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The EAR Acute CDP Or, how does one decribe the goodness of an Ansel Adams photograph? Is it the technical mastery? Ansel Adams was afterall a master with his darkroom work and the technical aspects of his pictures, the exposure, contrast, detail, sharpness, tone, and so forth are outstanding and beyond reproach. But there's a lot more to his photos than that, the composition and how he captures a scene, the artistic aspect combined with the technical mastery is what makes them truly great. There's a lot of things which can't be described with words, but if you see the photos you instantly know that it's something special. And that's the problem I have when try…

I just snagged up an Eastsound CD-E5 for pretty cheap and I'm crossing my fingers I won't have to replace the transport the day it arrives. Anyone still using this CDP?

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

My babies transport has died today, was working earlier but now she just makes a clicking noise.. She has had her use over the years sometimes playing 10 hour days sometimes even 24 strait for burn in... i called Meridian and they are sending me an email on what to do next, expected turn around is about three weeks from start to finish. no clue on repair cost as the machine is way out of warranty. been offered $5000 on a used 808 yesterday also, but i don't have the time nor use for such a player now. i just hope the repair cost don't hurt me... please pour a bit of coffee out today for my fallen homie!

Is there any way to keep artist title info of the tracks as I rip them to my computer? Everytime I rip a CD I just get, Track 01, Track 02, etc. I want to condense my CD's onto my computer, but this is tedious as hell to have to do each time, especially if using iTunes to organise my music, I have to do it AGAIN when I import the files to assign the meta tags. Otherwise, it just arranges it by the name of the file as "Oasis - Wonderwall", not sortable by artist, or album, etc. Suck ass. Even on the CD's that display text in your car CD player(most all of them), still don't rip with artist and title, just as tracks. Is it the program(s) I'm using? I'm using iTunes,…

Picked one up mostly due to an interesting feature set. I've had good experience with RME gear being technically impeccable, but falling a bit short in listening tests. The ADI-2 Pro was intended to be an office rig, but I lug it to and fro work, it's that good. Ended up buying one of the limited Anniversary Editions, cuz it's black and has moar pretty. It runs my HD800 balanced with 6x OPA1688 chips pre channel. Sounds as good or better as I've heard any HD800 perform. It also does 5 band PEQ which makes HD800's actually listenable. For my Equator Q12 I use the back XLR's and intend to hook up a MiniDSP via optical to integrate two custom 15" subs. …

I didn't see this posted anywhere already, but when I saw "balanced I/O" I immediately checked the price...bit steep though at around 600 Euro yet doesn't have Firewire. The VGA plug break-out cable will make DIY dead easy though, and it's not recessed like the Duet's. From: RME Delivers Babyface Audio Interface

So I have been running Roon as my go to audio software for listening to my digital library and integrating it with Tidal and Qobuz. The software works very well and they have kept upgrades. I have been using a 2018 Mac mini to run my Roon server and it has worked very well though not without a few hiccups in keeping it running on a continuous basis. A picture of that setup is below. It consisted of the mac mini and a 10 TB USB disk to hold my library and Roon backups, a 27” monitor, wireless keyboard and mouse. The previous generation of Roon nucleus appliances were quite pricey compared to the Mac mini so I never really considered buying one. However when they…

I like how the tubes look like they're in those tubes like from Event Horizon or whatnot. Click pic for info link.

World's first 384 kHz converter, phono stage preamp and headphone amplifier with an integrated atomic clock Rubidium Atomic Clock Rubicon is the first DAC to integrate a Rubidium atomic clock, which is 100,000 times more stable than a traditional crystal oscillator. Coupled with Antelope’s 64-bit Accoustically Focused Clocking technology, the Rubidium achieves a breakthrough in jitter managment, improving the sound quality in an unprecedented way. The same technology is implemented in the company’s flagship master clocks used for scoring blockbusters such as Avatar and available at the best recording and mastering studios around the Globe. http://ant…

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.

I bought and returned a Yamaha S1800 universal player (that apparently does pure DSD) because it was a joke. The regular CD layers sent from my Mac over optical to my Monarchy 18B beat it in every way--I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Is there any SA-CD player under $1000 (used or new) that can do things with SA-CD (greater detail, more realism, bigger soundstage) that the aging Monarchy 18B can't do with CD? I'd really appreciate your recommendations. I'm quite pleased with the front end of my system--Gilmore Lite and the 650s.

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…

I'm selling my NAD redbook player, but have been interested in one of the Oppo universals for a while just to give SACD a shot. However, I know nothing really about SACD. Is it all hi rez? Will there be a noticeable difference in a two-channel headphone rig? And, perhaps most importantly, do SACD players play nice with standalone DACses? Educate The Monkey.

The Absolute Sound gets mobbed in the comment section: http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/comparing-sacd-to-a-dsd-download-a-follow-up-report/

For sale on Agon for a very decent price This is an outstanding CD, SACD and DVD-Audio player. AudiogoN ForSale: Denon 3930CI ps. Not mine by the way, this is just a public service announcement

Denon's DVD-A1UD: world's first universal (SACD / DVD-A) Blu-ray player - Engadget SACD, DVD-A and Blu-ray player... for the small sum of $6k

Just in case people are interested in having a sample rate converter for Foobar2000 I just found this: A new resampler DSP for foobar2000 - Hydrogenaudio Forums I don't think the SRC is going to make my audio sound any different but I have also learned that they can do a lot of damage too. If you don't believe me look at the comparisons here: SRC Comparisons The one above is based on the SoX resampler which looks excellent in the test results above and has lots of options about phasing of the impluse response if you buy what Ayre says in that other thread. I went looking for something that had been measured to settle any misgivings I had about the PPHS res…

Schiit just announced a DAC: http://schiit.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=7 Can anyone speak for their choice of parts? Input Receiver, USB: C-Media CM6631 D/A Conversion IC: AKM4399 Kinda tempted even though I don't need a DAC right now....

Any thoughts on the upcoming Schiit Audio Gungnir dac? Is their "adapaticlock" circuit really that unique or just good marketing? The rest of the dac (upgradable dac and usb) and fully discrete balanced output looks pretty good.

Did anyone see this? https://schiit.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=11 Sounds promising. They seem to have been building pretty good products in the 200-400 price range and it's nice to see them getting more ambitious. Specs alone look quite good!

Alright lets talk about this. Digital audio revolution or just another DAC with a fancy pants implementation? http://schiit.com/products/yggdrasil The FAQ, as usual, is worth your time.

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.

Per the review, it is quite good: http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/shanling5/3000.html In the $2k range with basic mods, more for better mods http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?dgtlplay&1200364575, and another $400 to 'modify' the balanced outs. I'm thinking of taking a shot on the stock (or mini-mods pkg) and roll some tubes. Thoughts / experiences?

Is it worth getting a cheap Sony CE595 for just multi-channel SACDs? I'm really happy with redbook as it is (and my DA10), since most of the music I listen to is released on this format. But there are a few mutli-channel SACDs that I'd love to hear on my K1000. Do you guys think it's worth it? And will I be able to send the analog cables straight to my Pass Labs amp or is something fancy required?