[SleepyOne]

Thanks! Will try that

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Speaking of balanced output on Taurus. I have finally got balanced cable for HD650. Holly smokes, I never thought that HD650 is so detailed AND fast. 

 They really rock now, even with speed metal, amazing PRAT. 

 

[xahhax]

Congrats Xahhax! That setup looks absolutely gorgeous... Hope you have the time to share your impressions soon.

 
Ok, here are some:
- the build quality and the display are fantastic
- the menu navigation is great
- the remote control is a piece of plastic garbage that does not match the unit itself. I did not even bother putting batteries inside. Back in the box
- the sound is amazing. My 2 DACs were the WA2 and the cambridge audio DAC Magic 100

 

[SleepyOne]

xahhax - BTW would placing the WA2 on top of the Vega causes any interference?

 

[xahhax]

  xahhax - BTW would placing the WA2 on top of the Vega causes any interference?

 
that was just for the picture

 

[phaeton70]

  Has anyone tried to cover pin 1 and 4 on USB PC side with tape? I've learned this trick from Yulong DA8 thread and I swear it made already impeccable sound from USB even cleaner, background is completely black (like pitch pitch black) now and I feel that soundstage expanded a bit as a result of it.
It's free an IMO well worth the try.

hello Andrew,
is this trick the same as having an iFi USB Power in the middle, with the ground lift on and with the power supply unplugged?
I'm asking because I have an iFi USB and I cannot seem to hear (or I very hardly hear) any difference, but if it's something different I will give it a try even if I'm totally unable when it comes to fine manual works

 

[phaeton70]

  Speaking of balanced output on Taurus. I have finally got balanced cable for HD650. Holly smokes, I never thought that HD650 is so detailed AND fast. 

 They really rock now, even with speed metal, amazing PRAT. 

after my first 5min with vega-taurus-HE500 in unbal mode (signal and hphone), I immediately switch to full balanced... a completely different world
 
btw, it is quite strange just looking to the tech specs, since at the impedance of the he500 the taurus should put out more power in unbal mode.... but, hey, my hears are telling something different

 

[ardilla]

 

after my first 5min with vega-taurus-HE500 in unbal mode (signal and hphone), I immediately switch to full balanced... a completely different world
 
btw, it is quite strange just looking to the tech specs, since at the impedance of the he500 the taurus should put out more power in unbal mode.... but, hey, my hears are telling something different

 
I prefer the HE6 in BAL mode, so that's even more strange - Wattage wise. I like the HE500 in STD mode - but then again, I have the MkI.Vintage is always better ,P

 

[Andrew_WOT]

  hello Andrew,
is this trick the same as having an iFi USB Power in the middle, with the ground lift on and with the power supply unplugged?
I'm asking because I have an iFi USB and I cannot seem to hear (or I very hardly hear) any difference, but if it's something different I will give it a try even if I'm totally unable when it comes to fine manual works

Not sure, I couldn't hear any sonic difference with iUSB Power but it made Vega less stable in EXACT mode, guess all these extra connections or iUSB itself were adding extra jitter. Ditched it and never looked back.
I believe the tape trick is quite audible, plus it's free and takes less than 2 minutes to apply.

 

[phaeton70]

ok,I think I'll give it a try then.......

 

[project86]

   
I prefer the HE6 in BAL mode, so that's even more strange - Wattage wise. I like the HE500 in STD mode - but then again, I have the MkI.Vintage is always better ,P

 
Yeah more power is not necessarily always the answer - assuming of course that the lower power option is not grossly deficient for the given headphone. I like having two options available though..... you can mix and match headphones/cables and find different combos that you like for different reasons. 

 

[ardilla]

   
Yeah more power is not necessarily always the answer - assuming of course that the lower power option is not grossly deficient for the given headphone. I like having two options available though..... you can mix and match headphones/cables and find different combos that you like for different reasons. 

 
That is really one of the big bonuses of the Taurus - the ability to choose between the detail-freak-BAL-mode and the smooth more laid back STD-mode. But the difference isn't like two totally differrent amps, it's like flavors of the same. 

 

[Andrew_WOT]

  That is really one of the big bonuses of the Taurus - the ability to choose between the detail-freak-BAL-mode and the smooth more laid back STD-mode. But the difference isn't like two totally differrent amps, it's like flavors of the same. 

BAL/STD button makes it too easy. 

 Combine it with filters on Vega and you can tune the system to pretty much any headphone/material combination.

 

[ardilla]

  BAL/STD button makes it too easy. 

 Combine it with filters on Vega and you can tune the system to pretty much any headphone/material combination.

 
Reading you signature - How does Auralic it compare to your DA8/GS1-rig?

 

[Andrew_WOT]

 

  BAL/STD button makes it too easy. 

 Combine it with filters on Vega and you can tune the system to pretty much any headphone/material combination.

 
Reading you signature - How does Auralic it compare to your DA8/GS1-rig?

It was a while since I had them side by side as one is serving as office rig now.
Quick observations from memory.
GS-1 is slightly more aggressive and restrained, doesn't have the same effortless, fluid and relaxed way of projecting material as Taurus. Other than that, voicing is extremely close, both are almost dead on neutral, with Taurus maybe a pinch warmer, with more authority down low and a bigger soundstage, esp. balanced but it's not really fair comparing that to SE GS-1.
 
With DACs it's harder, Vega is certainly more detailed and transparent, DA8 is "fun", it has pretty interesting tuning with slamming, head bobbing inducing bass and forward and full midrange. Soundstage is smaller, that combined with not as high resolving ability as Vega makes it sound congested when things get busy, but that in comparison to Vega (I guess anything would).

They both share that nice, non aggressive way of delivering details, only one does it much better than another, which is quite a welcome change from Conductor I owned before, that thing was brutal by shoving them into your face with laser cut, sharp treble.
I'd say both DA8 and Vega do it more in a Chord DAC64 way, i.e. more analogue than digital, when all details are there but don't jump on you. And I should say that DA8 has stellar USB implementation too.
Onboard amp is "okay"

 but doesn't do DAC proper justice, can do for most but very amp demanding headphones, but if you want the absolute best out of it, separate amp is a must.
 
Project86 has both DA8 and Vega, hope he can chime in with his take on two.