[bergman2]

Maniac,

After just reading this entire head-fi thread I have a few questions...I am cobbling together a little system via the computer---i have an m-audio firewire (that I'm using as a dac via firewire from my computer) and an earmax pro tube amp (handling amp duties) which goes to my recabled hp's (595's and sa5000's)...i auditioned a few tube dacs but none of them exhibited good synergy with the tubiness of the earmax pro (horribly mushy), so i'm thinking a good non-tube dac would balance better with the tubiness of the earmax...anyway, your products seem to be good (from the reviews I read) AND within my budget...BUT I can't decide which one is better for my purposes...is the "spdif-coax out" on my m-audio firewire of a good enough quality to pipe the signal to the "input spdif-coax" of the 131...if not i would probably be better off with the 151...second, how do i go about getting that new, better chip upgrade thats in the 151 put into the 131 if i order it....lastly, can i get the $10 off if i order straight thru you (as i remember reading in the forum)...thanks in advance

 

[Maniac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bergman2 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Maniac, After just reading this entire head-fi thread I have a few questions...I am cobbling together a little system via the computer---i have an m-audio firewire (that I'm using as a dac via firewire from my computer) and an earmax pro tube amp (handling amp duties) which goes to my recabled hp's (595's and sa5000's)...i auditioned a few tube dacs but none of them exhibited good synergy with the tubiness of the earmax pro (horribly mushy), so i'm thinking a good non-tube dac would balance better with the tubiness of the earmax...anyway, your products seem to be good (from the reviews I read) AND within my budget...BUT I can't decide which one is better for my purposes...is the "spdif-coax out" on my m-audio firewire of a good enough quality to pipe the signal to the "input spdif-coax" of the 131...if not i would probably be better off with the 151...second, how do i go about getting that new, better chip upgrade thats in the 151 put into the 131 if i order it....lastly, can i get the $10 off if i order straight thru you (as i remember reading in the forum)...thanks in advance

The M-Audio's digital output have been pretty good and when paired up with 131 should easily outperform 151. But as with all who order 131, I highly recommend the OP-AMP upgrade option to LME49710, as the performance increase is more than worth the $10 difference of the option.

If you are interested in ordering, you can just contact me via PM with your paypal email, so that I can send you a paypal invoice for the order. Yes, $10 discount for all KECES DA ordered without using ebay.

 

[zaen]

To the Maniac....

Currently running the 151 from my macbook pro....but considering upgrading to the 131 via the optical out as I've recently got into 24/96 vinyl rips....

Is the optical out on the macbook pro...quality enough to justify the upgrade or is the advantage of the 24/96 capabilities of the 131 lost in the digital transfer from the stock apple optical out?

Thanks in advance for your advice....

 

[alxwang]

When you are using 151 with MAC book pro do you plug in the AC charger or always on battery?
Tks
Quote:

Originally Posted by zaen /img/forum/go_quote.gif To the Maniac.... Currently running the 151 from my macbook pro....but considering upgrading to the 131 via the optical out as I've recently got into 24/96 vinyl rips.... Is the optical out on the macbook pro...quality enough to justify the upgrade or is the advantage of the 24/96 capabilities of the 131 lost in the digital transfer from the stock apple optical out? Thanks in advance for your advice....

 

[VeipaCray]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zaen /img/forum/go_quote.gif To the Maniac.... Currently running the 151 from my macbook pro....but considering upgrading to the 131 via the optical out as I've recently got into 24/96 vinyl rips.... Is the optical out on the macbook pro...quality enough to justify the upgrade or is the advantage of the 24/96 capabilities of the 131 lost in the digital transfer from the stock apple optical out? Thanks in advance for your advice....

I use the airport express' optical output into the DA-131 (upgraded). Sounds incredible. Great DAC. Couldn't be happier.

 

[Maniac]

Well, VeipaCray, you took the words outta my mouth more or less, the DA-131 should work just fine with most digital output. The thing you should make sure is that the sound card is sending out bit perfect data, it appears that most digital source are not as bad as I have first feared. But still if you have the chance to try DA-131 on a better digital source, give it a try and you should be pleasantly surprised.

 

[feverfive]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maniac /img/forum/go_quote.gif The M-Audio's digital output have been pretty good and when paired up with 131 should easily outperform 151. But as with all who order 131, I highly recommend the OP-AMP upgrade option to LME49710, as the performance increase is more than worth the $10 difference of the option. If you are interested in ordering, you can just contact me via PM with your paypal email, so that I can send you a paypal invoice for the order. Yes, $10 discount for all KECES DA ordered without using ebay.

I'm just curious...if this op-amp upgrade is only $10, why not just make this the standard package?

 

[Maniac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by feverfive /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm just curious...if this op-amp upgrade is only $10, why not just make this the standard package?

Because the unit is designed with 604 before we have discovered LME49710, we would prefer to keep the spec of the unit unchanged until the next revision. Not to mention that we already have a batch of the main board made with OPA604, and thus 604 will remain there for a bit.

However, IMHO it's also more fun for the users who upgrade, since they get one pair of spare op amps to roll and hear the difference for themselves.

 

[littletree76]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maniac /img/forum/go_quote.gif Because the unit is designed with 604 before we have discovered LME49710, we would prefer to keep the spec of the unit unchanged until the next revision. Not to mention that we already have a batch of the main board made with OPA604, and thus 604 will remain there for a bit. However, IMHO it's also more fun for the users who upgrade, since they get one pair of spare op amps to roll and hear the difference for themselves.

Maniac (David),

I am contemplating purchase of Keces DA-131 to be installed between optical output of iMac and a pair of ESI nEar05 active monitor speakers. But I prefer a DAC with more than one line output so that a portable headphone amplifier can be connected to it at the same time for driving my AKG K601 headphone. Second best option will be a DAC with headphone output (with headphone amplifier built into the DAC) which eliminate the need for the external headphone amplifier.

Is there any plan to include another line output or headphone output to the Keces DA-131 DAC ? Is it possible to have such feature as build-to-order option with extra charge ? Otherwise what will you recommend to have a single analog line output of DAC to feed both speaker and headphone at the same time to avoid switching connection every now and then ?

 

[Maniac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by littletree76 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Maniac (David), I am contemplating purchase of Keces DA-131 to be installed between optical output of iMac and a pair of ESI nEar05 active monitor speakers. But I prefer a DAC with more than one line output so that a portable headphone amplifier can be connected to it at the same time for driving my AKG K601 headphone. Second best option will be a DAC with headphone output (with headphone amplifier built into the DAC) which eliminate the need for the external headphone amplifier. Is there any plan to include another line output or headphone output to the Keces DA-131 DAC ? Is it possible to have such feature as build-to-order option with extra charge ? Otherwise what will you recommend to have a single analog line output of DAC to feed both speaker and headphone at the same time to avoid switching connection every now and then ?

Currently we do not have the plan for double output jack on the DA-131, what I would recommend in your case is to use a good quality Y Splitter. Since that's exactly what would be done inside the unit if we equip the unit with two sets of output plugs. I think at the end of your message, you came to the same conclusion as I have wrote above.

As for custom jobs, in future units, we can allow for more optional choices, but still not true custom jobs. As we all the unit professionally made, if we were to drill more holes for the extra RCA jacks, it will not only look different from the original two, but will be quite weird looking as well.


Thanks

David Wei

 

[zaen]

Just got my 131 in the post today....only took 2 days to Melbourne....same as when I got the 151.

Wow. Straight out of the box...this sounds amazing...the detail difference is noticeable....can't wait to roll the caps in about a month when I get used to it....

I was skeptical about going with the 131 just for the 24/192 capabilities....but Im currently listening to 24/96 vinyl rip of Aja by Steely Dan...and its amazing..so clean clear and dynamic!

Perfectly content....just waiting on the acoustical engineer now to finish off the listening room/studio...

Cheers!

 

[whuffor]

I got my DA-151 yesterday, and have logged 20+ hours since I unpacked and connected it.

There is a tremendeous increase in detail, and most of all, ambience compared with getting the sound directly from the onboard Realtek soundcard.

Now there is a much broader soundstage, the vocalist is more isolated from the music and more forward sounding. There is a definite increase in the strength of the mid to low bass as well. Not that it's bloated, far from it, but it's present in a way it wasn't before. While listening to Stanley Clarke's track "Bad Asses" from the Toys of Men album, I can hear transients that was barely audible before to really attack my eardrum with brutal force.

In the last two weeks I have aquired an HD650, an LD MkV and a Keces DA-151. Every aquisition have improved the resolution of my music.

I'm well chuffed.

 

[jojoarmani]

I have been thinking...

Everyone here is running their DACs into Headphone-amps and going with senn's or dax. I got that. I ususally go with the headphones 90 percent of the time, too.

My goal in life, at the moment, is running my source (FLAC with Foobar) into a DAC and into a headphone amp, which I haven't acquired yet.

I was thinking, we have in storage an old 1995 model ??? Pioneer system, with AV Receiver and amplifier with two big bookshelf speakers. The receiver also has a jack for headphone listening.

What i got to thinking was, why not run the DAC OUT into the Pioneer amplifier's IN, and have the headphone jack AND the speakers? (Skip getting a headphone amp altogether.) Must a DAC have to run into a Headphone amp, and not a regular hifi system amp?

I have read on the site that a good headphone amp will do a good job of powering bookshelf speakers, but why not just get the Keces-151 and run it into the Pioneer? Voltage-wise, are they compatible?

Comments and pointing out flaws in this system are welcome! Right now, it seems like a good idea

 

[whuffor]

Of course you can route the DAC's output to line-in of an amplifier and pass the sound to your speakers. Whether you will get good results from using the headphone jack on your receiver depends on how good it is.

From what I understand some amplifiers have a headphone jack that is more of an afterthought, and doesn't provide very good sound output into headphones, and other amps doesn't even have a headphone jack at all. It can't hurt to try though.

 

[jojoarmani]

I mean, it's Pioneer. it has to be good, but maybe not as good as a dedicated headamp.

Any other comments?

Thx Whuffor!