[leeperry]

Some pages ago someone said something about the Teralink-X2 Power Supply DC Silver Cable.
I got one today and I think everyone should try it, it is very cheap, and very worthwhile.

Would you care being more precise please? I don't really believe in snake oil AC power cables(especially when there are such long distances of cheap wire going betwen you and your power grid), but indeed a "better"(as in "less attenuation and better shielding from EMI/RFI") cable between a DPS and a device could/would/might make sense

 
Personally I've rolled the two cables going between my two DPS and my two audio devices into ferrites, not that I could hear any difference hehe ^^
 
I also agree on USB cables drastically changing the sound of the Tenor chip....I've tried quite a bunch of them before settling down to one I would enjoy.

 

[Sganzerla]

 I don't know if this is the exactly place to post something about the changes some cables may bring to a system, because I know this is controversial and people begin to fight for no reason. But here the sound is more "organic" and smoother, specially in the highs. Even for its construction, I think it is a good upgrade over the stock cable that came with my unit.
 
 You could say something about your experience with USB cables here, if it is pertinent to the DI topic, or at least through PM to me.

 

[somestranger26]

Quote:

Would you care being more precise please? I don't really believe in snake oil AC power cables(especially when there are such long distances of cheap wire going betwen you and your power grid), but indeed a "better"(as in "less attenuation and better shielding from EMI/RFI") cable between a DPS and a device could/would/might make sense

 
Personally I've rolled the two cables going between my two DPS and my two audio devices into ferrites, not that I could hear any difference hehe ^^
 
I also agree on USB cables drastically changing the sound of the Tenor chip....I've tried quite a bunch of them before settling down to one I would enjoy.

Kind of surprised you're skeptical about AC power cables, but you're a believer in USB cables. Power cables can have just as surprising of an effect, in my experience (have never tried on the DI though, just DAC/amp), and don't need to break the bank (there's plenty of cheap DIY designs). I wouldn't recommend ferrites for any audio applications since they slow down the conduction speed of the cable.
 
I have one of these DC cables on order, because $9.60 is nothing if it improves the sound quality at all. Baird GoW on here got one and also said it made a big difference, especially in tightening/refining the bass though I haven't had a chance to try it. I don't even think the Teralink DC cable is shielded, since people were discussing a good way to shield it a few pages back. The stock one is supposed to be silver-plated copper and the Teralink one is 99.99% silver.
 

 

[SemiAudiophile]

I just ordered one as well. Even if there is no change in sound, for $10 can't really go wrong. At least the cable looks nice and well built. 
 
I find that putting a good power cable on the DI is just as important as the source. If the DC cable further improves upon, that would make it even better. 

 

[drez]

Ordered also - longer chord might be useful.  Also tried the aluminium tape - works pretty well in terms of installation.  Looks a bit stupid but it satisfies my paranoia.
 
Might order one of these  to feed the OMILEX and cut off the power connection to the PC (from the OMILEX).  Not sure if it would help much though if it's still using the PC as a ground, and my PC is hardly CMp spec.
 
 

 

[K3cT]

Quote:

The Furutech GT2 Cable is really transparent and detailed. If there is any harshness it will be due to your system, not the cable's fault.
 
Try Wireworld Starlight. It is warmer.
 
(Note: I am not going to start a digital cable war here so those who thinks that USB cable doesn't make a difference, I respect your opinion)
 

The black Formula 2 is the real deal. 

 

[svyr]

Ordered also - longer chord might be useful.  Also tried the aluminium tape - works pretty well in terms of installation.  Looks a bit stupid but it satisfies my paranoia.
 
Might order one of these  to feed the OMILEX and cut off the power connection to the PC (from the OMILEX).  Not sure if it would help much though if it's still using the PC as a ground, and my PC is hardly CMp spec.
 
 

>EUR 89 EUR + 19,00 EUR shipping costs²

That sure seems reasonable ... For a wall wart with a usb socket bypass thing.

 

[uelover]

Quote:

The black Formula 2 is the real deal. 

The Formula 2 is the entry level USB cable by Furutech. Not sure how it sounds like but most of us managed to get the GT2 at a price lower than the Formula 2 which is a no brainer.

 

[K3cT]

Quote:

The Formula 2 is the entry level USB cable by Furutech. Not sure how it sounds like but most of us managed to get the GT2 at a price lower than the Formula 2 which is a no brainer.

I got it for cheap and yes, it's better than the GT2. Cheaper and better, what more you'd ask? 

 

[majkel]

Quote:

Hello All,
I've been meaning to write about my experience with the DI. I purchased a DI about a month ago, version B with the added power supply to mate with my Reference One DAC. I thought the DI would be a good match for the Reference One.
 
My setup: iMac using Audirvana > Furutech GT2 USB cable > DI with power supply > BNC cable > Reference One.
I made no modifications to the DI, it is stock. I have not changed any jumpers.
For my Reference One, it was upgraded to include the DSP v5 chip which also has all the jumpers set to default.
 
From my Reference One DAC, I'm using gold plated (unknown brand) RCA cables to about a 40 years receiver, a Luxman R-1120. From the Luxman, I am using LCD-2 (rev1) headphones with standard headphone cable. I mainly listen to FLAC files and some 96khz music from every genre of music.
 
My experience with this setup has been good, but not great. There is a lot of detail throughout the entire sonic range and the sound stage is three dimensional. Highs are a bit harsh, some sibilance occurs when listening too loudly. All in all I was pleased with the pairing of the DI and Reference One but I was not blown away like I thought I should be.
 
Listening to Diana Krall's smooth voice, the system again does a great job of revealing all the details of her voice, the piano, bass guitar, etc. The highs with this type of music are also a bit harsh. If I switch up my selection to Jimi Hendrix, the electric guitar also fatigues me and I have to stop listening after about a half hour. Classical is a bit easier to listen to, not as much fatigue.
 
I chocked this up to my 40 year old receiver, the most unconventional part of my system. Surely this old vintage receiver is the X factor for this whole sonic experiment.
 
Enter a newly acquired Playstation SCPH-1001 with RCA outputs.
 
Wow. After listening to some Redbook CDs on the Playstation 1 I felt the presentation was more cohesive, the midrange was absolutely liquid. Some reviews accuse the PS1 of not being able to deliver the extremes of the spectrum and after direct comparison with the DI and Reference One, this may be true. However, simply put, I enjoyed the music more out of a $35 dollar PS1. It has an analog quality to the music, tonal accuracy, great sound stage, and it's also not fatiguing to listen to at all.
 
After switching back and forth between the DI + Reference One and the PS1, a couple things immediately stood out.
1. The PS1 is outputting a weaker signal than the Reference One since I need to use more volume.
2. The PS1 sounds more analog than the Reference One, no harshness at all in the highs. After comparison, it feels like I'm hearing some digititus with the DI and Reference One pairing.
3. The PS1 is a LOT cheaper!
 
Help me out here guys. Is this just the inherent flaw with using USB as a digital medium? As great as the DI is and as great as Kingwa's R2R PCM1704UK based DACs are, is it possible that a cheap sigma-delta CD player can provide a better musical experience, a more analog and cohesive sound? Is this simply a matter of CD vs computer audio? I know this is a rhetorical question and this depends on the listener every time, but I imagine that some folks must be disappointed with the quality of their digital audio when compared to CD players. After looking at the insides of the DI and the Reference One DAC I know these are quality pieces of equipment that that should be capable of outperforming a Playstation 1. I think this speaks more to the quality of the PS1, not to take anything away from the DI and Reference One.
 
Any tips for helping my DI and Reference One sound a bit less harsh, more analog? I've switched from the standard 8x oversampling on the DSP v5 chip to NOS. This seems to have smoothed out the presentation and killed a little harshness at the expense of making the sound stage a bit smaller. I appreciate your comments!

Have you tried the DI with another DAC, possibly not audio-gd or the reference 1 with another digital source? I did once on the meeting, actually trying the DI for the first time. I comapred it to a coax output of a well pimped CD player by which I mean PSU, clocks, EMI screening, coax output build, dampers, etc. to make it an ultimate transport, and a plain coax output from an onboard PC sound card. Let's get it straight - the DI was one of the worst digital outputs I have ever tried. Any cheap USB to S/PDIF converter was better because it has never been the case I have heard something harsh from my DACs. The sound was very limited regarding the soundstage, holography was hardly any or none and the sound was messy. The onboard sound card of my friend's PC was something in between the CD player and the DI. The sound started to open while still being limited, and it was pleasant. What I heard from the CD player was unlimited and open soundstage, full, three-dimensional sonic pictures, absolutely no harshness, the feeling of the sounds flowing in the air, possible to tell the direction of their journey, overall completeness. Squeezebox Touch is something much more versatile than the DI and giving significantly better digital signal yet with the stock PSU and operating via wifi.

 

[somestranger26]

Quote:

I got it for cheap and yes, it's better than the GT2. Cheaper and better, what more you'd ask? 

Mind elaborating? I find that hard to believe, since the GT2 was a marked improvement over the Wireworld Ultraviolet. If sganzerla wants to try a lesser quality USB cable since he thinks that's the problem, I'd recommend looking at the ones made by Pangea Audio -- OCC copper conductors for $30 is a steal.
 
Quote:

The Formula 2 is the entry level USB cable by Furutech. Not sure how it sounds like but most of us managed to get the GT2 at a price lower than the Formula 2 which is a no brainer.

Well, the guy selling the GT2s was also selling the Formula 2s at bargain bin prices.

 

[log0]

Quote:

Have you tried the DI with another DAC, possibly not audio-gd or the reference 1 with another digital source? I did once on the meeting, actually trying the DI for the first time. I comapred it to a coax output of a well pimped CD player by which I mean PSU, clocks, EMI screening, coax output build, dampers, etc. to make it an ultimate transport, and a plain coax output from an onboard PC sound card. Let's get it straight - the DI was one of the worst digital outputs I have ever tried. Any cheap USB to S/PDIF converter was better because it has never been the case I have heard something harsh from my DACs. The sound was very limited regarding the soundstage, holography was hardly any or none and the sound was messy. The onboard sound card of my friend's PC was something in between the CD player and the DI. The sound started to open while still being limited, and it was pleasant. What I heard from the CD player was unlimited and open soundstage, full, three-dimensional sonic pictures, absolutely no harshness, the feeling of the sounds flowing in the air, possible to tell the direction of their journey, overall completeness. Squeezebox Touch is something much more versatile than the DI and giving significantly better digital signal yet with the stock PSU and operating via wifi.

I have not tried the DI with another DAC, I really don't have any others. I put all my eggs in one basket when I picked up the Ref One. I'm pretty limited in my equipment being on a budget. My only major complaint with the DI + Reference One combo is the harsh highs which becomes fatiguing after a while. I did find, as someone in this thread suggested, that changing out my Furutech GT2 cable with a cheap monoprice cable did reduce the harshness at the expense of the frequency extremes. I have not done a lot of A/B'ing to clearly state this, just my initial impression after listening to a couple songs, mostly Jimi Hendrix.
 
As far as soundstage goes, I thought the DI + Reference One combo threw a pretty deep and wide soundstage when hooked up to my speakers. My headphones being LCD-2s, I think they naturally do not have wide soundstage, at least that is the general consensus I read and it's been my experience, although the soundstage is very deep.
 
Funny you mention the squeezebox, one of the reviews of the DI said it was a great pairing with the coax output of the squeezebox to reclock the signal and reduce jitter. I guess not everyone hears the same thing.
 
I will say this, the more I listen to the Playstation 1 the more I fall in love with it's sound. Very smooth and analog. This is not a rip on the DI + Reference One, just an appraisal of the Playstation 1. It's just horribly inconvenient to have to listen to CDs any more when there are tons of FLAC files on my hard drive and great music services such as Grooveshark and Spotify.

 

[kp93300]

Hi all,

A while back i read about dropout of the DI with sabre chip. Has this problem been solved other by upsampling ?
I have a Buffalo 2 with IVY iii output and is also looking for for a USB to i2s or spdif out converter.
Can someone point me to the link regarding tapping the i2s signal out of the digital interface ?
thanks

kp93300

 

[tim3320070]

Quote:

Have you tried the DI with another DAC, possibly not audio-gd or the reference 1 with another digital source? I did once on the meeting, actually trying the DI for the first time. I comapred it to a coax output of a well pimped CD player by which I mean PSU, clocks, EMI screening, coax output build, dampers, etc. to make it an ultimate transport, and a plain coax output from an onboard PC sound card. Let's get it straight - the DI was one of the worst digital outputs I have ever tried. Any cheap USB to S/PDIF converter was better because it has never been the case I have heard something harsh from my DACs. The sound was very limited regarding the soundstage, holography was hardly any or none and the sound was messy. The onboard sound card of my friend's PC was something in between the CD player and the DI. The sound started to open while still being limited, and it was pleasant. What I heard from the CD player was unlimited and open soundstage, full, three-dimensional sonic pictures, absolutely no harshness, the feeling of the sounds flowing in the air, possible to tell the direction of their journey, overall completeness. Squeezebox Touch is something much more versatile than the DI and giving significantly better digital signal yet with the stock PSU and operating via wifi.

One meet told you all this- how many hours did you listen with it? Flies in the face of all the other, numerous users here that have had exceptional sound quality experiences with the DI I must say.
 
 

 

[drez]

Quote:

>EUR 89 EUR + 19,00 EUR shipping costs²

That sure seems reasonable ... For a wall wart with a usb socket bypass thing.

When you put it like that

  Yes I have been talked out of that piece of junk.  Not to find a reasonably priced wall wart and see if I can run OMILEX with power cut from one of my USB A male to B male adapters.  I'm not expecting it to work but I'm bored enough to try.