[BeyerMonster]

  I feel that you've painted yourself into a corner and seem determined to defend that position.

If you think anything I've said could be categorized as "painting myself into a corner", maybe we should just agree to disagree and leave it there.
 
Quote(emphasis mine):

  I'll be interested to hear whether Auralic repair larryonfire's Taurus within a reasonable timeframe - that has to be one of their priorities if they are going to survive in a very competitive market. 

That's basically the same thing I've expressed in different words.
 
As a potential customer (Reference my ill advised attempt to gather information from a few months back http://www.head-fi.org/t/711571/looking-for-dac-ss-amp-for-new-audeze-gear ), I want to see if Auralic is a company I feel comfortable handing a relatively large chunk of change. After a lot of searching/research, I decided that there wasn't enough for me to be comfortable with a sight unseen purchase of a relatively new product from a relatively new manufacturer that contained a decent # of proprietary parts. I even went to the trouble of trying to create tags for the Auralic Taurus and Vega a few weeks back(see tagging of this thread) to try and track their discussion more easily (though the Taurus tag appear to have been inexplicably deleted/removed).
 
This exact scenario is the kind of thing that I want to see them resolve. I'm rooting for Auralic to succeed. I did not in any way, shape, or form condemn the company or product.
 
sidenote wrt reviews, The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. There are plenty of audio reviewers that refuse to post negative reviews or comparisons for a whole variety of reasons, many of which are completely valid. That being said, there have been cases studies that demonstrate the presence of documented reconciliation of a bad customer experience leads to more favorable attitudes towards the company and their product than the complete absence of bad reviews.
 
*EDIT*-Added info about tagging.

 

[rydenfan]

 
Hi there
In the settings it says ''Bitstream None (Recommended)

ok...so change it to say Bitstreaming Yes (DSD)
 
then click on the DSP sound output right above this selection and make sure everything is unchecked. Output Format is the most important one to make sure is turned off. 
 
I also select pre buffering for 6 seconds. this also the Vega to store a small amount of the DSD file and makes for a smoother playback.
 
once you have made these changes you should be good for native DSD streaming without any dropouts.

 

[joe]

Let's get back on topic, guys.

 

[Shaka]

Hi Guys,
 
I'm looking for some Vega setup answers from anyone using a Mac/MacBook with Audirvana.
When I first got my Vega, I'm sure it was playing all PCM tracks at 384k. What I mean is the display always said 384KS, whether I played 16/44.1 or 24/96 or 24/192.
I remember going into the MIDI settings and changing the format setting, and since then when I play music these are the figures I see:
                        Audirvana                                  Vega
                       ========                                 =====
     Flac 16/44.1kHz  DAC 32/44.1kHz               44.1KS
     Flac 24/96kHz     DAC 32/96kHz                   96KS
     Flac 24/192kHz   DAC 32/192kHz                 192KS
  DSD 1bit/2.8MHz    DAC DSD64                       DSD64
 
Is this the correct/optimal setting?
I'm kind of wondering if I should let the Vega upsample all PCM to 384KS like it did when I first got it.
If I should let it upsample, then I don't know how to reset my MIDI settings back. Whenever I change the MIDI setting to output 384kHz, and play some music through Audirvana, the output is set to whatever the file format is e.g. 44.1kHz, 96kHz etc
 
Any advice will be appreciated.
 
cheers,
 
Shaka

 

[Shaka]

Ok I found out how to get the Vega to upsample everything to 384KS. It was the "Forced Upsampling" setting in Audirvana, changed it to 'maximum sample rate' lets the Vega upsample to the maximum level.
Unsure whether I should use this setting or turn it off and just playback the files at the default sample rates?
I'm struggling to tell the difference with either setting to be honest. So it's not really stopping me from enjoying my music. It's just that I'm a bit OCD with these kind of things and want to know that I have everything optimised for best quality.

 

[rydenfan]

There is no right answer here. My preference is to play everything at native resolution but others have reported good results up sampling everything. I'm just not big on it as I hate upsampled files so it seems counter intuitive to me

 

[Chodi]

There is no right answer here. My preference is to play everything at native resolution but others have reported good results up sampling everything. I'm just not big on it as I hate upsampled files so it seems counter intuitive to me

I've been down that rabbit hole upsampling everything and I finally came to the same conclusion as you,. Upsampling does not improve resolution or extract any information that is not already on the recording for Redbook source. Depending on the upsampling you might use it can change the sound just by adding a layer of processing and you might like what it does. After going up and back with this I finally just play everything at it's original encode. If you want to change the sound to mold it to your taste and your specific headphones there are plenty of dsp out their to choose from.

 

[XVampireX]

  Ok I found out how to get the Vega to upsample everything to 384KS. It was the "Forced Upsampling" setting in Audirvana, changed it to 'maximum sample rate' lets the Vega upsample to the maximum level.
Unsure whether I should use this setting or turn it off and just playback the files at the default sample rates?
I'm struggling to tell the difference with either setting to be honest. So it's not really stopping me from enjoying my music. It's just that I'm a bit OCD with these kind of things and want to know that I have everything optimised for best quality.

 
Vega upsamples everything in PCM to 1.5MHz, so I don't see the point of upsampling to 384KHz
 
 

  I've been down that rabbit hole upsampling everything and I finally came to the same conclusion as you,. Upsampling does not improve resolution or extract any information that is not already on the recording for Redbook source. Depending on the upsampling you might use it can change the sound just by adding a layer of processing and you might like what it does. After going up and back with this I finally just play everything at it's original encode. If you want to change the sound to mold it to your taste and your specific headphones there are plenty of dsp out their to choose from.

 
I agree

 

[Gray]

  ok...so change it to say Bitstreaming Yes (DSD)
 
then click on the DSP sound output right above this selection and make sure everything is unchecked. Output Format is the most important one to make sure is turned off. 
 
I also select pre buffering for 6 seconds. this also the Vega to store a small amount of the DSD file and makes for a smoother playback.
 
once you have made these changes you should be good for native DSD streaming without any dropouts.

Thanks for the help.....will give this a try. Cheers!

 

[Larryonfire]

Eeeehhh, sorry for starting a heated discussion about my volume problems, could be just one rotten egg out of 10.000 good ones, so I don´t want to blow anything out of proportion. but I thought there should be room to mention it here, Taurus costs 2500 $ in Europe, so it´s not pocket change for me. I have nothing bad to say about Auralic and their customer service, I think they have great products and hope they will be succesfull and prospor. I was just worried that my great happiness with Taurus could be shattered by a grympy dealer, would be a shame. I also stated earlier that Vega wasn´t a massive improvement over my Calyx 24/192 DAC, but to clarify it was with HE-500 ( and not DSD files). On my Heed stereo amp + KEF LS50 speakers, Vega is indeed an improvement on PRAT,soundstage and details. Well enough about all that

   
 
I had a few guys over last night for some Whisky&CanJam and they liked the Taurus 2/ Vega DAC combo alot. One of the guys had a modded HiFiMan HE-6 with balanced cable and on Taurus/Vega it sounded faster, more detailed and tighter than HE-500. So jummy and delicious together with a glass of Ardbeg Uigeadail. I agree Taurus doesn´t have the last 5% drive that you feel HE-6 needs and bass was pretty tight, but I think I could live with HE-6 again after selling it last year. We also tried driving HE-6 on my Heed Obelisk PRE/PX/PS stereo amplifier + Vega and the synergy was very very good, nice full and coherent sound, plus got the right drive. Though not completely as detailed as Taurus, but could be the different (and cheaper) cables I use in that setup.  So a very interesting evening in good company. If HiFiMan releases a HE-7 with a lighter drive at the Munich High End show next week, I will be in queue for it. Fang bring it on 

.              

 

[jtwrace]

Well, thought I'd pass this amazing deal along. A guy on another forum is selling his Vega.  It's virtually brand new too.  http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=125578.msg1324208#msg1324208

 

[sathyam]

I had to do a couple of chores to complete before I connected up my Vega & Taurus. I upgraded my Laptop to use an SSD instead of the disc drive, accompanied by the OS installation. I have now loaded up my music onto the laptop. I had to do some tweaking on the JRiver Media Center. I followed instructions on the DSD Playback guide - I had to experiment a bit as the instructions in the DSD guide are geared towards MC 18. After a bit of trial and error, I finally got the DSD64 playing on the Media Center 19 software.
 
I started with one of my favorite albums in DSD format: Thriller. I know that the Thriller DSD album was probably mastered from PCM. But the DSD sounds so much better than the PCM version on the Vega. I have both the DSD & 24bit versions of the album.
 
I am just starting with the Burn-in. But even in this state, this is the best music I have heard. When listening to the Thriller song, closing your eyes, you feel you are in the graveyard with the Ghouls

. The evil laugh at the end of the song is to die for 

.
 
PYT has just come up. The Bass guitar piece is the best sounding on this setup.
 
I am using LCD-3s. I will be testing this setup with HD800s too.
 
More impressions to follow in a couple of weeks, once the burn-in period is complete.

 

[MidnightRambler]

On my MacMini the Vega is always listed as "2ch-24 bit integer" no matter if the sample rate is 16 bit.
It shows the same way on Audirvana.
Is this correct?
 
I have 25 hours on the Vega, Taurus mkII and Audeze LCD-3 - sound is definitely better than when I first started. Using filter 4 and Exact clock. Only skips a few times when out of sleep then it plays perfectly.

 

[mrspeakers]

Hiya...  Part of the Vega club now.  Sounds pretty sweet with a Liquid Glass.  Using some 6CG7 tubes right now, and the pairing is pretty amazing. 

 

[sathyam]

Hiya...  Part of the Vega club now.  Sounds pretty sweet with a Liquid Glass.  Using some 6CG7 tubes right now, and the pairing is pretty amazing. 

Dan, welcome to the Vega club. I am waiting on my ADs