Home Source Components

Here it tis. The Apollo mod, as little modding as it is.

Got some pics of my black D02 which is on it's way to me, hopefully it will arrive in time for our Maritime Provinces meet.

HeadRoom runied my life with their new Max Modules. I can hear everything wrong with my source that I was blissfully unaware of. I think I'm going to go back to the Desktop Module so I can enjoy my music again! I'm using the stock Desktop DAC (fed by APX). It's good for what it is, but the class A/B OPA134's as the output stage really limits its sonic potential. Though, the Desktop and Home DAC boards are the same board, so if someone was very handy with surface mount opamps and transistors, it wouldn't be difficult to turn it into a Home DAC. Does anyone have any relatively low cost external recommendations to spice up my life in the source department? Doesn't rea…

As promised. Naykid pictures. Actually, this is one big nice sized board, very well populated. You look inside some CDP's and find a very tiny unpopulated board, in a very thin walled flimsy case. The Apollo's case is thick cast Alum., and built like a tank.

DV137

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. …

I was (web)crawling around the Sony site to see if there was an update to the OS of my SCD-CE775, and stumbled across this -- sorta explains why my Sony player fucked up my God Forbid DualDisc, dunnit. I could come to hate Sony. I think I'm going to get rid of my player and get a Pioneer universal.

Ok, so my wife is tired of all my listening with open cans in the living room so I am starting to think about moving everything into the second bedroom/office so she doesn't have to go into our bedroom to watch TV. I will likely get a nice club chair and ottoman and my plans are to either replace the Denon with a different DVD player or replace the Denon with a different CDP. The Denon has a pretty decent DAC in it but I know I could do better. Given the expenses of everything else I'd like to keep it under $500. Any advice would be appreciated.

Well I come home from work today and I see a small wood crate on my doorstep and it turns out to be my new Resolution Audio Opus 21....

Alright, so I'm still debating my next source upgrade, I had pretty much decided on a Storm Digital D02 (or baby D02 depending on whether I feel my shelf can handle the over 20 lbs of the regular D02) to be paired up with my Headamp GS-1 but in the past couple of days I've been reading more about people using the balanced outputs of the Lavry DA10 and I've also been reading more about the benefits of recabled, balanced headphones which has brought the DA10 back into consideration. I expect the D02 + GS-1 combo would give me a similar but improved sound over what I have now and because of the GS-1's versatility it would give me a very flexible system that can easily be …

Inquiring minds want to know!

I've been trying to think of a nice digital home transport that would be able to feed the digital part of my rig. My iRiver has served me well, but its optical out is probably less than ideal. It's also running out of space... I used to have most of my music LAME-APS encoded, but I've recently moved to wavpack (a lossless format similar to FLAC, both of which is supported natively on the rockbox'ed iRiver). Also, I don't want to be forced to have a computer running nearby in order to enjoy my music. Solution? Squeezebox. It can stream the music from my linux server in the closet (where I can't hear it) to my home rig. There are also various ways to remote control it (u…

Well I'm not anywhere near the point that I *really* need to be making a decision but I have a source for the stylus and have thought about ordering a few to hold me for quite a while. http://www.lpgear.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LG&Product_Code=ATSAT0160ML But, I'm still not sure. The cartridge itself is kind of old and the metal around the top is a little corroded. It sounds GREAT though and this is why I haven't wanted to ditch it. Getting a replacement for $80ish is way better than a new cartridge every time. My table is a Denon DP-59L, their top of the line direct drive from 1984. The tonearm isn't super special but I don't have …

SACDMODS DENON 2910 I gave Matt Anker my Denon 2910 to mod at the meet. He is a very nice fellow and is eager to work with you. He does not talk above your level of understanding nor does he insult you by shortchanging you on information. I can do some of this stuff and some I can't. I understand the basic operating premmis on most everything but sometimes get overwhelmed by the details. However Matt will make it simple and understandable for you. I was able to visit "SACDMODS International LLC. INC.". It was the No.2 site in Columbus, Ohio on seventeen sprawling acres of land with more than nineteen buildings and wharehouses. He has his own Gymnasium and football …

Hi all, I posted this on head-fi as well, but figured the folks here might have some input as well since there seems to be quite a few DAC users... Well, I am still strongly considering the Lavry Black as it seems to be a perfect solution for my needs. I will be using a Slimdevices Squeezebox to feed it and initially will drive my HF-1's from the headphone output and my balanced K340's from the XLR outputs. Now, the QC issues that are being discussed on the Lavry forums combined with Ori's recent review that seem to be giving the nodd towards the Zhaolu have me concerned. What I'm wondering, is there any similar DAC's out there that I may want to consider? Things…

EDIT/MODIFY 3/7/06: Through speaking with a variety of people I've decided on the JMW-9. Wisdom no longer sought! (thanks?) (I'll try to condense as much as possible). I had a terrible accident a few weeks ago which ruined my cartidge's stylus (Clearaudio Aurum Beta S Wood moving magnet) and due to the scheme (scam?) of when trading in an old cart for a new, I went with the much greater discount offered by choosing a more expensive cart-Dynavector Karat 17D2 MK.II moving coil. The discount offered for a cart of similar or just a little more value than the Beta S was too small. I recognized what was happening but didn't protest as it was my plan to move eventually…

and my mini-dac is for sale. anyone?

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.

I got mine from Price Japan for $675 shipped EMS to the US. I like it a lot. Supposed to share internal design with Aqvox, but not as many options available at the front panel.

mercenary audio said they should have them in stock again next week or so. yay.