I'm sitting here looking at my lavry and my zana deux (just put it together after a long vacation). and now i realize i need XLR to RCA connectors. question, does it matter (should i go for 6 dollar ones) or should i spend the $ on the fancy cardas?

$6 is fine.

I'm of the growing opinion that Cardas, like some other manufacturers, has cultivated a very nice high-end market for themselves and as any good business person would do prices their products as high as the market will bear. Every Cardas product that I've encountered has shown a high degree of fit and finish but I've been able to find connectors that offer 99% of that for 25-50% of the price. And acutally, on a few rare occasions I've found that their connectors don't play all that nice with other brands. Example, the Cardas GRQSS 1/4" stereo plug is incredibly finicky about what jack you try and insert it into. Some times it is as if it's just a hair too small and has a hard time maintaining a connection. I've never encountered this problem with say a Neutrik or Canare 1/4" plug that costs $4 instead of $14.

It still sounded better than the DAC1 in my system, using the $6 adaptors.

and ipod sounds better than a dac 1...so that's not saying much

LOL

and ipod sounds better than a dac 1...so that's not saying much

I can sense you might be using a bit of hyperbole, but do you really think the DAC1 is that bad? I've never heard one myself.

if you are a big sony fan the dac1 is great

DAC1 is poop...

the Dac-1 is pretty good... i'll shoot it out against the lavry sometime later...

btw: i got the cheap adaptors.

I can sense you might be using a bit of hyperbole, but do you really think the DAC1 is that bad? I've never heard one myself.

Have you heard the iPod? This statement makes me think you haven't heard it at its best. Are you just trying to perpetuate a myth that the iPod sounds bad, by repeating it as much as you can?

Have you heard the iPod? This statement makes me think you haven't heard it at its best. Are you just trying to perpetuate a myth that the iPod sounds bad, by repeating it as much as you can?

I was responding to grawk's comments that the ipod sounds better then the dac1, to which iron dreamer responded "lol", so I thought grawk was making a joke about the DAC1. I'd always heard the DAC1 was a good sounding dac, just wanted to get some clarification on grawk's statement.

Yeah I've owned lots and lots of ipods. I have owned a first generation, an ipod photo, and a 2g nano. The first two broke after a year, the 2g nano I sold after I got into non-portable audio.

I don't think anybody needs to perpetuate a myth that the iPod sounds bad, it does that fine all by itself.

Not the ones I've heard.

Not the ones I've heard.

To be fair: does the iPod truly sound "bad"? IMO, no, it doesn't sound "bad". I do own a 1g shuffle I bought for 35 bucks on the bay, it sounds nice. My beef with the iPod is really more of a beef with the mp3 culture. Maybe I just feel silly for spending so much money on mp3's and DRM protected music and iPods before I got into this hobby and found the mp3 sq lacking in my home rig.

Fair enough. But you realize that association is in your head. The solution is to either listen lossless or at least rip at a higher rate (realizing you can't do that with tracks purchased from iTunes).

Tracks purchased from iTunes music store found like poo

'found like poo'? I think you mean, 'found rike poo'.

DAC1 is poop...

iPods... also poop