Apex Glacier amp/dac review and appreciation thread

[turokrocks]

Oh! Actually on my 2nd trip there on Sunday (post #23) I did go with my customs UM530x8. However I think it's the universals FitEar TO GO! 334 that I'm supposed to test to see if I hear any hiss. This weekend's Fujiya Avic show though is going to be much bigger than the e-earphone show and therefore much busier. I'll see if I can get exclusive time with the Glacier like last weekend but there's a strong possibility that I may not get that much time.



Actually, the two I have in my hands are gone (well, one is still sitting on my desk but I have to post it tonight). Let me ping VentureCraft on their timeline for international orders for this cable. If not, I may be able to look into some kinda group buy. Can't guarantee if I can get any discounts on the group buy though.

You caught my drift, I meant the FitEar, but I thought they were customs....
As much info/feedback you can bring us will be great.
AnakChan, you are a very important foundation pillar in this community, and everybody respects & cherish your opinion, from all of us.....Thank you

 

[Rexgabriel]

Sorry I don't have any custom iems.
I have tried it with all the iems that I have; hippo shroom, boom, pearls. Feels Pro900 (single balanced armature). New and old iBuds. Some cheap Sonys my sister has.
At all gain settings, at all volumes, even red (mute) it is there. Mind you it is very low level, and in some it is more a feeling of presence rather than a sound of soft fuzz, and it is very difficult to discern. I hear nothing with my ad2000, but the main reason there is zero isolation.

Try unplugging the source, and with the iems in your ears, plugg and unplug them from the amp, that should illuminate the difference. Still having to do this should give an idea of how diminutive the noise is.

If my hearing it is just a function of cheap iems making the sound, I'd like to know why a very sensitive custom iem would not reproduce this noise without a noise canceling circuit. Maybe it is something about an idle current running through the dirty cheap copper that makes the noise in mine? I'm open to input.

 

[turokrocks]

Is there a way to play 96/24 tracks on the Note2/S3 thru the Apex Glacier or other DAC/AMP?

 

[zachchen1996]

Is there a way to play 96/24 tracks on the Note2/S3 thru the Apex Glacier or other DAC/AMP?

Well the dac would have to support it, if the glacier doesn't offer playback of 24/192 or 24/96 through usb then it won't work with the gs3 or note 2. I'm also trying to find a portable dac that will work with note2 that supports 24/192. Apparently the new solo works with pc's through the usb and supports 24/192 albeit you have to install a driver for the solo on the pc for it to work. We'll have to see if it will work with note2.

 

[turokrocks]

Well the dac would have to support it, if the glacier doesn't offer playback of 24/192 or 24/96 through usb then it won't work with the gs3 or note 2. I'm also trying to find a portable dac that will work with note2 that supports 24/192. Apparently the new solo works with pc's through the usb and supports 24/192 albeit you have to install a driver for the solo on the pc for it to work. We'll have to see if it will work with note2.

The Apex Glacier is 96/24 capable, but we need someone who has it to try a 96/24 track and see if it works.

 

[seraphkz]

Has anyone tried this with headphones?

 

[daniel_hokkaido]

mailed Todd, he doesn't seem sure if the glacier will work with android 4.1 usb on the go

 

[DGriff0400]

i hope it does but it should be able to work with some variant of the s3 since it can switch off charging via usb

 

[Rexgabriel]

Quote:

Has anyone tried this with headphones?

I have been using it to drive Audio Technica ATH-AD2000 which it does with authority. Dangerous actually because it sounds very good very loud and it's deceiving,
They are however, very easy to drive.
Sensitivity: 102 dB/mW
Impedance: 40 Ohms
 
Quote:

The Apex Glacier is 96/24 capable, but we need someone who has it to try a 96/24 track and see if it works.

I've downloaded some 88.1/24 samples from gimell and they play through it no problem. But it also played the 172/24 samples as well so maybe I'm not doing something right. I'm on a MAC Mini right now.

 

[Rexgabriel]

 

 
Is something missing?

 

[RingingEars]

Quote:

Spoiler: Warning%3A%20Spoiler!

 

 

 
 
Is something missing?

Looks like "volume" rubbed off pretty fast...

 

[turokrocks]

Quote:

 
......
 
I've downloaded some 88.1/24 samples from gimell and they play through it no problem. But it also played the 172/24 samples as well so maybe I'm not doing something right. I'm on a MAC Mini right now.

 
 
No, playing 96/24 on pc/mac with the Apex GLacier should be ok....the problem is will 96/24 tracks play from a Samsung S3/Note 2? without down-sampling..as to bit-perfect .
 
We need someone with S3/Note 2 with 96/24 tracks to test....

 

[turokrocks]

Quote:

 

 
Is something missing?

 
 
OMG....This should not happen so early...How did they print the labels...with a marker?
 
This is a first class amp , with a $500 price tag , this should not happen, we expect better quality !!!

 

[turokrocks]

 

[Rexgabriel]

I got a hold of a friends Samsung Galaxy S3 and, after installing Power Amp, I was able to play an 88.2/24 .flac sample through the Glacier's DAC.
It was strange though that the phone didn't recognize it until after I switched the On The Go (OTG) adapter cable to plug into the GS3 and the supplied cable to the Glacier. It just didn't work the other way around.

It's an eForCity adapter cable and the GS3 actually recognized it without connecting the other end to the amp, but it had no idea the self winding cable was there; even connected to the Glacier!

I obviously, am much closer to knowing nothing, than knowing everything.