I wonder if the xMEMs technology will find their way to Headphones and Speakers. Or whether this will be limited to in ear monitors (IEMs)

My understanding is that Thorsten is still doing some consulting work for AMR & iFi. And they've added John Curl to their design team. Looking forward to seeing and hearing what is to come!

I assume iFi will tell us more about the AMR Diablo DAC in the future. In the meantime, check the RMAF Report in Positive Feedback for initial details.

It was quite a cool "tease". I'm definitely looking forward to hearing the Diablo DAC when it emerges from the design phase! https://positive-feedback.com/show-reports/a-return-to-denver-rmaf/

From the ESS posts on their Facebook page, looks like there will be two model 422 headphones. A hybrid model (422H) and an AMT model (422AMT). Would be interesting to hear these! https://positive-feedback.com/reviews/hardware-reviews/ess-252-ess-422h-headphones/

Hadn't heard that. Where did AIX move their recording studio? Still in California?

The Bacch processor is designed to play binaural recordings, like the Chesky Binaural + series and the Binaural DSD Downloads you find on NativeDSD Music, over loudspeakers. Different from the Smyth which is designed to take movies and surround sound music recordings, not made binaurally, and...

  Use a program like the Free program DFF to DSF from Signalyst (makers of HQ Player).  Very easy and then you can tag the .dsf files with an app like Tag and Rename.  http://www.signalyst.com/professional.html http://www.softpointer.com/tr.htm

  And here's another from Paul McGowan, CEO at PS Audio http://www.psaudio.com/forum/directstream-all-about-it/mqa-controversy/#p55837

Having heard the MQA demo by Meridian, same here.  It's a step backwards in sound quality compared to playing 24/96 FLAC and DSD files.

No, the iDSD Nano and the iDSD Nano LE are both DAC/Amp combos.  So you would get one or the other - not both.

A little pricey when yon look at the iFi Audio portable products.  Their new iDSD Nano LE gives you DSD 128 and PCM playback for only $129 - less than half the price of the Clef. Or you could get their iDSD Nano which adds DSD 256 and costs $199 - a substantial savings vs. the Clef.  ...

Received my Walkman 1Z from Wayne at The Source AV with UPS 1 Day Shipping.  Definitely recommend The Source AV.

The adapters let you use 3.5mm and 1/4" jacks in a 4.4 TRRS input.

$172 for both via PayPal including shipping.

That worked fine.   Derek at Jaden HK game me the details, I ordered the 4.4mm converters for the 3.5mm TRS and 1/4" TRS jacks and they should be here by week's end. Very responsive and speedy service.  Looking forward to the adapters for the 1Z ! 

Thanks for the tip.  I'll drop them an email.

Could be the case.  Available at the JadenHK store in person, but not available to purchase online.

That shows the photo of the adapter.  But no link to JadenHK web site to order one.

The iDSD Micro BL sounded very good out of the box here as well.  Looking forward to more sonic improvements over time as it burns in.  :)

Plussound has a 20% Off Christmas Sale that goes through the end of the year sale.  So this may be the time to check with them on special cables and adapters for the new Walkman DAPs. http://plussoundaudio.com/

  Nanaholic has the answer for high end headphones that need more output from the 1A and 1Z (see post #801). These headphones need to be connected to the 4.4mm balanced input on the 1A and 1Z.  Then you are getting 4X the output which should more than address their needs.  As a bonus, the...

Which Plussound cable did you order with the Pentaconn connector?  Looks like they have several cable families on the web site.

Where is the Pentaconn 4.4 to 2.5mm adapter on the Jaben web store?  Didn't see it there and was unable to find the adapter with their search option.

US listeners can buy the M-DAC+ from the NativeDSD Gear store.  It's an authorized M-DAC+ dealer online.