Astell&Kern KANN CUBE

[RPKwan]

I brought my Cube to get modded by Romi. Switched out capacitors and different battery capacity. Huge difference...

 

[lawshredpower]

I brought my Cube to get modded by Romi. Switched out capacitors and different battery capacity. Huge difference...

What’s the difference?

 

[rlw6534]

Oh never mind. It would have not occur to me to do that.

I believe that would bypass the amps and pull directly from the DAC line-out. Because that circuit is designed for a very high impedance and low current load, I'm not surprised it sounds different with headphones (lower impedance and higher current). I would think it is very current limited without the actual amps in the circuit.

 

[RPKwan]

What’s the difference?

More powerful and dynamic. Quieter, darker background. Longer battery life.

 

[471724]

More powerful and dynamic. Quieter, darker background. Longer battery life.

Where is Romi Audio located, and roughly how much does the mod cost?

 

[Newsee]

So, I’ve ordered a custom mini XLR to 2.5mm balanced adapter just to try my headphones with the XLR output.

Not sure if this was supposed to happen but I’ve noticed a considerable difference between the XLR and the regular 2.5mm output.

The XLR has lower volume at the same volume number, but sounds flatter (tighter bass) and with better separation.

Does this makes any sense or am I becoming crazy?

There was one fellow member on this thread who was praising that setup, the direct xml out to a qdc anole vx.

What you hear absolutely makes sense.
You miss the coloration of the power amplification.

 

[lawshredpower]

There was one fellow member on this thread who was praising that setup, the direct xml out to a qdc anole vx.

What you hear absolutely makes sense.
You miss the coloration of the power amplification.

Interesting! Thanks for the info!

 

[RPKwan]

Where is Romi Audio located, and roughly how much does the mod cost?

Hong Kong. Would need to get a quote from him depending on what mod you want.

 

[Nails]

I’ve just signed up for qobuz after two years with Tidal, after some dramas setting upmy account, first impression is good although some of my favourites albums are only CD quality and many others are the lowest hi res format. These are comparable if not better in sq to my ears and so far no skipping which has been a huge problem for me with Tidal.
We’ll see how it goes…

 

[Nails]

I think qobuz’s CD quality is actually a little better for the same tracks in Tidal Master and so far all the qobuz hi res is notablly better than Tidal Master. I haven’t seen any lyrics, is Roon needed to see lyrics with qobuz? That’s one nice thing about Tidal, but the skipping issue with Tidal will easily make me happy to leave them, still no skipping in qobuzz.
With Tidal it happens very regularly, clearing cache works for about 5 minutes and force stop/restart works for maybe an hour at best.

 

[Onik]

I think qobuz’s CD quality is actually a little better for the same tracks in Tidal Master and so far all the qobuz hi res is notablly better than Tidal Master. I haven’t seen any lyrics, is Roon needed to see lyrics with qobuz? That’s one nice thing about Tidal, but the skipping issue with Tidal will easily make me happy to leave them, still no skipping in qobuzz.
With Tidal it happens very regularly, clearing cache works for about 5 minutes and force stop/restart works for maybe an hour at best.

I thought KANN CUBE dont have Tidal Song skipping issues like KANN ALPHA.

I think A&K didn't learn from their previous mistakes

 

[vonBaron]

What previous? Alpha was realse AFTER Cube.

 

[471724]

There was one fellow member on this thread who was praising that setup, the direct xml out to a qdc anole vx.

What you hear absolutely makes sense.
You miss the coloration of the power amplification.

I would think that overall performance would suffer in using the XLR out to power the headphones, because this is essentially the DAC output which is not designed for this purpose (among other things, it has relatively high output impedance). Perhaps it works best with high input impedance headphones(?)

 

[Nails]

I didn’t know the skipping problem was common with the Cube using Tidal, but it has never happened when using Tidal on my iphone )12pro mac or previous iPhone 8+) anyway no such problem with qobuz, really enjoying the superior sq with the Cube, its a no brainer for me - bye bye Tidal!
Oh and the Sublime Qobuz is about 10% cheaper, not that the small difference really comes into it, just another bonus for qobuz

 

[Newsee]

I would think that overall performance would suffer in using the XLR out to power the headphones, because this is essentially the DAC output which is not designed for this purpose (among other things, it has relatively high output impedance). Perhaps it works best with high input impedance headphones(?)

I would assume it depends more on the sensitivity. I would not state anything before hearing it. The dac itself is very good, sometimes I use it to drive the MHA200.