April Music Eximus DP-1
Mar 22, 2013 at 4:33 PM Post #541 of 803
Thanks again Purk.
 
Would you know if the serial number has any meaning in terms of things like date of production in it maybe?
 
 
Mar 22, 2013 at 4:57 PM Post #542 of 803
Quote:
Thanks again Purk.
 
Would you know if the serial number has any meaning in terms of things like date of production in it maybe?
 

I'm sure it is, however, I don't know how to interpret that.
 
Mar 22, 2013 at 7:31 PM Post #543 of 803
Quote:
Thanks guy.  I resolved the problems associated with higher bit rate files already as I should have disable the ASIO all driver and use the Tau Audo driver.  Still, I continue to have problem with the LED light indicating the wrong bit rate.  The light will indicate the correct bit rate during the cold start and default to amber / yellow instead of red light when playing 88.2 / 96 khz files.  I'm waiting for a response from April Music right now.

 
 
I had this exact LED indicator problem with a DP-1, I purchased last year. I returned it to the dealer and he could not replicate the problem. I decided to just get my money back and move on to another DAC as I could not accept this behavior for a DAC in this price range. I did not try the SPDIF input, only USB.
 
I was using Win7, JRiver17 in WASAPI Event Mode. I had a WFS DAC2 previously and never had any problems with sampling rate indication over USB.
 
You might try a MAC OSX machine, as maybe it is just a PC driver issue?
 
Mar 29, 2013 at 8:47 AM Post #545 of 803
Quote:
Lee Perry did jump on the subtext - is the Eximus headphone out really better than a Xonar STX soundcard in a fanless "Silent PC" with linear supply at ~ 1/3 the cost? - they apparently both use the TPA6120 for headphone out  
quite possibly - but not because of Eximus' "discrete component headphone amp" - given the review photos I don't see how this is anything but a lie
 

Agreed. I don't see anything like "discrete buffering" between TPA6120 and HP jack. Its the same HP amp like in Xonar ST(X) soundcard. They could call "discrete buffering" a couple of resistors though.
 
Mar 29, 2013 at 1:32 PM Post #547 of 803
I have just placed an order for my DP-1. Woohoo !
 
I had one for the test so I know what I am up for so now only a weeks time worth of wait and then some proper listening time. 
 
Cheers
 
 
Mar 29, 2013 at 1:59 PM Post #548 of 803
Quote:
Agreed. I don't see anything like "discrete buffering" between TPA6120 and HP jack. Its the same HP amp like in Xonar ST(X) soundcard. They could call "discrete buffering" a couple of resistors though.


As far as I know Xonar STX HP out because of poorly implemented amplification has around 100 ohms of impedance or close to it... I dont think they are anything alike with eximus (0.1 ohm). Also as sated many times before it is not the chip itself but the implementation that matters.
 
Mar 29, 2013 at 3:37 PM Post #549 of 803
Funny thing, I did read that Eximus review, but didnt pay any attention about NAIM, thank you very much for that. I have the feeling that NAIM is a great DAC, probably bit differ than Eximus, but its an DAC only with possible upgrades and if you dont need headphone amp or pre either, well, looks exellent to me.
 
Regarding April. Well, I really disapointed that they have chosen for 3 in 1 machine, instead of making DAC only and I do miss desplay that could make things much easier and friendly in use, maybe they will do that later.
 
THX
 
 
Quote:
 
For what it's worth, Hi-Fi + have reviewed both but some time apart so they didn't directly compare them; both reviews are on this page
 
The Eximus review is worth a read in any case.

 
Mar 29, 2013 at 4:21 PM Post #550 of 803
Poorly implemented amplification has around 100 ohms of impedance, while Eximus with good implemented amplification has 0,1? Lets see....
http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tpa6120a2.pdf
FEATURES:
80mW into 600Ω
Minimum load impedance 8Ω
RECOMMENDED OPERATING CONDITIONS:
Load impedance 16Ω
Intermodulation distortion:
64Ω - 0.000095%
32Ω - 0.00014%
0,1Ω - ?
Total harmonic distortion plus noise:
10 kΩ - 0.000024%
600Ω - 0.00014%
64Ω - 0.00038%
32Ω - 0.00055%
0,1Ω - ?
Please check the datasheet by yourself (its easy and interesting) to see the impedances they (TI) use for measurements: 32Ω, 64Ω, 600Ω, 10kΩ. And which one is the best for perfomance/distortions ratio? 200-600Ω. And what about 0,1Ω? Nothing. Maybe TI have no idea what they are doing? Hmm...
 
Mar 29, 2013 at 7:11 PM Post #551 of 803
 
You are mixing things up badly. Read this document again but this time try to understand it mate.
 
Unless you have HPs with 0.1 ohm of impedance that you plan to use with Eximus... because the 0.1 ohm at HP out of DP-1 has nothing to do with impedance of the actual Head Phones to which numbers from your post correspond.
 
However, on the other hand, impedance of HP out is of great importance in terms of mismatch with Headphones impedance. And this is why 100ohm of Asus is utter crap while 0.1 of DP-1 is close to perfect.
 
At the bottom of article:
http://en.goldenears.net/index.php?mid=GR_DAC_Amp&document_srl=11364
 
Good luck
 
Quote:
Poorly implemented amplification has around 100 ohms of impedance, while Eximus with good implemented amplification has 0,1? Lets see....
http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tpa6120a2.pdf
FEATURES:
80mW into 600Ω
Minimum load impedance 8Ω
RECOMMENDED OPERATING CONDITIONS:
Load impedance 16Ω
Intermodulation distortion:
64Ω - 0.000095%
32Ω - 0.00014%
0,1Ω - ?
Total harmonic distortion plus noise:
10 kΩ - 0.000024%
600Ω - 0.00014%
64Ω - 0.00038%
32Ω - 0.00055%
0,1Ω - ?
Please check the datasheet by yourself (its easy and interesting) to see the impedances they (TI) use for measurements: 32Ω, 64Ω, 600Ω, 10kΩ. And which one is the best for perfomance/distortions ratio? 200-600Ω. And what about 0,1Ω? Nothing. Maybe TI have no idea what they are doing? Hmm...

 
Mar 30, 2013 at 4:46 AM Post #553 of 803
Quote:
You are mixing things up badly. Read this document again but this time try to understand it mate.

Already done. It was late night so I'm not surprised.
But it doesn't change the things: the datasheet requires 10Ohm resistors at the amp end and if you follow the datasheet you will never measure 0,1Ohm. Damping factor is a great thing indeed but stability and protection are more important.
 
Apr 1, 2013 at 7:28 AM Post #554 of 803
I mentioned that earlier in this thread - I sold my Violectric V200 because I was convinced of that the headamp of the Eximus was better. I don´t care about datasheets that much.
 
Apr 1, 2013 at 8:45 AM Post #555 of 803
The head amp in Eximus is not bad. Its "HIGH FIDELITY HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER" actually, so its far from bad. But I have a questions: Is that small chip (with small caps on its output) as good as expensive dedicated class A $1-2k devices? Is it smart (for me) to buy a $1-2k HPs for it? Is it save (if they really removed 10Ohm resistors)? I'm not sure.
 

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