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I'm not in the rarified source world that a lot of you are, but I've been looking for a decent sub $500 universal player. I'd been leaning towards the oppo, but found that Cambridge makes a universal that is pretty well regarded that has an audio-only setting. Anyone know anything about it? The few reviews I've' found make it seem decent.

I get the jitters reading this. http://www.audiostream.com/content/qa-john-swenson-part-2-are-bits-just-bits

Has anyone here listened to it? I've read some reviews and it sounds like it would fit my needs fairly well for moveability and convenience. I also like what I read about its sound, but I'd be interested in other opinions.

Cartridge reco's for Technics owners typically fall into the Denon MC camp for compliance matching, and classic sonics. However, the Ortofon Concorde integrated shell/cartridge presents some interesting potential usability/setup benefits. Anyone have any experience with KAB's custom hi-fi version: Thoughts on the general subject? Thoughts on which stylus is best (STY20/30/40)?

I bought it last year May 27 from Sweetwater. Obviously it's well over a year old now so that means its past manufacterer's warranty. It's the model that has neither USB nor firewire on it but the slot is there for a person to add the USB slot if they want it. The unit has always been perfect for me. I would call it mint condition outright were it not for slightly crude looking little hole in the back with the tape over it where the USB should go. Another quibble of mine: The optical audio input is very loose and finicky. You have to fiddle with the optical cable to get it to situate just right. The cable will properly secure but you need to be a little extra min…

Bel Canto USB Link 24/96 Debuts

I'm going to be upgrading my SACD playback soon. I've taken an interest in this player. Looks like it offers native DSD, which is what I want. More interested in that than getting 20 playback combinations from the Esoteric. I realize this has digital input and no USB, but I dont currently give a damn about computer based playback, I like just grabbing a disc these days. I doubt anyone has actually heard the thing, but I'm just asking if anyone sees anything that should make this instantly disqualified when only considering sound quality and build/design quality. I dont know we can tell if the balanced output is done 'correctly' from the pics or not. I…

I just recieved my MAS Link II today, and so far my impressions are good.

Hi everyone I want to create a new bedroom rig to replace my old sony minitower. I will be using the next gen ipod nano that will arrive in september as the heart of the rig and then probbably the onkyo ipod transport, i can connect a dac to that via spdiff or coax but I am not sure which one yet. I want one with xlr output and either spdiff or coax input. I want to spend 400 euro max. I was thinking about the dacmagic but the little dot dac_i uses the seem dac chip and has xlr out although the rest of the chips or implementation might be different. It is a lot cheaper though. I was also thinking about the buffalo II with placid power supply and the line stage legatt…

Yes, no, maybe?

Well, I'm looking for a CD transport that has AES digital out, because the coaxial input on my Lavry is already taken up by my computer. My budget is around $500.

Just kind of grasping at straws ATM, but I'm at a point where the bottleneck in my rig seems to be my source/transport. Currently I'm using my Onix as a transport (to my Lavry) and I was thinking about something like a Sony 9100ES (which probaly would go in for SACD mods at some point) or something like a Denon 3910 or so... Any other players I should be considering?

OK, so I've had this thing running for about an hour. At first I was meh. It was connected to my dekstop machine (Win7) using just USB, out to the Ventus and the ATH-ESW9s. It seemed so laid back up top. Weird. The ESW9s don't usually sound that way. Neither does the Ventus. Odd. So I swapped out the Ventus for the CKKIII that was behind me. What the hell. Ah. Better. More musical. More air. Things opened up quite a bit. Then I swapped in the HD600s. Finally! I didn't expect this combination to work so well. Of course, we all know about system synergy here, right? This is definitely a case where the reviews I read were off. 'Nuff said. I'm lik…

Anyone ever heard of it? 1990/91, build quality seems insane. There is a local hifi that had it used for sale but it quickly went. Sony CDP-X777ES on TVK, detailed inside views AudiogoN ForSale: Sony CDP-X777es

When I try to reproduce 24 bits 96Mhz files the sound just goes on and off and when I check the DacMagic the 96 Mhz mark Led is blinking, which normally stays fixed indicating the frequency is reproducing. This makes me wonder if the Dacmagic really supports this kind of files or its my computer.. I limited on the computer the frequency to 48mhz and plays just fine... Any guesses

I'm considering a Transporter as a source upgrade in the not so near future and I was just wondering if anyone here has heard the Modwright modded Transporter? Dan Wright sent one to CanJam but I didn't get a chance to really listen to it. I did play around with Grahame's stock Transporter and liked it but wasn't sure if it was playing by itself or if it was hooked up to Al's Amarra. Any opinion or impressions would be greatly appreciated!

... I kind of lost the will to live when faced with 'ripping' (i.e. Dig out to Puter) them in real time. Is there seriously not a method or a company who will rip DSD's and I dunno, maybe put them in 24/96 or something. Failing that a regular 16/44.1.

I'm looking to upgrade my office set up from an aging bithead. I live in a remote location, and my chances of auditioning either the Pico or D10 are nonexistent. In terms of pricing, a D10 is roughly equivalent to the Pico DAC only. The Pico DAC is an option, as I have a mini^3 I could use. On paper, the D10 is the better deal, as it comes with an amp and line out along with optical and coax inputs. It will be a lot less faffing around, and will be more portable with the built in amp stage. I've read one review that gives the edge to the Pico DAC if you are using usb, but rates the D10 as slightly better using an optical input. I will mainly use the usb inp…

Well, seems like I've been gone way too long, but I guess nobody missed me either here or on Headfi. Oh well. Anyway . . . looking for a cheap DAC/Headphone amp for my office. I've had plenty of nice ones that I liked (Bryston, Benchmark, etc.) but would like to get decent quality, and a built-in headphone amp. I know in the upper end, there are some good candidates -- Benchmark, Lavry, Grace, Mytek. But what about in the $500 range or below? I researched and researched, and came across the Teac UD-H01. So, at the risk of asking a stupid, headfi-like question, is this thing any good? I mean, I want cheap, but I don't want to crappy. All the buzzwords seem to …

For anyone curious I just put an order in for the AudioByte Hydra Vox dac a Romanian manufacturered component and sister company of famed Rockna Audio . It’s a interesting dac , it’s configured to stack with separate power supplies, yes plural and soon to be released server named the Hub . The dac is FPGA based , pure one bit and no dac chip and much more including a superb purpose built headphone input. I believe M***.com is the US distributor and ***.com a dealer where I placed my order I’m sure there are other dealers however I found Vlad owner of *** out of Minnesota to be fabulous to deal with.

Might be useful to a few folks if the price is not too outrageous.

Hi, Basically I want this: http://audioengineusa.com/Store/Audioengine-D2 but without the dac. I want to send the output from my oppo wireless to any one of the DACS that may be across the other side of the room. Maybe radio shack has something, figured I'd ask if anyone used such a device.

I've had the Maverick Audio TubeMagic D2 DAC for a while and I've been going back and forth between using LM4562 Opamps and the OPA627 Opamps that came pre-upgraded with this unit (each two single OPA627 OpAmps on an adapter board to create a dual opamp). Each had it's pros and cons but neither really seemed to be giving me everything I wanted. The OPA627 seemed more smooth, but almost too smooth, to the point of lacking texture in some cases. The LM4562 had more of the texture that I preferred, but can also be just a bit harsh, especially for long listening sessions. The tube output, using a Sylvania 5670W tube, did help, but only so much. http://gotnorice.com/B…

Universal Audio | 2192

Hey, guess what I just got? Rega Apollo...sounds pretty nice straight out of the box...burn-in to follow... Oh, and: black.