Looking at the first rate setup in your signature, I might consider keeping the Utopia and adding an Innuos Phoenix USB? I found it made a solid step up in soundstage and presentation.
I just got the Audiowise SRC-DX, have been throughly impressed. It was about 25% of the cost of the Phoenix too!
As for the headphones, while I like the Utopias a lot, I have never had another pair of headphones and want something with a more expansive soundstage.
It is rather entertaining that my open-back Obravo Ra 21 C-Cu have a wider and taller soundstage versus the Utopias.
I just got the Audiowise SRC-DX, have been throughly impressed. It was about 25% of the cost of the Phoenix too!
As for the headphones, while I like the Utopias a lot, I have never had another pair of headphones and want something with a more expansive soundstage.
It is rather entertaining that my open-back Obravo Ra 21 C-Cu have a wider and taller soundstage versus the Utopias.
I just got the Audiowise SRC-DX, have been throughly impressed. It was about 25% of the cost of the Phoenix too!
As for the headphones, while I like the Utopias a lot, I have never had another pair of headphones and want something with a more expansive soundstage.
It is rather entertaining that my open-back Obravo Ra 21 C-Cu have a wider and taller soundstage versus the Utopias.
To be frank, basically everything is bigger than focal except the abyss Diana line. Some real exceptionally large stages are the Solitaire P and HD800S. I haven't tried either right out of the way though so I can't comment on how well that works
To be frank, basically everything is bigger than focal except the abyss Diana line. Some real exceptionally large stages are the Solitaire P and HD800S. I haven't tried either right out of the way though so I can't comment on how well that works
O haven't had phi but I own DTC and owned V2 in the past. They are much deeper and like classically holographic, but the only time I've gotten their stage bigger than utopia is when spacing them off my head such that the pads only touch like 1/5th the way around and only quite lightly
O haven't had phi but I own DTC and owned V2 in the past. They are much deeper and like classically holographic, but the only time I've gotten their stage bigger than utopia is when spacing them off my head such that the pads only touch like 1/5th the way around and only quite lightly
I think one of the best things about the diana range in general is how gracefully its responds to lower current sources tbh. You throw them on something like 5WPC @ 50ohm and the difference is quite clear but other than getting a bit bass light and the stage depth shrinking some they dont do anything egregious on lower power sources (unlike say arya which gets thin and brittle and nasty if you try and throw it on an old 165mW dynamic amp)
I have been contemplating the Innuos Phoenix USB as well but at the recommendation of the PGGB folks, I've ordered the cheaper SRC-DX USB to DX Bridge from Audiowise in Canada.
I'm not sure why the Phoenix and SRC-DX are being compared to one another, as they do different things. Is the thought that they both provide an increase in SQ, but one is a lot cheaper?
In my experience they both add different qualities to the sound. The SRC-DX allows you to bypass USB, and access Dave's BNC input providing an analog smoothness and density. The Phoenix, as a USB regenerator + clock, is a much more expensive and complicated unit, but it also offers more. You not only gain a more organic tone but also imaging precision and staging space.
Another thing to consider is that the SRC-DX really scales with better BNC cables, which are going to multiply the price if you're going dual BNC to upsample with PGGB.
If you can chain together: PGGB > Phoenix > SRC-DX > dual BNC the result is very satisfying. This has the further benefit of powering the SRC-DX with the Sean Jacobs linear power supply in the Phoenix.
I'm not sure why the Phoenix and SRC-DX are being compared to one another, as they do different things. Is the thought that they both provide an increase in SQ, but one is a lot cheaper?
In my experience they both add different qualities to the sound. The SRC-DX allows you to bypass USB, and access Dave's BNC input providing an analog smoothness and density. The Phoenix, as a USB regenerator + clock, is a much more expensive and complicated unit, but it also offers more. You not only gain a more organic tone but also imaging precision and staging space.
Another thing to consider is that the SRC-DX really scales with better BNC cables, which are going to multiply the price if you're going dual BNC to upsample with PGGB.
If you can chain together: PGGB > Phoenix > SRC-DX > dual BNC the result is very satisfying. This has the further benefit of powering the SRC-DX with the Sean Jacobs linear power supply in the Phoenix.
If you add tosliink in your equasion as i use with my aurender. Bnc and toslink are the same signal/protocol only toslink has a optical converter in between. As aurender says tos and bnc is the best from there machine. Would the bnc dx path gain me some more analogue experience maybe nick did this comparison. Basicly src-dx and wave cable to my scaler instead of toslink. Guess i can compare them 1:1 if i arrange a set.. just thinking as i am typing. Hope somebody did this already
So, I went back to the DC4'd mDAVE for my TCs. I can't believe I'm saying this, but the bass impact on the DC4'd mDAVE is actually greater than the WA33 EE JPS. It's almost too much impact (can't believe I'm saying this). The bass bloom is better on the WA33 EE JPS (which I guess makes sense).
I compared the Susvara bass out of the DC4'd mDAVE and WA33 EE JPS, and they are close, but the WA33 EE JPS has more impact and extension.
I still don't know why the DC4 does this to my DAVE. It's really confusing (but a pleasant surprise). Anybody have any thoughts on why this is happening?
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