Home Source Components

I haven't seen this DAC being talked about here so I will just leave this here. Designs-wise, the DAC interesting because apparently it uses 4 "industrial-grade" non-oversampling DACs (2 per channel) whatever they are and it doesn't have a digital filter. Price-wise, it seems reasonable enough. The most expensive model with black anodized case and external PSU will set you back €710 or a little less under $1000. Shame it's still single-ended and has no built-in USB. Here is the home-site and a white paper posted there detailing this NOS digital filter-less concept. I wonder what do our resident DAC experts like Filburt and Colin have to say about this as the con…

Well I am fucking sourceless again . My Exemplar 3910 developed a problem in March. I sent it to the most experienced (at working on modified Denons)repair depot in the country. They took seven weeks . ,$320 including shipping, and it?s got a fucking worse problem than when I sent it to them . Now it?s going to be at least another $100 in shipping and however long it takes them this time. I?m not totally sourceless, but I am lacking a quality source. I?m pissed.

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

I hadn't come across this until today and, albeit well above my price point, it looks pretty close to the single-box, hi-resolution solution of my computer audio dreams. 32-bit DACs; USB, optical and coax digital ins; native DSD, DSD-to-PCM, PCM-to-DSD; 32-bit digital volume control. Here's the marketing fluff. Let's hope this starts a trend!

I was thinking of picking up this computer to use as a transport for the Pico Dac: The Dell Online Store: Build Your System It comes with XP Home, 1 gb ram and 8 gb ss hard drive. It's $299 and has a 8.9" screen. I would be running itunes only with an external drive connected to it containing the music files. It seems perfect as it has a small screen if any issues come up requiring reboots, etc. I would use the remote on my iphone. I had the mac mini, which was great but also had to have a separate monitor attached. This will save room and should do exactly what I need.

I'm currently using an Accuphase DP-500 and Chord DAC64 MkII. I've had the Accuphase for four months and the Chord for more than a year. Both are Red Book-only. Most of the time I listen through iTunes or foobar, using the digital outputs of an RME HDSP 9632 sound card. Playing a CD on the DP-500 sounds better than its digital input fed by the RME sound card. However, I think the RME -> Chord is roughly equivalent to CD on the DP-500, with each doing some things better and some things worse. It is very close. This was disappointing to me, because I expected CD on the Accuphase to sound better. I really like the convenience of PC-as-source and currently have over …

What falls in that category? I'm not sure this is the perfect timing considering my latest thread but I'm interested finding out more. I hope I don't annoy anyone here with all these questions. I mentioned the DA220 over in that thread and someone said it was not really "high-end" so then, what is? I've looked at several options but it's hard wading through all these opinions of other people spread out over numerous of threads, comparing apples to oranges or comparing only 2 or 3 options of what I've found so far. I've made a list of DACs gathered from the "Best DAC money can buy" over at hf and left out several models because of their lacking specs / sonically signa…

Ok folks, I've been lurking for the past 2 weeks trying to find presumably better DAC for my current setup which is : Notebook --> Pico DAC-->WA6 or Gilmore Lite -->MS1/HF2/701/ESW9. I have been looking hard at the following: 1. Benchmark Dac1 2. Buffalo - used 3. Grace M902 - out of budget but I try to find used 4. Gamma 2 - used 5. Lavry DA11 My road map in the distant future is to upgrade to balanced so I thought I would like to start with DAC first. I understand when I'm ready to upgrade to balance I would have to get rid/recable of almost all my current headphone/amp. On the other hand, I'm also looking hard at ATH W5000. So should I use the cash…

Well, as you may or may not know I really love these cartridges. In fact, I will never own any other brand, save a Denon DL-102, or some other mono cartridge, and even then I'd have a custom mono cartridge made when I could afford it. Here's a product listing: http://www.sibatech.co.jp/ZYX/ZYXcatalog.htm as well as a picture of the R-50 Bloom: My cartridge is a special ordered low-output version, which comes in around 0.24mV. One nice thing about these cartridges is that the vertical and horizontal compliance is the same across the line, as is recommended tracking force, stock weight, recommended load, etc. etc. This makes moving up (and down) the line pretty…

The Denon DA-500 I started a thread back when I bought my first Denon DA-500. Since then, Deepak has picked one up, and I've picked up a second one, and others have been looking for one. So it's generating a little more interest. Now talk has turned towards possible improvements. The basics: PCM-1702 based buffered op-amp output stage? 3 optical inputs 2 coaxial inputs 1 optical output 1 coaxial output 1 analong output This isn't meant to be strictly a modding thread. But I thought it would be good to grab the posts regarding the DA-500 from some other threads and get them all together. From my previous threads: A good modding threa…

I'm still using the Trends UD-10.1 but since it is limited to 16/44.1 I'd like to upgrade to something newer. Has anybody any experience with the newer models out there? Multiple outputs is a plus (I'm catching up to Dinny with the number of DAC's here) and I don't really care about the price or the size. I did a quick search and the M2Tech Evo looks good but what else is out there?

Cambridge Audio 840c Impressions/Comparisons This is going to be a two part review. Up first is part one the Impressions section. Part two will be a comparison of the 840c against the GNSC Opus 21 and APL Philips SACD1000. Equipment Used Pre-amp: Modwright SWL 9.0SE Power amp: D-Sonic Magnum 500M Speakers: Selah Audio 3D Other CDP's: GNSC Resolution Audio Opus 21 and APL Philips SACD1000 Impressions The Cambridge Audio 840c has made a pretty big splash in the audio world. It has received numerous accolades including The Absolute Sound's Robert Harley who proclaimed it the best cd player under $5000. Now typically I?d ignore that kind of praise especially f…

Hi all, there's someone selling one locally for $300 CDN, do you guys think it's a fair price? The seller said the unit is clean and I'll be going to his place tomorrow to see the unit for myself, but since I haven't bought used gears at this age(10 years for this DAC?), what should I look for particularly? Thx **Pending sale to Alec** Parasound DAC 1100 HDCD - Canuck Audio Mart

HF thread here This guy's review and measurements here I'm not about to comment on the legitimacy of the measurements, but the uDAC-2 is apparently pretty shitty. NuForce seems to agree but not really care that it's shitty. John Atkinson measured a NuForce CD player, and it was also real shitty. This doesn't speak of the entire NuForce lineup, but I do find it amusing considering the relative popularity of that brand over thar. Can I safely conclude that HF has terrible taste in everything?

John Westlake (formerly of Cambridge and Pink Triangle IIRC, though I am not sure of all of his history) posted a link to a DAC that he designed recently using the ESS Sabre DAC as the basis: Signal Path International - Era Speakers & Peachtree Audio - Introducing Nova Reference thread on diyaudio: diyAudio Forums - Da-capo issue (John W?) - Page 16 Might be a good option for those interested in the Sabre but not up to building your own. EDIT: John Westlake seems to know his shit from all I have seen from him on a couple of forums so I would think anything he is involved in would be worth a listen. I have not heard this DAC (and wouldn't be the one to judg…

I was always under the impression that so long as you got "bit perfect" out to your DAC, it was all good. Is this true? Am I dumb? Learn me.

Got my shipping notice today for the Zdac, via Audio Advisor. According to them I was #1 on the list. I've apparently been #1 on audio dealer's lists before, because my Mom said many times that I was #1 on the Schiit list. Didn't even know they made audio equipment at the time. Anyway, I've been curious about this DAC for a while, due to it's small size, and my previous taste for the Parasound sound. I've recently amassed a handsome stack of matching Zgear to encompass a tidy little desktop system. This will be my first USB DAC, so I'm a bit excited about the prospects of such a device. Other sources beyond computer audio will be my Cambridge iD100/iPod/iPad and th…

A little bit back I sold all my dynamic stuff and went complete electrostat. I was tired of the admittedly lovely, but nit picky Grado GS1000's which sounded like god on certain stuff but which would fall apart on certain other tracks (think early 80's, very thin, sharp in the highs Husker Du tracks, etc.). I haven't been disappointed with the decision. The Stax SRM-323S amp ... Stax SR-307 and Koss ESP950 headphones that I chose are pretty much a dream combination in so far as working with my entire collection of digital music which spans everything from Black Tusk to Bach to Dana Kurtz to Alela Diane to Judas Priest to the Swans. Pretty diverse and on constant rando…

Hi all, I made a *slight* mistake in thinking that my Eastsound has an AES/EBU connection. Wondering if anyone has any inexpensive, but good suggestions for a dedicated CD transport [or CD player] with AES/EBU. The cheaper the better, though I don't want something that is going to fall apart on me. Thanks in advance, Jay

This is the stock layout, not columns ur or any third party! So clean and white and minimalisticly Scandinavian! Its got a freaking spectrum analyzer! No more firing up audition to check out the graphs... The graph on the pic- first half is 192 cbr mp3, then i switched to a flac, you can clearly see the ownage.

If you've got a recommend on a DAC that'll take a USB 24/192 feed, I'd love to hear your thoughts. I like the sound of Sabre, but Wolfson chips would be OK too. I'm willing to spend up to $2K. Should have the new amp sometime next week, but won't have a DAC to feed it. T.

It seems like I've been trying to do this for years and WFH may finally force the issue enough into the forefront that I do something. So, what I'm basically looking for is a stand-alone music server, with onboard storage capacity, decent library management tools, and a reliably updated GUI. I'm not against the obvious Mac Mini choice as I have external DAC options that make that doable, but would be interested in hearing folks other thoughts on this. Budget is not unlimited and the Brooklyn solutions of the world need not apply. I've looked and can't really find anything that gets me very excited.

So I'm tinkering with the notion of dumping the 999es in favor of a player which also handles DVD-A and HDCD. HDCD capability is important since all of the new Grateful Dead Rhino releases are HDCD encoded, and I love the Grateful Dead. The most immediately obvious choice is a modded Denon 3910, since it is widely positively reviewed, and modded models can be had cheap on the gon. As we speak there is an sacdmods for 1300 and a modwright for 2300. I tend toward the Modwright since I'm already a fan of the Modwright house sound, and since it has that big ass overbuilt power supply (which, if I bought used, I would send in to get the tube rectification upgrade). I'm look…

Anyone tried this transformer coupled DAC?? Audiomagus - high end not high priced audio products Should I get it and add an amp like CKKIII or SOHA II over Pico?

My apl denon 3910 arrived today, early impressions are extremely positive, it might be the best digital I've heard. I've attached some pics, including some internal shots. Some of the pcb and parts added are mounted in what I'd call a questionable fashion using some sort of epoxy looking material. It does sound really fantastic though.