it scales remarkably well with a better phono. My one complaint at this point is the bass is a little muddy and lacking definition. When the mid…

Has anyone heard this turntable? A friend of mine is having one sent to him for in house audition. I might get a chance to hear it.

Hello crew, I am completely ignorant to the whole laptop/computer as source thing, so could use your help. I am looking for something to play music from my laptop wirelessly through my Zana. The Zana has 3 inputs with one being sourced from the Meridian, so I figured I could use another source. I am pretty much on my laptop all the time, would be nice to source some music from here as well. Nothing too crazy or expensive, just sound decent enough, the cheaper the better, so no modwrighted or APL modded transporters and what not. Also, I could probably get some ideas for software programs that can play music where I can bypass the volume control on my laptop, that could…

This journey has been long and painful, after many dacs, and much lost money, I have yet to find a dac that I can settle on, or at least be happy with for now, until i can afford a high end piece of gear. I thought it would be easy.... people with tin ears tell us that just about all dacs sound alike... with wide spread concensus one would think that the decisoin would be easy. well, it's not. 1. The raves about the modded zhaolus convinced me to buy one, but that's where things went wrong. it's not that the zhaolu isn't a good piece of gear, it's that the one I got is horrible. Ori did his famous mod on mine.. and it broke 3 times! wires became loose, there was all kin…

So, tube buffers. I've read numerous opines over the years about how great/bleh tube buffers are and wondered who here has ever played with them and what you think. Are they the shit or is it just a phony way of adding some tube distortion in a way pleasing to some. From what people are reporting it seems like they can make a middling system better but can also mess up a better one. It's all very confusing to my pea-like brain, however it does sound mildly interesting.

http://www.samick.jp/shop/24_14.html Lots of I/O, looks interesting, but I don't know enough about anything to decipher the doohickeys in the pictures.

Hi all, I made a *slight* mistake in thinking that my Eastsound has an AES/EBU connection. Wondering if anyone has any inexpensive, but good suggestions for a dedicated CD transport [or CD player] with AES/EBU. The cheaper the better, though I don't want something that is going to fall apart on me. Thanks in advance, Jay

I have to say, I thought there wouldn't be a huge difference over DirectStream to my Opus, and it isn't a huge difference, but ASIO sounds noticeably better than DS.

Grado Sonata Reference VS. Audio-Technica AT440MLA VS. Denon DL-103 Its the comparison nobody asked for! Associated Equipment: Technics SL1200MK2 Grado PH-1 (on H gain for DL-103, L gain for AT440MLA and Sonata) Cambridge Audio 840A Stax SRD-7/Pro Adaptor Stax SR-007/Omega II Music used: Alan Parsons - I Robot Classic Records 200g Introduction Back when I started this hobby blah blah mikey fremer. The Rundown Highs Sonata: They're OK. Sometimes they are dull and wooly, sometimes the upper midrange must creep into the treble, because then it sounds bright, or maybe overly glarey. Could just be a tonearm mismatch. AT440MLa: The highs are …

There are two cards that I'm looking at right now, does anyone have any ideas or know of a review? Onkyo SE-U55SX USB and the internal ONKYO SE-200PCI, 115dB, 24bit/192kHz,

Okay, just kicking around an idea here. Kevin at KAB does a Cardas rewire terminated in a 5 pin DIN phono plate. I emailed Kevin and asked if this was a truly balanced connection for use with a balanced phono stage. His response: "That is the one single advantage of the din connector. carrying a balanced connection from the cartridge to the preamp. it has 5 pins. + - right, + - left, and a sheild. RCA's cannot be used for that, of course your phono stage must be able to accept that kind of connector as well." ...so I could get this done to my TT, and run XLRs to something like the Aqvox Phono 2Ci MKII Balanced Phono Preamp, and then of course the balanced amp,…

Has anybody heard this player? Their website is a bit messy and old-school, but it sounds like an interesting Redbook source, for the low, low price of $10,950 http://www.novaphysicsgroup.com I found out about it from doing a bit of research on Melos Audio - these are the same guys, I think...

I was advertising for a used Zhalou with a zap filter discrete output stage on head-fi. I received this pm from Ori at Oritek .... Perhaps this would do the trick for you... I'm offering a modded Zhaolu D2.5A with a discrete output stage. In my opinion it has several advantages over the Zapfilter. We can talk about that if you have an interest in purchasing the unit. The price is $475 plus shipping. A second set of RCA outputs is $40 extra. I'm also offering now a discrete headphone amplifier option for $254 extra. It will drive any dynamic headphones with the possible exception of the AKG K-1000. I've tried a K340 and it is LOUD and clear! In addition, this hea…

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…

I've finally accumulated enough SACD and DVD-A titles that both of these players are cheap enough to probably warrant a purchase. A used 2900 on Audiogon is roughly $200. And there are so many Oppo models I don't know which are the good ones. Video playback doesn't matter, it won't be used. Or any other options in the $200 range that I didn't think of. I like a slightly warmer sound, not the stereotypical "digital playback", so from reading this is sort of pushing me towards the Denons. Modding capability is a plus since I wouldn't be opposed to that in the future. Basically I'm tired of spending so long figuring out the copy protection on DVD-A discs tearing my hair o…

Hi all, Looking at getting something like the Trends UD-10. Basically just want a quick and dirty USB-Toslink convertor. Looked at the Hagerman units and they only have coax or AES/EBU. Any suggestions would be welcome. If you know of a place to get the Trends cheap, that would be great as well. Thanks, Jay

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…