My guess is that the Direct DAC was in direct competition with the DAC Meridian uses with their SooLoos media streaming software. At least here, retail reps for Meridian do not carry the Director even though the Explorer is available. Where the Direct DAC uses USB, I believe the DAC for the...

Thanks for your reply. It seems that the Director became a bit of an orphan DAC for Meridian despite its favourable feedback from users. Meridian indicated that it will not support the Director with a software update for its MQA format as it did for the Explorer - which makes me think that the...

Thanks for your appraisal of the MA Direct DAC. Nicely summarized. When evaluating the Direct DAC with the HD650s, were you comparing the audio quality to that coming directly from your MacBook or another external DAC? Also, I was somewhat surprised that an external USB power supply produced no...

Of course, streaming will do that, which is why I keep the online stuff to a minimum.  Since your pairing is close to mine, do you think that the E12A alters the sound signature of the WM to any extent, or simply improves the audio overall. Merci.

  That's hard to understand, considering that with the LOD and the E12A there should be less demand on the Walkman's battery.  Wonder if this is something inherent to the Fiio L5 for Walkman or it's a unique situation with your DAP?  Anyway thanks for your thoughts.

I was wondering how the E12A complemented your Walkman (NWZ-ZX1)?  Considering the E12A or the E11k for my NWZ-Z1060 and the 150 ohm RE262, an IEM that I really enjoy from a desk top amp. The Walkman has quite a good internal amp, so I am curious whether there is much of a SQ improvement from...

Quote:   Agreed, that was a nice offering RonaldDumsfeld.  When technical specifications go beyond our auditory senses I guess it all becomes rather moot.  I just find it interesting that adjectives like lifeless, sterile and emotional coloring can be attributed to binary data carried by...

Give it time my friend.  The set-up that you describe in your post most of us would envy.  However, as a fellow HD650 fan I can also say that sometimes expectations can move beyond reality, especially if you don't filter some of the hyperbole on these threads.   Initially, I was also a bit...

Quote:   Thanks for the post and the preceeding recommendation of converters as a solution.   I certainly won't argue with your conclusion of favouring COAX, but as you say the USB source is a computer, not an defined audio source supplying the COAX which makes a direct comparison of the...

Is there a laymans explanation why a USB DAC will be inferior to the coax option?  As long as the USB can deliver the data stream rapidly enough, isn't this really a reflection of early USB DACs simply being inferior DACs?   The HRT MSII+ continually gets very high marks from reviewers as an...

Quote:   I'm in somewhat the same position in regard to seeking out a DAC to connect my laptop audio to my integrated amp.  Since most laptops generally do not have an SPDIF coax out, is there anything wrong with getting a USB-type DAC rather than replacing the motherboard to supply SPDIF...

Quote: Yes, that's my understanding.  The original version apparently had fabric covered lead wires, although I'd imagine those are hard to find these days on the FS page.   I can't understand the cosmetic problems mentioned on the earlier posts. 

Quote: I have the current version of the RE0 (v3 I believe) and have had no problems whatsoever.  The build quality appears very good which is what I expect from Hifiman.  Properly amped these remain a great IEMs for the money.

If you truly enjoy and appreciate music, whatever the genre, you will want it reproduced with a reasonable degree of audio fidelity. The level of fidelity that we achieve is determined by our ability to distinguish audio differences- (which become increasingly subtle as you move up the...