post #1 of 1
6/5/10 at 10:42am
Thread Starter 

 

 

Hi, need to forgive me if I rock any boats, I’m new here.

I’ve been trying to follow a number of threads here in an effort to learn a bit about the many dacs that are available. My daughter (everything white and pod) knowing I’m a bit of an audiophile (I’m sure that’s a swear word) is trying to drag me; and has succeeded to a certain extent, into the digital age.

I sold my much loved record deck, a couple of pre amps and all my records a few months ago having mainly transferred to CD a number of years ago. I’m now teetering on the edge of the next step; computer based audio.

I’ve been building Hi Fi for some years now; mainly speakers and amps and all my own cables/interconnects. I’ve got welding kit, hammers and a rule for the metal bits and Speaker Workshop and some related gadgets for the magic bits one can’t see.

Anyway, I have read, here and elsewhere about a “burning in” process and I’m a bit confuzzeled.

If my memory serves me, capacitors for instance reach a stable electrical performance in a matter of seconds. Okay, temperature changes from here on in can affect their performance but within “normal” range electrically they don’t do much different at hour one to hour 200, same for resistors. I don’t know enough about chip performance to state categorically no changes happen over time but ………

  1. So, can anyone explain to me what happens in this “burning in” process that turns what according to some, a thin and dry sounding dac into this gorgeous fluid music making machine that gets raved about? No guesswork please.
  2. I rather like the idea of NOS dacs and the main contender within my price range is Valab. However, while this dac has had some “interesting” reviews there do seem to be some reliability/quality control issues and the Far East is a long way to go to give the supplier a slap if you get sent a duff unit. Has anyone had any problems returning a duff unit to Valab? Has anyone had one of these units for a long enough period of time to make any sensible evaluation on their longevity?
  3. Why are mac laptops recommended for music use more than PC’s? ( I don’t want “I” anything if I can possibly help it).

 

 

My current kit is:

PC with onboard sound on M3A-H/HDMI mother board.

Exposure 2010 with Philips transport (slight mods)

Exposure 25RC Integrated amp.

Quantum Electronic 102 Pre amp and 2x Quantum 207DA pwr amps.

World Audio 83 Headphone amp

Speakers; Bass Volt B250, Volt 10” ABR, Mid ScanSpeak 13M8621 Hi D2905/9300.

Sennheiser 595’s

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