Musiland DIYEDEN SVDAC05

[trinkus79]

Just got mine today! Now I just have to wait for my cold to go away so I can actually listen to ...well..anything lol

[classicalguy]

I'm looking forward to your thoughts. I'm really enjoying mine. I must say it sounds terrible with bad recordings, but good recordings sound pretty terrific to me. Headphone amp seems very good too.

[trinkus79]

I think it sounds really good, a lot better than I thought it was for the price I paid. Like you send you can tell when you have a bad recording. All of my music seems more 'detailed' now. I can hear all of the little extensions to all of the notes, the fades and little vibrations it's great.

I do have a few bones to pick...

1. I have an odd clicking noise if I skip through tracks in Foobar sometimes, and sometimes it clicks like it's setting the sample rate, but all of them are the same.

2. The switching from sample rate to volume level is kind of annoying. I wish I could make it stay on one or the other, preferably the rate, since I'm only using the DAC section.

3. Would have been nice to have a fixed line out, but that's my fault for not paying attention when I bought it.

Anyone that owns one of these have any thoughts/suggestions for #1&2?

[iozz]

Originally Posted by trinkus79

1. I have an odd clicking noise if I skip through tracks in Foobar sometimes, and sometimes it clicks like it's setting the sample rate, but all of them are the same.

Same for me. Do you use USB input too?

Originally Posted by trinkus79

2. The switching from sample rate to volume level is kind of annoying. I wish I could make it stay on one or the other, preferably the rate, since I'm only using the DAC section.

Yeah, you have this red thing permanently switching right in front of you, kind of annoying...

[trinkus79]

I use the 'RCA(coax) input. Coax out on my Auzen Prelude -> Audioquest VDM-3 -> SVDAC05 -> Audioquest Copperheads -> Little Dot MKIV -> Beyer DT990

As for the red thing, I wonder if there is a way to just turn off the display. I don't really need it for anything. Or maybe I'll just build a nice wooden box to put it in

[classicalguy]

Well, through usb, it locks on to 48hz for windows sounds. When I play 44.1, I get a zap through the speakers when it switches. Yes, it's annoying. The red screen doesn't really both me, but I could see how it might bother someone else.

It is very detailed. I hear background noises very clearly. The clarity takes some getting used to.

I certainly agree on the line out. But at least it is a good sounding preamp.

[electropop]

This is a nicely priced piece of equipement.
I'm building a setup for between my headphones (Grado sr325i/Sennheiser HD650) and my computer. It's much more comfortable listening music from your computer than having to keep all your cd's "available".

I'm thinking of getting the Bada ph12 head amp. (A nice hybrid amp, from what i've heard, with extensive and accurate bass from the solid side, and a little extra smoothness and liquidity from the tube side) And I'm thinking of snapping it onto this dac.

Do any of you think that the non-fixed line out will be a problem in terms of sound quality?

iozz seems to have quite a setup. If you listen to music from your computer, what do you use? Have you tried a dac+head amp combo? You seem to have the Meier opera, are you happy with it?

My Grados are a bit harsh, but in general i like the sound. (I listen to progressive fusion and they deliver that extra kick, though bass is not the best possible aspect.) So a warm and a smoothing setup is something i'm after.

Sorry to have jumped to a different topic, but please help if any of you have experience with some of these products.

Thanks

[classicalguy]

Electropop: It's got a very good sounding amp built in. Not sure you would need anything better. If you were dead set on using an external headphone amp it may be better to get a dac with line out so you don't have two preamps in the chain. The zero has line out, although it has a dac chip that is less detailed (some people may nevertheless prefer its musicality). I think you might be surprised with the quality of the built-in hp amp. It's very good to my ears. As I'm typing this, I'm listening to my Senn 580s and the Bach b-minor mass, and it is very clear and articulate. Voices and instruments sound natural and distinct. Bass is very controlled.

As for the comment about the Octovert being much better, I think only someone who has carefully compared the two units could possibly know that. It may be true, but I would not assume it without listening. The dac on the Octovert is an older and less expensive unit with inferior specs, for example. Comparitive comments require actual comparison.

[electropop]

Thank you for your reply classicalguy!
Exactly, i don't need two preamps. Do you have any other suggestions for good dac's that DO have a "fixed" line out? (around 200usd)
My old Senn 580s are way too soft (possibly too in-driven). Upgraded them to 650s that sound ok from a crappy E-MU 0202 external soundcard. (possibly the main reason why i can withstand the sound is that the 650s are on the softer side too. so the amp compensates for that). But what i'm really looking for is a good amp for my grado 325i's and the E-MU just trashes my ears with them.

I don't really listen to classical music in particular. Some great expressionists or impressionists from around 1900 like Ravel, Debussy or Stravinsky do get my appreciation though. This is why i have the senn 650s as back up. But that music i rarely listen with a high fidelity perspective. I need to have my prog-fusion sound great!
The problem with that music is that it's usually very fast, and it has a huge repertoire of instruments (and with them, notes!). Huge amounts of different nuances. AND, the greatest records weren't so greatly mastered, and thus i'm not able to enjoy them for very long periods of time since they inevitably crack my skull, at least with the E-MU. sigh* (This is what seperates good amps from bad amps)
Thus far the best amp for this music (that separates the instruments from each other and gives them room to breath, gives good kick and extensive bass, smoothes the top) has been the Lehmann Black Cube Linear USB. I loved that for those specs. Though with some kind of music it lacked a touch warmth and sweetness, that could, apparently, only be solved by tubes. And boy did i get excited when i read that one guys review of the Bada ph12.
Bada PH12 vis-a-vis Meixing MC66AE and Lehmann BC

I got the Benchmark DAC1 USB for a testdrive and the headphone amplifier in that was fabulous (smoothed the tops, gave a good kick and bass. plus awesome soundstage and dynamics). Plus i got to hook my active genelecs into that, and even they sounded much better from that, than from my current E-MU. But it's too expensive

So a dac+(possibly Bada ph-12 or some other tube-consisting amp)
Any suggestions?

Thank you

[classicalguy]

Electropop:

It has always been my belief that the goal is to get as close as possible to the live performance. I have a frame of reference for acoustic instruments in a live space, but I loose any reference with music that was intentionally altered and processed in the lab. Still, I think the goal is to get as close as possible to what the person mastering the cd wanted. That, to me, is accuracy, and accuracy should be the same whether the subject is classical music or anything else. So I am looking for accurate reproduction.

Speakers and HPs especially, but all other components in the chain too, color the sound in different ways. Someone might like the way one piece of equipment colors the sound over another piece, but that's a matter of taste, and everyone's taste will be different. I've been driven to distraction by friends who want speakers in their ceilings to create the effect of elevator music. They think I'm nuts when I tell them that they have to sit in front of speakers in a triangle to get a proper soundstage. If the goal is not accuracy, I lose all prospective.

I think there is a tradeoff between sweetness and detail. Tubes tend to sound very sweet, but can mask details. Personally, I enjoy listening to different HPs and speakers, and to tube amps and SS, precisely because they sound different, and I can appreciate the artistic choices (or compromises) made by the different manufacturers. They are all compromises because nothing I've ever heard has gotten close to recreating the live event. I don't think there is a right and wrong, given that all are compromises made in an attempt to reproduce a live event. Some people like the forward and slightly bright sound of Grados, others like the slightly recessed (or dull) sound of Senn 580s-650s. They are all flawed in different ways from the live event, and it's a matter of taste which you prefer. Or, if you are like me, you can appreciate both for what they are.

I have no idea how the Bada sounds, or whether it will solve your quest for certain kinds of compromises. To my ears, the DIYEDEN is very detailed and clear - NOT tubelike warmth. I suspect some would think it's not musical (but some have said the same thing about the Benchmark, which you loved). I have not heard the 0202 or 0404 usb. For a long time I thought about buying the 0404, but ended up with the DIYEDEN. It would be great to compare it with the 0404 (and the DIYEDEN SVDAC06, and the zero), but I have not done so. My GUESS is that you'll find it more benchmark-like than either the zero or the SVDAC06 because of the more-detailed dac, but I would also have suspected that the 0202 would be more benchmark-like too (and you apparently don't like the 0202). Or maybe it's just the 0202's headamp that you find inferior, in which case a new headamp may be all you need.

So, I'm rambling a bit, because I don't know how all of these products would compare in my own ears, let alone in your's. You might love the DIYEDEN by itself, or you might love the BADA through your existing 0202. I wish I could solve this for you, but I can't. I suspect very few people will have compared all of these side by side, and even then they might not share your taste in compromises. Given that most of these products are available only by mail from china, it's hard to listen and compare. At some point, I think you just have to pay your money and hope for the best.

You have what is reputed to be a pretty good usb dac in 0202. Maybe the Bada through the 0202 usb will give you what you're looking for?