[franmon83]

Anyone using the dual WM8741 set instead of the Sabre ES9018? I wanna know how much warmer the wolfson dac chip is compared to the Sabre. My LCD2 sounds almost perfect off the Compass 2, but I would love just that extra bit of warmth if it was worth it. I don't wanna pay $75 to get it shipped to me, only to find that it's so subtle, it'd be a waste of money.

Hey Mad Lust,

I bought the Wolfson chip and it is definitely noticeable. It is warmer, but at the cost of loosing some detail at quite high frequencies. Personnaly, for the kind of music that I listen to (electronic music), I prefer it like that, because I found the Sabre a little too bright for my taste, with the highs sometimes shadowing the lows details a bit (not sure I explain it correctly, but it's like some high peaks were "numbing" my hears for a really brief amount of time, preventing me to hear the lows details as much as I would want). I have to say however that when I listen to more instrumental music (Pink Floyd for instance), I notice the lack of detail a bit more (but don't worry, there's still plenty to enjoy!).
Overall, the ideal for me would have been to switch between the 2 with a button, but since I can't do that, I leave the Wolfson in there all the time.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Oh, I owned the NFB-5 which had a similar Wolfson chip, and I distinctly remember that it was on the warm side, I was just wondering how warm it'd be compared to the ES9018. It's been awhile since I've had the NFB5.

The high frequency isn't that much of an importance to me anymore. The vegan LCD2 I have has treble almost linear with the bass and lower mids, so I want additional smoothness in that range. It's one thing I preferred off the leather LCD2 I demoed a few weeks ago, though it did sound slightly congested and closed in comparison to the one I own now.

Funny, the LCD2 I have with the sabre sounds super refined. But for some reason I just want more roll off.

 

[steveting99]

MLE,
 
I'm in a similar boat with you regarding how good the Compass 2 would sound with the dual WM8741. I've played around with various transports and discovered there is noticeable difference in sound quality when using the same music source files and same headphone (HE-400).
 
May think about getting the dual WM8741 down the road after mods to the headphones have been exhausted out and get bored with the sound of the ES9018. 
 
Steve

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

My three main issues with the Compass2 are that I can't do ES9018 direct with my PC. I get pops and noise/distortion at random times. So I had to use the switch to make the signal go through the DIR chip (DIR9001 in my case). That fixed the problem. No biggie. A-GD mentioned this could be a potential issue with certain PCs.

My other was that my USB settings only go up to 24/192, because setting it to 32bit causes noise/distortion as well. I blame my PC though.

3rd is that if I'm using the line in with something connected to the USB input, I get low hum mixed in to the Line In's signal. If I unplug the USB, the hum goes away. Again, I'm almost 100% positive that's my PC's fault, but it's irksome that I have to unplug the USB whenever I use the Line In.

As for the dual wolfson chipset, I may order that sooner than later. Looking at the graphs on the site, it looks like certain filters have a big drop off on the audible partt of the frequency...

Two of the 4x oversampling filters (24bit/48khz) have -3db at 17khz. That's an audible part of the spectrum for me (my hearing drops off just a little after 17khz), so that may alleviate all upper end tizz. Hell, at 44.1khz, it drops off at 15khz, which sould be even more audible. I just don't wanna set my DAC to 24/44.1.

OS: 4 Filter: 1 and 2

 

[lawrywild]

Quote:

 
I'm back home and digging the Compass 2 + HE400 connected various equipment lying around. Really enjoying the music for hours without having to worry about the neighbors complaining its too loud.

 
Anyway, connected the Compass 2 with the Oppo BDP-93 transport. Tried both the coax and optical connections - both sound the same. Oppo makes awesome universal players. When comparing to the USB input of the laptop and using the same music tracks, there is a noticeable improvement in sound quality with the BDP-93. It's more louder (by about 1dB) and music contains more details is the best way to describe it. I've also tried connecting the Compass 2  to another transport - the WD Live TV using optical. Listening to the same music tracks, the WD Live TV is much softer (by about -1.5dB) compared to the laptop.
 
I'm going to try foobar again with replay gain off to see if it makes any difference.
 
Will also connect the desktop PC via optical and USB to the Compass 2 and compare with the USB input of the laptop. I'm thinking it should be identical results - will soon find out.
 
Steve

Thanks for the reply.
 
I ended up going with a Yulong D100-II instead. I think the Compass is a great option for DAC+Amp but I don't like the implementation of the DAC only, which is the same as the NFB-12 my D100 is replacing.

 

[ninjikiran]

Hmm nots not bad thus far, by USB(finally got it installed) theres no hum or anything.  Everything is really clean.  (Have a pretty top end motherboard I guess)
 
Only thing I miss is Lucid mode =( didn't know i would miss it so much.  But tbh tubes were a bit of a pain sometimes feels good to be on solid state again and in my comfort zone. 
 
It is a little sibilant compared to my BiFrost/Taboo combo, less punchy to.  But those two together are about 3x the price of the A-GD stuff.

 

[rexirius]

Quote:

Just on specs alone it all depends on the headphones your gonna use on it.  The compass 2 has a good voltage output for headphones that want a little more(LCD-2), it also outputs a ton of power for any headphone from orthos to 600ohm Beyers.
 
In short the compass 2 should theoretically function well with everything you throw at it.

 
My concern is the opposite, that it might be too powerful for my headphones and destroy them 

  My Audio Technica ATH-AD2000X is only 40 ohms, while my HD598 is 50 ohms.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I've used the KSC35/75 on the Lyr and SA-31 (10 watts at 40ohm, 700mw at 600ohm). They did fine.

Been using other easy to drive headphones with my Compass 2 without any issues.

 

[rexirius]

Thanks, that's nice to know!  Initially I was leaning toward the NFB11.32 over the 15.32, but more and more it's looking like the Compass2 is what I should get. Incidentally the 15.32 is marked "out of stock" in the Audio-dg website.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

There's also the NFB 5.32 and 11.32 as cheaper alternatives to the Compass 2. The NFB-5.32 is better than the 15.32 with digital front plate and better power supply/internals (hence why it's more expensive), and the NFB 11.32 uses the more neutral Sabre ES9018 dac chip which is highly regarded and used in super high end dacs. The 15.32 is the easiest to use as it has no digital flavors to mess with. The NFB 5.32 has the same functionality as the 15.32, but easier due to the digital buttons, instead of manual jumpers.

The Compass 2 has better specs than all three of those, more power, and a lot of customization, allowing you to use either the Wolfson or Sabre dac chip, analog line inputs to allow for external sources/dacs. I actually prefer simplicity, and if the 11.32 had analog inputs for cheaper than the Compass 2, I would have went for that, personally.

I owned the NFB-5 before, and I absolutely loved it. Just no analog inputs, which I need for my Mixamp.

 

[ninjikiran]

I might be getting the wolfson dac, from my time with the NFB-2 I remember it sounding smooth and non-sibilant but I wanna give my ears, the unit, and USB clock some time to warm up before I go too crazy.  Still sounds pretty good thus far.
 
Not that I am home putting it through the paces of the LCD-2 R1, the sibilance is pretty much gone.  Has alot of authority over them as well~  Might not pair as well with my 770pro/32 LE, have not tried them with the slighter darker pro/80

 

[steveting99]

Quote:

Thanks for the reply.
 
I ended up going with a Yulong D100-II instead. I think the Compass is a great option for DAC+Amp but I don't like the implementation of the DAC only, which is the same as the NFB-12 my D100 is replacing.

 
Not sure if you know that the Sabre DAC can be replaced with a dual Wolfson chip to give a more musical sound (quoting from Audio-GD himself). There is also an analogue input with various opamps configurations to suite your taste - I got the SUN omamp  and will soon try it out. This way one can have a favorite / separate DAC feeding the Compass 2 and use it purely as an amp to the headphone. I like this flexibility.
 
Steve

 

[ninjikiran]

What was originally less punchy with the right headphones on the compass is significantly more so.  Seriously, solid state is awesome and the convenience of this unit makes it doubly so since it sounds really good.  My original analysis of it was way off base.
 
I cant wait to try them with my new closed headphones, which I finally have a closed pair on more equal ground with the LCD-2

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

What headphone would that be?

 

[ninjikiran]

Ultrasone Signature DJ
 
It pairs fairly well with it but I find any headphone with even borderline sibilance to be a big nono.