[JoeDoe]

I think i'm ok for now. On another note, I've been delving into the menus of the Vega and there are two discrepancies. 1. I only have 4 filters to pick from. The last two which are supposed to be for DSD are not there. 2. I also don't see any clock settings other than Auto and Coarse. Where are the others?

Edit: went into the About section of the menu and discovered that I'm on firmware version 1.8. I have no need for the crazy DSD capabilities of 2.0, but I would like to get up to 1.9 or 1.10. Is that something I has a user can do?

 

[brianc0428]

Flexible filter mode has 6 modes total. 4 when playing PCM source material and 2 when playing DSD source material.

The Vega takes about an hour to warm up after that you get the other clock settings.

 

[JoeDoe]

Flexible filter mode has 6 modes total. 4 when playing PCM source material and 2 when playing DSD source material.

The Vega takes about an hour to warm up after that you get the other clock settings.

Right, but I should be able to see all 6 modes and 4 clock settings even right after powering on right?

 

[brianc0428]

Right, but I should be able to see all 6 modes and 4 clock settings even right after powering on right?

No, those will only show up when playing DSD.

All the clock settings appear when the VEGA is warmed up

 

[Tassie Devil]

ODD BEHAVIOUR WITH MY TAURUS MKII

New to this forum on Head-Fi as I've only had the Taurus for a month.

But it exhibited some rather odd behaviour just now. The channel balance was out of wack and when I adjusted the volume control it acted as if it was the balance control!!! Weird.

So I powered it off and on again and all returned to normality. Now it was quite hot, not so much you could not touch it but it was giving out a lot of heat. So I've rigged up a 120mm ultra quiet PC fan at the rear of the cabinet to draw air across to cool it in case heat is the reason for the odd behaviour. It is not in a tight situation on the shelf but maybe ..... And, as I understand it, these amps are designed to run quite warm so cooling it too much might not be good. A swings and round abouts situation!!!

Anyone else experienced this?

 

[Vu Chau]

Hi, what (kind of) cable do I need in order to feed balanced input to the Taurus MK II if my source is a smartphone's 3.5mm jack? Is that even possible? If not, what kind of source would I need?

 

[lcasadonte]

Hi, what (kind of) cable do I need in order to feed balanced input to the Taurus MK II if my source is a smartphone's 3.5mm jack? Is that even possible? If not, what kind of source would I need?

The taurus only has 3 pin xlr and rca in. You could get a 3.5mm to rca adapter for your phone but that is not balanced. The amp is not truly balanced either as the volume pot becomes the limiting factor. If you want a balanced source you should look for a source that will do 3 pin xlr out or an adapter to convert a balanced source. So for instance my onkyo dpx1 has a 2.5mm out that I could probably find a cable for that would go in to the taurus and be balanced in to the taurus. In another application entirely I use a 4pin xlr to 2 - 3 pin xlrs and then another 4 pin xlr to 2.5mm to go into the onkyo.It takes 2 adapters in other words. Hope that helps,

 

[ardilla]

Hi, what (kind of) cable do I need in order to feed balanced input to the Taurus MK II if my source is a smartphone's 3.5mm jack? Is that even possible? If not, what kind of source would I need?

Use a regular 3.5 to RCA cable, as suggested by Icasadonte. The XLR is for balanced sources, stay away from them until you have a balanced source.

 

[Vu Chau]

Ha, thanks! My next question then is what counts as a balanced source?

 

[ardilla]

Anything with balanced outputs, i.e. 3 PIN XLR. Most modern DACs have it. Are you using it with your phone or your computer?

 

[Vu Chau]

Anything with balanced outputs, i.e. 3 PIN XLR. Most modern DACs have it. Are you using it with your phone or your computer?

My source is my phone although I could also use the computer. I don't have a desktop size DAC, and just got my Taurus yesterday so I have been using 3.5 to RCA.

Is there any perceived difference when cross cabling the Taurus? E.g. balanced in but STD out (or the other way around).

 

[Tassie Devil]

My source is my phone although I could also use the computer. I don't have a desktop size DAC, and just got my Taurus yesterday so I have been using 3.5 to RCA.

Is there any perceived difference when cross cabling the Taurus? E.g. balanced in but STD out (or the other way around).

Apologies if I sound condescending, but I'm afraid you are going about things back to front. A balanced amp with balanced headphones connected is the LAST step to take, not the first.

You have an excellent amp there but will never hear it at its best unless you feed in a pristine signal and that will not come direct from neither a phone or, for that matter a PC without a top DAC in the path.

That said you can operate the amp with unbalanced out and it will sound better than many other amps if the quality of input is fine. However, if you are feeding a music signal in from a phone I would expect the old GIGO (garbage in, garbage out) will prove itself with a vengeance. The Taurus will in no way improve the signal going in. It will faithfully reproduce any garbage going in and the result will not sound great.

 

[ardilla]

Tassie Devil is absolutely right, @Vu Chau - but I assume you are already planning on getting a better source? Easiest way is to get a USB-DAC if you use your computer as a digital source, but some will work with your phone. The cables is the next step - new source goes first. Shout out if you need advice ,)

 

[Vu Chau]

Yeah I'm aware of the importance of the source - thanks, though

I use FLAC and a Mojo (that now stops functioning). It doesn't look like I can get balanced output from the Mojo, then.

 

[ardilla]

Yeah I'm aware of the importance of the source - thanks, though

I use FLAC and a Mojo (that now stops functioning). It doesn't look like I can get balanced output from the Mojo, then.

You have a Mojo? Why didn't you tell? ,D

What do you mean "..that now stops functioning"?