[pekingduck]

The RCA output is deactivated when your headphones are plugged in.
 
You should hear a click sound whenever you turn the input selector.
 
Hope this helps.
 
Quote:

Thanks a lot for that info! I guess rca and headphone output are always active at the seem time? Will the unit give a pop if you put it into standby mode? I guess I will just have to practice a bit with the input selector, i had the seem with my last dac, a dacmagic by cambridgeaudio. It too had a digital input selector, i got used to it quickly. Thanks again for the help, Greetings, Anouk,

 

 

[Anouk]

Well everything has been connected and is working now. I have to try and turn up the volume of my tv receiver but the pc volume is fine and I dont think the rca to xlr cables have a big negative performance impact. I will have to try the es5 later this evening to see how it works with some music and audio meterials. Greetings, Anouk,

 

[MorbidToaster]

Is it really? I'm super disappointed by this...I wonder if I could ask them to disable it if I order.
 
EDIT: Unless it's a power issue...but still.
 
Quote:

The RCA output is deactivated when your headphones are plugged in.
 
You should hear a click sound whenever you turn the input selector.
 
Hope this helps.
 


 

 
 

 

[Anouk]

Hi, I have installed the universal driver from centrance the asio driver. I wonder if I can now use it with foobar/ I can only select the centrance dac but not sure if the driver is now being used. Greetings, Anouk,

 

[Jay Listens]

Hi Morbid,
 
We could disable this if you needed it, but in what case do you need both the headphone out and the line out simultaneously?
 
Jay
 
-------------------------------------
 
Anouk,
 
Make sure the audio application is set to ASIO. Let me know if you have more questions.
 
Regards,
Jay

 

[MorbidToaster]

I've used it a little with my Decco2 already. I have my D7000 and my HE 500, and my finacee and I listen together quite often (with different cans before, considering I just got the HE 500). 
 
Use the DAC and amp for one pair, and the Line Out to another amp. Giving us both control over the power they get. 
 
It's a little impractical, but it's really great when we listen together. Sure we could use speakers, but that's no fun!
 
Quote:

Hi Morbid,
 
We could disable this if you needed it, but in what case do you need both the headphone out and the line out simultaneously?

 
 

 

[Anouk]

Hi again, Not sure yet how to set foobar correctly to work with the asio driver but even without that it sounds nice. Still even its lowest audible volume level without imbalance is SLIGHTLY louder then my normal listening level. I must stress thought hat I am used to listening at rather low volume settings. I have only tried it with audio recordings yet though and have to see how it sounds with music and if the level is comfortable. Greetings, Anouk,

 

[Townyj]

Anouk, The DACmini does work with IEM's but its not really designed for them. I use my RE-262's and have the volume around 8-9 oclock. They are 150ohm. If you wanted more control you should of had the gain dropped to suit IEM's or gone for the DACport instead.
 
The channel imbalance is very very low and of course your going to notice it more with IEM's. If you Mainly plan on using it with IEM's, send it back and get the gain dropped/tuned for IEM's. What operating system are you using..?? Win 7, Vista or XP..?? You shouldnt need ASIO for Vista/Win 7 at all. Discard it and just run with the Auto installed CEntrance drivers which you can select from the Sound Options.

 
Quote:

Hi again, Not sure yet how to set foobar correctly to work with the asio driver but even without that it sounds nice. Still even its lowest audible volume level without imbalance is SLIGHTLY louder then my normal listening level. I must stress thought hat I am used to listening at rather low volume settings. I have only tried it with audio recordings yet though and have to see how it sounds with music and if the level is comfortable. Greetings, Anouk,

 

 

[Anouk]

Hi, Well if I had known BEFOREHAND that it would not work ideal with iems I would have let them lower the gain by 2 or 4 db. I use windows xp with the latest service pack. I guess the es5 is just really efficient end sensitive although there is no hiss from the dacmini. I notice that the dac gets reset when I restart my computer even if I listen to another input which I then have to reselect. It works well with my preamp and speakers though. Greetings, Anouk,

 

[Anouk]

Hi, Well the dacmini sounds VERY pleasing, musical and natural with a very black background. I just hope a future version will introduce a gain switch for different headphones sensitivity and impedance/volume matching. Greetings, Anouk,

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Hi, I just tried the dacmini very briefly with the es5 to see if I got the usb channel. I must say that at first there is no volume and hten when it is there it is immediately fairly loud. Not really loud but it does not start as really soft as with normal volume. Also there seems to be a bit of channel imbalance at low volumes with first the right channel coming in and then, when you turn it up louder, the left channel. This was only a really brief test though because I hadnt gotten my speakers working yet and i wanted to check if the source was set right. Greetings, Anouk,

I'm listening very quietly to my DACmini via USB with ES5 and the volume knob is turned to about 8 o'clock, with zero volume at 7.  At this point I have no imbalance, and at this setting it's playing a little quieter than I usually listen.  Below that I can get a channel imbalance that "comes and goes" as I drop to extremely low volumes.  That means that as I go down in volume below that one channel may get quieter, but as I keep going down the volume balances out again; and as I continue to approach zero the other channel might start to fade.  So, at extremely low volumes there are a few places on the volume knob where I get balanced sound, and a few where it is not balanced.  
 
As I turn it up, 9 o'clock is about as loud as I can listen comfortably.  This is why I am happy with the stock gain of 8 and didn't have it modded for a gain of 10 like some other people.
 
Also, I have the headphone jack to the left of the volume knob, and the switcher to the right of the volume knob (when the unit is set up properly).  Each time the switcher knob is turned 90 degree toone side or the other it rotates through the inputs.  When it is off and I turn it on with a clockwise turn of the switcher, I get analog input, then with each twist of the knob it goes to optical, then coax, then USB, and then it will shut off.  You can also move through the inputs with a turn to the left.
 
You can use a Westone volume attenuator to tame the volume just a little bit if you need to listen quieter than this, without hurting the sound quality until you rotate the Westone attenuator's volume more than about 4-5mm.

 

[Anouk]

Hi, I guess I just listen at very low volume levels then. Well I will try it for a bit longer, I mostly use it with my speakers anyway and have no wish to loose it for 3 weeks again in transit. Greetings, Anouk,

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Hi, I guess I just listen at very low volume levels then. Well I will try it for a bit longer, I mostly use it with my speakers anyway and have no wish to loose it for 3 weeks again in transit. Greetings, Anouk,

Definitely try the Westone volume attenuator.  Or, since you listen so quietly you likely wont be able to hear any loss in bit-rate by using the computer's software volume control in your music player, especially if you are only dropping the volume by about 2-3 dB to listen as quietly as you can.

 

[ert]

Quote:

Hi again, Not sure yet how to set foobar correctly to work with the asio driver but even without that it sounds nice. Still even its lowest audible volume level without imbalance is SLIGHTLY louder then my normal listening level. I must stress thought hat I am used to listening at rather low volume settings. I have only tried it with audio recordings yet though and have to see how it sounds with music and if the level is comfortable. Greetings, Anouk,

 
If you have the ASIO4ALL plugin for Foobar installed correctly, the ASIO icon will appear in the task bar when you play a track.  Additionally, the Windows mixer control will be disabled and not affect the sound.  It's interesting that the DACmini by default doesn't bypass the mixer on Windows 7, and my Benchmark DAC1 does...even though both USB implementations were done by CEntrance.
 
 

 

[Anouk]

Hi, Ah I forgot about having to download the asio4all driver. I think the dacmini bypasses the volume controls in control panel though with my windows xp system. Greetings, Anouk,