Thanks for the reply. I think power amp still applies, that's what the front of my current one says; "Stereo Power Amplifier". Receiver is a more modern term, however I'm not needing the typical home theater receiver features. I don't need (or necessarily want) digital inputs or switching. Just...

It's been a LONG time since I've been around here or researched audio stuff so please bear with me. I've been rocking my Sony TA-N55ES amp and JBL L19A speakers for years now and still really enjoy them. However, I have been using them more like computer speakers as my computer is my primary...

It's definitely possible. There's a resistor on either side of the headphone jack. From the pics I have, I think the resistors are 240 ohm 5% tolerance. I would imagine upgrading these to a higher quality would also help sound out. You could perhaps contact Ryan to see what he or his engineer...

Just updated the FAQ for you. Thinking a little more into how the unit functions, the output coming from the tubes is what the volume controls. The solid-state chip amps the output at a constant volume which is probably why there's been reported hissing in headphones. So, even if you have the...

Touche. I actually wrote up a whole thing about not having proof and possibly being wrong but I just found a picture I made ages ago that shows the paths and actually shows that the speaker and headphone outputs are soldered to the same hole on the PCB...

Unless the circuit board design has changed since I owned one, they are the same output. I followed the traces on my unit before modifying it for different functionality (see Spanky's Mod in the first post). The only difference between the headphone and speaker output is that the headphone...

Do not drive headphones from the speaker output, you risk frying them. The speaker and headphone output is the same so there's no reason not to use the headphone output on the front. 

Right, most people use the tube pre out for a speaker system. I did. The D1 is definitely a great all-in-one unit that's flexible for pretty much any setup. There's other (better?) components for specific setups. If you care about low power, cables, size, circuit simplicity then the Modi is a...

Quote:   Sorry to confuse but the tube IS bypassed with the headphone output. The tube only affects 1 of the 3 outputs of the D1 and that is the "tube out" RCA jacks on the rear. The headphone and solid-state circuits are tubeless.

The audio is just passed through it for flavoring. I find the D1 to be a way for beginners to sample tube flavor before dropping crazy money on a full tube amp. Different people like different audio gear, that's part of the fun :)

Just FYI, the tube in the D1 does NOT affect headphone output. In terms of headphone output, both the Schiit and Mav units are solid-state. The Mav unit is a bit better if you'll have a mixed setup down the road with headphones AND speakers, allowing you to hook up an amp and headphone output at...

No idea on the current rating. I don't think Ryan would do upgrades since the USB is built into the main board, but I could be wrong.

The USB should be wayyyyy better now. Bit-perfect audio that's driverless and cross-platform. I think there's a few other things upgraded like capacitors but I'm not 100% sure. The D1 Plus is now a very hard to beat all-in-one for it's price.

Quote: If you're proficient enough in soldering and electrical knowledge, you can replace caps on anything. I would just be very careful of the tube cap. Be sure to discharge it :)

If you have balance issues, check this out:     Use a right-angle allen wrench to adjust the balance (very carefully due to high voltage). I had to do it in mine. Tubes vary slightly and the balance helps greatly. It seems to get out of adjustment after time too.

NuForce products are always mysterious to me. Expensive and no real details given. But, if you're getting a good deal on it, why not? Maybe you'll like it better than the D2, you'll have to decide :)

Yea, with $250 cans you don't want to ruin those. See if you can find a discrete headphone amplifier (one without opamps).

It's in the D1 thread:     Quote:   Not good :) It's the voltage and current that's not good for headphones. As far as an amp affecting the quality of your headphones, of course it will. Any time you add circuitry, it will affect the quality. The question is, will it be noticeable...

WOAH, don't use the tube output with headphones! Very bad! It has a possibility of burning them up! Get an amp, even if it's a cheapie tube or cmoy amp off of eBay.   For the A5's, no need to use the A1 unless you want to play with tube sound. THD would probably go up as well.

70ohm isn't much. What are you using for amplifying now? Getting something that amplifies with a decent amount of power, unlike motherboard audio will make a difference. I don't think it's worth justifying $200 in the A1, although it does have a nice sound. Even a cheap CMOY/Penguin amp will do...

cssarrow, is there a noticeable improvement in quality? At that price, I would be concerned that they're fake. Ryan's seem to barely generate any profit because the chips themselves are so expensive. If the OPA627 were $7 for 2, meaning $3.50 each, they would be used a lot more but I think...

Hmmm, I can't typically see inside my D2 but I'll have a look sometime. I wouldn't be too concerned about it but I'm not sure why it would be there in the first place.   My netbook has analog output which is plenty fine for the rest of the audio chain. Like I said, if you NEED digital output...

Red light? Could you elaborate more on that, my D2 doesn't have a red light.   For a portable music player, you're kind of asking a lot with all of that. I would be tempted to recommend a netbook. I just picked up a ASUS EEEPC 4G and use it strictly for music but it also goes online, plays...

Now that is something I'm totally clueless on. I have a receiver on a secondary setup with the analog out from the computer going into the CD input. Works fine, no issues. I certainly wouldn't use the phono input though :)

JonnyBGood, I think you're confused on a few things :)   First, a BNC adapter would just be a straight metal connector. It doesn't have to be "meant" or "built" for analog or digital. Metal is metal (although some metals conduct better) and it will pass whatever signal through that you feed...