[WizardKnight]

Kaptiva and franmon83, have you been able to fix your USB problems? At www.audio-gd.com on the Compass 2 page under Summarize at the very bottom it talks about the ES9018 and sound drop off. Do you think getting the dual wm8741 could fix your sound drop off problem?

 

[franmon83]

Quote:

Kaptiva and franmon83, have you been able to fix your USB problems? At www.audio-gd.com on the Compass 2 page under Summarize at the very bottom it talks about the ES9018 and sound drop off. Do you think getting the dual wm8741 could fix your sound drop off problem?

Hi WizardKnight,
 
I really couldn't say, as I don't have the dual WM8741 myself, but I read the same section of the website and it only talks about issues with coax and optical inputs, not USB. In my case, optical input is perfect, and I didn't have a chance to try coax, due to a lack of source connectivity. Since for me, the USB input was more of a nice add-on than a necessity, I only use the optical input for now. But to answer your question, I never could resolve the drop out issues completely on USB, though I was able to reduce it greatly using the back USB port on my Macbook Pro. I did not try to use another USB cable yet, so I guess I could try that (I might do it this week-end). Finally, changing audio playing software did not seem to change anything, though playing with the resampling settings of certain audio players seemed to have some impact on the drop out occurrences, with more demanding resampling settings resulting in more drop outs.

 

[Kaptiva]

Hi WizardKnight ,
I'm using it with Windows 7 now. So far I have not much problem in windows. I did encounter some drops in windows too after these few days of listening. However with a tweak of USB cable connection and sometimes reseting Compass2 or changing USB port  solves that.
 
Unfortunately the issue still remains the same on my MAC system (OS 10.7). Tried changing to another USB cable (not "audiophile" grade) but still didn't help. According to Kingwa some user solve it by upgrading to OS 10.8 or prehaps at least lessen it (base on franmon83's drop being much lesser than mine). The only problem for me is my favourite player Amarra doesn't work well with OS 10.8. So there's no point for me to upgrade. Your case may be different.
 
Not sure about the WM8741. Kingwa should have a better answer on this.

 

[WizardKnight]

Thanks for the replies franmon83 and Kaptiva. Hope you can get the USB problem sorted out. Am curious has the sound quality improved any with burn in on the Compass 2?

 

[WizardKnight]

Just thought would post have looked at the end of the NFB-2 & NFB-3 thread that someone states the USB32 chip handles the USB input. The Compass 2 has that chip too. But also have seen on the Audio-gd site of the Compass 2 in the summarize section about sound cards, optical and coaxial having occasional drop offs with the ES9018. Is only reported by about 1% of the users feedback.

 

[franmon83]

FYI, I just ordered the Dual WM8741 module for the fun of comparing with the ES9018 and learning by myself what the differences sound like

 

[WizardKnight]

Wow franmon83, will be very interested in hearing what you have to say about the differences of the dual wm8741. Also would like to know have you heard any sound improvements with more burn in time with the Compass 2?

 

[Kaptiva]

I'd upgraded the firmware chip to firmware no.3 and guess what?!? problem solved!!! It works well with my MAC without any drop/pop/tick now.  

 
wizardknight, to answer your question regarding burn in, I did hear some improvement after about 80hours. Sounds seems to open up more with better clarity, edginess smoothen out and slightly better bass. Overall sound signature remains the same as good detail, very clean with very low noise floor, tight bass but not as heavy as some others like matrix m-stage. 
 
frammon83 I'll be interested in your comparison on Dual WM8741 too especially on the bass. Looking forward to hear your findings.

 

[WizardKnight]

Am happy you got the USB working Kaptiva. Thanks for the info about burn in. Am also curious about the soundstage and instrument separation of the Compass 2. Is there a wide and deep soundstage? I know it can also have a lot to do with what headphones you are using. Hope you and franmon83 can share your findings.

 

[Kaptiva]

Quote:

Am happy you got the USB working Kaptiva. Thanks for the info about burn in. Am also curious about the soundstage and instrument separation of the Compass 2. Is there a wide and deep soundstage? I know it can also have a lot to do with what headphones you are using. Hope you and franmon83 can share your findings.

IMHO, I find the soundstage is very good. Deep and instruments well defined. I think music doesn't sounds too wide or narrow, just neutral. Another findings is that it is very picky on the recordings too. Bad recordings will sound bad especially on the treble while good one you will be rewarded. Hope this helps. 

 

[WizardKnight]

Thanks Kaptiva for sharing your findings. I have noticed on the home page of www.audio-gd.com that as of October 25th all products with USB 32 input have firmware #3 installed. That is comforting to know. Hope you and franmon83 will continue sharing your findings about the Compass 2. Have also been reading about the more expensive Reference 10.32 because it has a lot more power and am looking to maybe buying the Hifiman HE-500 which perform good with normal powered amps but scale up to very powerful amps. They are ranked #16 on the "Battle Of The Flagships" thread and get an A+ for the price.

 

[Nidhogg40]

Any comparisons between the Compass 1 and 2?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Anyone interested in swapping their Compass 2 for the SA-31? I miss having a volume knob, and wouldnt mind losing the power for the versatility. PM me if interested.

The SA-31 is the same price as the Compass 2, so its an equal trade.

 

[franmon83]

Quote:

I'd upgraded the firmware chip to firmware no.3 and guess what?!? problem solved!!! It works well with my MAC without any drop/pop/tick now.  

 
wizardknight, to answer your question regarding burn in, I did hear some improvement after about 80hours. Sounds seems to open up more with better clarity, edginess smoothen out and slightly better bass. Overall sound signature remains the same as good detail, very clean with very low noise floor, tight bass but not as heavy as some others like matrix m-stage. 
 
frammon83 I'll be interested in your comparison on Dual WM8741 too especially on the bass. Looking forward to hear your findings.

I upgraded to the firmware no.3 and it also solved my dropping issues completely... BUT I now have trouble having the Compass detected via the USB connection only in Mac OS X. Using the same configuration in Windows 7 plugging in the Compass in the same USB port, it gets detected without any problem. In Mac OS X, though, it seems after a reboot it will never get detected automatically. I realized after a while that starting Audirvana Free would make it work again. Before that, any number of unplugging, replugging, swapping of USB port would make no change...
 
I tried to analyze the logs in the console, but most of the times, nothings gets added to it when I connect the Compass, even if the device gets detected in Audirvana... weird 

.
 
Anyways, I'll try to report soon on the differences I hear with the Dual WM8741, maybe after going back to the ES9018 to confirm my findings. I can already tell you that the description made on the Audio-GD website is pretty much on spot. It is warmer, maybe slightly less detailed than the ES9018, which makes it more forgiving on lesser quality material, but I was starting to love the detail level of the ES9018... So my mind isn't made up about it. It seems they both are "better" for some of my material... If only we could trigger between them with a switch! 

 
I'll be back!

 

[Kaptiva]

Quote:

I upgraded to the firmware no.3 and it also solved my dropping issues completely... BUT I now have trouble having the Compass detected via the USB connection only in Mac OS X. Using the same configuration in Windows 7 plugging in the Compass in the same USB port, it gets detected without any problem. In Mac OS X, though, it seems after a reboot it will never get detected automatically. I realized after a while that starting Audirvana Free would make it work again. Before that, any number of unplugging, replugging, swapping of USB port would make no change...
 
I tried to analyze the logs in the console, but most of the times, nothings gets added to it when I connect the Compass, even if the device gets detected in Audirvana... weird 

.
 
Anyways, I'll try to report soon on the differences I hear with the Dual WM8741, maybe after going back to the ES9018 to confirm my findings. I can already tell you that the description made on the Audio-GD website is pretty much on spot. It is warmer, maybe slightly less detailed than the ES9018, which makes it more forgiving on lesser quality material, but I was starting to love the detail level of the ES9018... So my mind isn't made up about it. It seems they both are "better" for some of my material... If only we could trigger between them with a switch! 

 
I'll be back!

 
On my MAC system I'll sometimes have to switch the audio output to Compass2 manually in Audio Midi setup after reboot/unplugged the usb. But it always get detected as it always appears in Audio MIDI setup windows when connected and power on. Not sure if you are mean the same thing here. 
 
Thanks for the initial impression. Sounds like Dual WM8741 have the sound i prefer. I'll wait for your full review before I jump in though as I do like the details too...yes a trigger switch sounds cool!!