Sorry to bump such an old thread. If there is indeed such thing as cable burn in, in which time something physically changes within the cables' structure shouldn't there be people complaining that they liked the sound of the cable more before burn in? I never heard such scenario which makes me...

You have a valid point, but, either you want it or not, be it that you use special files to break-in the headphones (freq sweeps and tones) or just listen to your regular music, they WILL break-in, for good or worse. Sound WILL change in most headphones with usage. It's not a great difference...

While breaking in the headphones, don't worry if the sound gets actually worse at some point. It's not always going from good to better and then best. I don't own many headphones; Denon D5000, AKG K701, Sennheiser IE8 and Sony XB700 (want to buy XB1000 soon). IE8 is the only headphone that...

Jan sais in the manual that disabling the variable output may improve sound quality. I haven't listened with it enabled to make a comparison. All I know is with it disabled it sounds great.

My StageDAC arrived a week ago. First thing I did, even before pluging in the unit was to disable the volume knob and variable output. After a quick 50hrs burn-in, I am very happy with the purchase I made. It sounds better than I expected; very resolving and detailed sound. I am using a SPDIF...

oldson, how do you like the StageDAC? I too placed an order for it yesterday, I should receive it in about a week or so.

molokovellocet, I'm in the same boat and I can't get an answer... I currently have a Xonar Essence ST and I want to get a DAC as well. My price range is a bit higher, I was looking at the Meier StageDAC. It can be had for $745 in the US and from what I've been reading, it's a very good DAC. What...

I would like to buy this DAC. My current setup is Xonar Essence ST as DAC, using the RCA outs to a Meier Opera Analog headphone amp and my Denon D5000 headphones. How much of a difference will this DAC do in my setup?

I need a new PCIe sound card for my computer. I have narrowed my options to these two. Auzentech X-Fi Hometheater HD 7.1 and the Asus Xonar Essence STX. The sound card will be linked by RCA cable to a Yamaha A/V receiver, passing DDL or DTS signal (receiver doesnt support HDMI 1.3a). Both...

I'm also interested in this matter. I want to get the Essence STX and listen to a pair of Denon AH-D5000's directly from it. Does somebody have experience with other built in headphone amplifs? Like the amplif in the Auzentech X-Fi Forte 7.1 or Auzen Hometheater HD? How do they compare with the...

I have a Asus Xonar D2/PM sound card right now. It's linked to my Yamaha A/V receiver through RCA cable and output DDL signal for 5.1 multichannel. I also use the analog Front out of the sound card, going into a Yarland P100 tube amp driving a pair of Denon AH-D5000 headphones. I want to...

My new system is currently being built, so meantime, I am listening my music and movies and play games on the onboard sound of a 790i Ultra motherboard. I link it to the Yamaha RX-V861 receiver via coaxial SPDIF. My question is: How does SPDIF work? Is it's quality very dependant of the...