Pars

The Pico's graphs just look much cleaner overall in terms of noise floor, etc. Distortion figures from RMAA should be viewed as relative and not absolute values in my opinion. RMAA has a reputation for producing distortion numbers that aren't really believable.

Only way to do low values... c'mon, you know that's why you bought that HP

Yeah... just remember until you are sure that it is fixed, don't touch it with both hands... one hand only. And make sure you have shoes on, and not on bare concrete, etc. The meter set to volts (AC) with one lead in a wall ground, other to the case would be pretty safe, as long as there is somewhere on the case that you could touch the one lead to without having to open it up, etc... could just go to the interconnect sleeve.

I take it you picked up the HP3478 that was FS a bit ago? You get any kelvin leads for it? I've got a 3468B that I use and like alot. Built some 4-wire leads with some Mueller clips from Mouser and some banana plug test jumpers I had laying around... nice for matching resistors.

Tube shit and 2-prong power cables reminds me of the image Reks posted:

If the ground pin on the IEC connector is connected directly to the case, then this is correct (very common configuration). The point of this is safety... if something in the transformer/PSU/AC connection were to come in contact with the case, the case will short it back to the ground in the power cable. Should also blow the fuse as well. If your friend could check AC voltage between the ground point on the case and a wall outlet ground, that would tell you if you have any AC on the case. You said you got shocked again just from the interconnect? What does this interconnect go to? It might not be the DAC or whatever it is that you are checking now... could be another piece of equipment causing it. Many components have the interconnect grounds connected to the chassis as well.

Probably not the power cable, though that should be an easy check... you have a meter (DMM)? If so, unplug the unit and with the DMM, set to ohms scale, check between the hot and ground and neutral and ground pins on the input AC connector with the switch off. Then try it with the power switch on (still unplugged ). You shouldn't see anything between hot and ground with the switch off. Neutral and ground, not sure... depends on how the chassis is tied to ground I think. With the switch on, you probably won't see anything either, other than maybe the transformer primaries. I would think if you had a short from hot to ground (chassis?), the fuse would blow...

Do you guys get the velours right from AKG or headamp? I wish AKG had an online site like Senn does....

I have a pair of these that I use at work with a Sony D33 and a Dynalo (although the D33 drives them surprisingly well). I like them but they are somewhat colored. Isolation is good though... I need to get a pair of the velour pads for mine.

OH NOSE! Only 10!!!!! Pars = Tentlabs fanboy...

Nice review. I hadn't seen the Resolution Audio player before. It is quite a bit more expensive, particularly with the mods, than the Cambridge, so good to see the 840 holding its own more or less (I guess... depends on perspective). I noticed that GNSC isn't very talkative on their web page regarding the mods they do (other than the usual jargon). Oh, and sorry to contribute to derailing your thread...

Re: Philips = asshats Fortunately I have 2 spare CDM4/19s for my Rotel... original laser still works (bought new in ~1990), so I think I'm good there... I always wanted to buy/DIY whatever a transport with a CDM-Pro, particularly if I could do it like this: http://bergrans.despinnerij.nl/index.php?content=mechanics

What is sad is Philips as a company has a track record of abysmal support, notably in the CD drive arena... hopefully they won't pull the plug on the CD-Pro2

Didn't Jeff Rowland use the AD815 in one of his preamps? Supposedly a really great sounding chip (I have a partially built CarlosFM AD815 pre board that I have listened to a bit, not enough to determine, but what I did hear sounded good...). Arguably high-end

I don't have a particular aversion to opamps and didn't say anything about them in my post...

Actually, sounds great is the goal. However, I would expect any commercial piece of gear that I plunk money down for to be well-engineered and well-built as well, and not to burn my house down (not a direct reference to the subject perp; more to stories I've read of the manufacturer of my preamp ).

Yep...

I always love wiring the switched portion on the Neutrik HP jacks then wondering why the hell the phones don't work when I plug em in... Damn, there was signal there before...

I never have... the sound just always "opens up" and becomes "more focussed", yada yada... That said, the manufacturer of my speaker amp (Odyssey) swears by burn in. I bought mine used, so never subjected myself to the process though.

Sorry, just had to use that... In a single ended system, the output swings both positive and negative. For example, a sine wave will of 1Vpp will swing from 0.5V to -0.5V. In a balanced system, I believe the membrane is driven by both the + and - outputs at 180deg. phase difference? (could be wrong...). So one side is pushing the membrane and the other side is pulling it at the same time. I'll probably get crucified for this, but the only time I listened to HD650s was at a meet, both balanced and single ended... I didn't really care for them. Large symphonic was just too syrupy. Damn comfortable though.

Ooops, sorry to bust your balls on it (having a hard time saying that given the pic below ) Casing and wiring is an ongoing thing, and I use/have used Cat5 etc. Like I said, sometimes it presents interesting problems. I find that everytime I open something I've built up, I think of better ways to do stuff. Then redo it the next time This is probably the biggest area of delta between DIY'ers and commercial manufacturers (tho I don't know if Ori really fits in there). Hard to justify the amount of money involved in the case/machining and board layout to fit said case design (well, unless you're KG ). I think that Justin does an awesome job since ditching the Gilmore V1/V2/lite V1 designs, and from a business perspective, the amount of labor required to wire panel components in his initial designs versus now with most if not all things board mounted and aligned with the case design has to save inordinate amounts of time, aggravation, and just presents a damn professional looking product. Same with Ray insofar as his cases go. Don't like the design aesthetics as well, but whatever...

All you probably have is a couple of non-functional drivers... you'll be back to the before you know it, looking forward to the even better system...

LEDs are pretty damn quiet. Actually, its the Cat5 wiring supporting the board Fortunately, the electrons have no idea what they're running thru. Build quality on the board is so-so... those blue caps actually look like some kinda tantalums , or possibly polystyrenes. Granted, when you overlay a board onto a design not made to support it, you can get into some interesting problems as to how to wire it in, etc., but the workmanship here is lacking. The metal cans are transistors... not a package you see often these days but alot of mil-spec shit used that type of packaging (as well as the ceramic DIPs you see sometimes, which are usually better than the plastic package normal varieties). Looks like about $15 in parts plus the PCB... dunno what he charges for these but if he's not making money on them That said, remember that pretty-looking professional PCBs, etc. don't insulate you from shitty engineering, irregardless of the price tag. Read Jocko, John Westlake, etc. on diyhifi and you will see some references to this in well respected expensive equipment. The good looking PCBs do give you a warm fuzzy however on thinking you got what you paid for

Ahhh, hard to tell from that grainy pic... looked like blue LEDs. Instead, blue probably BC electrolytics. Would be nice to see a more detailed pic of it.

2007 Team Cheap-ass (otherwise known as married with 2 kids and underemployed wife ). Mostly concentrated on speaker rig. Sources: Rotel RCD-855; Thorens TD320 MkI / AT 440ML Concentrated mainly on improving my source (digital). Started off the year getting a modified PFM Flea board done with /2 clocking (actually 2 Flea PSUs combined on one board) so that I could bypass the horrid clock distribution via the SAA7220 and do direct BCK to the TDA1541A. Put in a second transformer and Tread to provide the raw DC for this. Worked real good bubba. Next for the source came the DIY DC-coupled discrete I/V stage. Got the discrete board(s) done this summer and finally got around to doing a proper PSU for them so I put one of them in. Major upgrade which has me in less of a mood to do anything else to the source right now. Opamps are no contest to this, at least for I/V. Need to listen to some of the more upscale players to compare; might grab a demo Meridian from Holm Audio to listen some . Amplification: Counterpoint SA5.1 preamp and Odyssey Stratos plus power amp. I'd always been fighting with the preamp regarding hum and noise. I even bought a Coda Window II preamp to try out... it lost, so I sold it (not bad sounding though). Got rid of almost all of the noise by replacing 2 huge Cerafine 2x220uf caps I had put in 3-4 years ago with 3 BG VK 150uf 350V caps. The Cerafines were too close to the pot, causing the noise. DOH! Probably not done though... back to a TKD pot for it, and replacement of the coupling caps. Next year I might send the Odyssey in and get the Extreme upgrades done. Don't think I can accommodate monos... Speakers: Von Schweikert VR4 GenIIs, Soler Points stainless spikes, Kimber 8TC cables. Still like these, probably here to stay for awhile. If I come across a long 4TC run, I might go back to biwire. Headphone rig: Still using a DIY Dynalo (headamp V2 PCB), AKG K601s. I know this is pretty lame for most of you I have alot of bits around for a Dynahi or 2 or 3, but the B22 also interests me. Not sure if I want to go balanced yet, as nothing else I have is balanced (other than the Aleph P1.7 clone I have the boards built for). Maybe... The litz ground loop thing that Aerius mentions on the first or second page is interesting, though the boards I have done have full ground planes on them... might have to play around with that a bit though in some of the stuff. And possibly some interconnect upgrades (still using mainly old Audioquest Turquoise/Ruby cables). Pricey cables and team cheap-ass don't peacefully coexist though... Maybe try some Grovers out though... saw a UR5 on HF... would this be worthwhile?