Home Source Components

So what I'm after isn't truly a squeezebox alternative but that's as close a description as I can find. Probably a better comparison is to the Sony HAP1ZS but that's way out of my league. In essence what I'm looking for is a music player with a HD inside that I can rip or transfer content to, has an intelligent and usable interface that doesn't require an external monitor, does not require a network connection to function, and doesn't cost $2k. Perhaps even better put is what I really want is an iPod that's wall powered, with a larger display and larger HD. A decent internal DAC would be a bonus. I don't want to just use a laptop. I don't want to use an iPad. I…

Vinnie has released his new modular amp/dac/phono stage/headphone amp device he calls LIO. I like Vinnie at shows but have never owned any Red Wine Audio gear. How does this thing look to the HC tech folks and critics? Discuss. http://vinnierossi.com/

Lately been drifting a bit towards convenience over ultimate fidelity. Would love a single box for the speaker rig and in the most recent Audio Advisor the new Parasound Halo Integrated [pdf] was featured. Checks off a lot needs in a digital & analog rig, but anyone see an obvious weak spot? Need to hear obviously, but hopeful.

I was recently able to pick this up after a year or two of searching. I figured I'd post some pics that I had on hand, only internals atm. It uses 2 AD1862s, and has two outputs. One of them is fixed level while the other can be attenuated by a TKD pot. Supposedly this was a CES prototype so there's no power switch. Sounds great, a shame I can't compare it to my Spectral which recently melted down. Using it with a Legato 2, which was designed by the same guy (Jocko Homo)

I am looking for a good way to implement a music distribution system in a largish space. The space is ~10,000 sqft with several rooms and several levels. The space is a noisy workshop, so audiophile sound is not really a consideration. I would like to have multiple nodes that play music and that can be synchronized, or be used independently. The more wireless the system is, the better. I would like to accomplish two distinct things: - the first is to allow multiple users to play music from a central server to one or more nodes. - the second is to allow users to play music from a device (laptop/phone/etc) to send to the rest of the system. There is a large ser…

Does anybody know anything more about this system? http://ifi-audio.com/portfolio-view/retro-stereo-50/ Color me intrigued.

Just got the PS Audio newsletter, an interesting product coming soon. Phono Pre and A-D Converter. Snippets: Info on digital output

I know a few here jumped on the Geek Out DAC/amp when offered on Kickstarter. Rumor is the desktop version is going up on Indiegogo in a couple hours. http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2013/10/28/light-harmonic-introduces-desktop-geek-pulse-on-indiegogo/ “Geek Pulse” provides superb sound quality from a wide range of high-resolution formats, in an easy-to-use plug-and-play device. “Pulse”‘s DAC natively decodes PCM files up to 32-bit/384kHz, as well as native decoding of DSD64 and DSD128 files, and features the Patent-Pending 3L buffer introduced by Light Harmonic in Da Vinci DAC. The amplifier is pure Class-A, utilizing a super-quiet DC power supply to produce 3,000 …

Hi Guys, Just venturing into sacd and have the option of buying either of the above. Not into video side just Audio. All comments appreciated. Budget limited at present. The s2000 came out in 2007 and the age worries me. Valid or not?. Technology changes rapidly these days. Thanks Les

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.

I just found this on line today. Has anyone heard one yet?

Apropos of nothing in particular, I was looking at speaker cables on Blue Jeans Cables. They have a four-conductor cable that's more or less a big-ass star quad mic cable. People apparently use it for bi-wiring in a single cable. It's so cheap they practically pay you to take it away. I need a short run of cable to go from the speaker outputs of a little tube amp to a powered subwoofer in my den. It's one of those deals where there's a speaker-level input and a crossover so you can high-pass the output of your amp to the main speakers if you want. I don't have speakers connected there. I just use it to drive the sub. I don't know the z-in, so I don't know how much cur…

The line out of the motherboard in the desktop is as noisy as anything I have ever heard. It does have an optical out though... Last night I pulled out the bottlehead crack and hd650s and they sounded mighty fine. I loved them with the emotive xda1 and the xda2 is only $219 right now but I don't have the room for it. I haven't kept up with the dac market for the past few years. The PS Audio DL 3 works well with the speakers so I am not inclined to do anything with it but it is already being fed by an Apple TV and only has one optical input. Any suggestions for a dac that has an optical input in a similar budget (if need be I'll try to make room for the xda2 but I'd ra…

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

Im considering one of these for a portable rig any suggestions? Im obviously looking for a very high quality portable device. Astell&Kern looks awesome but $2500 is steap....The Geek Wave looks like it might trump the AK240 in SQ based on the specs and the designer plus its a fraction of the cost. Thanks in Advance

My brother left his Apogee Centaur speakers with me to sell when he left for South America. I've had an ad on US Audio Mart for quite awhile, and while it has attracted some responses (including 1 local, but couldn't meet up the same night he was looking at some Maggies), has not resulted in getting rid of these for my brother. I just got an offer for a trade for a Monarchy m22A, plus some Tek Line power cord. Anyone have an opinion on this DAC? It certainly would seem easier to sell for something without requiring me to pack or crate the speakers (dude would come and pick them up). Thanks for any input! p.s. And I know this is more like a bar... I am drinking…

I think it may finally be time to do away with CDs for the meet rig. Plus, shipping the CD player back and forth to meets is costly and takes up expensive table space, and they eventually break. Time to go DAC-only. At RMAF, i did have a few people come up to me wanting to play their files off SD cards or USB flash drives, and I was not equipped to do this with my CD player...another DAC advantage as I know some of them support this. Something small and lightweight would also be a plus as it makes travel/shipping easier. any recommendations?

Needing something small-ish that had some sort of digital output. USB is fine. I'd like to send the output to a DAC as well as have some kind of internet connectivity. For starters, I'm not a big apple fan, but am willing to give it a try if it's far away the best source. I'd probably bring it to work and rock out there, then bring it home for moving tunes on to it if need be. 3G not necessary, wifi would be fine. I'd be keen onand Android tablets, but Google continues to skip implementing USB host mode. That is, USB host mode without some damn cable hack. Comments? Suggestions? OK. Thanks! Brian

I find myself in a pickle today. I turned on my old, Win XP audio PC/music server and found it broke. Specifically, 2 separate components were malfunctioning. One was the Rocketfish eSATA hard drive enclosure, which housed my 3.5" drive with Win XP OS AND music (I do have data backup), which developed some kind of error, leading to my PC not even booting up, at times citing "disc read error" or "I/O error," depending on which time I rebooted. I temporarily solved the issue by simply moving my hard drive inside my PC in SATA bay. This is not optimal because I had previously found my system to sound cleaner and purer with the hard drive outside the computer via eS…

No professional reviews of this $2,000 box yet. 2 slavering 5-star fanboy "reviews" on the Sony site. Now in stock at Amazon. Who will be first in line for Sony's other new digital box thingy? http://www.theonion.com/video/sony-releases-new-stupid-piece-of-shit-that-doesnt,14309/ I am enjoying my Azurite Blue PS3, though. It works OK... I guess.

So I'm kind of a dummy when it comes to speaker wiring. Right now I have two large spreakers that are also subwoofers(Pic 1). It's an old system but it still sounds great. The problem I'm having is that I don't want the large clunky thing that connects it all together(Pic 2) I only use it to play my iPod and to adjust the bass. The CD player/tape player/ and radio all don't work. Only AUX works, which is fine because I don't need the other ones. What I need is a converter so I can just plug the speakers into the iPod. It's not so simple however since the speakers are subwoofers AND speakers(Pic 3) So anyone know what kind of converter I could use? I'm not trying to …

<p>Since Justin's thread wasn't really about a DSD DAC, I thought I'd continue the discussion here.&nbsp; I'm far too lazy to split out the discussion from there and point it here, so I'll just point to <a href="">it there from here</a>.&nbsp; Of particular interest is Torpedo's post <a href="">here</a>.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>So...seems the cheapest points of entry are the <a href="http://www.teac.com/product/ud-501/">Teac</a>, a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Korg-Ds-dac-10-Digital-Analog-Converter/dp/B009YD4NVQ">Korg</a>, the pre-outs from a <a href="http://www.pioneerelectroni…

Ok, so I know you guys don't like long posts or reviews, so I'll make this as short as possible. I recently got to spend some time with the PureDAC and found it to be a really interesting DAC. I'm very sorry if this ends up being an unwanted topic, but maybe someone's interested in it, so hey... maybe it's worth the risk. I found it to be a fine use of a Sabre chip. Sounds colder than both my Abrahamsen V6.0 and Electrocompaniet ECD-1, but comparatively more tonally correct. Mids take a step or two backwards and are more relaxed. The V6.0's mids, surprisingly, end up sounding harsh in comparison. It's just a very cohesive, linear and incredibly refined and transparent…

A friend of mine who is a music producer and is not nor ever will be a DJ wants to build a phono rig for digitizing vinyl. His budget is $1000. He needs a phono pre with a line out (he's got the ACD covered), a turntable and needle. He's asked me, but my phono knowledge is too DJ-centric. Any HCers have some suggestions for those three components that fit within his budget constraints? Are there any turntables with built in pres in that range that are not utter crap? Also, he'd like to be able to play back 16 and 78RPM records but that requirement is is secondary to the above needs.

Looks like a cheap fun way to mess around with DSD. http://www.ifi-audio.com/en/Nano_iDSD.html