cable suggestions for Musical Fidelity x-dac and friends

[Chuck]

I recently purchased the musical fidelity x-dac, psu and tube buffer combo and I feel that the vocal range and guitar crispness could be improved. I went with 2 $40 pairs of interconnects and feel that may be the problem. I previously tried the benchmark with audioquest coral cables and the vocals were amazing. Unfortunately the bass was lacking a bit and I returned it a few months ago.

Also I currently hear a lot of sss at the ends of words like shoes, shirts, souls bones, soap and other words bono is currently singing to me at the moment.

Any suggestions?

 

[grandenigma1]

whats your source?

What are you looking to spend?

what are you looking to improve (bass? and/or clarity?)

 

[Chuck]

My source is Apple's airport express... I'm running itunes with the lossless codec. This is what I used when I briefly had the benchmark dac (which I feel had better vocals). What I think what is missing from the current setup is the clarity of the vocals and how they seemed much more forward in the music. Also the guitar riffs don't seem to attack as much as with the benchmark. Perhaps the tube buffer smooths this out a bit, but I doubt it would do it this much. Trumpet sounds amazing through this thing, though.

 

[grandenigma1]

The tube buffer could have some play as they are known to add a smooth melowness to the sound... I would give some silver or silver/copper ICs a try. They should add a bit more edge and clarity to your system. Some popular cables in the $100 - $150ish price range many would suggest are:

Venhaus Audio
RS Audio
Signal Cable
Homegrown Audio
Moon Audio
and Bogdan Audio which does not currently have a website.

or pick up DIY and you can make and test anything you heart desires in your system!

 

[Jazz1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuck My source is Apple's airport express... I'm running itunes with the lossless codec. This is what I used when I briefly had the benchmark dac (which I feel had better vocals). What I think what is missing from the current setup is the clarity of the vocals and how they seemed much more forward in the music. Also the guitar riffs don't seem to attack as much as with the benchmark. Perhaps the tube buffer smooths this out a bit, but I doubt it would do it this much. Trumpet sounds amazing through this thing, though.

When the music is streamed via wireless is the music further compressed?