Answer 1: The part that's sub-standard. Answer 2: Assuming everything is reasonably adequate for its purpose, my big #1 is not the gear, but the music you're playing on it. Explanation 1: Say you have awesome cans, amp, and source, but for the cable you're using a 200' run of 32AWG wire and...

Quote: Originally Posted by TheVinylRipper This is a graph of the frequency response of my AT440MLa phono cartridge playing a 300 Hz tone from my quite expensive test record which I bought specifically for this purpose. Note the broadness of the response. Note also that the THD is...

Quote: I would say that Apple's new AL format is a winner as far as quality goes. I would have preferred a format that I can use in other applications, like FLAC, but as far as quality of sound is concerned... Well, if it's lossless then it's a no brainer. It's precisely the same...

Quote: At minimum volume I can only just hear the thing... If you're using E3's, then your D-211 and mine are somehow very different. It's painfully loud for me. (as in rip the buds from my ears it hurts so much loud) However, when I was adjusting the pots I poked at the volume...

I think it's pretty difficult to damage a HD player's drive unless you drop it, and even then most of them seem pretty sturdy. However, while running you will need to either carry a HD player in your hand or buy a suitable strap/case for it. HD players generally only access their drives...

Quote: I haven't quite figured what the DDS is for but in some songs it adds some echo. DDS stands for "Digital Dynamic Sound". It makes the quieter parts of the track louder which, in a sense, means compressing the dynamic range of the music. It was made for use in noisy...

I haven't heard the E2's, but I have listened to both RS60's and Shure E3's on the same source. The RS60's had a lot more low-end bass, but the treble/mid-range felt a bit recessed by comparison, although that might have been the bass's fault. If you're a bass-head I'd say the grado's would be a...

Quote: Count yourself fortunate (if not lucky) that the iPod seems to be working OK. My suggestion is to develope a backup plan now for your music, and perhaps the rest of your docs. Actually, if your iPod was formated for use on a PC then it uses FAT32, the same as on many microsoft...

Quote: Is is possible for some one to put into words what I will experience the first time I put the phones on (which as I read, might be an adventure onto itself)? Well... The first thing you'll do is soil your pants over how badly you got ripped off for such a crappy sounding set of...

There's a good question to ask... Are you using the rechargeable battery pack that came with the D-211? If so, try using normal batteries or the wall adaptor. (The rechargeable battery probable ceased to hold a charge years ago) Opening up the player isn't really that big of a deal. You just...

Well, it may or may not be the pots that are giving you grief, but it's worth a shot. Check out this link to find out how to adjust pots. In the D-211 the pots will be labelled RV501 through RV505. Good luck!

Try hitting the track advance button while it's spinning up so it starts playing at a later track. If it manages to play then, but still has problems on earlier tracks then you probably have a tracking problem. You'll probably have to crack the sucker open and adjust the pots.

If it's using a Lithium Ion battery that'll probably be the first thing to go. You'll be getting half-hour max charges long before the HD goes. Of course, you can replace the battery... (and the HD too!)

Basically this is the same thing as if someone invented a new kind of personal transport and then somebody completely different came along and patented the idea of sticking a steering wheel on it. It's pure greedy exploitation of a flawed patent system.

One other thing you should note is that the D-211's headphone jack outputs a pretty strong signal. A very strong signal actually. I don't have the balls to even try plugging my Shure's into it because I know it would be deafening at minimum volume. You might need an attenuation circuit of some...

Quote: The thing is this -- most music was recorded with speaker playback in mind. It isn't that either speakers or headphones are intrinsically better, but that (non-binaural) stereo itself was designed around the concept of speakers, as is multichannel surround. Just my 2c... When...

If the iRiver player was made outside the U.S. then you may wind up paying some duties on it, depending on how the shipper reports it to customs. However, I can tell you this much: Do *NOT* ship *anything* from the U.S. to canada by UPS. You'll wind up paying a brokerage fee that dwarfs any...

Quote: Nice post Cor, very interesting. Do you mind if I ask how much that stereo system cost? Enough. Quote: THX certification doesn't mean much in terms of audio quality. My opinion of movie theatres is pretty low. Every one I've been in has a general flat, honky...

There are at least 3 different audio stores near where I live that have $20K+ speakers set up in quality demo rooms with proper acoustic treatments. I don't know of a single place I can go where I can try out headphones worth more than $500. Perhaps my experience is unusual, but I suspect it...

Quote: Hmm...I feel giving relative volumes like this for the iPod isn't exactly the best way to gauge volume levels. You need to take into account different volume levels of songs and mp3s. For example, when I listen to my A900 out of my iPod (not quite as efficient as the E3, 40 ohms I...

Quote: OMG, near full volume on the iPod?! That's just a crazy volume level to listen to even for a very short period with something as efficient as the E3c. I use the E3c at 14/25 on my Zen Xtra at normal listening levels, which I think is just below middle level on an iPod I use...

What you are describing has always seemed like a shady practice to me, but I've never argued with a vendor that wants to under-report the value on a custom's slip! Some vendors will even ship items to you as "gifts", which lets you dodge the duties entirely. I'm not going to name any vendors...

Quote: That document is a marketing publication and the process is oversimplified you cannot convert directly between PCM and DSD by justing using an interpolator, you need an Integrator to convert to PCM and a differentiator to convert to SDM. Yes, I chose it for the pretty pictures...

Quote: You are confusing terms here, a decimator and an interpolator are different from a differentiator and an integrator , I did not mention a decimator , I said a differentiator , Oops. That's what I get for skimming. Since you were replying to my post I just assumed you were...

Quote: An Interpolator is used to oversample to higher frequencies and longer word lengths. The word you are looking for is a differentiator, and you can differentiate any sigma-delta word to a PCM word. If you look at a DS PCM chain from analogue to analogue it looks like this...