[Pricklely Peete]

That's the shipping foam leaving behind a dark patch. A very small amount of Dish soap and a lightly damp sponge works great and won't strip the color out of the aluminum.

Peete.

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPodPJ /img/forum/go_quote.gif Les, he's referring to the parts that look stained. You can take lighter fluid and buff it out.

I didn't notice that, but yeah, it wipes off with any cleaner.

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pricklely Peete /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's the shipping foam leaving behind a dark patch. A very small amount of Dish soap and a lightly damp sponge works great and won't strip the color out of the aluminum. Peete.

If even lighter fluid removed the anodizing from the aluminum, it would be a very poor anodizing job. But I've never had that problem yet. However a little bit of black dye does come off on the paper towels, but very little and you certainly don't notice any removed from the finish of the chassis.

 

[fxdwg123]

I thought the staines were because of the huge outside temperature when the DAC arrived and the normal roomtemperature, so condens. I have wiped it with a soft glass cleaner and tissue et voila! Look at the renewed picture (added the shelf also to keep the ventilation). Much better

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fxdwg123 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I thought the staines were because of the huge outside temperature when the DAC arrived and the normal roomtemperature, so condens. I have wiped it with a soft glass cleaner and tissue et voila! Look at the renewed picture (added the shelf also to keep the ventilation). Much better

Sweet setup, how about the Sound?

 

[fxdwg123]

The sound?? So it is not only the looks that count?? I'm joking

I started end 2008 with a Zero DAC, it sounded ok. I added the discrete OPA's of Audio-GD, which made it better. I then bought an Audio-GD DAC-200 which was definitely much better. I kept reading those great stories about the REF1, but (as you can see in the picture) that DAC doesn't fit my cupboard. So instead I bought a 19MK3 which was a big improvement based on the DAC-200. I thought that would be it (in a positive sense), but suddenly there was the RE7 with exact the dimensions of my Meridian gear! Before I knew I had send an email and did the PayPal tric ....

The RE7 is now playing for 1 day. Not enough yet to be properly burned-in, but enough to notice a huge improvement compared to the 19MK3 (I used the DF1704 filter). Much more bass, a lot more details. I am not an expert in using all those great hifi terms, so I stick with this for the moment. I will change some cabling in the coming weeks as I have cheap cables connected now. I will report back about the RE7 as soon that has been done and it has been burned in. But at this moment I am very happy, the improvement is very obvious and even more than I had hoped for.

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fxdwg123 /img/forum/go_quote.gif The sound?? So it is not only the looks that count?? I'm joking I started end 2008 with a Zero DAC, it sounded ok. I added the discrete OPA's of Audio-GD, which made it better. I then bought an Audio-GD DAC-200 which was definitely much better. I kept reading those great stories about the REF1, but (as you can see in the picture) that DAC doesn't fit my cupboard. So instead I bought a 19MK3 which was a big improvement based on the DAC-200. I thought that would be it (in a positive sense), but suddenly there was the RE7 with exact the dimensions of my Meridian gear! Before I knew I had send an email and did the PayPal tric .... The RE7 is now playing for 1 day. Not enough yet to be properly burned-in, but enough to notice a huge improvement compared to the 19MK3 (I used the DF1704 filter). Much more bass, a lot more details. I am not an expert in using all those great hifi terms, so I stick with this for the moment. I will change some cabling in the coming weeks as I have cheap cables connected now. I will report back about the RE7 as soon that has been done and it has been burned in. But at this moment I am very happy, the improvement is very obvious and even more than I had hoped for.

Groovy! -- I'm bringin' Groovy back...

 

[regal]

But its not 24/192, in this day and age. My gosh who would want a $40 R2R (x8) chip like the PCM1704, when PCM1794's can be had under $10 and do 24/192. And why did the instrumentation industry force TI to bring back the 24/96 PCM1704 saying the PCM179x's weren't as good? Could it be that you get what you pay for?

Could it be that an audio manufacturer actually listens to his designs rather than their specs?

Nah, not in this day and age.

I swear if I win the lottery I would give AudioGD $25k for the HDCD license to program into their DSP, that would be my dream DAC. Till then I'll be satisfied with my DAC3SE as I must have HDCD since 90% of my music is HDCD mastered. And "GD" knows I will never buy another 192k S-D DAC.

 

[IPodPJ]

No sigma-delta DAC (balanced or dual differential) I've heard can compare with the sign-magnitude PCM1704U-K (balanced or dual differential).

 

[regal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPodPJ /img/forum/go_quote.gif No sigma-delta DAC (balanced or dual differential) I've heard can compare with the sign-magnitude PCM1704U-K (balanced or dual differential).

Absolutely

 

[FauDrei]

Quote:

Originally Posted by les_garten /img/forum/go_quote.gif Groovy! -- I'm bringin' Groovy back...

<Austin Powers mode on>Oh baby, behave!<Austin Powers mode off>

 

[FauDrei]

Quote:

Originally Posted by regal /img/forum/go_quote.gif ...And "GD" knows I will never buy another 192k S-D DAC.

Ya, I am in a pretty much the same state of mind...

...but, it seems that, slowly but surely we will be extinct... Audio R-2R chips are things of the past, at least by currently ruling ΣΔ economic forces.

But, who knows... Maybe TI gets into groovy mode too, and says: look this PCM1704 was really swell - let's make a even better 24/192 R-2R successor?

 

[regal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FauDrei /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ya, I am in a pretty much the same state of mind... ...but, it seems that, slowly but surely we will be extinct... Audio R-2R chips are things of the past, at least by currently ruling ΣΔ economic forces. But, who knows... Maybe TI gets into groovy mode too, and says: look this PCM1704 was really swell - let's make a even better 24/192 R-2R successor?

You got to understand that DAC's used in high end audio equipment are a very very small market. Ti could give a crap about us and our mid/hi audio equipment suppliers. The only reason that we still have the PCM1704 is because some big customers in the instrumentation industry went bezerk at the shoddy S-D's. Fact is that a PCM1704 24/96 does a better job at converting digital to analog than any S-D, 24/192 is just marketing sales figures.

Hopefully a better technology will come about and replace S-D before the expensive to build 1704 bcomes extinct.

 

[IPodPJ]

TI doesn't mind making the 1704. But they'll charge you $40 a pop for them.

 

[regal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPodPJ /img/forum/go_quote.gif TI doesn't mind making the 1704. But they'll charge you $40 a pop for them.

I'll bet they're still losing money on them. Very expensive process.


Another interesting thing about the PCM1704 is that when they brought it back it had to comply with the new ROS regs, so they took the lead out. I swear the old ones with the lead sound better. I've heard others comment the same sentiments. I had a DAC that was built with the old chips, then I blew up one and replaced it with the new one (both K grade) and the one channel with the old chip sounded better.