hotaudio40 's amps

[UTF]

Thank you, K_19 and Wenglish, for your inputs. So would Supreme be a better choice in order to get more dynamics from ef1? Would that be counted as double amp?

[Qonmus]

Just wanted to chime in with some input on hotaudio40's BitPerfect DAC.

I bought this because I did not have an amp, and I don't plan on getting one for a while. I ordered this when I ordered my SR225's.

My new headphones arrived first so I listened to them out of my iPod until the bit perfect arrived. When I plugged it in and fired it up I was a little less than impressed; I'm not very good at describing sound, but it sounded a little dull to me. I read the instructions and it recommended at least a few hours to burn in, so I did that, and I was still slightly underwhelmed. Today is day 6, and I must say it sounds much, much better now. One of the best 100$ dollar upgrades I've ever made on a computer, and its nice to know that this is one upgrade that won't be obsolete in 8 months. I haven't listened to many higher end DACs, but this one sounds pretty damn good to me.

Also wanted to say something about the shipping - I am in the U.S., and this was shipping from Canada, so I was expecting a long wait; it came on the 6th business day, which is pretty good imo.

[K_19]

Originally Posted by UTF

Thank you, K_19 and Wenglish, for your inputs. So would Supreme be a better choice in order to get more dynamics from ef1? Would that be counted as double amp?

I think after the DAC Straight, rest of the sound signature will be purely upto EF1 and the tubes in your EF1. DAC Straight seemed to do all the detail retrieval (as well as getting rid of all the little distortions) that I was missing when I was "double amping" the EF1 with my Total Bithead, but otherwise the sound signature seemed to have stayed true to the EF1 and whatever Tubes I was using at the time. I found the DAC straight to be much more brighter/more detailed than T.Bithead, which was IMO on the warm side. As I mainly use the Mullard short plate tube now (which is a warm yet very mid-detail oriented tube), it synergizes decently with both my HD650 (it really brought the mids out of the veil, even though highs are still somewhat rolled off) and the K701 (which needs all the warmness they can get).

So in all I think it'll come down to your tube choices and the headphones you have.

[MacedonianHero]

Originally Posted by K_19

NP. I now feel that the DAC Straight is the component that finally pushed my HD650/K701 to the "reference" quality. I did not know what I was missing with my old combination of Bithead and EF1 and they sounded good enough to me before, but now I am hearing what the true quality sound should be... I'm noticing things in recordings I never noticed before and getting instrument separation as I've never heard before. I know such descriptions usually applies with upgrades to newer/superior headphones, but in my particular case it was the DAC. I would have never realized how crucial the DAC component of the setup could be otherwise.

Liking it with the K701 as well. Again, this DAC definitely holds nothing back from the original source and enables my EF1 to output the sound as it is meant to fully... and the K701 truly do sound great with EF1 and the Mullard tubes with DAC Straight "freeing" them.

I couldn't agree with you more. My DAC Straight coupled with my Grado RA1 amp and RS1 headphones are truly phenomenal!

[myk7000]

How does the dac straight do against dacs on the D10, apogee duet, and pico?

[MacedonianHero]

Originally Posted by myk7000

How does the dac straight do against dacs on the D10, apogee duet, and pico?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but these are combination DAC/Amps, so if you want to run these into an existing amp, you will be effectively double amping. This could colour the sound...I feel with hifi, less is more.

The DAC straight is just a DAC with zero amplification.

[K_19]

Apparently the DAC chip in Pico is supposed to be superior to the one used in DAC Straight, which is apparently great but still not top of the line. Then again, Pico is $500+ as well as being a DAC/Amp combo (though DAC only version exists, I believe it's not too much cheaper), so the comparison is unfair.

[myk7000]

Has anyone tried comparing them though?

[NilsenNorway]

I ordered the HotUsb2 from Dave a couple of days ago. My Hd555s are finally gonna get something better than the internal card in my Dell laptop.

Yay!

[az2123]

Did anybody notice the insane sale they're having right now? Right now, I'm having trouble deciding between the DAC Destroyer ($69 on sale, originally $129) and the DAC Straight ($105 on sale, originally $249).
My setup will be Laptop -> DAC (either Destroyer or Straight) -> X-Can V2 -> SR225i.
They both have line level RCA outputs (I believe), so it's just a question of whether the extra $35 is worth it in my setup. Has anybody heard both and can offer a direct comparison?

[Anvil]

I did! I did!

And while I'm at it, is the only difference between the HotUSB1 or 2 and the Destroyer just the fact that the latter has RCA connectors while the former only has a headphone jack?

[az2123]

Couldn't wait so I just ordered a DAC Straight.

Anvil, according to the hotaudio.com page, the HotUSB1 has a "neutral" sound sig, whereas the HotUSB2 and the DAC Destroyer have "warm" sound sigs. Hope this helps.

[Anvil]

Yeah I noticed that too, but I just wanted to confirm the connector difference bit.

[NilsenNorway]

Got the HotUsb2 from Dave in the mail today. Its a great little dac/amp for my HD555s Still not broken in but it kicks ass! :-)

[zynexiatech]

can anyone recommend which one of hotaudio40's amps would be suitable for my sennheiser HD595's ideally powered via battery or USB as ill mainly have it hooked up via usb from my laptop or xbox 360.