Home Source Components

Link to thread on Slim Devices' forum.

I'm in the market for a proper (i.e. non-iPod) source, and I was hoping you guys could help me out. My current home rig consists of a Dynahi, Millett, and RS-1s (with said iPod as source). The Channel Islands Audio VDA-1 has been suggested by a couple of people as being good value on the used market, and I'm currently in touch with someone selling one with the VAC-1 and "Revelation Audio Labs" cable for around $400. I have been doing some DAC research on head-fi, but it is hard to get impressions of the VDA-1 vs. other DACs, as it's discontinued. The price is a little steep, but a bit better than you might think, as the seller is also Canadian (I avoid 14% tax and $25…

This may be a stupid question (and feel free to say so if it is), but does the Headroom Micro DAC have the diamond buffer in it? Does it make sense for it to? From a brief perusal of a thread or two on Head-Fi, it seems not, but I just wanted to make sure.

I am thinking about upgrading one of my E5's. I like the sacdmods zap filter/ LC audio clock combination but I was curious about RAM. First, has anyone had any experience with this company in general; good or bad. Secondly, they do a transformer type modification to the output stage of the E5. Since they claim they remove all the transistors, op amps etc.. what drives the trasformers? Are they driven directly from the dac chip itself? Has anyone eve heard a RAM player with this output transformer type output stage? I am definitely intrigued by this clearly different approach. www.referanceaudiomods.com ..... just click the E5 link and you can read all about the $75…

Sony 9100ES and Denon 3910 mods. Disclaimer: To start with, I am NO WAY affiliated with APL, HRAM, or SACDmods, All mods done were at full retail price. Sorry about the ?fan boyishness toward some modding retailers. It is all there to see you get the biggest bang for the buck and not get burned. About the owner: I have and can mod my own equipment to some degree as well as build my own equipment as I have done so to many ?Amateur Ham Radio? pieces over the years as well as licensed to do so. However at age 56 my hand is shaky and the expensive items are left to the ?so called pros?. The ?so called pros? we will attempt to ferret out for you here in limited quantit…

So I've been giving a lot of thought to my home rig recently and given my problems with CD/DVD players I'm thinking that the Squeezebox might be the answer to my prayers. My rig is never going to be anything other than upper Mid-Fi (at best) so I'm not shooting for the ultimate sound but would like it to be as good as possible while fitting into the constraints of my situation. So my questions are as follows: 1. Tell me about your setup with it: advantages/disadvantages? likes/dislikes? 2. Is the internal DAC half-decent or should I keep my Monica2 to use with it. 3. Are there other alternatives worth looking at? I love the idea of the Olive Music stuff but they…

I'm not sure if you guys have been following the recent developments, but there has been talk of an "enhancement". Well, I'm here to spill the beans to give you guys the heads up, in case any of you are in the market for a new DAC. Currently there is a "silent" promotion going on, which means all new D02 orders placed will actually be for the D02A. For $412 plus shipping you'll get the D02A with external battery power supply and matching chassis, until the first batch ships, then it'll jump to $499-$549 for the D02A and an additional $150 for the external battery power supply. Yup, it'll be a 2 box design with the second housing the battery and charger. But here's w…

http://www.slimdevices.com/ It's like a squeezebox on steroids! (credit to akwok on irc for finding it)

... I should have a new Stello DA100 The DA100 appears to essentially be the single-ended section of the new DA220MKII Dear Zach Collier, Thank you for purchasing DA100. <--- Little do they know my money is worthless to them in South Korea As you may heard from the previous users, these equipment is not just a small boxes for the general audiophile but the real hi-end product for the pure music reproduction. <--- What is a general audiophile and why is he not concerned with pure music reproduction? You will see when you receive DA100. <---- Cool, I was just thinking how nice it would be to not have to wear contacts anymore... the DA100 will …

Silly me about to spend $1-2K on a dac. Like a poster told me...."why bother" Check post #697 and the link given.... http://166.90.205.111/forums/showthread.php?p=2268162#post2268162

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

First, does anyone have dimensions and a guess on weight? Second, how's the headout on this unit? Decent or great job with Grados? Finally, anyone know of a good online source for purchase of this DAC?

Someone on the other board mentioned: I've not heard of this. Can anyone shed some light on what this accomplishes and who this RWA is?

Hey Guys, has anyone here has experience with AudioNote's Dacs ? (AA UK not JPN) I hear they are very good in that department, any opinion about that ? I am thinking on grab a DAC 1.1x or 2.0X for listen and I wonder if it worth it.

Why has Zhaolu become synonomous with DAC these days? Why do people spill blood and sacrifice their first born child in defending this DAC? Ok, I understand it's probably a good DAC, and the price is certainly affordable for the large majority of Head-Fier's, but does it really deserve all the attention it's getting? I don't think I have ever read one negative comment about the Zhaolu, which is quite odd. Either it really is that damn good, or it's owners just happen to be sheep. So what's the deal, am I just a hatin' mawfucka or is this thing overhyped?

So ever since I've gotten into headphones couple of years back, I've been intrigued by vinyl. Everytime I think about pursuing vinyl, I tell myself it's too much of a pain and I stop thinking about it. It helps in that I know very little about vinyl. Of late, I've been pondering if I should just sell one of my rigs (most likely the Stax rig) and get a vinyl setup. What do you all think of that, and vinyl in general?

The Denon 3910 has been to APL, Hotrod and now ??. What will the resultant sound be like? Hotrod did the dual dack (per channel) mod as well as the power supply mod. APL did the Multi clock mod and poor audio output mod. And ??? is doing the Audio Output mods as well as possibly re-doing the power supply mods. What will it sound like? Who knows. : : :

Came across this DAC, it was mentioned and is for sale on audiogon. Looks mighty interesting.... http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?dgtlconv&1156112132 His modded denon players are really good. I wonder how this dac would sound.

Got an email from the manufacturer. ETA on the DAC3 is 6-8 weeks barring an unforeseen complication/delay. They WILL be offering the DAC via their online/web store as well. Also, I asked about taking Paypal and the email claimed the topic had been referred to another department for evaluation but that they'd probably be doing this as well. I'm sure form of payment doesn't mean much to you single guys but for those husbands like myself who would prefer to keep the amounts he's spending on these "toys" to himself and away from his significant other, this would be a welcome addition to the services offered!

Ever since getting my APL modded philips sacd 1000 (which I have loved) I have been hearing that APL would release its own dac and transport at somepoint. Looks like the time for that has come: http://www.aplhifi.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=431 Time to start saving up

Hey guys, Recently I have been considering this... www.lessloss.com ...as a replacement for my Lavry. Any thoughts? I am undecided right now, mainly due to the cost. - Jay

A black one. I got the Apollo home and plugged it in. I did not wait for any warm-up what-so-ever. Holy cow! What great sounds. Way better than the E5 and I still have to break it in. I coulden't even think of how much greater a sound the upcomming Saturn might be. How could it be any better??? The sound is like analogue or being like Single Power's finest amp and most all other source units sounding like an OK solid state amp in comparison. I heard the G08 at the last meet for a limited time and was not bowled over. However it was only a brief few selections and A/B'd it with the E5 and found it only slightly better. The Apollo beats the G08 by a wide margine, at least. …

does anyone here has any experience with the "other" lite audio dacs (by that I mean other than the well known around here DA-AH). Man there are quite a few of them. There is quite a bit of into on the DAC-60 at audiocircles. Then there is the DAC-68, 38, 39. So offer balanced outs while others only single ended. Anyone heard any of the ones listed??

got a new transport to go along with the CEC DA53 dac. the build seems pretty nice (for a sub $1000 component that is) and so far I like the features and layout. it uses a belt-driven CD transport and comes with AES/EBU, optical, coaxial, and superlink (CEC's proprietary output using a d-sub 9-pin connector) outputs. haven't used it too much, and I don't have much equipment to use it with until I get back to the states (currently only have a Grace 901 to use as the dac and amp), but so far the sound is nice and seems to be a good complement to the dac. I'll put up pictures of it and some impressions later.

For your viewing pleasure. http://www.audio-consulting.ch/MorsianiFin1.jpg http://www.audio-consulting.ch/MorsianiFin4.jpg http://www.audio-consulting.ch/Koetsu1.jpg