[zilch0md]

The Battery DAC has arrived!
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/709720/starting-point-systems-portable-nos-dac/15#post_11399021

 

[beyerdude]

  The Battery DAC has arrived!
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/709720/starting-point-systems-portable-nos-dac/15#post_11399021

Cool - happy times - I have been interested for a while how the TDA154X dacs perform - was considering building a TDA1541 Tube Dac before deciding on the HEX - will follow the thread - have abandoned my portable rig since frying my E12DIY - note to self - stick to larger circuit board equipment if you want to swap out capacitors......

 

[zilch0md]

^ LOL

 

[knowhatimean]

  Oh - and if you only used the HEX with the COAX input the Metrums are VERY sensitive to Jitter - mine sounded crap with older CD players and some upstream devices - it plays best with my macbook pro and audirvana - anything else I have tried doesn't compare (X5 comes close but still not as good as the USB input)

I'm not quite sure if you would consider the 'BNC' connection as a coax ,but I use that almost exclusively from my Auraliti PK100
to the Hex with (obviously from my posts) phenomenal results.
 
I'm kind of curious of anyone that is using the Hex>Aurix pairing with the HD800 is finding they have a "full" range of volume control settings they can use ? I listen to Orchestral music almost exclusively & find that I don't need to apply that much volume for full frequency playback & as a result I normally have a very small range of fine adjustment volume increments way before I've even reached the control's half way setting !* ( I'm sure there's plenty of volume wiggle as the Aurix doesn't appear to be a 'high powered' headphone amp:which is what a modded HD800 doesn't need anyway)
 
(I've decided to throw the Aurix back into, my headphone amp 'pool' ; I must have lost my "mind" for second when I wasn't considering it ! )
 
*(on headphone amps I have)
 
Thanks

 

[beyerdude]

  I'm not quite sure if you would consider the 'BNC' connection as a coax ,but I use that almost exclusively from my Auraliti PK100
to the Hex with (obviously from my posts) phenomenal results.
 
I'm kind of curious of anyone that is using the Hex>Aurix pairing with the HD800 is finding they have a "full" range of volume control settings they can use ? I listen to Orchestral music almost exclusively & find that I don't need to apply that much volume for full frequency playback & as a result I normally have a very small range of fine adjustment volume increments way before I've even reached the control's half way setting !* ( I'm sure there's plenty of volume wiggle as the Aurix doesn't appear to be a 'high powered' headphone amp:which is what a modded HD800 doesn't need anyway)
 
(I've decided to throw the Aurix back into, my headphone amp 'pool' ; I must have lost my "mind" for second when I wasn't considering it ! )
 
*(on headphone amps I have)
 
Thanks

 
 
I have plenty of volume control with the HEX/Aurix pairing - things only get really loud (with high + 10db gain) after 12 o'clock) - you start out thinking there isn't enough reserve volume but quickly realise that there is more than enough volume just none of the harshness normally associated with that listening level. The WA6 SE on the other hand only needs about 9 o'clock to do the same and would quite literally make my ears bleed at 12.
 
On BNC/Coax what I am trying to say is that I think Dac's can take on a lot of the characteristics of the source player - the Octave MKII using the X5 digital out sounds like a superior X5 line out. The USB on the other hand sounds quite different - making a judgement on the similarity between 2 devices like the Metrum dacs needs a very good source device with low jitter - learnt a long while back that 'bit perfect' doesn't always translate to good balanced reproduction. 

 

[preproman]

   
 
 learnt a long while back that 'bit perfect' doesn't always translate to good balanced reproduction. 

 
 
I wouldn't want my music stream carried out any other way...  

 

[knowhatimean]

 

  I'm not quite sure if you would consider the 'BNC' connection as a coax ,but I use that almost exclusively from my Auraliti PK100
to the Hex with (obviously from my posts) phenomenal results.
 
I'm kind of curious of anyone that is using the Hex>Aurix pairing with the HD800 is finding they have a "full" range of volume control settings they can use ? I listen to Orchestral music almost exclusively & find that I don't need to apply that much volume for full frequency playback & as a result I normally have a very small range of fine adjustment volume increments way before I've even reached the control's half way setting !* ( I'm sure there's plenty of volume wiggle as the Aurix doesn't appear to be a 'high powered' headphone amp:which is what a modded HD800 doesn't need anyway)
 
(I've decided to throw the Aurix back into, my headphone amp 'pool' ; I must have lost my "mind" for second when I wasn't considering it ! )
 
*(on headphone amps I have)
 
Thanks

 
 
I have plenty of volume control with the HEX/Aurix pairing - things only get really loud (with high + 10db gain) after 12 o'clock) - you start out thinking there isn't enough reserve volume but quickly realise that there is more than enough volume just none of the harshness normally associated with that listening level. The WA6 SE on the other hand only needs about 9 o'clock to do the same and would quite literally make my ears bleed at 12.
 
On BNC/Coax what I am trying to say is that I think Dac's can take on a lot of the characteristics of the source player - the Octave MKII using the X5 digital out sounds like a superior X5 line out. The USB on the other hand sounds quite different - making a judgement on the similarity between 2 devices like the Metrum dacs needs a very good source device with low jitter - learnt a long while back that 'bit perfect' doesn't always translate to good balanced reproduction. 

Thanks! I guess my greatest concern is the HD800 is really sensitive to volume increases (though now that I've modded them, it's
really a non issue; They just act like an "Aural Window" to everything in front of them, w/o the Sennheiser 'flavoring'). It's more a
matter of the Burson Soloist,Fosgate Signature & other amps not being a good match w/ the HD800 / Hex pairing (The Burson is
too powerful:The Fosgate was too powerful & adds "tube colorations"('air") )
 
I've alway been kind of curious how the X5 even works with full sized DACs (but you & Mike seem to have worked this out, so that it works well for you ) I was going to say I really didn't notice any "jitter" problems when I ran a coax from my Consonance CD player to my Hex,but then I remembered I had just placed an RCA adaptor on the end of my BNC cable on the player side
 
Interestingly enough this CD player uses a Phillips NOS chip (Which was the reason I became interested in the Metrum Acoustic
DACs). The ripped CD layer of SACDs sounded better played back on the Consonance than the SACD layer sounded through an
Oppo player (which led me to believe that the Sabre 9018 chip was overrated: It just turns out Oppo just did'nt implement it properly) Long story, short...I really don't have any "angst" that I'm just listening to PCM & not DSD ,as no format is "just"(whatever) through the Metrums DACs. Unless you mean "just musical"

 

[jk47]

   
I'm kind of curious of anyone that is using the Hex>Aurix pairing with the HD800 is finding they have a "full" range of volume control settings they can use ? I listen to Orchestral music almost exclusively & find that I don't need to apply that much volume for full frequency playback & as a result I normally have a very small range of fine adjustment volume increments way before I've even reached the control's half way setting !* ( I'm sure there's plenty of volume wiggle as the Aurix doesn't appear to be a 'high powered' headphone amp:which is what a modded HD800 doesn't need anyway)
 

i have the same very limited volume range.  as i type i'm listening to beethoven's 7th kleiber vpo, hex>aurix>hd800 NO MODS.  i'm in a fairly quiet but not silent place - when the music is soft i hear rain drops and dripping from eaves.  to hear the very quietest moments the volume has to be around 10 +/-.  otoh, anything above 11 is too loud.
 
i think part of the issue is the large dynamic range of classical, and especially orchestral music.  if you set the volume so that the quietest passages are at a "normal" volume, you're going to blow out your eardrums on the triple fortes.  [more likely just damage some cochlear hair cells.]
 
so i don't think it's that the hd800's are unusually sensitive to volume changes.  it's your music and your cochlea that are very sensitive to volume change.

 

[knowhatimean]

 

   
I'm kind of curious of anyone that is using the Hex>Aurix pairing with the HD800 is finding they have a "full" range of volume control settings they can use ? I listen to Orchestral music almost exclusively & find that I don't need to apply that much volume for full frequency playback & as a result I normally have a very small range of fine adjustment volume increments way before I've even reached the control's half way setting !* ( I'm sure there's plenty of volume wiggle as the Aurix doesn't appear to be a 'high powered' headphone amp:which is what a modded HD800 doesn't need anyway)
 

i have the same very limited volume range.  as i type i'm listening to beethoven's 7th kleiber vpo, hex>aurix>hd800 NO MODS.  i'm in a fairly quiet but not silent place - when the music is soft i hear rain drops and dripping from eaves.  to hear the very quietest moments the volume has to be around 10 +/-.  otoh, anything above 11 is too loud.
 
i think part of the issue is the large dynamic range of classical, and especially orchestral music.  if you set the volume so that the quietest passages are at a "normal" volume, you're going to blow out your eardrums on the triple fortes.  [more likely just damage some cochlear hair cells.]
 
so i don't think it's that the hd800's are unusually sensitive to volume changes.  it's your music and your cochlea that are very sensitive to volume change.

Yes, thanks for your feedback, I am acutely aware of that vast dynamic range & strangely enough I've found that if I set my volume by using a passage from the Charles Munch ; Ravel;Bolero / Living Stereo recording at about the point where the Oboe has it's solo part & Orchestal interplay with the BSO to where I approximate the Oboe to have  reasonably correct tonal characteristics the balances of just about everything falls amazingly into place (& not just for this particular recording) as far as having listening balances that are neither too soft or too loud.
 
I'm not naive enough to think that this happenstance isn't just specific to the circumstances of my playback system & source material,but I was referring more to having some fine volume adjustment "wiggle" room more than just a "skootch"
 
As I listen to the openning of Elgar's / "In the South / Richard Hickox cond. I'm honestly not to sure what I might have been thinking about with that posting ! (I hope this not a sign that old age is setting in) . The balances are just marvelous ! (Maybe the humidity from the rain affected my cochlea to send inaccurate information to my eardrums???) (& I'm sure with the Aurix in the "Chain" the sound can only get more "luscious" sounding & then for certain I'll be occupied with listening to music & little else)
 
(I may have lost sight that the tiny ouput transformer, the Beyerdynamic A1 is using, really isn't up to task of outputting dynamic music with any amount of dimensional "scalability") (I'm stuck w/ using the A1 currently)
 
Have a great day
~steve

 

[alreadyused]

Not sure if anyone is still monitoring this thread but I have a question for anyone who is. A strange question 

.  Maybe an ignorant question.
 
I just got my Aurix and connected it to my Octave MKII - using an RCA cable from the Octave analog out jacks to the Aurix Input 1.  That has to be correct, right?
 
The problem I have is this: when I set the Aurix input switch to "Input 1" I get no sound out of the headhone jack. (The same is true when I use Input 2.)
 
The only way I can get it to work is by connecting the Octave to the Aurix Input 1 jacks and then setting the Aurix input switch to "Standby".
 
Has anyone else seen this behavior? Is it supposed to work like this? Am I doing something wrong?
 
Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[jk47]

  Not sure if anyone is still monitoring this thread but I have a question for anyone who is. A strange question 

.  Maybe an ignorant question.
 
I just got my Aurix and connected it to my Octave MKII - using an RCA cable from the Octave analog out jacks to the Aurix Input 1.  That has to be correct, right?
 
The problem I have is this: when I set the Aurix input switch to "Input 1" I get no sound out of the headhone jack. (The same is true when I use Input 2.)
 
The only way I can get it to work is by connecting the Octave to the Aurix Input 1 jacks and then setting the Aurix input switch to "Standby".
 
Has anyone else seen this behavior? Is it supposed to work like this? Am I doing something wrong?
 
Thanks in advance for any help!

sounds like some wires were crossed.  i just double checked mine and input 1 is "input 1."  what happens if you send the signal from the octave to aurix input 2?   do you then also get sound from "standby" or just silence?  

 

[alreadyused]

  sounds like some wires were crossed.  i just double checked mine and input 1 is "input 1."  what happens if you send the signal from the octave to aurix input 2?   do you then also get sound from "standby" or just silence?  

Silence.

 

[jk47]

  Silence.

i think your unit was mis-wired.  you need to contact the seller.

 

[alreadyused]

Yep. I'll do that. Thanks for responding!

 

[TokenGesture]

Hey Metrum Crew- Has any one read impressions about or even better heard the Pavane?