Good article. The part about musical hit it on the nail. I think for computer audio to sounds musical you will have to spend a fortune.

I did try that and it is not good. The dac is maverick tube magic version 1, it is bought for headphone amp but I tried its DAC. Not very good I guess. I also tried a Cambridge dac magic from a friend and did not see too much difference.

Interesting thread. Seems a lot of discussion about bit perfect but I think one thing that is important is jitter. When comparing a standalone cd player with built in DAC and a computer based playback system that consists of squeezebox 3 with external DAC, i find that CD player easily beat the...

Quote: Thanks. I guess what I'm not clear is: if D1 is the pre-amp, then it was feed into the integrated amp, which has its own pre-amp stage. So there are two pre-amp in the chain ?   On the other hand, if I push the direct button, the volume control is by-passed which means that the...

Question: I currently use D1 as DAC for a 2 channel speaker system, and connection is like: squeezebox -> D1 -> integrated amp. I push down the "direct" button and use my integrated amp to control volume. Is this the correct way to use D1 as DAC ? I assume I can still take advantage of tube...

It's been a while since I visited here last time. Now I just got some new speakers and amp and used D1 as DAC. Definitely sounds better than the squeezebox DAC.   Did the opamp rolling for HP output a while back and now I just ordered LM4562 for the DAC output. Will try the tube rolling as well.

Thanks, Mambosenior. That brings me one step closer to a tube amp.

Quote: Originally Posted by Mambosenior ... With headphones, it's an eminently worthy partner to my DV 3322 (prefer the DV to the D1 for headphone output) and HD-800. An also very fine-sounding Paradisea 3 (WE tube) has gotten very little attention, so little that I am pondering selling...

Quote: Originally Posted by ihrm Has anyone here from Canada ordered one of these? Just wondered what kind of shipping fees you paid other than the $20 shipping. From a quick google I've found that DHL isnt too bad with the brokerage fees and such but I just want to make sure...

muad: thanks for posting your initial impressions. once you get it burned in and have a chance to try the headphone output, please let us know.

muad: please post a comparison of FUN with D1 if you have a chance. Thanks.

Mambosenior: main thread is here: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/mav...4/index88.html I did measure the resistance of stock R54/R55 on my D1, which according to Ryan has already been reduced. It's 15k ohm. Still a little high for my like. After changing it to 4.75k, I find it's more...

Thanks, Mambosenior. Does not have a good grasp about sound stage yet but I'm curious how my HD650 will sound with a tube amp. Will be interested in your results about using D1 as preamp, headphone amp and DAC. One question: how does the tube in D1 interact with the tube in DV3322 ? BTW, I...

Mambosenior: your setup is quite interesting. It appears that you use D1 as a pre-amp and use Trend for DAC ? Also, I assume you used the tube output of D1 to connect to DV3322 ? Any comparison between the D1 headphone amp vs. DV3322 output ? Thanks

Thanks for the suggestions. Just ordered a ticket to a classical music concert here in Ottawa. It's been a while since I attended a live performance. Looking forward to it.

Peete: thanks for sharing your thoughts. It's good to know from a pro that the listening skill can be trained over time, as my initial impression is that this is to a large extend a born skill. At a time I did a listening test in which you were given a bunch of A/B sounds to listen and you need...

Quote: Originally Posted by ninjikiran I get that much but you are using it for the resistor? If so switching between high and low gain would be very easy. Yes, but this is not my idea. This is originally from bearmann (thanks!) and I saw it from Spanky's FAQ thread (thanks!). If...

Quote: Originally Posted by ninjikiran You used a Sip socket for the resistor? It looks similar to this: The tail end that goes into PCB is not very long. Hold that piece while soldering is a little tricky but after a few try I manage to get it in.

I did it ! Used a sip socket instead of the DIP one. The soldering is not that hard. Inserted a 4.75kohm 1/4W 1% in-line resistor. Now I can listen at 10 -11 o'clock and did not feel such drastic volume change when turning up the volume knob.

Looks like we have a consensus about the impact of whiskey. Too bad I'm allergic to alcohol so need to find some other medicine. :-) mlantinen: that's an interesting perspective to look at things. jax: well said. I guess I have taken the first step to find out what type of headphone that...

Thanks everyone for your comments ! breakfastchef: thanks for sharing your experience. I understand that price of equipment does not always correlate with sound quality. The trouble i find is how to differentiate one system vs. another. e.g., I was comparing the DAC of my squeezebox to the...

Quote: Originally Posted by kunalraiker Close your eyes when listening to your music,while doing that see if you can depict a performance by the artst/group in front of you Interesting. Back to a few years ago when I go to live concert regularly (classical music), I always close...

It is said that it's a blessing if one can not tell the difference between a high end headphone system vs. a lower end one, as he does not have to break the bank to get satisfied equipment. Well, I decide to rise up to the challenge. How does one improve his listening skill ? Question 1: is...

thearrow: thanks. Looks like they have a canadian site as well. I may order some too. I guess one just take out the pins from the socket and solder it on ? Do let us know how difficult the soldering is.

Thanks, Spanky. where do we buy one of these ?