Home Source Components

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

Hi Folks, This is my virgin post here at Headcase I just sold my Zapfiltered E5, and now am eyeing a mod for my 3910. Alex at APL suggested one of his mods: General PSU mods Add new transformer and linear PSU w/reg. for the digital section Custom clock to replace all 6 clocks on the 3910 Bypass DSPs for best digital to the DAC (loose source direct i.e. SACD>172khz PCM, no: bass management, time alignment, level controls on FL,FR) Double DACs (one 1796 per channel) (loose MIX L R outputs) Analog stage mods with SE mosfet buffer output stage. He says this will kill very respectable $10k vinyl rigs... All for $1xxx Anybody have experience wit…

Phasure NOS1 DAC... I'm just trying to find more info on this...possibly from someone who has the means to own a 2900 euro DAC:)... seems to be a little more info elsewhere in the XXHighEnd forums...

I have a DAC1 USB to a Luxman P1u to a pair of HD820. Should I do better than the DAC1? I have limited space. Probably pointless to upgrade. Wish I had a DAC still that would not fit there:

... 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 …

This could be end up being a nice solution for some. http://store.acousticsounds.com/d/94817/Sony-USB_Hi-Res_DAC_System-DA_Converter_or_Processor

Don't see much coverage around since it was released a few days ago, but the price is right for a lot of uses. Anyone heard anything pro/con? http://www.emotivapro.com/products/stealth-dc-1-a

Anyone here own an Aurender or Lumin or something similar as a music server vs a PC or Mac. I use a mac mini and lately my mind has been infected with the thoughts of the Aurender N100 anyone else go that route or hear comparisons?

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 know I talked to someone about these guys at CanJam and said I'd post a link. Think it was Jim, but after a couple of over-refreshed memory slips already I ain't going out on a limb. They're flogging a (very expensive) modular DAC/SACD player with full digital inputs and claiming total jitter immunity. Easily dismissed as the usual hi-fi hyperbole except that the tech guy behind it is Andreas Koch, who I believe has long been one of the heaviest hitters in the SACD/DSD world. Anyway, here it is Jim (or whoever). Playback Designs

So the next step for me after I run the Bugle for a while will be to try a SUT with an MM tube phono stage. Of course I'm already looking for an appropriate SUT, and it appears that the Cinemag transformers are within my price range, and supposedly they have a synergy with the DL-103 line of carts. There are two builders I've come across. anumber1 on agon and capnbob on eBay. I have read that anumber1 is a popular guy on aa, but I've never spoken with him. Capnbob responded to a question I had quickly last night, and he regularly sells Altec and Cinemag SUTs which always go quickly. However, capnbob's price is $85 more then anumber1's. Also, anumber1's layout of ins on…

I currently have a X-Fi Elite pro containing the CS4398 DAC which it seems to share in common with headroom's ultra micro DAC. Is this an adequate DAC? Should I look to upgrade? I have a incoming beta22 and a friend mentioned that the sound card dosen't have a proper "line out" to run to the b22. Thoughts?

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.

Has anyone heard it? Looks pretty good on paper, but so far, no real word-of-mouth impressions I can find around the net.

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

Me again... So, I'm now looking for a decent phono stage. I've decided that I am going to place my turntable at the back of my room (17ft from front to back). Basically, I want to keep the analog rig far away from the subs etc. at the front of the room. The cartridge is a Clearaudio Accurate and here are the specs on that:

A friend of mine has an ackDac whose battery just died, and he's wondering if it's worth it to replace the $75 battery (if he even can?) or if there's a good current DAC for around $200 that he should just upgrade to. I'm long since out of the market for DACs in that price range -- anyone know? Doesn't even need USB, just RCA.

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…

Has anyone had a chance to hear the new McIntosh SACD/CD beast yet. I'm pretty sure this uses the new ESS ES9018 chip. It also has SPDIF in so this is certainly a contender for the 2-channel system. Well except for the fact it has a $6500 MSRP and at that price point it better be pretty special.

This isn't a definitive tip, but I think I might have gotten the HDCD player I was looking for – free of charge. Most of us know that HDCD technology was developed by Pacific Microsonics and later acquired by Microsoft. What I didn't know was that my laptop (ASUS N56VZ-DS71) was capable of playing HDCD... my old desktop system used a Sound Blaster Audigy, which was a decent sound card for its time. This new laptop uses a Realtek High Definition Audio codec, which most of us would laugh at, since it's been the default audio solution in millions of systems for about the last decade... however, I believe it has full support for 24-bit audio. To enable HDCD pla…

I was told that the Bel Canto USB Link 24/96 was made to allow 24/96 type files to be put out via the computers USB and received via the coax of their USB 24/96 DAC so that people could overcome the limitations of their (and most DACs USBs) to receive anything over 16/44.1 , I was impressed that someone could spend so much money on their DAC and still not have a simple solution for this issue without blowing an extra $500.Before looking into this I just thought that if a USB DAC said 24/96 then that's what you would be getting via the USB.If I'm not mistaken Wavelength DACs deal with this issue without the use of a USB to coax converter just over the USB,does anyone here …

So has anyone heard this goddamn thing yet? Doesn't seem to be much out there about it except the usual oohs and aahs.

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.

Thinking of going with a new dac, as an upgrade from my apogee minidac. I've been using USB and have primarily flac files (ape, ogg as well). Mainly i'm debating going with a benchmark dac1/is2(usb conversion) , or maybe a transporter to avoid USB all together. It seems the onbard usb options on most dacs are considered inferior transports to an alternative like this. No complaints with my mindac, but I know I can do a bit better with these fancier transport options available. I don't have any oversampling either and I know that i'm not utilizing the full potential of this DAC. Anyway i've read a bit about the empiricle audio is2 dac1 mods, and also been trying …

Hi everyone. I'm thinking about upgrading my source. Right now I have a stock Denon DVD-2900 to a DAC1. I've been looking at either a Exemplar DVD-2900 or DVD-3910 or Purks rig which is a Modwright with Kern Modded Sony SCD-777ES w/ Tube Rectified PSU or even a Cambridge 840C. There is a Exemplar DVD-3910 on sale at Agon http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?dgtlplay&1214828507, but I'm not sure if that is a good price or not. Just a little background on sources, I'm pretty much a noob when it comes to sources. I read reviews on all the products mentioned, and read Tkam's great review on the Cambridge 840C. They all sound like they would be good, but I'm not sure…