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Help me improve my signal chain

post #1 of 21
2/26/10 at 7:43pm
Thread Starter 
A few months ago I inquired about building a balanced amp. Lately I've been thinking, is a new amp really the best way to improve my listening experience?

Currently, I'm listening with this rig:

Emu 1212m (modified with Black Gates & oscons, bypass caps on DAC and opamps) --> homemade silver signal/copper ground cable --> Millett Hybrid Max --> K701s

I think this rig sounds very nice. But it's been almost two years since I did anything with it, and I'm ready to look at taking it up a notch or two.

I'm aware that any opinions on this matter are highly subjective - that's what I'm interested in, opinions. I know in most cases you can't make definitive statements about what equipment is "better," I know some people prefer tubes over solid state and so forth, I know nobody can give me a mythical solution that is 100% guaranteed, that's why I'm interested in your individual judgments. But as a general guideline, I'm interested in higher fidelity (accuracy and detail, black space) as well as more natural, musical sound. I know that's what pretty much everyone is after, but I gotta offer something.

Please assume a budget of $400 or less...what, in your opinion, is the most efficient way to make this rig take a significant step toward better fidelity?
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post #2 of 21
2/26/10 at 8:18pm
Get a nicer DAC.
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post #3 of 21
2/26/10 at 8:21pm
I agree. If I were just starting off on this, I'd fix the source FIRST.
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post #4 of 21
2/26/10 at 8:27pm
Thread Starter 
OK. Does anyone have suggestions as to a nicer DAC?

*I'm only looking at DIY projects at this point, that's somewhat implied but I'll state it for the record.
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post #5 of 21
2/26/10 at 9:02pm
^

Gamma 2 ...... Done.

For the record, I've never heard the Emu 1212m and have no idea whether the Gamma 2 is better. But, if you're itching to do some building, you are unlikely to find anything better than the Gamma 2 for ~ $400
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post #6 of 21
2/26/10 at 9:14pm
Not trying to be a complete dick or anything, but have you thought about buying or making a source... that isn't a computer?

Come over to the dark side of analogue audio; you can get a very serviceable turntable (or make your own) and build a quite nice preamp for $400.

Or you can grab a fairly nice CD player kit for around that amount...
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post #7 of 21
2/26/10 at 11:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nemo de Monet View Post
Not trying to be a complete dick or anything, but have you thought about buying or making a source... that isn't a computer?

Come over to the dark side of analogue audio; you can get a very serviceable turntable (or make your own) and build a quite nice preamp for $400.

Or you can grab a fairly nice CD player kit for around that amount...
Know nothing about tables, but you will not get a CD player with a nicer DAC than the gamma2 for anywhere near $400. Just because he builds a DAC does not mean he has to use it with a computer.
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post #8 of 21
2/26/10 at 11:44pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nemo de Monet View Post
Not trying to be a complete dick or anything, but have you thought about buying or making a source... that isn't a computer?

Come over to the dark side of analogue audio; you can get a very serviceable turntable (or make your own) and build a quite nice preamp for $400.
I've got about 500GB of lossless CD rips on my computer...I don't really have a problem with vinyl but I simply don't own any records, and I'm not about to scour used record shops and pay through the nose after competing with other vinyl-heads on ebay for the rest of my life. Thanks for the suggestion though.

(I'm not trying to be a dick either, but it's just totally impractical for me)
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post #9 of 21
2/26/10 at 11:54pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by fordgtlover View Post
^

Gamma 2 ...... Done.

For the record, I've never heard the Emu 1212m and have no idea whether the Gamma 2 is better. But, if you're itching to do some building, you are unlikely to find anything better than the Gamma 2 for ~ $400
Thanks, I was looking at this on amb's site actually. The 1212m uses what was the top DAC chip available at the time; but it's like 4-5 years old now, so I'm sure the Wolfson chip used by the y2 is a significant step up. Also, many would say that any external DAC will trump even a good sound card.

I will try to look through the 100 page y2 thread for some info. But fordgtlover, since you mention it, I bet you can give me a price estimate on the y2. What did yours cost to build? Are you using "~$400" as a loose reference to my budget, or is that literally what it costs?

And also, using the 1212m's digital output(s) for the y2 would probably be better than using USB, right? So my trusty 1212m would still serve some good purpose (which is always a plus).
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post #10 of 21
2/26/10 at 11:55pm
x2 on gamma 2. Another option would be to do a gamma 1 first and then do a gamma 2.
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post #11 of 21
2/26/10 at 11:59pm
I totally agree with all recommendations for a source first upgrade. My suggestion would be to consider something async, or perhaps an async converter first and then another dac.
Possible candidates to start with would be hiface, Musiland, HRT Streamer II+. I really want to try an HRT product since I have had good results using the Musiland 02 as transport to my dacs. There are lots of reviews and stuff about these here, except the Streamer which is fairly new and just changed thier product line to all async.
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post #12 of 21
2/27/10 at 12:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by m1abrams View Post
Just because he builds a DAC does not mean he has to use it with a computer.
Correct, but I'd tend to assume that if he's upgrading a PCI soundcard (the 1212m), he's going to use a computer as source, which appears to be the case here.

The E-mu isn't exactly *bad*, especially modded. It's not like he's using a $5 chinese TBAAM clone, or something, so I was just trying to suggest that if he's got an itchy soldering finger and wants to build something for $400, there are other options than whatever the cult-DAC-of-the-month happens to be.

I know everyone here are huge fanbois of the Gamma-2, but I for one would be hesitant to recommend it to anyone when I'm unsure whether they have some serious SMD experience...
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post #13 of 21
2/27/10 at 12:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nemo de Monet View Post
Correct, but I'd tend to assume that if he's upgrading a PCI soundcard (the 1212m), he's going to use a computer as source, which appears to be the case here.

The E-mu isn't exactly *bad*, especially modded. It's not like he's using a $5 chinese TBAAM clone, or something, so I was just trying to suggest that if he's got an itchy soldering finger and wants to build something for $400, there are other options than whatever the cult-DAC-of-the-month happens to be.

I know everyone here are huge fanbois of the Gamma-2, but I for one would be hesitant to recommend it to anyone when I'm unsure whether they have some serious SMD experience...
I do not have serious SMD experience, the only SMB experience I had prior to my Gamma1 was a mini3. No issues building the Gamma1, then built a second Gamma1 for the Gamma2 and no major issues there either.

The Gamma2 is a very well designed DAC and sounds great, would not consider is a cult-DAC-of-the-month. I would bet we will see people building this DAC for many years. Other neat thing about how the DAC is built is if one wants to tie it directly to something that has I2S outputs (CD transport, or network media player) you can easily accomplish this and only have to build the Gamma2 side of things and a psu for the Gamma2. It is not just a usb DAC so if you want to hook it up to a CD player or a networked media player you can. I actually use mine with a Squeezebox and could no be happier with the setup.

Cost wise I am not exactly sure on the prices and that varies based on the options you want. I would say 400 would be the upper end of things.
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post #14 of 21
2/27/10 at 12:34am
Thread Starter 
I have some SMD experience already (built two Sjostrom diamond buffers), and besides I'm adventurous.

The gamma 2 is basically an add-on/extension of the gamma 1, right? So when you say "gamma 2," you're actually saying "gamma 1 + gamma 2", correct?
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post #15 of 21
2/27/10 at 12:36am
Correct
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