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I can find very little about the Stax DAC Talent online. Has anyone here heard it and could give some impressions? I found someone selling it for about $300 U.S. dollars. Is this a reasonable price? After hearing all the great comments about vintage DACs I am interested in getting one. I listen through my Luxman amp to way too many Stax. I'm looking forward to your comments.

I can't find it on the HR page, and Google searches aren't turning up much that is useful. It's still pictured in a few of the HR-BUD photos and a PDF of the manual is still online, but that's about it. I did some preliminary searches on head-fi, but I can barely navigate that site these days. If it's in fact gone, it seems like an odd move to me. The "build your own Max" option of buying a HR-BUD, HR-UDAC and DPS is no longer possible. Not to mention the lack of a top of the line source for the HR power amps + Harbeths. Where's Tyll when you need him?* *Yes, I realize he's no longer directly affiliated with the company.

Weiss has released a new DAC202 with new D/A not based on the Minerva and integrated headphone amp. $6440 list price.

Audiolab, design by John Westlake. I'd like to hear these. Sabre32 DACs, really reasonable price. Audiolab 8200CD and 8200CDQ CD Players - eCoustics.com A forum that John has been posting on as of late: At last...................... - Page 29 - pink fish media

I got an HRT Music Streamer II for my parents Mac Mini. Just needed a cheap DAC and wanted one that didn't need a power supply. In theory, this DAC fits the bill. In practice, that's not the case. For anyone out there considering the HRT, be forewarned that you very likely will need to run it off a powered USB hub. It appears to simply draw to much power to run reliabily out of a 'puter's USB ports. There are a bunch of posts about this on the internets, but I figured I'd give a heads up here, too.

I need to get a new DAC after damaging my E-MU 0404 USB dac. There are nice new (used) DACs out there for about 200 euro, the E-MU, the V-DAC, and the cambridge audio DAC magic. But there are also vintage DACs, like this ADCOM 700 (that someone seems to have done some strange mods to) [ATTACH=CONFIG]2965[/ATTACH] or the Parasound D/AC 1000, or this Orelle DAC [ATTACH=CONFIG]2964[/ATTACH] What do you people think? Should I go vintage or almost new?

What do you guys think the SQ on lower end DAC (ESI Nano/Gamma 1/Ordnance DAC/Go Vibe DAC fed by losless from computer vs a direct play using CD from a standard issue DVD player ($100 or lower price) ? Which is better in your opinion ? My take is on this lower end DAC, DVD player playing CD is better.....

Size is getting to be important and looking for a small cheap CDP with digital outs. Coming to you all for help. Used fine. Haven't had luck finding much, but something along the lines of this would work. Otherwise seems to be more DVD players (though not always with displays) in this range. Basically going for a Squeezebox/Lavry/GS-1 rig so trying to keep width near or less than 10". And Dusty Approved Black. Anyone know of any CD models I should consider or DVD players usable with an external display? If only my DVD-2900 was about a quarter its size.

Well these look interesting: zodiac_rubicon I watched a video and he let drop that it uses a Burr Brown DAC. the video is here: Musikmesse 2009 - Audiofanzine I dunno though. I wonder when they will be out. The quoted SNR and Dynamic ranges are insane. I assume with those numbers it would need to be the PCM1794A/PCM1792A.

I just snagged up an Eastsound CD-E5 for pretty cheap and I'm crossing my fingers I won't have to replace the transport the day it arrives. Anyone still using this CDP?

Because of some Refence Recordings, HDTracks, etc. files, I started off my recent DAC hunt by eliminating any model that didn't support 88.2 or 176.4 kHz. Unfortunately, that eliminates a ton of DACs (MiniMax, Neko, etc.). I know several use the same chip, but not all. Some, like Lavry, expect even less standard kHz, so curious why these two 44.1 x X points aren't more widely supported?

I've recently bought a Lite DAC-39 second hand. At that time I did not have a proper coaxial line-out cable so I substituted it with a box-standard rca cable. I got imbalanced sound. So I bought a Zu audio Firemine and I thought the problem went away. But upon closer analysis, the problem persists in a different form. The left channel of the unbalanced output sounds "out of phase" the highs are pretty decent but the mids and bass are washed out. The right channel on the other hand is full bodied and sounds fantastic. I've troubleshooted my entire system and the problem definitely lies with the DAC. Both coaxial and optical inputs produce the same imbalance. I have alre…

So I have weed to enhance my listening experience, Grado RS-2s, and a Millet Minimax I'm almost done making. I just need a dac with optical input for my only listening source - a laptop with optical output. What would you recommend to a lazy stoner with $400 who wants to buy something through a link?

I understand the importance of wanting to bypass all of the Windows filters and crap to achieve bit-perfect output to feed a DAC, but what's with these converters out there with their own dedicated power supplies? Is that really necessary? I'm not technical by ANY means, but what I do understand is that they are basically taking a digital signal (via USB) and...converting it...to...a digital signal (via Coax). How should that process have any affect on the sound? And if it does, doesn't that mean you just bought a crappy product with a nice external power supply? Please, enlighten me, my head hurts.

Around the time I first joined over there it seems like there were fewer choices in DACs. Benchmark and Lavry seemed to be the go-to options, though there were certainly other contenders: Apogee, HeadRoom, Grace, Bel Canto, Monarchy, Channel Islands, and others, as well as various experiments in NOS: Ack!, Lite, etc. Then came Zhaolu, and it seemed to usher in a new micro-era of willingness to tread away from the beaten path. Audio-GD's extensive DAC lineup is a good example of the proliferation of options these days. I really have no sense for what the standouts are anymore (among similarly priced products). I'm not sure review reading is terribly illuminating, sinc…

My babies transport has died today, was working earlier but now she just makes a clicking noise.. She has had her use over the years sometimes playing 10 hour days sometimes even 24 strait for burn in... i called Meridian and they are sending me an email on what to do next, expected turn around is about three weeks from start to finish. no clue on repair cost as the machine is way out of warranty. been offered $5000 on a used 808 yesterday also, but i don't have the time nor use for such a player now. i just hope the repair cost don't hurt me... please pour a bit of coffee out today for my fallen homie!

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…

Hi Everyone, I am planning to get a new bedroom rig to replace my old sony minitower. I am thinking of erecting it around the ipod nano and then using an ipod transport to feed the signal to a dac via spdiff. As far as I can check there are two choices currently: wadia 170i or onkyo nd-s1 ipod transport I was wodnering if anyone has tried either and can tell me about their experiences because I have no idea which to get. The onkyo is cheaper but the wadia is more widely available. Thanks in advance for any information Greetings, Anouk,

This one, "Taralabs"... Native 24bit 96k USB to Spdif I2S Converter for DAC - eBay (item 270517709517 end time Feb-17-10 17:30:38 PST) ... but I read "Teralabs". Whatever, it does use the Tenor chip, like the Prodigy Cube I am using now, but it is a simpler desing (no DAC inside so no line outs and no headphone out) with the option of off-board power supply. I am happy with my unit (does native 24/96 and changes the sampling frequency on the fly with foobar) save for a problem with some 24/88'2 files (does not recognise the 88'2 fq). But "no drivers" makes me happy... Anyone to test it? Padam were you not looking for something like that?

Why does the Assemblage dac I just bought say 2.7 on the front faceplate and 2.6 on the back ? Which is it? 2.6 or 2.7 ? I'll use this thread to post impressions later as well ...as soon as I can get a couple power cords from monoprice.

Audiophilleo1 - advanced low jitter USB to SPDIF transport Thoughts folks? Load of crocks or something that works ?

Price unknown, but if it's sensible they should sell plenty. Since this is almost certainly using the exact same receiver board that's in the Wavelength and Ayre USB DACs, it'll probably also be upgradable to support 192kHz sample rates eventually.

I would like to connect the KGSS (balanced), Woo Audio 5LE (SE), and GS-1 (SE) all to the ECD-1. I was hoping to be able to have more than one amp on at a time (but at least not have to plug and unplug cables). Is it ok to have amps connected (and running) to both the XLR and RCA outputs of the ECD-1 simultaneously and will this degrade sound quality? This was my plan: |----(RCA)----> GS-1 ----(loop out)----> WA5LE ECD-1 | |----(XLR)----> KGSS[/HTML]

Hi, I'm looking for some informations to my Pre- and Main-Amplifier Set from Luxman. I bought the set in 2003, and I can't find any information on the web about it. Luxman Limited Edition C-3 (Pre-Amplifier) Luxman Limited Edition M-3 (Main-Amplifier) The Back of the Amplifiers marks "Limited Edition made by The Lux Corporation Japan 2003" I heard, that in Japan this Set has been sold as "Copies" that are similar to a Set from Accuphase. Both Amps are built of the same components and assemblies as the Accuphase models. My questions: Is there anyone who knows these Amplifiers and who can tell me, how high a Collector's value would be ? In Ebay I'm looking …

No thread for the latest ladder DAC on Head-Case I believe it does HDCD, looks like it does it through the custom DSP filter? Naim Audio # Chassis: The 3mm aluminium chassis and die cast fascia provide the fundamental structural rigidity necessary for low microphony. # Printed Circuit Boards: Six layer glass fiber PCBs optimised for low microphony and high speed data transfer. # Analogue Filters: Two Cascaded third order Sallen-Key active filters giving 36dB/Octave roll-off. Each stage incorporates Naim zero-feedback complimentary buffers. # I to V Converters: Convert the current output of the digital to analogue converters to a voltage waveform ready for…