[Duke40]

Subscribed
 
 
Gwarmi,   earlier in this thread believe you asked about experience with the Dacport or DacMini.
Do not recall any comments on the Dacport so I will share my thoughts.
 
I got the Dacport a few weeks ago off ebay for approx $300.  
iMac to Dacport was very impressive, nearly up to the quality of my Benchmark Dac1 pre, and at a much less expensive cost.
 
As an experiment I connected iPad to >> Camera connection kit >> USB Y splitter USB cable ....  this joined an external Duracell Li-ion Instant USB battery ($40 from my local service station) and the Dacport.
 
Tried out my 3 headphones.
Not sure about Audeze LCD2 , need more listening, initial thoughts was maybe not enough volume.
Sennheiser HD800, great performance, but like the LCD2, the Benchmark Dac1 Pre out performs the Dacport.
 
Then I tried my Ultrasone Edition 8 with this setup.
Initiially I was thinking of selling the ED8,  I felt it's cost & performance in comparison to the Senn HD800 or Audeze LCD-2 was not worth it.
Though I will now be keeping the ED8 just experienced a very special synergy with the Dacport. 
Especially when Dacport was "off the grid" and using the USB Battery for power and iPad as source. 
 
The Dacport made me fall in love with the ED8, before I just thought they were a very very good, very very expensive closed can.
 
 
Hope this helps. I am a newbie poster .

 

[Gwarmi]

Quote:

Subscribed
 
 
Gwarmi,   earlier in this thread believe you asked about experience with the Dacport or DacMini.
Do not recall any comments on the Dacport so I will share my thoughts.
 
I got the Dacport a few weeks ago off ebay for approx $300.  
iMac to Dacport was very impressive, nearly up to the quality of my Benchmark Dac1 pre, and at a much less expensive cost.
 
As an experiment I connected iPad to >> Camera connection kit >> USB Y splitter USB cable ....  this joined an external Duracell Li-ion Instant USB battery ($40 from my local service station) and the Dacport.
 
Tried out my 3 headphones.
Not sure about Audeze LCD2 , need more listening, initial thoughts was maybe not enough volume.
Sennheiser HD800, great performance, but like the LCD2, the Benchmark Dac1 Pre out performs the Dacport.
 
Then I tried my Ultrasone Edition 8 with this setup.
Initiially I was thinking of selling the ED8,  I felt it's cost & performance in comparison to the Senn HD800 or Audeze LCD-2 was not worth it.
Though I will now be keeping the ED8 just experienced a very special synergy with the Dacport. 
Especially when Dacport was "off the grid" and using the USB Battery for power and iPad as source. 
 
The Dacport made me fall in love with the ED8, before I just thought they were a very very good, very very expensive closed can.
 
 
Hope this helps. I am a newbie poster .

Thanks for sharing the views Duke40,
 
You don't see too many Dacport write-ups in Australia which is bizarre considering that Wicked Digital and a few other
retailers carry the CEntrance range of product.
 
Interesting to see your powered USB solution, I currently have this dilemma with my Audiophilleo 2 SPDIF transport,
 
It's a pricey solution from these guys
 
 

International
Australia	Clarke and Severn Electronics David Haimovich Unit 4/8A Kookaburra Rd Hornsby, NSW 2077 +61-2-94821944  email: davidh@clarke.com.au  website: www.clarke.com.au

 
The Vaunix Brick Lab USB hub ~ around $200-ish AUD
 

 

 

[Duke40]

Gwarmi, the duracell usb instant charger only lasts about 2 to 3 hours, it is great for being small & lightweight, though I have a more powerful usb power supply arriving next week (Energizer XP8000). This should increase the playing time of the Dacport by a factor x 8.
 
This Energizer cost ($180) close to what Vaunix is ... plus will double up as an emergency iPad and iPhone charger. The size of the Energizer X8000 is about the size of a iphone or smartphone  (or your Vaunix).
 
Energizer had a larger model XP18000, though it's size was nearly 1/3rd of the ipad , more than twice as heavy as my ED 8 headphones, and price nearly was what I paid for the Dacport. I was initially tempted by the XP18000 model as recharging the small duracell does get tiring quickly, but felt I really was moving away from a light-weight mobile ipad/headphone solution that fits into a slim case so ordered the X8000 on the weekend.
 
This will attach to my $8 Lindy USB Y splitter cable. 
 
 
 
Thanks for the link on the Vaunix .... I checked out the link you supplied. That looks like a very high quality usb hub, the Lexus of USB hubs!  I checked the PDF on the Vaunix brick , that is a really high quality usb hub that you found for audio.
 
 
How do you like the Audiophilleo 2 ?
I was thinking of getting this for my main living room rig and study, but went for a less expensive Musical Fidelity V-Link USB/Coax converter (and potentially less quality than you get from your Audiophilleo 2). Both of my V-links work well, though the one that converts to digital optical is more of an improvement than the one converting to digital coax.
 
I really wanted the Audiophilleo 2 like you got, though (as I would need  2 of them), got my Audeze LCD2 and the cheaper Vlink's instead.
 
 
.... and back to the Dacport.  My local Caltex service station is the last place I would think of sourcing anything for high end audio, though when I saw the Duracell USB charger, I thought it would be  a good and inexpensive experiment. I do like the Dacport, considering the price was approaching about 1/10 of the retail price of the Benchmark Dac1 Pre in Australia .... and the sound signature was so very close.
 
I find the Dacport does sound better after about 15 to 30 minutes of music playing, must be the Class A characteristics.
 
To try to quantify it, the Dacport gives about 90% of the Benchmark DAC1 pre's performance (for 1/10 of the OZ retail benchmark price).
 
When going off the grid with USB battery, the Dacport / Ipad can meet and even exceed the Benchmark.
 
"Performance" maybe not be the right word ..... "Enjoyment" & "Fun" might be a better description.
 
I have about 50 hours on the Dacport, mainly with the ED8, really need to do more time with the HD800 or LCD-2 headphones.
 
 
 
 
 

 

[Gwarmi]

 
Audiophilleo 2 was almost a definite must for me, I did briefly look into the M2Tech, Audio GD Digital Interface USB to SPDIF and the V-Link
but the Audiophilleo 1 and 2 had the best jitter reduction figures of 2.6 versus 20 to 30 for some of the others.
 
It's not a cheap solution though, thing is for any Rega DAC owner ~ you have to go SPDIF as it sounds so much better than straight off the USB input.
 
The only downer is that at $600AUD ~ the AP2 is really only an option for people who want to make their SPDIF biased DAC sound it's best.
 
Great for reviving an aging once-reference DAC!
 
Wonder what the specs are on the Dacport DAC ~ their website does not say if it's an in-house chip or whether it's from AKM, Wolfson or Sabre.
 
Agreed on the Class A specs ~ the Sugden Masterclass HA-4 down at Addicted to Audio sounds pretty average one hour or less from cold.

 

[Duke40]

CEntrance website site says 10ppm precision,   1 PS Jitter which is very low..... and you are right .........nothing about it being an AKM, Sabre or other chip.
Though there is information that says they do development / license work for other DAC manufacturer's with jitter guard and other technologies in other manufactures product, not just there own.
 
 
As for the AP2 ..... the good thing about quality is just hurts your wallet once ! 
rather than going thru upgrade-itis.
 
 
That jitter reduction for the AP2 is very very low.  I find the music has much better timing and less harsh/fatigue-ing when jitter is taken care of that well.

 

[Gwarmi]

Quote:

CEntrance website site says 10ppm precision,   1 PS Jitter which is very low..... and you are right .........nothing about it being an AKM, Sabre or other chip.
Though there is information that says they do development / license work for other DAC manufacturer's with jitter guard and other technologies in other manufactures product, not just there own.
 
 
As for the AP2 ..... the good thing about quality is just hurts your wallet once ! 
rather than going thru upgrade-itis.
 
 
That jitter reduction for the AP2 is very very low.  I find the music has much better timing and less harsh/fatigue-ing when jitter is taken care of that well.

 That's a winner with the CEntrance, the jitterguard makes all the difference ~ the DacMini looks like a nice piece of kit I must say.
 

 

[ikhuong]

Scary prices for retailed price of headphone gears in Aus.

 

[Gwarmi]

Quote:

Scary prices for retailed price of headphone gears in Aus.

 Check out Canadian prices ~ positively ghoulish 

 

[jjinh]

Quote:

Scary prices for retailed price of headphone gears in Aus.

That's why we have internet shopping!
 

 

[svyr]

That's why we have internet shopping!

and no tax on imports < $1K (and the retailer lobbyists should go jump)

 

[slaw slaw]

Quote:

and no tax on imports < $1K (and the retailer lobbyists should go jump)

 
I agree with this, I've payed the retail premium too many times to feel bad about internet shopping.

 

[Gwarmi]

Quote:

 
I agree with this, I've payed the retail premium too many times to feel bad about internet shopping.

 
 Problem is that it does not always apply in all cases, here's two for you ~ find the best 
 landed price in Melbourne for an Ultrasone Pro 900 or Violectric V200 via any non Australian outlet.
 
 It does not add up, it's cheaper here, with a warranty.
 
 Here's another ~ everyone knows you can get a Grado occasionally shipped to Australia via
 a second person in the US and avoid the 'Grado Network' ~ but let's say a driver blew?
 
 What then? Shipping at your cost back to the US and that's assuming John Grado wants to
 even know about your problem in the first place. Good chance that your Grado RS1i is now
 one very expensive wooden door stop.
 
 What about auditioning? Saw a guy today walk into the store and rant incessantly
 about the godliness of the Burson 160D/LCD-2 combination ~ how blissful it
 would be, all his audio dreams would come true,  etc blah blah
 
 He'd never heard it before, so he did. He walked out with a HD800 and Violectric V800/V100
 combo instead.
 
 Good luck making that call online ~ yes, he'd read the online reviews, it's not a subtitute
 for your own ears no matter how many thousands of impressions you read.
 
 
 
 
 

 

[nikp]

@Gwarmi I think I might know who you are now. 

 

[Nick01]

Quote:

 What then? Shipping at your cost back to the US and that's assuming John Grado wants to
 even know about your problem in the first place.

 
I've just had my PS1000 and RS1 serviced by Grado, and they came back superb. Sure it cost a bit for shipping both ways and the service cost, but did I mention that the headphones came back superb?

 

[Gwarmi]

Quote:

 
I've just had my PS1000 and RS1 serviced by Grado, and they came back superb. Sure it cost a bit for shipping both ways and the service cost, but did I mention that the headphones came back superb?

 Care to say how much Nick ~ that's outside the norm though ~ doubt John would turn down any service charge for a PS1000 at least.
 
 Still his rules do state ~ 'I John reserve the right to say no' ~ does not mean he exercises the right all the time but it's there nonetheless.
 
 Let's also not forget - you paid for the service cost, perhaps a local New Yorker may have gotten that for free.