scootermafia
MOT: Double Helix Cables
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2008
- Posts
- 3,024
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- 246
Hello all. I have an audiogd DAC which only has BNC and RCA input, and I use my computer to listen to wav/aiff through Amarra so I needed a transport. The Diverter is a pricy item, for sure, but a lot of love goes into building one as we've established, it's definitely a well thought out product we can all agree, and I wanted something nice for my setup, so I went with it.
Updates - nearing week 2: Just very smooth, blissful sound with real musicality, no digital graininess/harshness, so natural. I am really happy with my HD800s now. Demo it if you don't believe me.
Updates - week 1: Truly delightful sound. Definitely the HD800s are missing that slightly confused sound they used to have, like almost a veil but not the muddy veil of HD650 so much as a harsh, cloudy sound with the soundstage a bit misaligned. I've purchased Amarra Mini, at $400 it's not cheap but is still a meaningful upgrade, I urge anyone with access to a Mac to do the 30 day trial, they'll give you your money back if you don't like it. Combined with the Diverter the sound is so much more pleasant and accurate-sounding. There's a lot of hubbub about how Amarra works, whether it's a DSP or not, I really believe people are overthinking it...Amarra is just a unique way with different math and programming to send the audio file to the USB port, using iTunes as a GUI to pick the songs. It's not for low end systems, you won't be able to hear the difference, but with the Diverter it is very obvious. Going back from the Diverter and Amarra to the Pop Pulse is unpleasant. I am 100% certain on this one, I am not simply defending my purchases to myself. I've tried plenty of tweaks that don't work, this is one that does.
Updates - 48 hour mark: I'm hearing a lot more detail in terms of things happening at the same time that are easily observable. You can really hear distortion in instruments and how vintage a lot of older music sounds, like precise instrumental nuances... 60s rock sounds badass.
Updates - 24 hour mark: The most noticeable thing is the bass increase. Very obvious increase in bass detail, it's finally there. The "pressure" thing I mentioned below, the bass you can feel deep in your head. This one is hard to miss, guys.
So, I just got my Diverter in the mail. It weighs about 3 pounds, and has a solid metal enclosure to keep out vibration and interference. The site for this unit has all the relevant specs, but long story short it was designed by a pretty obsessive and talented designer, the guy behind Sonicweld speakers which are pretty neat...it converts USB to BNC with a proprietary method that doesn't use codecs or typical means. Judging by the fact that there is no apparent way to open this tiny little beast up, it seems that this will be kept under wraps.
It's $1000. Lots of people have made fun of this gadget for costing this much when the competitors are cheaper. Well, lots of good DACs aren't USB, they have a BNC input or RCA (it includes a very nice custom machined adapter for RCA). So instead of having a cheapo internal USB section with whatever setup, this simply is doing that USB conversion outside of the chassis in its own happy little metal box. This could be 1/15th of a $15,000 DAC, say. This is one of few units that can handle 96/24 over USB which is nice. The Diverter's been out of a few months and this is the latest revision that incorporates BNC output and various other tweaks, the details of which I am unaware of. The build quality and design, if you have seen other Sonicweld boards is very scary, with medical grade 6 layer silver boards and SMD parts and whatnot, certainly every precaution has been taken with cost no object to do this seemingly simple job of USB conversion.
So, how does it sound? First off, this is day 1. I will update this with further impressions. I am using this with entirely OCC copper (OCC silver for the BNC and USB) self made cables connecting up a Monster Power HTS5000, an Audio-GD DAC8 (the very similar predecessor to the Ref1), an Audio-GD Phoenix, and an HD800. I'm not going to review this with other headphones as there is really no point, and the HD800s are the only really good headphones I have. The setup is balanced for the headphone cable and AGSS (currentmode) for the DAC-AMP connection.
Some initial listening notes covering a fair span of music...I'm not going to do that dippy thing where the reviewer says "With Billy Bob's 28th Symphony, the violins could clearly be heard to be slightly out of tune...". Just some general stuff for now:
huge, grand soundstage
not as dark
notes really hang in the air
midbass more authoritative
bass has real pressure
voices a little more focused/direct into the ears
extremely revealing…shows off your dirty recordings for what they are
instruments have more texture and realism, lots of weight to the sound
These comparisons were made by listening and swapping out quickly with a Pop Pulse digital converter, also from Cryoparts. It's a nice machine if you're on a budget.
In all, it's been a nice upgrade so far...just cleaner, bigger, less haze than the Pop Pulse. It's big money and I would spend on all of your other gear before turning to a product like this, it is not for low budget systems obviously...really balanced HD800s and a high end DAC or bust. Recordings that were questionable (try a few low res files then their higher quality counterparts) before are now clearly obvious to be bad - it isn't a coloration by any means, as clean songs sound their cleanest...but if you try with a lesser converter and pay close attention, then use the Diverter to magnify things a little you can see the flaws. This device could definitely be used in a professional setting. It's impressive that a small company like Sonicweld can do something difficult, a 96/24 USB machine, with even the BNC jacks handmade by them...the fun of CNC machining.
And the pix:
Click here for a huge pic!
Ha ha, I beat you Dave Clark...curious what you think of the Diverter you are soon to be reviewing. And I'll take any questions.
Updates - nearing week 2: Just very smooth, blissful sound with real musicality, no digital graininess/harshness, so natural. I am really happy with my HD800s now. Demo it if you don't believe me.
Updates - week 1: Truly delightful sound. Definitely the HD800s are missing that slightly confused sound they used to have, like almost a veil but not the muddy veil of HD650 so much as a harsh, cloudy sound with the soundstage a bit misaligned. I've purchased Amarra Mini, at $400 it's not cheap but is still a meaningful upgrade, I urge anyone with access to a Mac to do the 30 day trial, they'll give you your money back if you don't like it. Combined with the Diverter the sound is so much more pleasant and accurate-sounding. There's a lot of hubbub about how Amarra works, whether it's a DSP or not, I really believe people are overthinking it...Amarra is just a unique way with different math and programming to send the audio file to the USB port, using iTunes as a GUI to pick the songs. It's not for low end systems, you won't be able to hear the difference, but with the Diverter it is very obvious. Going back from the Diverter and Amarra to the Pop Pulse is unpleasant. I am 100% certain on this one, I am not simply defending my purchases to myself. I've tried plenty of tweaks that don't work, this is one that does.
Updates - 48 hour mark: I'm hearing a lot more detail in terms of things happening at the same time that are easily observable. You can really hear distortion in instruments and how vintage a lot of older music sounds, like precise instrumental nuances... 60s rock sounds badass.
Updates - 24 hour mark: The most noticeable thing is the bass increase. Very obvious increase in bass detail, it's finally there. The "pressure" thing I mentioned below, the bass you can feel deep in your head. This one is hard to miss, guys.
So, I just got my Diverter in the mail. It weighs about 3 pounds, and has a solid metal enclosure to keep out vibration and interference. The site for this unit has all the relevant specs, but long story short it was designed by a pretty obsessive and talented designer, the guy behind Sonicweld speakers which are pretty neat...it converts USB to BNC with a proprietary method that doesn't use codecs or typical means. Judging by the fact that there is no apparent way to open this tiny little beast up, it seems that this will be kept under wraps.
It's $1000. Lots of people have made fun of this gadget for costing this much when the competitors are cheaper. Well, lots of good DACs aren't USB, they have a BNC input or RCA (it includes a very nice custom machined adapter for RCA). So instead of having a cheapo internal USB section with whatever setup, this simply is doing that USB conversion outside of the chassis in its own happy little metal box. This could be 1/15th of a $15,000 DAC, say. This is one of few units that can handle 96/24 over USB which is nice. The Diverter's been out of a few months and this is the latest revision that incorporates BNC output and various other tweaks, the details of which I am unaware of. The build quality and design, if you have seen other Sonicweld boards is very scary, with medical grade 6 layer silver boards and SMD parts and whatnot, certainly every precaution has been taken with cost no object to do this seemingly simple job of USB conversion.
So, how does it sound? First off, this is day 1. I will update this with further impressions. I am using this with entirely OCC copper (OCC silver for the BNC and USB) self made cables connecting up a Monster Power HTS5000, an Audio-GD DAC8 (the very similar predecessor to the Ref1), an Audio-GD Phoenix, and an HD800. I'm not going to review this with other headphones as there is really no point, and the HD800s are the only really good headphones I have. The setup is balanced for the headphone cable and AGSS (currentmode) for the DAC-AMP connection.
Some initial listening notes covering a fair span of music...I'm not going to do that dippy thing where the reviewer says "With Billy Bob's 28th Symphony, the violins could clearly be heard to be slightly out of tune...". Just some general stuff for now:
huge, grand soundstage
not as dark
notes really hang in the air
midbass more authoritative
bass has real pressure
voices a little more focused/direct into the ears
extremely revealing…shows off your dirty recordings for what they are
instruments have more texture and realism, lots of weight to the sound
These comparisons were made by listening and swapping out quickly with a Pop Pulse digital converter, also from Cryoparts. It's a nice machine if you're on a budget.
In all, it's been a nice upgrade so far...just cleaner, bigger, less haze than the Pop Pulse. It's big money and I would spend on all of your other gear before turning to a product like this, it is not for low budget systems obviously...really balanced HD800s and a high end DAC or bust. Recordings that were questionable (try a few low res files then their higher quality counterparts) before are now clearly obvious to be bad - it isn't a coloration by any means, as clean songs sound their cleanest...but if you try with a lesser converter and pay close attention, then use the Diverter to magnify things a little you can see the flaws. This device could definitely be used in a professional setting. It's impressive that a small company like Sonicweld can do something difficult, a 96/24 USB machine, with even the BNC jacks handmade by them...the fun of CNC machining.
And the pix:
Click here for a huge pic!
Ha ha, I beat you Dave Clark...curious what you think of the Diverter you are soon to be reviewing. And I'll take any questions.
