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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,

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

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 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…

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…

I recently sold my DAC-AH to a fellow HC'er. It arrived in good shape, but he had the following issues with it: I received it back today, again in good shape. I briefly powered it up without making any audio connections and there was no tingling or any other feeling of electricity. I touched the case in multiple places, including the RCA sockets. When I was using the DAC, I never had any electrical problems. One difference is in how we used it. The buyer used an optical connection between his source and the DAC whereas I always used a COAX connection. I'd like to debug this without electrocuting myself. I have only very basic electric circuit knowledge and defi…

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…

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

story In a word, DRM (well, acronym).

Cambridge Audio 840c Impressions/Comparisons This is going to be a two part review. Up first is part one the Impressions section. Part two will be a comparison of the 840c against the GNSC Opus 21 and APL Philips SACD1000. Equipment Used Pre-amp: Modwright SWL 9.0SE Power amp: D-Sonic Magnum 500M Speakers: Selah Audio 3D Other CDP's: GNSC Resolution Audio Opus 21 and APL Philips SACD1000 Impressions The Cambridge Audio 840c has made a pretty big splash in the audio world. It has received numerous accolades including The Absolute Sound's Robert Harley who proclaimed it the best cd player under $5000. Now typically I?d ignore that kind of praise especially f…

I need a standalone usb dac. Anything else I should consider in the same price range?? Some people mentioned that 06 Microdac is too warm, output level is way higher than normal and bad usb implementation. Is the the case with 07 model too??

New Squeezebox Duet.. http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_duet.html The remote does look pretty cool What do you think guys?

Ok so I spoiled the entire review/impressions thing with the title but I am just that enthusiastic about this new piece of gear from apogee http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/duet.php The unit itself is designed for the recording musician on the go. The unit is powered by the firewire port and that port also serves as the digital in as well. There are NO other digital inputs on this unit and it is designed for Mac users only. The analog ins and outs are acessed by a breakout cable. The analog outs are 1/4 mono females and are meant to be hooked up to powered monitors for audio playback of tracks you have recorded or to monitor recordings as they happen. There is also…

I posted about this over in the TTVJ forum, but I'd like to snag the HC opinion as well: http://www.ttvj.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=1110 This phono looks very versatile. I like the idea of a tube MM stage, while throwing in the SS to beef up the output for MC. And Todd says it should be available in 2-3 weeks.

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*

I finally got my amp back and running, so I'm going to start posting my impressions of my new CD player. I still have my Panasonic SL-S160 PCDP as a reference, but I'll probably stop making comparisons after a while. Before I mention anything else though, I noticed the output power is much higher than my Panasonic's - this is logical because of the differences between portable and home players' power supplies and output sections. Anyway, the Arcam sounds much louder at the same level on the volume dial - I'll probably have to turn it down when I listen for longer periods. I've only listened to the first three tracks of Jane Monheit's Taking a Chance on Love on both pla…

Looking to get a second, decent, <US$1K universal player. Looking at: Marantz Oppo Arcam Denon Pioneer ...which others should I be looking at, and why? Looking to buy new, as the ridiculous amount of technology turnover makes it worrisome that components (especially the transport) will too quickly become irreplaceable. Oppo strikes me as the one to beat -- with an external DAC for redbook -- anyone have any serious contenders? I'd really like to think that the Marantz changer (VC6001) is pretty good, and is tempting if for no other reason than for its ability to play multiple disks.

Has anyone heard this DAC? Here is a pic: Here is a link to the website: http://www.tubeaudiodesign.com/ It sells for $1000 with a remote. He offeres a 21 day trial with a $45 restocking fee. It doesn't have a usb input but he says on the site the following: "USB PC sourced digital audio sounds amazing! Need a small external 24-bit, 96k Sound Blaster USB powered data converter box ~$50 at Office Depot. The TADAC has the best sounding audiophile hardware - the PC data conversion circuitry is not built-in. Best keeping the two separate to unleash the best possible sound. Yahoo! Music from the PC is high resolution - PC audio sounds like CD's using the TADAC." …

Howdy all, I just received an email from a friend. He wants a recommendation for a DAC to use with his Slim Devices Squeezebox. His desired price is <$1000 and didn't say if buying used was ok. Let's assume that a used DAC is ok with him. He mentioned the DAC-1 as a possibility. Lastly, he mostly listens to classic rock. I'm not a DAC guy and am hoping that you guys can give me some recommendations to pass on to him. Please note that this isn't for headphone listening. He has a system based on vintage Macintosh amps. I think that his speakers are Proacs, but can't remember for sure. Thanks in advance for your help. -ken

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…

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…

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…