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Neko Audio DAC


Hopstretch

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So far the vote is 4 against, 0 for it.

I would say you take their advice and not associate yourself with SP. Maybe Naamanf will loan you his Beta 22? You could always ask.

Nice of you to offer someone else's gear who would have to bring it or ship it from out of state. :basement:

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It might also be worth asking Justin if he's got a GS-1 or GS-X. I'm just trying to think of other manufacturers that don't already produce their own home sources.

I could certainly provide a loaner GS-X if it allowed me to listen to a loaner Neko audio DAC after CanJam.

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Okay, looks like Singlepower is out. :rolleyes: My preference is solid state, and I'd rather pick up something that someone has put some research into than to rush a design within a couple of weeks. :)

morphsci, are you Justin? I just sent an email to Justin asking about the GS-1 since I had a question about it. But I'd be glad to do a gear swap.

I've inquired about picking up a Grado GS-1, so I'll try to bring both that and the AKG K 702 I have on order.

Thanks again for all your replies. Please keep any additional suggestions coming.

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.....morphsci, are you Justin? I just sent an email to Justin asking about the GS-1 since I had a question about it. But I'd be glad to do a gear swap.

Nope (and you probably pissed off Justin ;D) just an owner of the GS-X. I have owned it for a while and it is IMO the most neutral headphone amp I have had the pleasure of owning. If your interested in using it at CanJam drop me PM or email and we can work out the details. I thought the GS-X would work better as it has balanced and unbalanced inputs and headphone outputs.

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Okay, here's what I will be bringing assuming everything arrives in time:

Neko Audio D100, of course.

Denon DVD-1710 and MacBook transports.

AKG K 702 and Sennheiser HD650 headphones.

Channel Islands VHP-2, Luxman P-200, and HeadAmp GS-X (thank you, morphsci).

Thank you, everyone, for helping me out. I'm still bringing the Channel Islands for people to use as a comparison point.

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  • 4 weeks later...
I definitely liked what I heard out of it. It didn't sound like a $5000+ DAC, but nor was I expecting it to. It definitely sounded a bit ahead of the average DAC in it's price range, and certainly more natural.

I still wonder how much better does a $5000 DAC really sound vs a $1295 DAC. There has to be a point of diminishing returns, where you could stop at something like this and never need to go past that?

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I still wonder how much better does a $5000 DAC really sound vs a $1295 DAC. There has to be a point of diminishing returns, where you could stop at something like this and never need to go past that?

There are many points of diminishing returns. Each person's point is different than everybody else. It depends mostly on one's ear, taste and financial means. My main point though is that there is no universal point of diminishing returns, it's totally subjective.

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There are many points of diminishing returns. Each person's point is different than everybody else. It depends mostly on one's ear, taste and financial means. My main point though is that there is no universal point of diminishing returns, it's totally subjective.

Where does your personal "point of diminishing returns" lie?

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That's hard to say and probably varies with different pieces of equipment. I don't mind spending more if I really feel I'm getting something for it, but like to find "bargain" pieces. For example, my main source is an eXemplar modded Denon 2900 with full mods. I bought it used from jpnums and then had it modded to full level. As a result, I have $1900 into it. For Redbook reproduction, it rivals $5K and higher. I've heard better front ends, but they were way more than I wanted to spend.

For amplifiers, I have one main one that I've sunk about $3k into. I really like it and am in no hurry to upgrade. Part of the problem here is that my amp is a Singlepower and now has very little resale value.

For headphones, I just bought both the HF2 and HD800. I thought that both were good buys for the money. I also have a Grado HP2 and Headphile modded AKG K340. I may keep all four or some may go. It depends on what I end up listening to.

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Where does your personal "point of diminishing returns" lie?

My favorite Neko Audio D100 gear combination so far as been at a dealer room. VTL TL-7.5 pre-amp, Spectron Musician III amp, and Analysis Audio full range ribbons. That's about $40k list with the smallest ribbon speakers, more if you get the larger ones. Very sensitive to room and speaker arrangement.

Unfortunately, that still isn't perfect because:

  1. ribbons don't do "real" bass even in their largest form--I built my own subwoofers because nothing available commercially, except for the rotary woofer which requires a house mod to install, would give me what I want.
  2. ribbons are relatively inefficient and have a maximum SPL lower than what would be ideal.
  3. ribbons can be destroyed by the sort of air movement my subwoofers are capable of.

Conclusion: my ideal speaker does not exist. :(

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