So it has been almost a month since I received my Audiobyte Hydra.Vox.
Still am pleased on the value/performance the stack brings. Especially for those who are building their inventory (
sans amp, preamp, streamer etc.). And will continue to increase this ratio when the final piece, the Hydra.Hub, will arrive.
Aside from adjectives that you have read from Sandu of
Soundnews and Dan of
Headmania about the dac section, I believe it has very good headamp as well. It may not be enough to some (3W), not friendly to sensitive IEMS, but it DO make my cans (HD600, PMx2 v2) sing.
However there's still this thing that I am resolving:
- occasional loud pops during transitions (from PCM→DSD or vice versa, shifting different bit depth/rate) using either USB or SPDIF. It doesn't happen often, but just on this last 10 days had about 6 of them. Nicolae says its the mute relays in VOX. And recommends a firmware upgrade (BULLET) w/ some DC offset. Since little could be done for now, will wait till summer ends. For now, my temporary solution is to convert PCM to DSD during playback.
Talking about relays during transitions, when activated there will be a slight pause and click. This might be a annoyance to some as Dan noted in his review.
Will continue to write once in a while of my journey with this dac/amp/lps stack.
Hoping my experience are informative to others,