You are absolutely right . . . oh well, what a shame. Thanks for the info.

I just bought a second Benchmark DAC1 and it uses a step attenuator to control the volume on the headphone jacks (and XLR/RCA output on the back, when not set to calibrated). When did they switch from a pot to a step attenuator? Not that I'm complaining (as it sounds much better), but I am just...

The top of Mt. Evans works for me. I always go up to the top of Mt. Evans on Father's day to take pictures of the baby mountain goats. At that time, they are only a 3-4 weeks old and very cute. Nonetheless, I'll bring my Max a couple DACs and my cans. Besides, the observatory has power for...

Ari, I think I'm finally going to break down and get a pair of Schoeps CMC6/MK41s. And to think, I had just gotten rid of the upgrade bug before we started talking mics and preamps . . . oh well, wallet be damned, eh?

After controlled testing, I decided there isn't any audible difference between the Max (with filter off and processing off) and the Lunatec V3. After adjusting the volume of the Max and the V3 to within 0.1 dB, I hooked up identical headphone extension cords to them and sat switching between the...

Orpheus, You're probably right. Frankly, I've never really figured out what the differences between headphone amps and other line-level preamps are. Admittedly, it isn't the right way to go about things . . . but, I've never had a use for the line-out's of the Lunatec before and I couldn't...

As for my RMAA testing, I used the digital out on my Lunatec V3 for most my testing -- of all my sound cards, it was the most accurate (my DAC1 to V3 beat the Lynx Two tested on the RMAA site on everything but frequency responce, where it lost by a hair). Of course, I had to make a cable to be...

While I realize Grace also makes a headphone amp, my point was more along the line of (i) there are some amazing tube and solid state mic-preamps out there that might bring you one step closer to your audio nirvana, (ii) it gives people interested in XLR-type headphone cables a choice in...

Last night, I downloaded RMAA and proceeded to test every DAC, ADC and amp I own; in the end, I found the balanced (XLR) outputs of my Benchmark DAC 1 to be my hands down winner of my sources. Since my HeadRoom Max only takes unbalanced (RCA) inputs, I decided I'd try the analog pre-amp side of...

eric343, It's true, you don't need a Ph.D. for the vast majority of engineering jobs. A Ph.D. in engineering/pure sciences is only required for jobs at research institutes (such as government labs and some corporate R&D) or teaching at a university. If working very hard for a position at one...

SunByrne, You are absolutely correct about the REU programs. There are actually two types of REU programs, site REU programs (which is what you wrote those recommendations for) and individual REU funding. Site REU programs usually have 4-8 faculty sponsors who each work with groups of 2-7...

As blasphemous a this may sound, I'd suggest going in-state for your undergraduate and then going on to one of the big name schools for your Masters or Ph.D. If you go in-state, you may even turn a profit on your undergraduate -- I cleared three to ten thousand a year (thanks to scholarships...

I thought about the Apogee MiniDAC when I was in the market . . . but, heard people were having problems with them shorting-out. Personally, I'm very happy with the digital in/out of my Edirol UA-5; it is 24 bit / 96 kHz and works great with my Benchmark DAC1. Since you don't need...

Gee, 22 years old and still 90% pure. I'd say the test gave me some great ideas . . . but who am I kidding, Disney characters thinks I'm to pure for my own good.

Not that I have had direct experience with the ADC of either, the RME has a much better reputation on the recording boards than the ART DI/O does. Of course, if you want to go hog wild, you could look at Apogee, dCs, etc. For more info on recording stuff, you could surf over to Gearslutz (my...

Regardless of what a program sends or doesn't send, Foobar is still my favorite player. Foobar is much faster and oh so customizable. Besides, I really don't see a problem with WMP sending anonymous usage statistics back to Microsoft (doesn't WinAmp do the same thing?). If you actually read...

After testing, I concluded that the sound coming from Windows Media Player (WMP) and Foobar2000 are the same. For the test, I maxed out the volume of WMP and turned off ReplayGain in Foobar. Then fed the digital out on my soundcard to the digital in on my soundcard and recorded the input as...

I don't have anything against opamps (there are opamps in every piece of audio equipment I own), the problem is that the opamps in (consumer) sound card just aren't up to snuff. Quiet amazingly, a high quality headphone amplifier still make quite an improvement when using a sound card. When...

Well, if things are sounding muddy, I doubt it is your player. My guess, is that your sound card just doesn't have the power to drive your HD600. I'd suggest getting a good off-board DAC and a proper headphone amplifier. If you can't afford both right now, I'd start by getting a Benchmark DAC1...

AsuAmo, There is quite a difference in the sound coming out of WMP and Foobar. The sound coming out of Foobar is the same as you would get coming out of a stand-alone CD/DVD player (I can't ABX the difference when using the same DAC). On the other hand, WMP sounds like I took a step back from...

I used WMP for a long time, but got tired of how slow it was getting as I kept increasing the number of files in my ``Media Library.'' So, I deleted my 3800+ wma files and have been re-encoding everything as MPC files using EAC. Once I figured out how to customize Foobar2000, I've fallen in love...

I'll second the motion for the Benchmark DAC1. It sounds great feeding my Max. I tried out quite a few DACs at the local Hi-Fi and Pro-Audio stores around town before picking the DAC1. From what I've read, the DAC1 is one of the best DACs out there when it comes to jitter control. Looking...

While it isn't one of the classic suggestions, I've had very good luck with the Benchmark DAC1. It is all the rage in the professional audio circles for it's ability to deal with jitter. Since you will be using your computer, it is nice to be able to feed in 24 bit/192 kHz into the DAC1. I'm...

While the RME cards are supposed to be great, a good external DAC is the way to go. I recently got the Benchmark DAC1 for my computer setup and am very happy with it. For the first time, my computer audio is as good as my main rig. Besides, an external DAC can be dropped into other systems...

You and me both. While I like classical and jazz, it's the moderately popular alternative rock that I'm drawn to. What bugs the heck out of me, is when you find an artist you like and their first one or two CDs sound great . . . but, once they make it big, their CDs sound like everyone elses --...