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Apogee mini dac

post #1 of 6
2/16/10 at 8:10am
Thread Starter 
Hi All,
I've bought a new Apogee mini daq. I'm very happy with the sound quality but I hear lots of differences in the sound when I use different outputs. In the forum I've read that the balanced outputs (xlr) gives the best sound quality.

To do the test I've made an adaptor cable so that I can connect my head phones directly to the XLR outputs. (XLR-> jack for head phone)

Results of my test:
1. Head phone in the front and power switch in the middle positon. Very good sound. Female voices are phenomenal. Stereo and depth also phenomenal.

2. Head phone in the front and power switch in the "ALL" position. Sound is now more dull. Female voices are more suppressed and there is less depth in the sound. (Less details)

3. Head phone in the XLR outputs. Sound seems to be a little better than section 2 but not as good as section 1. Female voices are not as clear as in section 1. The depth of sound is also less comparable with section 1.

Question: are there people that have the same impression that I have. Normally I would expected that the XLR output would give the best sound quality?
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post #2 of 6
2/20/10 at 1:04am
The XLR outputs aren't meant to drive headphones, and although you can do it (and I did), you'll likely get subpar results with high impedance cans (like the Senn HD600s I used). I found the L-R separation and clarity was a bit improved, but the sound was flat. I believe that since those outputs are line level, lower impedance headphones will sound even worse.

I found the headphone out to be fine for my Senns but not for anything like an IEM, and the DAC sounded great. Very smooth. Only problem for me was the price!
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post #3 of 6
2/25/10 at 2:09pm
Thread Starter 
Dear people all over the world.

I found that you really need to remove the jumper P4, P9, P5 and P8 out of the var position. When you do that then you hear imediately in you head phone that the sound (when the front switch in positon ALL) gets the quality of point 1 of my test.
After putting the jumpers in the TRIM position the quality of the XLR output changes also to the quality of point 1 in my first post.

So what I want to say is that you really need to put the jumper in the TRIM position otherwise you don't have the maximum sound quality on the XLR outputs.
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post #4 of 6
3/1/10 at 8:54am
Thread Starter 
Hi,
Is there someone who has the same experience with the Apogee mini dac?

Replacing the jumpers in the Trim position makes realy a big difference.
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post #5 of 6
3/1/10 at 5:22pm
Wait... did you create balanced headphones yourself, or are you somehow finagling the XLR into a stereo connector? If you're going from a single XLR into stereo jack, you won't be getting any separation at all; you'll be getting the exact same signal on both sides.
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post #6 of 6
3/2/10 at 8:50am
Thread Starter 
Hi Armaegis,
I go from 2 (left and right) XLR outputs to a 2x RCA adapter. Then I go from the adapter to a 2x RCA to stereo jack for my headphone.
Be care full that you don't play your music too loud because the output of the XLR (when the jumpers are in the TRIM position) is louder than the headpone output on the front.
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