That's to be expected. When BitPerfect is active, it actually takes over the playing duties from iTunes. All iTunes does at that point is to provide a pretty interface for you to tell BitPerfect which files to play.

My wife has an iPod Nano that she uses to listen to audiobooks while she works. She ONLY listens to audiobooks, NEVER music. Her work environment is pretty loud, so she'd like to move to something that provides some isolation from the outside sounds. Right now, she's using the white iBuds that...

I finally got around to changing the volume control in my Crack; something which I had only meant to do for the last several years.. sigh. I went with a Valab 23-position 50k-ohm ladder stepper. Two thoughts: 1) This is easily the most craptastic switch I've ever touched. 2) I really should...

I already have one of everything, I just don't like some of them. So, yes, I already have an amp that'll work until it can be upgraded.

I'm in a position where I'm rebuilding my system basically from scratch. I'm also in a HUGE room now, which I've never had to deal with before. In the long run, I'm going to buy some large high-end floorstanders but I won't have the money to do so for quite a while. In the meantime, I need...

Hpiper, to answer your question, I'd charge pretty much spot on what the official Bottlehead builder (Shawn P.) charges. If you figure about how long it takes to assemble a kit and about what a reasonable wage is for moderately skilled work, the prices listed are very reasonable to both parties.

In the past, it was possible to have your kit built by sort of a factory-authorized builder. I'm not sure what the current status on that is but I'm sure you can go to the Bottlehead Forum and ask to get a quick answer.

I have a headphone setup that has been working well for me. It's fed by a Mac with iTunes+BitPerfect outputting to a HRT MSII+ DAC. The problem is the Mac is now an ex computer. It was apparently pining for the fjords and now its metabolic processes are of interest only to historians. Anyway...

Is anyone aware of fake/counterfeit GEC 6080WA or 6AS7 tubes? I'm being offered two at a decent price from a seller in Hong Kong but the phrase "decent price" doesn't naturally occur next to "GEC" :lol:

OK, I took apart the headphones and found that the driver was not fully clipped in place on the right side. Sadly, fixing that did not cure the problem. If you want to know a specific example, 3:30 to 4:00 on the track "Bill Mon" on the Little Worlds album by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones has a...

I set up my first headphone system about 6 months ago. Early on, I noticed a sort of strange sound that I wrote off to being something else. I finally got annoyed enough at it to take the time to try to isolate which component it's coming from. The difficulty with testing is that I only have one...

No, it doesn't work. I've confused myself with this a couple of times. When you have an AirPlay device active in iTunes and then fire up BitPerfect, you end up with audio coming out the local output. In fact, if BP is even running, you CAN'T send audio output to an AirPlay device.

Quote: Yes it is! HRT MSII+>Crack+Speedball>HD600 is quite a nice setup for a lot less money than you'd expect to pay for sound this good.

Amarra was too expensive for me to even consider, so I don't know what it does or doesn't do compared to BitPerfect.app

That's a question you would have to ask the developer of the program. I *THINK* I remember hearing that BP will play them if you use the normal accessory program for iTunes that enables FLAC playback, but I could be wrong. I have no FLAC files, all mine are ALAC, so I can't play around with it...

A few months ago, I switched to using a USB DAC (HRT MusicStreamer II+) as my primary source. Fed from my MacBook Pro, sometimes the results were absolutely stunning and sometimes the results were absolutely stunningly bad. It seemed that the audio could be great one day and horrible a few hours...

You linked to the source repository, not the compiled executable.   EDIT: Or maybe that's just the way google docs is showing it to me. I see the contents of the .app file rather than an app to download.

Quote: Your choice just happens to be wrong or at least logically inconsistent. The list of things you aren't doing (well, I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt and assuming you're sane and not OCD) that have a bigger sonic impact than a single signal relay is just nearly endless. You're...

Quote: So I presume from your statement that you're also then going to have all of the volume controls and selector switches removed from your audio equipment as well? After all, those components are of a far bigger potential detriment than a signal relay.   Additionally, it's also...

Is there any way to use a multimeter to verify that a 6SN7 is "safe" or not? Obviously, it can't tell you if there's still life in the tube, but can you at least test resistances between pins to verify that it isn't shorted and won't blow up your amp?

Quote: I did find one but I didn't bookmark it again after I read through it since I didn't think I'd ever be designing a DAC. I would imagine a bit of googling for something like "R2R vs DS DAC" or "non-oversampling vs sigma-delta DAC" would probably turn up good discussions. You'll want...

And especially considering that the USB connection to the MS II generation is async. Even the guy in charge of HRT says you don't benefit from audiophile USB cables with the MS II generation products.

Quote: I remain hopeful but skeptical, if that makes any sense, of the Bottlehead DAC. I have a great deal of respect for their engineering ability and a great deal of faith in their drive to produce good products, which is the reason that I'm hopeful. I became very worried when I heard...

My setup of a HRT MusicStreamer II+, Crack+Speedball, and Sennheiser HD600s is working EXTREMELY well. They all seem to want to present the music in a particular way that's very clear, very revealing, but at the same time not pushy or fatiguing. They just sort of get out of the way really well.