[joseG86]

Memes authorship: joseG86

Liar haha

 

[Pharmaboy]

This subjectivist/objectivist crap was solved in the 90s with the ascent of Stereophile and the Absolute Sound - when listeners realized that a "review" of components in Stereo Review was utterly worthless. Ie, Stereo Review reviews were merely a series of measurements coupled with commentary on a product's features.

Measurements help product developers move prototypes closer to commercial form, when they can be fine tuned by ear for commercial release. And once a product is in final form, measurements can help with the QA process. But for us civilian purchasers, only our ears matter.

I think this is a bit of a generational thing - younger listeners weren't alive for this and by and large don't have the listening experience to have learned it. ASR = Stereo Review 2.0 for younger generations.

Now get off my lawn, dagnabbit.

True, as far as it goes. But people still come flying out, intent on objectifying and measuring audio--then claiming their measurements are more revealing & yield more insight than listening by uneducated, non-scientific, amateur audio/music lovers (ie, people like me).

I probably attract these ideologues with my posts describing the subjective experience of this or that audio gear--and my love of music (the only reason I have audio being to listen to music). Probably like waving a red cape at a bull...

This impulse for people to proclaim that "science" (translation: anyone w/measuring gear & some electrical knowledge) has completely figured out every nook & cranny of audio--it never dies, and it never makes much sense.

 

[PopZeus]

I'm getting a kick out of seeing cheapaudioman and Darko go big for the Ares II. My first R-2R DAC was a big deal to me in this hobby.

Anyways, the F1 arrived today. I've only just started getting a signal through it. Yeah, I hope this treble tames down a bit with burn-in. it's pretty bracing to me right now haha. Otherwise, the improvement is pretty fantastic. The timbre is subtly more lifelike.

 

[Lolito]

I'm getting a kick out of seeing cheapaudioman and Darko go big for the Ares II. My first R-2R DAC was a big deal to me in this hobby.

Anyways, the F1 arrived today. I've only just started getting a signal through it. Yeah, I hope this treble tames down a bit with burn-in. it's pretty bracing to me right now haha. Otherwise, the improvement is pretty fantastic. The timbre is subtly more lifelike.

Could you please elaborate on the differences of with and without that f1 thing, if any, for all of us who want to spend even more money, if it improves the whole thing. Thanks!!!!

f1 made more treble or you already had it?

 

[TheRealDz]

I don't hear any sharpness, even though the retailer I bought it from (Kitsune) said to be prepared for some harshness for the first 200-500 hours.

What I hear is more "soft detail" - ie, a more relaxed, soft sound, but with simultaneously greater resolution. Ie, I can hear more musical detail, more distinct sounds, more space around instruments, and a more holographic soundstage (as @AlanU predicted).

My injector cables came in. They decouple the data feed from the power, and then allow me to run a separate power supply. I am still waiting for my Breeze linear psu, but I believe even a temporary phone charger sounds better than the power coming from my Surface pc.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/TeraDak-US...-/132998927498?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286

 

[TheRealDz]

Shout out to @sajunky and @]eep; my TDA1387 DAC came in. Not to detract from this thread, but it has the ladder DAC goodness that we all love.

I will start a separate thread about it, but for $42 it is a no-brainer for R2R DAC lovers or anyone wanting to see what all of the R2R buzz is about.

 

[Lolito]

I don't hear any sharpness, even though the retailer I bought it from (Kitsune) said to be prepared for some harshness for the first 200-500 hours.

What I hear is more "soft detail" - ie, a more relaxed, soft sound, but with simultaneously greater resolution. Ie, I can hear more musical detail, more distinct sounds, more space around instruments, and a more holographic soundstage (as @AlanU predicted).

My injector cables came in. They decouple the data feed from the power, and then allow me to run a separate power supply. I am still waiting for my Breeze linear psu, but I believe even a temporary phone charger sounds better than the power coming from my Surface pc.

seller knows very well, brains needs to adapt a bit. Brain is wanting to get very surprised but then reality never meets expectations and people want to return stuff. With burn in logic there is a more thoughtful process of testing.

not sure that cable splitter will work well, sometimes they are annoying... but the whole thing when finished, let us know the result. I am very interested on something like that the ares2 gives problem with mac, i gotta reboot often... I will plug it back to my usb 3.0 hub if that doesnt give rebooting problems. right now, if i unplug then plug the ares, or change ares source... mac gets stuck... this happened to other people before, right?

 

[Lolito]

Shout out to @sajunky and @]eep; my TDA1387 DAC came in. Not to detract from this thread, but it has the ladder DAC goodness that we all love.

I will start a separate thread about it, but for $42 it is a no-brainer for R2R DAC lovers or anyone wanting to see what all of the R2R buzz is about.

That is really interesting, would be great to have a cheap r2r alternative, for friends or secondary setups, where is that new thread? does it sounds good?

https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/dac-...-dac-raspberry-pi-3-a-b-pi-2-i2s-p-11585.html

 

[TheRealDz]

That is really interesting, would be great to have a cheap r2r alternative, for friends or secondary setups, where is that new thread? does it sounds good?

https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/dac-...-dac-raspberry-pi-3-a-b-pi-2-i2s-p-11585.html

This is what I got:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HIFI-USB-8...-/132227457145?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286

I am not sure what a "machine burning sound card" is though.

I only have about an hour on it. It sounds great so far - definitely the stereotypical R2R sound.

It will be a perfect chance to test @AlanU's theory: once my psu comes in, it has 2 USB outs, so I can connect my F-1 into the 1387 and see if reducing jitter improves its sound.

 

[PopZeus]

Could you please elaborate on the differences of with and without that f1 thing, if any, for all of us who want to spend even more money, if it improves the whole thing. Thanks!!!!

f1 made more treble or you already had it?

My initial impressions are bound to change as the unit breaks in. Immediately, there is a better sense of detail and staging. On "More to Life Than This" from Bjork, the ambient tone of the track's recording space is more clearly defined. I'm fairly sensitive to the upper-mid/lower treble region so I'm noticing that region has more presence right now. That also might hold true for the upper treble "air" region, but that doesn't seem quite as boosted (or maybe i'm esp sensitive to lower treble). Anyways, I can't imagine this is all because of some tuning changes occurring during conversion. Timing or any correction during conversion in the time domain might also be contributing to the overall improvement. Bass also seems more controlled and slightly more textured.

Bottom line: short of any initial break-in changes, this convenient device is superior to onboard USB audio directly from my Mac into the Ares 2, though it's hard for me to say if it's any better than a native coax output from a dedicated digital audio transport.

 

[Lolito]

My initial impressions are bound to change as the unit breaks in. Immediately, there is a better sense of detail and staging. On "More to Life Than This" from Bjork, the ambient tone of the track's recording space is more clearly defined. I'm fairly sensitive to the upper-mid/lower treble region so I'm noticing that region has more presence right now. That also might hold true for the upper treble "air" region, but that doesn't seem quite as boosted (or maybe i'm esp sensitive to lower treble). Anyways, I can't imagine this is all because of some tuning changes occurring during conversion. Timing or any correction during conversion in the time domain might also be contributing to the overall improvement. Bass also seems more controlled and slightly more textured.

Bottom line: short of any initial break-in changes, this convenient device is superior to onboard USB audio directly from my Mac into the Ares 2, though it's hard for me to say if it's any better than a native coax output from a dedicated digital audio transport.

Thanks a lot for the input. My ares is giving me Mac problems... you had same issues right? you told me already a usb 2.0 hub solved the issue, right? I´m thinking about a Douk Audio ddc unit, has psu input and several outputs... expensive though with a good clock though.

 

[Pharmaboy]

"More to Life Than This" from Bjork

YES!!

 

[]eep]

guys, I've been reay busy the last few weeks (100 ft wall of bamboo bookshelves), but I really enjoy your posts. It makes me feel right at home.

If I translate the discussion to what I've been doing, there are more than one way to approach a construction. Thinking that we made a new construction in a very old building, 16th century storehouse on the dock of an Amsterdam canal. The floors are big (2' by 4', in feet, not inches) mother-beams with smaller child-beams (1 tree pp). None of it is calculated but it is made with empirical experience. Then there are 18th century (1855) cast-iron out-branched pillars to support as an upgrade in gracious organic form. Also not calculated but following the form of nature. On the other side of the canal you can see the zoo 'Artis' (in natura, artis magistra; nature is the master of art). All of this is very old and still works. And we combine it with a very sleek, modern material to form one strong unity.

The new function is living. Who cares if it measures well. It has great presence, it's modern and comfortable. Ever seen calculations of constructions at a realter? Only sizes and materials at best. User experience is much more important but also hard to capture into words.

 

[Lolito]

After 5 days with this thing, at the beginning I was a bit defrauded, I felt as if detail was all gone, like all was mp3 sounding. I was wrong, it was the topping which was edged... I noticed that leaving the ARES in NOS, then doing 2x upsampling in Audirvana, felt like a natural level of detail was there, and also sounded better with the upsampling in Audirvana than in the device itself. Fast filter. Now, I noticed the Ares was way way more easy listening than the Topping... With Ares, felt like listening to vinyl, hours without pierced ears, bass felt so much more present, elevated in level too, warm, also feels like you want to always bump up the volumen, before it was the opposite...

Thing is, I started thinking, can I just set up the topping to sound like an Ares??? Like the other way around of what I did first, and funnily enough, with a bit of lowering all levels except the bass, music looses like 10% resolution, then non oversampling, and leaving that lower bass and sub bass tilted up, up to 0db... With the singxer sa1 I can easily do A/B testing very fast (RCA-XLR), playing audirvana to one dac, audirvana studio to the other dac. Let me tell you something, Topping now not so bad, and 4 times cheaper...



Will test more and bring further details.

 

[Lolito]

guys, I've been reay busy the last few weeks (100 ft wall of bamboo bookshelves), but I really enjoy your posts. It makes me feel right at home.

If I translate the discussion to what I've been doing, there are more than one way to approach a construction. Thinking that we made a new construction in a very old building, 16th century storehouse on the dock of an Amsterdam canal. The floors are big (2' by 4', in feet, not inches) mother-beams with smaller child-beams (1 tree pp). None of it is calculated but it is made with empirical experience. Then there are 18th century (1855) cast-iron out-branched pillars to support as an upgrade in gracious organic form. Also not calculated but following the form of nature. On the other side of the canal you can see the zoo 'Artis' (in natura, artis magistra; nature is the master of art). All of this is very old and still works. And we combine it with a very sleek, modern material to form one strong unity.

The new function is living. Who cares if it measures well. It has great presence, it's modern and comfortable. Ever seen calculations of constructions at a realter? Only sizes and materials at best. User experience is much more important but also hard to capture into words.

Yes, everything works very nicely in Amsterdam with so much cash they have, from long long ago. Very smart people for business and trading and dealing. Very smart, from long long ago. I see a calculation there if they tried to mimic nature. Primitive, but measured non the less.

Anyhow, back from metaphysics, I see there you have very nice old school dacs, no? how would you compare those to Ares2? have you ever tried a DDC in one fo those older DACS? was it fun? bedankt!!!