Whazzzup
Headphoneus Supremus
I'm interested in the antipodes ds GT it's probably at the max I want to spend, the dx is nice but.... how has this roon core system sound visa vie an iMac, positive impressions?
Darn it, (sarcasm) I went the antipodes route before the n10 declaration..
This thread has been quite a journey, with all sorts of twists and turns (a bit like Doc's DAC thread on the other site):
Romaz starts it off by finding that server differences are important, and rating the N10 highly, but saying the similarly priced CAD CAT betters it (by a small margin).
Then later finds that going the NAA route with a microRendu in the chain results in the server not being that important any more, with mR + any cheapo PC beating all previous dedicated servers.
Then later gets significant further improvement by direct bridging the mR path, and at the same time resulting in server differences being important again
And further improvement going to SMS-200.
Then much further improvements with multiple super clocks (and at this point I and I think some others are thinking that this proliferation of little boxes is getting way out of hand).
And now Doc rating the N10 above the highly regarded DX2.
Hard to know what to make of it all, but I'd be interested if Doc would now compared his N10 against any NAA-type solution, using either a mR or SMS-200.
Because if we accept romaz's progression, then theoretically any old PC, connected in bridged mode to say an SMS-200 Ultra (with good p/s and Roon Ready or HQP NAA) should wipe the floor with the N10, and at a fraction of the price.
In my 2 channel stereo reality, I have tried several DAC direct to amp opportunities and ALWAYS preferred a pre-amp in between. I guess my experience tells me that using the DAC as a direct driver for my headphones vs. using an external amp should yield similar results. But with the insanely low current demands of headphones I'm not sure that applies the same way. That's why I asked. I can see using a balanced amp to get balanced outputs as many feel it gives better sound to the headphones..... I would
Imagine different ears will yield different results.
Regarding the Antipodes DX Gen 2 compared to the Aurender N10, round 1 went to the N10. The DXG2 only has about 80 hours on it and needs more burn in. And I was using Roon as the music server. Some say HQ Player controlled with Room offers better sound. So I'm going to try that as well. The N10 was simply more correct, more accurate, wider and deeper soundstage and more depth and complexity; it was an easy win. But I think the DXG2 needs more burn in, and more care in choosing the proper software and controls to set it up.
I'll keep you posted.