[Andrew_WOT]

Another one landed here.
The most carefull and professsional packaging I have ever seen. Even little wrench is included in case you want to peek inside, as well as 2m USB 2.0 cable.
Construction and build is outstanding. And 5 years of free warranty

I was mostly interested in USB performance. ASIO4ALL works like a charm, no drops or clicks. I just increased ASIO buffer size to max in both ASIO4ALL cp and foobar, and disabled 44.1 to 48 resampling that is on by default in ASIO4ALL.
Never heard FLACs sounding so good.
I will follow with Transit -> DA100 versus USB -> DA100 comparison some time later this week. And may be with MicroDAC. Even though it already clearly sounds like much higher category equipment. Which it is.
Happy dance.

 

[kool bubba ice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew_WOT Another one landed here. The most carefull and professsional packaging I have ever seen. Even little wrench is included in case you want to peek inside, as well as 2m USB 2.0 cable. Construction and build is outstanding. And 5 years of free warranty I was mostly interested in USB performance. ASIO4ALL works like a charm, no drops or clicks. I just increased ASIO buffer size to max in both ASIO4ALL cp and foobar, and disabled 44.1 to 48 resampling that is on by default in ASIO4ALL. Never heard FLACs sounding so good. I will follow with Transit -> DA100 versus USB -> DA100 comparison some time later this week. And may be with MicroDAC. Even though it already clearly sounds like much higher category equipment. Which it is. Happy dance.

Damn you!

 

[krusty09]

glad you like it.

it is a great unit for the money and the sound is really very good.

 

[lagardere]

Congratulations! I’m looking forward for more information about that baby!

Right now I’m in the process of choosing a DAC and my options are (price order):

- Stello DA100 (maybe the DA100/HP100 combo)
- Lavry DA10
- Stello DA200 MK2

By the way, did you buy it directly from April Music?

Thanks

 

[circularlogic]

I'm in the same boat as lagardere, and was wondering if you ordered from hifi500 as well. If so, did you have any problems? Because I've emailed them with a few questions a few days ago and have yet to hear back.

Thanks :b

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Directly from hfi500. I was wondering about lack of communication myself. But after I transfered the money the communication all over sudden became just terrific, I was getting order confirmation, notification for shipping with tracking number and they promptly answered all my questions that I asked via e-mail after that. My guess that either posted on web-site e-mail address is something they rarely check or they by just filter out all wanderers. I actually was very impressed by their professionalism, extremely well packaging, all business attitude.
Unit is built with that great attention to small little details, like gold coated RCA connectors, toslink connectors with that hanging protector, that just flips inside when you connect the cable, no more problems with losing that toslink plug again. I haven't had a chance to crack it open, but pretty much most of the board is visible through ventialtion slits (there are a lot of them). And should I say it's impressive, no hanging wires or traces of sloppy soldering whatsoever. Their website in additional images section has some close ups. Take a look and compare with internals of others DACs that you consider. That look along was enough for me to make a decision. And 5 years of warranty speak for themselves.

 

[nichifanlema]

Hey, there's already S100 - Power Amplifier - released some time ago in market..

Oh, and it's known that the CDP100 and CDT100 will soon be in the market around September in South Korea....


and there are plans for the phono amp and the tuner....(don't know if these two will actually go into production..)

They will all look the same, just as same as HP100 and DA100....

I don't know if there's any other device that will be intergrated in the Stello 100 series, but for now, that's the plan for AprilMusic.





I'm planning to get DA100 and either of CDP100 or CDT100...which will be a perfect match for my HP100

 

[Andrew_WOT]

USB->Transit->DA100 looks like outperforming by a very small margin straight USB to DA100 setup. There is tiny extra level of refinement, sparkle and volume when feeding DA100 via Transit, barely noticable though. Can be a placebo effect as well, need to conduct some blind tests. (Stay tuned, need extra pair of ears)

What is obvious though how flat and dull MicroDAC sounds in comparision.

[EDIT] Post No: 666 =8O

 

[lagardere]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nichifanlema ...I'm planning to get DA100 and either of CDP100 or CDT100...which will be a perfect match for my HP100

What's the difference between CDP100 and CDT100? How about your impressions on the HP100?

Shame that mr. grandenigma1 (thread starter) vanished and left us with no feedback on is DA100

 

[Patu]

We need more impressions of DA100 and HP100! I might be ordering this combo in near future.

 

[nichifanlema]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lagardere What's the difference between CDP100 and CDT100? How about your impressions on the HP100? Shame that mr. grandenigma1 (thread starter) vanished and left us with no feedback on is DA100

Well...CDP100, as its model name obviously suggest, is a CD Player.

CDT100, is a CD Transport, which means it needs external DAC in order to listen to music in typical system setup..

 

[lagardere]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patu We need more impressions of DA100 and HP100! I might be ordering this combo in near future.

YES WE DO!

Here's all information (links) I have regarding DA100 & HP100:

1. April Music
2. Russ Andrews modified versions
3. SonicFlare DA100 Review
4. SoundStage HP100 Review
5. ipod&studio "Stello HP-100 pre/headamp & DA-100 USB DAC" Thread
6. Head-Fi "Stello's New DA100 DAC" Thread
7. Head-Fi "Stello HP 100 headphone amp" Thread
8. Head-Fi "Aprilmusic's Stello HP100 Headphone Amp" Thread

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew_WOT USB->Transit->DA100 looks like outperforming by a very small margin straight USB to DA100 setup. There is tiny extra level of refinement, sparkle and volume when feeding DA100 via Transit, barely noticable though. Can be a placebo effect as well, need to conduct some blind tests. (Stay tuned, need extra pair of ears) What is obvious though how flat and dull MicroDAC sounds in comparision. [EDIT] Post No: 666 =8O

Little update, folks.

Second round of direct USB versus Transit/Toslink, with additional help of my wife's golden ears, ....... revealed no winner. In fact she feels that USB sounds cleaner than Transit->SPDIF. And I have a difficult time dissect any difference at all.
Looks like this time USB is done right indeed.

 

[jcn3]

details, details, details!

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew_WOT What is obvious though how flat and dull MicroDAC sounds in comparision.

This is likely due to the Stello's AKM DAC chip (generally a bit more punchy/live sounding than the more clinical CS in the Headroom) and the no-holds barred class-A discrete ouput section, which is basically impossible to come close to in a semi-portable DAC.