Pars

It's getting to be challenging to come up with one TDA1541a, let alone 8 (non-fake) of them. All the world needs is DACs that use 8 or 16 of them at once

You could mod a CDP or a transport to accommodate this function as well. Probably the best way to do this is via a TentLink... expensive but apparently works very well.

I think I'm going to buy some Dynamicaps for my Counterpoint SA5.1 pre (1uf/425V and 0.47u/425V) shortly. Might be better out there, but these are what Mike Elliot of altavistaaudio uses (former chief designer/CEO of Counterpoint). He claims to have tested everything else, and since he uses these, if I ever go to sell it modded with same parts he uses shouldn't hurt me... If you would like to test these, I'd send you one to test and return when done...

Yeah, it was better when the dollar and euro had a bit more parity (still expensive to me at $2k+). But, I was asking if anyone had heard it. I wouldn't be surprised if it competed quite nicely with $10K+ players.

Unlikely, but thought I'd ask anyway... Has anyone heard Guido Tent's CD player? I would be surprised if this didn't sound really good, but I don't think there are many knocking around, at least outside of Europe.

Oooohhh, but they're 15% off til the end of the month (partsconnexion).

Mogami 2534 is a jacketed star-quad? no braiding required?

I don't think your analogy really fits, and don't get me wrong, I wish you the best in your CanJam warped me quest. A more fitting analogy: Suppose I throw together two really large and expensive speaker rigs, claiming one is my classical rig and the other is my rock rig... but I'm still a minimalist

Probably not going to see those in $50 DVD players, ya think $3K each in 50pc lots? FuckingOUCH

Is that the thing your fun with Molex conectors harness was for? Good job.

Yeah, its too bad that someone can't step up and build a really good transport mech that is capable of both CD reads and DVD type reads (for hi def) that is reliable, easily repairable, etc. Maybe something along the Philips line but better made, and actually supported The recycled DVD mechs that seem to be used these days just don't cut it. How has the reliability on that TEAC drive (VRDS or something like that) been?

I'd agree. The laser in my Rotel went 15+ years at least, and is still probably good (was getting a few disc errors, but those may be from a couple of caps I need to change).

What laser do these use, and how involved is it to change them? I have done the Philips CDM4 in my Rotel once and have two spares, as these are pretty much unobtainable anymore, and that was pretty much drop a new one in For those thinking about the Krell, my advice would be to find out what mechanism they use and see how much they are and how available they are (and whether it seems like supply is drying up). If you pick up a spare or two, that would last you along time... probably longer than many of you keep your gear around here

Pallet of what? SCD-1s? Or Krells?

Damn you x2... on 12

Yeah, I was kinda floored by how big the Menace was when Nate was standing by it. In the build thread, there wasn't anything to get a reference from.

nahhh, its FM fuckin majix

I think he meant that you were going to do the amp without an internal DAC now (using the DAC in your integrated whatever it is) and do an external DAC later. Yes, you will need a volume control on the Beta.

That should work... the tape monitor on most integrated amps/preamps is before the volume control, so you will need a volume control on your amp (B22). But it is at line level, so it has not been amplified (much).

That is kind of key... what the builder is willing and comfortable using and putting into the B22 for you... One DAC that I would look at would be the new Twisted Pear Sabre DAC with some sort of discrete I/V. But I'm not sure what your budget is for the DAC... As for using an external DAC, it shouldn't be a loss of quality as far as attaching it to the B22. The built-in DAC would be hardwired to the input switch I suppose? Pretty much the same thing for the external, plus a couple of RCA jacks and an interconnect cable. Depends on how much you believe in interconnects, etc. influencing sound.

Re: PCM1704 and passive I/V http://www.diyhifi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1520 Gordon Rankin of Wavelength Audio, last post in thread. The OP was looking for someone to change out the PCM he blowed up real good on HF also

Well, that depends alot on what you used for the built in DAC. If your thoughts were to do something like an ALien DAC built in, then that is going to be pretty inexpensive, and that can either be USB powered or you could go ahead and power it via the amp PSU if you could get the right voltage (reliably). I had assumed that you were intending on having a built-in DAC commensurate with the Beta22 level (but wasn't sure what you had in mind). A DIY DAC? A commercial product?

Current out DACs really want to see as close to a dead short on the output as you can get, sub 1 ohm. A resistor large enough to get the required output voltage isn't going to be close to that Most opamps can't get that low even with feedback and rise as freq. goes up because of feedback/group bandwidth. The THS403x was going to be my next choice for opamp to try, but I built a discrete current steering I/V which I love. No more opamps for me.

I don't think Krell uses passive. Pedja seems to think they have used AD844s in the past with discrete buffers. This could be all discrete I/V and buffer. I take it the PCM1704 is an I-out DAC? Discrete would make the most sense if so...

Might be kinda hard to deal with a mini in class... On a related note, I will probably need to add another drive to my G5 PowerMac... any recommendations? I know I've seen posts where you and Grawk and ?? have been discussing drives (RAID, etc.), so that's why I asked. It has an 80Gb stock... maybe add something 250G or maybe larger?