[damier]

@raoultrifan - sorry man, haven't had time to do an A/B comparison of the Essence with the Burson's. I'll try get to that and report.
I finally received my 7812/7912/7805 from the US, so I'll be looking at replacing stock at some point.
 
I have received my HD800's (after some stupid import issues). Noticeably better than the HD650's I was using prior. Very impressed.
I actually have a balanced cable that came with it but am currently using it with the normal front 1/4in jack
 
This brings me to the question: has anyone driven balanced headphones direct, with the balanced outputs on the rear of the unit? Is it doable?

 

[raoultrifan]

You should not directly connect balanced headphones to rear XLR plugs; they are intended to connect to a power or headphones amplifier only. Besides, on XLR outputs you don't have enough current to decently drive headphones and there might be an impedance issue as well. Also, output buffers might break, depending on the headphones used.
 
I DIY a XLR>6.3mmJack adapter to connect balanced headphones to my Essence One output jack. All you need is a 6.3mm jack and a 4-pin XLR one, of course a decent cable between the 2 connectors.

 

[damier]

  You should not directly connect balanced headphones to rear XLR plugs; they are intended to connect to a power or headphones amplifier only. Besides, on XLR outputs you don't have enough current to decently drive headphones and there might be an impedance issue as well. Also, output buffers might break, depending on the headphones used.
 
I DIY a XLR>6.3mmJack adapter to connect balanced headphones to my Essence One output jack. All you need is a 6.3mm jack and a 4-pin XLR one, of course a decent cable between the 2 connectors.

Ah yup, thanks for the heads-up. Figured that was the case (which is why I haven't done it already).
 
My current setup is using a balanced cable that terminates to an XLR-to-6.3mm cable - if that is what you mean.
 
Also, you mentioned the Jotunheim above... do you have experience with that piece of hardware? I think I'm almost ready to migrate from the Essence One and move on to superior kit. Recommendations?
 
Sorry to barrel you with questions, raoul - but it's your fault for being a good source of information

 

[raoultrifan]

Thank you damier for the kind words.
 
Don't have experience with Jotunheim and I'm not sure it can be considered as a real upgrade over the Essence One (especially if we're speaking of MUSES version), but I'm sure it worth a try. What I love to Schiit guys is that they're really engineers and they do know how to design a Hi-Fi piece of equipment (low noise internally power supply, great decoupling, minimise jitter or re-clocking etc.). Perhaps you could check out the Jotunheim forum here on Head-Fi and in case you'll buy it please update this page too for details and A/B compare (if possible).
 
Regards!

 

[shyamelge]

The new set up (827 in I/V) runs cooler than 49990. 

 

[shyamelge]

Has anyone tested OPA827 and Muses 8920 in I/V? If yes, kindly share your experience. 

 

[shyamelge]

I need your help:
 
I am getting a scratching noise only from the left speaker (audio out) when I turn up/down the volume knob on Asus Essence One. It goes away when I stop the movement of the volume knob. Also when I move the knob to lower volume, the output drops dis-proportionally on the left side as compared to the right channel. At full volume, left channel performs perfectly.
 
There is no such noise from the right spk when I move the volume knob either way.   
 
While there is no such noise coming from headphone output (left or right side).
 
I didn't notice this issue earlier so I am wondering whether this has to do with my changing op amps yesterday?
 
Kindly advice.

 

[shyamelge]

I changed the op amp in the audio out section and the noise went away.
 
i think the soldering of the 827 opamp was not done properly on the board. 

 

[raoultrifan]

 
@raoultrifan - thanks for the assurance. I read a few reviews myself that concluded they were a sweet pairing
 
I just bought two V5i's as I still have the V5's -- I was planning on keeping the V5's in LPF and replacing the V+Gain MUSES02 with the newer V5i's. That would be best, no?
 
Regarding how I made the V5's fit; Burson sell 3cm extenders. They can be found on their website: https://www.bursonaudio.com/products/supreme-sound-opamp-v5/ -- quite convenient

Hi,
 
I recommend 2xV5i duals for the LPF and for headphone gain stage either 2xV5i duals either 2xV5 duals with wire adapters or angled-DIP8 adapters. There will not be much difference between the MUSES02 and the V5i duals in LPF, but if you can A/B against another device it would be great. In this moment I have 4xV5i in my E1 DAC: 2 in LPF + 2 in headphone gain stage.
 
Cheers,
Raul.

 

[shyamelge]

Has anyone tried AD797? Which model (AD 797BRZ?) to be used one Essence One? 

 

[raoultrifan]

You really need to dig into this forum a bit more: http://www.head-fi.org/t/542563/asus-essence-one-headphone-amp-dac-cebit-2011/810#post_8300531.
 
You will find a lot of posts regarding opamp changing in Essence One and most of the opamp rollers recommends to use opamps recommended by ASUS; otherwise, read carefully opamp specs and use a scope.
 
P.S.: If you don't want to spend money on expensive opamps, then you can use MUSES8920 in I/V and MUSES8820 in LPF, Headphone gain and Output buffers stages.

 

[shyamelge]

Thanks for providing the link and advice.

 

[dmbr]

I upgraded to a Yulong A28 balanced amp recently but continued to use the Essence One as a DAC.

I'm now looking to upgrade my DAC from the Essence but I'm not really sure how much I should be looking to spend for a marked improvement (given I don't know what portion of the One's $1000 value is the DAC and amp's).

Could anyone please give me an idea of how much to spend to upgrade from the DAC of the One? Perhaps some models to look at?

Thanks!

 

[raoultrifan]

If you really want to upgrade, why not looking to an Yulong balanced DAC?
 
If you don't want to spend too much money, you could also upgrade the internal opamps of your Essence One: MUSES01 in I/V and BURSON V5i or MUSES02 or MUSES8820 in LPF. There are also other mods available for this DAC if you really want to push this further.

 

[interference]

I upgraded to a Yulong A28 balanced amp recently but continued to use the Essence One as a DAC.

I'm now looking to upgrade my DAC from the Essence but I'm not really sure how much I should be looking to spend for a marked improvement (given I don't know what portion of the One's $1000 value is the DAC and amp's).

Could anyone please give me an idea of how much to spend to upgrade from the DAC of the One? Perhaps some models to look at?

Thanks!

 
The Essence One is a well-designed DAC and headphone amp.
 
The volume pot could be regarded as a weak spot, but I do not see it as an issue if you are keeping it fixed at maximum (or at a high level) while using the volume control of the Yulong. A fixed output DAC could provide a cleaner signal path, but I am not so sure of the actual benefits.
 
If you really want to try an upgrade, among commercial products I would suggest the TEAC UD-501 which has an excellent dual-monaural architecture with double transformer. The newer UD-503 is also an excellent product with a very fine preamplifier stage and balanced headphone amp, but not taking advantage of those features would be a waste of money.