I have built a DIY CD transport and all I am missing before listening is a weight or puck/donut to keep the disc in place. All suggestions welcome.

What is the best way to rip and turn CDs into FLAC files? Is there similar software available for Linux?

Hello. I am very excited about this new DAC and Twisted Pear's progress with it. This thread is not an endorsement as I have not heard it but would greatly appreciate Brian and Russ's support here. Everyone is welcome to join in except Crowbar, he has his own thread!

Has anyone built their 24V hybrid Aikido yet?

I know that it can be used as a preamp/headamp, but is anyone using it in their speaker rig? If so, how good is it to your ears?

I was reading the thread about pictures of your glowing tube components and I thought I would share with you a great tweak for your listening room. The sight of green LEDs lighting the tubes reminded me of the technique of coloring your sound and perception of the sound. Having an education in...

Can anyone tell me whether I am going to pay a significant penalty in sound by going with a 24V 6GM8 based Aikido versus a high voltage 6CG7/6H30 Aikido. I am familiar and love the sound of the 6CG7 and 6H30 but I have no idea how the 6GM8 sounds? For me to build the 24V version would be easier...

I am building a balanced Aikido, Opus DAC head/pre amp. While I am awaiting the arrival of parts, my scope has got more interesting(and expensive). Started out with the plan for a SE Aikido/Opus. Now I am building my ultimate system from start to finish, only keeping the HD650. It will go like...

I am getting excited to try the new Opus DAC when the boards are ready. One great feature is the SACD support of the Wolfson chip. What I need to do this however is a SACD player that does NOT convert the DSD to PCM before the internal DAC. This will make it much easier to mod to hook up to the...

Has anyone thought to use the Zapfilter with the Central Station? It has balanced capabilty which will work well with the CS. The round bass would likely tighten up and move past the DAC1 it is always compared to. I would be interested in opinions on a discrete mod for the Cs's output, balanced...

I am looking at designing and manufacturing Sennheiser connector plugs for DIY cable design. The constuction would be nearly identical to the HD650 connectors with the addition of longer removable pins for ease of soldering and removable strain relief so you are able to remove the pins to...

I am looking at designing and manufacturing Sennheiser connector plugs for DIY cable design. Please vote for the design that you would be most interested in.

I just realized that the Oppo 970HD universal player can send a SACD DSD converted to PCM digital signal out of the HDMI output. If the signal is converted to PCM before it leaves the player, should it not be usable buy outbourd 192khz DACs? All you should need to find out is which pins on the...

For all of you HP100 owners... Have you tried using it as a preamp? I am very interested in how it would sould as a preamp in a speaker system. For those owners who have not yet tried this setup, could you and let me know? I am having a hell of a time finding a reasonably priced preamp that I...

I have all but finalized my new speaker rig. I have settled on my current source for now and when I can I will also buy a Modwright Denon 3910. The amps are 8 channels of Hypex class D DIY with a SMPS power supply fed by a pair of 3-way Marchand active crossover. The speakers are a DIY design...

I found this today. It is a modular DAC/preamp/can amp. Four digital inputs include; USB, Coax, Optical, XLR. It has single ended and balanced outputs. The modular DAC daughter board design allows you to swap DAC chip boards to customize your sound. It uses two 9v wallwart power supplies...

I found this today. It is a modular DAC/preamp/can amp. Four digital inputs include; USB, Coax, Optical, XLR. It has single ended and balanced outputs. The modular DAC daughter board design allows you to swap DAC chip boards to customize your sound. It uses two 9v wallwart power supplies...

I am in the middle of designing a Hypex UcD class D active speaker set-up and had an idea... If Headfiers could spark enough interst Jan Peters at Hypex might build us a headphone module! I have not been in contact with him and I am waiting for a reply to see if he is interested. If there were a...

If having lots of parts and looking means make a good player, this is it! $1350 for the completed kit, just add chassis. Does anyone know how this thing sounds? It is exacty what I would request except the lack of tube output and I read in a forum that tubes may be soon an option! It has the...

Does anyone know what the output voltage is from the ZAPfilter? Is it the same for balanced and single ended?

On my quest for a new source, I have distanced myself from the 98% certainty of my previous plans! I was all but 100% on buying the Opera Droplet CDP5.0 until I had a listen to m SACDs again on a friends player(I am without SACD), he played me some DVD-A and I was impressed! All of those DVD-A...

Has anyone tried or heard of hard wiring transports to DAC to preamp to amp to phones/speakers? I mean in a moddest setup you could probably save $500 in RCA connectors alone. The sonic improvements must be quite noticable as well. The only downside is the labour and inconvenience factor, right?

Are the XLR and RCA outs variable via the volume pot or fixed? I was thinking of skipping the preamp.

I know that some of you have had success driving HD650's balanced from a Benchmark DAC1. Has any one tried directy out of a balanced CD player with variable output? I am in the market for a Consonance Droplet CD5.0 and would like to know if any one has with success or if there will be issues...

First of all, I must say that I was about to buy a Benchmark DAC1 for my Philips 720sa player in Thailand and also for the new Marantz SA8001 I was going to buy in Canada. (I currently spend six months a year in Thailand) Then I hear of this new Zhaolu 2 DAC which at a quater the price is able...