Dared MP-5 Headphone & Integrated Amp with USB DAC - Page 9

Would you try it with the USB DAC again, and see if THAT hardness is still there? Then we'll know if it's burn-in or not.

thread broken?

hmm, there we go...

Heh, I put the power conditioning with the bed rig. The Dared's coming straight out of the wall, and you don't want to know what the Overture's hooked up to.

Still sounds pretty good. I don't think it's just the meet conditions. We'll compare with the Grace, lan modified T-Amp and Dynamight (I have a balanced adapter now!) later. Right now, I'm thinking the competition is between the Dared and the Grace m902.

Best,

-Jason

Dared MP5

Just picked up one of these for $180 USD from Taiwan.

Loving it.

audiophile sound?

Hi All,

A DIY friend of mine told me that you can get truly amazing sound if you save cds to your hard drive in a "no loss/error correction" mode, then run a USB from your computer to a good DAC and then onto a headphone amp. He claims the best transport system available can't equal the stability and quality of the sound.

Anybody know more about this? Is this Dared unit a key to this kind of set up?

I agree with Elephas that MP-5 is a convience. I am running FLAC files from my laptop through the MP-5 to my K501s and it sounds good. There is detail, there is clarity, and the amp does a good job. Overall I am happy with my unit and I do recommend it because of the price and convienece. I've had mine for a little less than a week and burn-in has taken out some of the hardness and the buzzing sound is not as noticable.

And question to all tube rollers: after burning in the new tubes, how do you find that sound? Is it different that your initial experience with it?

Absolutely, I described some of the changes in my earlier post. My MP-5 currently sounds quite similar to my aria in signature (oddly so), but with stronger/richer midrange, which seems to significantly open up the K701s. It's not quite as controlled as the aria, but at the moment I don't really care, because overall it just sounds better to me with the AKGs.

With Senns it was a very different story though, probably due to the output impedance, so this comparison doesn't apply to all cans by any means.

Was it here:
http://tw.f5.page.bid.yahoo.com/tw/auction/e12594965

How much was shipping?
What method of payment did you use?
I wonder if it will cost similarly to Argentina (220v here not 110v).
Thanks

Someone mentioned thinking of using the Dared with the HD6x0, so I plugged mine in. Wow, it's pretty interesting, in a good way.

Lol, the rig is so ghetto:

Non-bit-perfect optical out from the computer > el cheapie Monster TOSLink optical cable > HeadRoom Overture (lan modded) > zu Pivot > Dared MP-5 > Grado 1/4th to 1/8th adapter > Black Dragon dual XLR to 1/4th adapter > Enigma Audio silver balanced XLR Sennheiser cable > HD650.

Everything in this rig, cables, electronics, headphones, is still burning in.

(I'm too lazy to swap out the Sennheiser cable, that's why all the adapters are in there).

First of all, man, massive bass. Not super tight - I think this is partially the Dared and partially just the Senn being the Senn. It's a warm sound - very full on the bottom end. The effortlessness of the vocals is there - not super fuzzy though. I'm getting plenty of detail/dynamics - I think that's more the lan modded Overture than anything else. There is that nice spaciousness to the sound. Is it the insanely awesome spaciousness of the Noise Audio Duality + HD600? Heck no. But it's a pretty nice improvement over just say straight out of an iPod. I don't feel it's only 3 blobs anymore. I think the spaciousness is coming more from the Dared than the Overture, but we'll see.

It's a very pleasant sound. I think I'm finally hearing its "tube" nature. Everything seems nicely rounded, in a pleasant rich kind of way. Not the technically most accurate setup at all.

I think I like this better than the HD650 balanced out of my Dynamight. But people ought to know, for the HD650, I don't like it with a silver cable or with the fast powerful clarity/brightness of the Dynamight. I want gear to play to strengths, and the HD650 for me is more about flowing music than my 010, for which I prefer pure resolution and detailed texture.

I'm not hearing any buzz with the Senn. I wonder if it's because I have so much darned cabling in the way.

Best,

-Jason

I captured a video of this amp's pulsating-tube action at the National Meet. Download it here:

vid_dared.zip

Actually purchased it from a computer store in Taiwan, along with some interesting and impressive little speakers (Beston 2025A).

Here in Australia we are also 220V, but it was still cheaper just to run a power converter rather than buy the MP5 here.

Dare I ask where is it?
I searched in google and couldn't find any info on those speakers.

I'm at school right now, but I find myself looking forward to going home and trying the Dared more with the HD650. I'm just enjoying exploring the sound I'm getting from it. Maybe it's just because I' m rediscovering the HD650 - but that's unlikely, I wasn't that thrilled about it and my Dynamight... I think I'm just enjoying exploring the HD650 with tubes. If I listen uber critically, sure, there's a lot I probably could criticize as flawed about the Dared and HD650 sound. But that's not really the point for me. It sounds good. It puts the HD650 towards a sound that is interesting and engaging. I want to listen more to familiarize myself with the strengths and weaknesses of that sound and to try and figure out where I can go with the HD650. As my first tube amp, and enjoying this process so much, for $300 I'm really pleased with this Dared pick-up. I haven't looked forward to going home just to listen to something for a while. Not too shabby.

Best,

-Jason

Yea the Bestons are a big mystery. They use ribbon tweeters too.

As for the store... I didnt buy it personally, my father got it for me. It came with a certificate from YPL Audio, which I'll assume is where its from, I will ask my dad tonight though just to be sure.

www.yplaudio.com.tw, hope this is of some use.