[Elberoth]

Quote:

I've read mention of the Vaunix hub and the Aqvox, and both seem inferior to PP. 

 
No wonder. Aqvox is just a small linear transformer with a cheap voltage regulator. iFi iUSB is a much more elaborate design as far as voltage regulation goes.

 

[Elberoth]

Quote:

Yes, It's did the same difference.
I tried dCS Delius + Purcell with AP1 with great succes.
Anedio D1 same
Yamamoto same
Audio-gd nfb8 same

 
The dCS and Yamamoto DACs do not reclock. Not sure about the other two as I don't know those designs..

 

[pompon]

I tried tonight USB to RJ45 to my AP1 + PP compared to straight Ultraviolet.
 
USB 2 RJ45 (with 50 foots cable) is less dynamic, more confused, less bass, less soundstage than stand alone Ultraviolet.
 
I wonder if adding iFi after the converter RJ45) will bring thing same than just the 3 feets Ultraviolet ?

 

[Lappy27]

I received my new Audiophilleo2 + PurePower today after experimenting with a plain Audiophilleo2 for the last week or so.
 
I am listening to AP2 + PP right now. Out of the box and without any burn-in time (well two hours of listening session) I would say I am really, really impressed with the improvement the combo bring to my musical experience compare with plain AP2.
 
The most significants improvements are the bass and refinement. The bass is fuller, deeper and more accurate than on the regular AP2. The refinement bring more details and clarity along with a really addictive smooth yet dynamic sound. Fast, punchy but non-agressive.
 
I would say without hesitation that this sound is the best I ever heard from my set-up.
 
JRiverMC18 - Wasapi
Audiophilleo2 + PurePower
NAD M51 balanced
Bryston BHA-1 balanced
LCD-2r2
 
So for all the headfiers who like I was before, are on the fence to decide if the PurePower worth the extra $420.00, the answer is a definite YES!
 
I would say that the difference adding the PurePower is on the same magnitude as the one made by adding the plain AP2 to the NAD's USB input.
 
And the best thing is that this combo is suppose to improve his performance with about 200 hours of burn-in time. How cool is that?
­­

 

[Trogdor]

I received my new Audiophilleo2 + PurePower today after experimenting with a plain Audiophilleo2 for the last week or so.

I am listening to AP2 + PP right now. Out of the box and without any burn-in time (well two hours of listening session) I would say I am really, really impressed with the improvement the combo bring to my musical experience compare with plain AP2.

The most significants improvements are the bass and refinement. The bass is fuller, deeper and more accurate than on the regular AP2. The refinement bring more details and clarity along with a really addictive smooth yet dynamic sound. Fast, punchy but non-agressive.

I would say without hesitation that this sound is the best I ever heard from my set-up.

JRiverMC18 - Wasapi
Audiophilleo2 + PurePower
NAD M51 balanced
Bryston BHA-1 balanced
LCD-2r2

So for all the headfiers who like I was before, are on the fence to decide if the PurePower worth the extra $420.00, the answer is a definite YES!

I would say that the difference adding the PurePower is on the same magnitude as the one made by adding the plain AP2 to the NAD's USB input.

And the best thing is that this combo is suppose to improve his performance with about 200 hours of burn-in time. How cool is that?
­­

The bass IS really spectacular when you add the PP.

 

[pompon]

I never ported attention to the burn-in ... out of the box AP1 + purepower was WOW compared to my old AP2.

 

[SwanSong]

It would be pretty useful for a number of applications IMO - pretty much wherever a cable is not necessary.  I wonder if you could adapt a cable mounted BNC eg replace the strain releif with a washer set from a panel mount connector or something.

Anyway I ordered a purepower AP2 - couldn't resist.  Just need to figure out how best to wire this thing up.  So it goes computer - USB - purepower - USB - AP2 or something?

I notice you have JK SPDIF profile pic are you a mk3 guy? Can you compare the two devices pros and cons? I plan to buy one or the other soon.

 

[SwanSong]

Got my purepower thanks to A2A for shipping so fast.  Man the AP2 is tiny, I was expecting something twice as big.  Build quality of the purepower is a little disappointing though - the battery is not fixed properly and rattles around.

As for sound its a moderate upgrade from the JKSPDIF mk3, more refined but with better timing and detail, more cohesive but also a little more forward because of this which is possibly why people could call the soundstage smaller.  It is slightly more musical the the JKSPDIF in my system too, I no longer have to cringe on some cymbal hits or trumpet parts.

It is not however immune to computer performance and timing - KS in JRiver sounds much better than Event Wasapi, and you need to manage buffer size otherwise you will get glitches and dropouts.  The JKSPDIF is easier to set up in this regard - probably because it just accepts whatever timing variances the computer throws at it rather than having to manage a proper buffer.  I would not be surprised if USB cabling had an influence up to a certain point as well, given my experiences with streaming methods.

I was hoping to get a direct comparison to JK mk3 or the new Ciúnas would be even . How's the low end differ?

 

[shipsupt]

I thought I'd pass on a little trouble I had with my Audiophilleo 1.  I began to get an intermittent signal, and eventually no signal to my DAC.  I found that jiggling the SPDIF connector resulted in the signal cutting in and out.  I checked the SPDIF adapter and all was good.  The external portion of the connector on the unit looked good, so I opened the unit to see if there was anything wrong inside.  If found the VERY small wire from the center pin to the PCB had come loose from where it had been soldered.  
 
I believe that this has been caused by stress of the unit hanging off the back of my DAC, compounded when I pull gear in and out to change things etc...  I would recommend that you treat it gently as the wire is very small and the solder pad even smaller.
 
I was able to unsolder the wire, clean things up and re-do the connections.  All is back to normal, but it is a tight little job!  Have you magnifying glasses ready.
 
I should have taken pictures, but I can open it up and detail where the work was done if there is any interest.  I thought I'd share in case anyone else runs into similar issues.
 
I've now got a small pad cut to size to allow the A1 to rest on keeping it from putting strain on the DAC connection.

 

[negura]

Quote:

I thought I'd pass on a little trouble I had with my Audiophilleo 1.  I began to get an intermittent signal, and eventually no signal to my DAC.  I found that jiggling the SPDIF connector resulted in the signal cutting in and out.  I checked the SPDIF adapter and all was good.  The external portion of the connector on the unit looked good, so I opened the unit to see if there was anything wrong inside.  If found the VERY small wire from the center pin to the PCB had come loose from where it had been soldered.  
 
I believe that this has been caused by stress of the unit hanging off the back of my DAC, compounded when I pull gear in and out to change things etc...  I would recommend that you treat it gently as the wire is very small and the solder pad even smaller.
 
I was able to unsolder the wire, clean things up and re-do the connections.  All is back to normal, but it is a tight little job!  Have you magnifying glasses ready.
 
I should have taken pictures, but I can open it up and detail where the work was done if there is any interest.  I thought I'd share in case anyone else runs into similar issues.
 
I've now got a small pad cut to size to allow the A1 to rest on keeping it from putting strain on the DAC connection.

 
Very good to know, it never inspired too much confidence hanging about like that.
I have found a good SPDIF cable does wonders SQ wise with the Audiophilleo. So much about the direct connection marketing.

 

[shipsupt]

I have not dug back into the thread, but has anyone played around with the virtual cable function?

 

[pompon]

Direct connexion bring more details and more precision. I consider If I have more details and more precision, it's better.
 
If you want a coloration try:
BNC-BNC gold plate adaptor, it's quite different to the brass one and specially not expansive ! Gold give less emphasis on the highs and tend to give the impression to have more body and more fluid presentation.
Coax attenuator, different value give different result.
 
I have a few coax cable, all gave a different presentation. My Oyaide DB-510 is good but I prefer direct connexion to my dac.
 
I never really tried the virtual cable function ... I like a lot the bit perfect test !
 
A good addition is the iFi IUSB with USB to RJ45 adaptor (as usb cable) ... It's work terrific and allow to use infinite length without impact the sound. iFi is not cheap but the USB to RJ45 is something like 15-20$ and same for the CAT6 cable for 50-75 feets.
It's quite better to my 3 feet Ultraviolet

 

[project86]

Can't believe I haven't joined in on this thread yet! I've been using the AP1+PP combo for several months now, and it's become an indispensable part of my system. Obscenely clean sounding - simply the best I've heard in terms of transport. For some history, I've owned quite a few CD players and transports that cost me a lot of money.... far too much in retrospect. My favorite was probably the Marantz SA-1 with Audiomod upgrades, which was roughly $14k all told. The Audiophilleo AP1 with PurePower, driven by any laptop (nothing fancy required), is a far better transport than the Marantz. Same thing applies to my old transports from Esoteric, Krell, Lexicon, and various others. As many of us are gravitating towards computer based playback rather than fiddling with optical discs, a device of such high caliber is highly welcome. I know some guys spend big bucks on the MacBook Pro with the idea that it will sound better as a USB playback device. I say: of course, if you like Mac then go for it. But if SQ is your chief concern, you'd probably be better off going with any decent laptop, and getting the Audiophilleo gear instead. A nice Windows-based machine plus an AP1+PP is roughly the same price as some of the MacBook Pro options anyway. 
 
Here's a scenario some people might be interested in - what if you already have a really good USB signal to work with? Well, in those cases, the AP1+PP may have less of an impact, but in a really high end system it's still worthwhile in my opinion. For example: I use an Auraliti PK90 music server. It's basically a dedicated computer running Voyage MPD Linux, custom tailored for audio duty. It uses the SOtM tX-USB card which is tightly regulated and produces one of the cleanest USB signals around. It doesn't draw power from the motherboard but rather gets it straight from the power supply via 4-pin connection. In my case, I feed it with a NuForce LPS-1 linear power supply. So basically this is an ultra-clean setup dedicated purely to USB playback. And in that sense it's excellent, among the best I've experienced (up there with the SOtM sMS-1000 which costs a lot more). 
 
But you know what? Adding the AP1+PP still makes this already clean signal sound even better. How? I don't really know or care. It just does. I noticed it sounding better right from the start but didn't fully appreciate the difference until I went back and used the system without it. It's a significant improvement over what I thought was the best signal around. That's quite a feat. 
 
I'll have more to say about the AP1+PP when I find time for a full write up. But for now I can say it's an absolute reference grade option. I recently had a chance to hear the new Bel Canto RefLink as well as the Empirical Off-Ramp 5. Both of those are quite good in their own right, and both bring a few things to the table that might be appealing for certain users (HDMI, AES/EBU, etc). And I know we tend to love newer stuff and figure it must be better than the older.... but in this case I just didn't hear it that way. Neither seemed, to my ears anyway, to match Audiophilleo combo in terms of resolution as well as pure involvement. The AP1+PP just seemed more lifelike to me, and this was on a highly transparent speaker based system where the differences were more noticeable than usual. So At the end of the day I'm sticking with the AP setup. 

 

[negura]

Quote:

 Neither seemed, to my ears anyway, to match Audiophilleo combo in terms of resolution as well as pure involvement. The AP1+PP just seemed more lifelike to me, and this was on a highly transparent speaker based system where the differences were more noticeable than usual. So At the end of the day I'm sticking with the AP setup. 

 
+1. Additional to my headphones setup, I also have a (high-end) speaker setup and nothing I've tried quite matches the resolution, soundstage and imaging of the AP. On speakers it's even more prominent. Maybe because of everything combined or whatever, but the end result is that the Audiophilleo transmits musical emotion much better. I am so glad you have similar findings, as I've been saying this around for a while.

 

[dleblanc343]

I borrowed Lappy27's audiophileo combo and hooked it up to my NAD M51->McIntosh MC225->HD800/HE6 and unfortunately did not feel the changes in sound to be an overall improvement, but rather a slight step back in terms of my preference.

I had an audioquest carbon going from my computer directly into the NAD and the Audiophileo 1 and 2 were hooked up with the wireworld starlight and audioquest coffee usb cables. I tried all 9 usb cable configurations through the chain and came to the same conclusion. The bass lost its visceralness and, dare I say, extension. I directly A/B'd with the click of a button on the NAD remote, so within a second the coax would switch to USB and vice versa. I was startled by my experience as Lappy27 was telling me how much the bass tightened up and gained body whereas I observed the complete opposite! Now isn't that weird or what?! I do find however that instruments such as brass and winds seemed to have been "enveloped" slightly more realistically in their own defined space. Not necessarily a sense of more air, but more like a smoother instrumental separation. But it was really not that obvious; unlike the lack of extension in bass notes.

Gear and cables' ohmage variations, driver type variations, tube vs SS and DAC firmware can all play roles in different experiences. Lappy uses the NAD M51/BHA-1 and LCD-2 whereas I use what I stated above previously. Lappy's gear consists of a dark sounding headphone with forward amp vs my two brighter sounding headphones with a warmish amp.

I definitely believe the audiophileo can bring notable improvements to certain systems; but it won't change things for the better for everyone it seems! 

I felt kind of bad when I returned the gear to Lappy27 without being wow'ed like he did, but I really have to say that I'd pass on this for my current system but am not claiming it to be bad in any way because I did hear sound and perception changes for certain.