I'm not sure who may be reading this thread anymore. And I'm not one to be all into consumer protectionism either. But in fiddling around with my iTransport some more I've come across some other dubious "mods" that Asitek is performing and claiming improvement. The wood idea is just plain...

Interesting. Didnt know about the Kwak. Led me into a lot of interesting directions. Thanks!!

I tried making use of diyhifi earlier this year and was rebuffed by the ban on new members. And being an outsider is like having perpetual blue balls. Eventually you need to actually SEE the pictures they are referencing. Very frustrating........ I have no doubts that a top shelf clock is...

Okay, that thread didnt actually help me at all. All I get from it is that the ppm designation doesnt really matter much in audio. I'm still left with the question of what makes a premium clock better. If the XO currently in my DAC is +/- 75ppm would it make any sense to replace it with one...

Thanks!

I've been looking at the possibility of replacing the crystal oscillators in my DAC. I've read everything I can find here and at diyaudio about the Audiocom Superclock, Ultraclock, et al. What I'm not quite understanding is the distinction of these expensive units. For example, the...

I just read this entire thread and didnt see any mention of the question I'm about to ask. So if I missed somehow, I apologize........... The Amarra websight claims that solid state drives sound better. Why?

I dont actually know anyone who personally claims to have "golden ears". This is usually a derogatory label (of late) given by an auditorial non believer. One could maybe argue that such a thing exists given that some musicians have "perfect pitch" and others do not. But I would argue that...

Quote: Originally Posted by Headdie A little extreme maybe... My old Denon CD player had fixed and variable sets of RCA connectors (a volume control if you want) and I enjoyed my cans directly out of it. If your shopping for a CD/DVD player, I'd suggest looking for a variable output. If...

I think its true. I spent a lot of time trying out all sorts of headphone amps from the cheapest to the most expensive. And then I tried direct out from the cd player. Sure, I lost a volume control but what I gained in performance was nothing short of astonishing. There isnt a single headphone...

Quote: Originally Posted by Hudson So would there be no need for a LPF on the outputs? I don't know much about this, but all the DACs I've nosed at required I/V and filter stages. A small inductor inline would suffice and would be part of any series resistance needed for the...

Quote: Originally Posted by diditmyself Sorry, I didn't read your first post thoroughly enough. Do you use some kind of resistor between the output and phones? Basically, yes. This particular pair of headphones gets its impedance from a resistor that is in series with the actual...

But wouldnt the distortions normally be due to a varying impedance load? The etymotics are essentially flat impedance. Plus I have a lot of wiggle room for exactly how large that impedance is. As long as the input impedance is stable, whats the difference between it being an earphone or the...

I've been pondering the feasibility of running a pair of earphones directly from the current output of a dac. If you start with something like the Etymotic ER4 line of earphones where you can easily adjust the impedance of the phones and actually have something that requires very little...

This post is a couple years old now. But its a good question. Has anyone tried this? Does anyone know the output specs of the ZapII?