i was looking into doing software EQing and saving my files as both EQed and originals. after further consideration, i think i'll just get a western electric media tank and give up the idea of high resolution. i don't know of any particularly inspiring high res recordings to even look for other...

Quote:   that sounds like an adequate description of the differences to me, and would make the teac preferable to many who might lean towards the yulong D18 or eastern electric DACs.   Quote:   as someone mentioned, teac esoteric is their high end line, and their ceramic driver...

interesting heads up on the teac DAC. they do take their high end gear seriously. if the two DACs sound similar, then the gungnir has to be the better deal as it's $100 cheaper. though probably about the same street value, but it just looks so much cooler than the teac in either color. looks...

the reader's digest version of the first nineteen pages would be:     Quote:     Quote:   Quote:   Quote:   Quote:   Quote:   Quote:   Quote:   Quote:   the info is much easier to digest like that

Quote: then it definitely makes sense to warm my already thin and clinical sounding system up with an amp change first. it might not get a fair testing on my panasonic SA-XR55 that i'm trying to upgrade from. that would be a bad synergy at the start. that the unit can sound a little more...

the gungnirs is also a big step up over the bifrost with less grain, more resolution, and especially more bass that's tight. it's descriptions make it sound like it leans more towards neutrality than romantic yulong and eastern electric DACs. i just don't go for a "warm sound" at all. the few...

i've been researching DAC and amps to get a more liquid sound out of my system without getting too much into the realm of lower resolution easy on the ears overly romantic and lush sound, but a little less clinical sounding than what i have now too. i recently upgraded my system to a very...

they really should offer 30 day testing of the gear as the consensus seems to say it takes 300 hours to break in, and that's just 12 days if run constantly.

the less romantic and similarly priced made in the US (really?) schiit gungnir sounds like it's more to my speed and detail preferences and paired with an in between solid state and tube TBI millenium amp, i'd expect a relatively neutral, but liquid sound. we'll see. you can always add warmth to...

my system: AKG K44 closed cans with a couple feet wound Art DualPre AD/DA preamp 2x 4 foot Radio Shack grey plastic 1/4 monos twisted & looped out of the preamp and back in for PC listening backup cans are an old pair of JVC semi-opens with the headband glued that aren't as efficient as...

+after further consideration, i think i'm going to stretch my budget back to the $700 range and get the schiit gungnir upgrade as it has better all around sound and particularly more bass slam which my little 2 ways would appreciate. i'd rather buy something once than keep upgrading in small...

the grant fidelity tube DAC 11 is $100 cheaper

Quote: so far, that strategy has worked fine for them... whatever overpriced gear apple puts out, there will be hoardes of poseurs willing to camp out to be the first to have whatever, even if it's just a new color. i was reading an article about apple users, ipods in particular (talk about...

method of digital conversion and filtering (with no mention of bitstreaming or dithering yet either) aren't the only factors that affect sound quality either... after analogue conversion, the signal still needs an amplification stage which also imparts a signature on the sound. the bifrost and...

the nice thing about an external DAC is that you can do room correction with software if you're using a PC or hardware as in a behringer DEQ 24/96 with the best possible DAC. the oppo has been rated class A by stereophile (if that really even means anything beyond "thanks for advertising with...

OK... drooled over benchmark, havana, minimax & D18 until reading about units being too clinical or too warm at high prices, then decided i might get the bifrost as it has nice transparency but with low listener fatigue at half the price or less than the other $700+ units, but now think i might...

VERY helpful review and comparison! i had been looking at the eastern electric minimax gear as well as the yulong D-18, but don't much care for the higher prices or "warm & forgiving" euphonics descriptions. i like speed and detail, as long as there's ease to it too.   i recently upgraded my...

Quote: HAHAHAHAHA! Somewhere, Julian Hirsch is rolling in his grave. LOL i agree, listening is what should matter the most. many love the sound of tube amps despite higher levels of distortion and lower S/N ratios. specs don't tell you how a unit sounds. two units could have virtually...

i don't like women that play games and tell them to get lost

Quote:   oh! so THAT's why it's called DIGITal! so, when a DAC doesn't lock, it's giving you the finger then?

how about switchable op amps, or caps or whatever to switch between warm and forgiving and straight-wire ruthlessly revealing in a D-19 with a class A option? the two different tube and solid state output modes of the minimax made it sound interesting and at least listenable if so many reviewers...

Quote:   for relaying of information maybe, but terrible musical reproduction at human speed.

optical is the worst possible digital transmission medium short of morse code maybe.  

hey, that looks like a dirt cheap solution, and an easy return if your DAC still doesn't work. i only buy things from radio shack if they're name brand like my sandisk media player or as a last resort. i hope you get your DAC to work. if it does, maybe an even better solution would be to get a...