[AlanU]

I can't a/b a usb cable, and I would not trust myself. This newer cable though looks much more sturdy and resistant, and will not be kinked. It is just a good usb cable, shoud sound good cause not gonna spend more on such cable. Just by physical construction, has to be less prone to interferences or catching noise, I guess. And anyways, if it's gonna go to a busy cheap usb 3.0 hub... gotta fix the firmware problem first.

Seems that ferrite chokes are effective in EMI and RF reduction. Some research I did has indicated it can effect the rising and falling edges of the data square wave.

You can even buy "snap connectors" and create your own ferrite treatment. The grounding is apparently tied to both ends of the usb connector. This goes to show that you should ultimately always consider that the source can be noise (switching power supply, laptop, fan motors) so this is where you must look at all of this as either being preventative in passing nasty signal or fix it ........ Now you see the reason there is no real way of fixing noise without using a DDC.

Small handful of people will use a hardcore Precision master external clock for their DACS. Not many dacs have provisions to accept external clock.

Last week I've decided to remain on cascading 2 of my Mutecs. My 3rd was on order. I've painfully shifted gears, taken the step on ordering an external Mutec Ref 10 master clock. This will now feed 10mhz clock to both mutec Mc-3+ USB units. So I will bypass the internal clocks of the DDC. Feeding both DDC units external clock signal. Such a process will provide redundant isolation of signal via xformers in the coax connection. Also the precision clock from the Ref10 will be more than sufficient in creating my personal "ultimate" square wave signal. This is where my insanity will stop in all of this source cleaning. Even the non SE version of the REF10 is ruffling feathers of DCS clock performance. I am just glad to have initiated some research for others. First and foremost is to enjoy music. If you create your happiness, that's what matters. The DDC talk is just allowing you to understand that thinking out of the box has created a great upgrade path you probably never knew.......

I'll admit due to covid, I've become obsessed with this source stuff. This is where I have discovered a new level of sound without adding new audio gear. The new fun stuff I've added in tube gear has been an additional adventure. Source is still the key.

 

[Lolito]

I think you should cascade the 3 Mutecs, not just 2 but 3. And you will not know if it was the right thing or not until you test it, 3 cascaded DDC's.

 

[GoldenSound]

I've posted a review of the Ares 2 here:


It's a great DAC for the money, though it's not actually a NOS dac

 

[Lolito]

I've posted a review of the Ares 2 here:


It's a great DAC for the money, though it's not actually a NOS dac

Apparently a very complete review, but you don't even talk about how does it work in RCA versus XLR, for example. Since it has those issues you mention, this would have been nice to compare. Then you say it is warm but lacks impact on the bass or lacks bass... a bit of head scratching there. Nice that you mention how this company works, there is this Alvin guy then the product, and then the company is like inside some kind of bunker that no matter what's happening, they are like more hidden than the creator of bitcoin. really nice you mention the slow filter strange thing. I use mine is NOS and fast filter. OS on te dac not as good as previously, which also doesnt work well, and if it is alreay OS'sed as you say, better leave it at NOS and fast filter, for my experience so far. Now, I did not compared RCA out versus XLR out, wuld have been nice to have that information.

 

[AlanU]

I think you should cascade the 3 Mutecs, not just 2 but 3. And you will not know if it was the right thing or not until you test it, 3 cascaded DDC's.

This is leaping into a different approach of isolating noise from cascading DDC units, while utilizing internal clocks. Ref10 is in an entirely different category in Reference Master clock.

As funding is not bottomless. I'm going with this approach that crazy obsessed audiofiles have been doing It's a fine balance as the $$ REF10 SE120 is similar but with hand picked premium oscillator.

Some of the most insane combo's have been using REF10 se120 and cascading 3 DDC units.

My approach is lopsided as the source cleanse of ethernet switches/LPS, Mutec treatment now surpasses my Solid state system by a substantial amount. Some may suggest that this is ridiculous (I agree). This lopsided approach is logical to me, as any component I add down stream in the future will be optimized fully.

 

[NehPets]

I've posted a review of the Ares 2 here:


It's a great DAC for the money, though it's not actually a NOS dac

When did Ares II get an auto-ranging power supply?

 

[Pharmaboy]

Seems that ferrite chokes are effective in EMI and RF reduction. Some research I did has indicated it can effect the rising and falling edges of the data square wave.

You can even buy "snap connectors" and create your own ferrite treatment. The grounding is apparently tied to both ends of the usb connector. This goes to show that you should ultimately always consider that the source can be noise (switching power supply, laptop, fan motors) so this is where you must look at all of this as either being preventative in passing nasty signal or fix it ........ Now you see the reason there is no real way of fixing noise without using a DDC.

Small handful of people will use a hardcore Precision master external clock for their DACS. Not many dacs have provisions to accept external clock.

Last week I've decided to remain on cascading 2 of my Mutecs. My 3rd was on order. I've painfully shifted gears, taken the step on ordering an external Mutec Ref 10 master clock. This will now feed 10mhz clock to both mutec Mc-3+ USB units. So I will bypass the internal clocks of the DDC. Feeding both DDC units external clock signal. Such a process will provide redundant isolation of signal via xformers in the coax connection. Also the precision clock from the Ref10 will be more than sufficient in creating my personal "ultimate" square wave signal. This is where my insanity will stop in all of this source cleaning. Even the non SE version of the REF10 is ruffling feathers of DCS clock performance. I am just glad to have initiated some research for others. First and foremost is to enjoy music. If you create your happiness, that's what matters. The DDC talk is just allowing you to understand that thinking out of the box has created a great upgrade path you probably never knew.......

I'll admit due to covid, I've become obsessed with this source stuff. This is where I have discovered a new level of sound without adding new audio gear. The new fun stuff I've added in tube gear has been an additional adventure. Source is still the key.

I'm at a simpler & cheaper place in all this compared to you: having owned & liked the sound of SPDIF converters for years, I just purchased a midrange DDC (Matrix audio x-spdif 2) and will soon install it in my main desktop system in place of the current SPDIF box; I'll continue using coax out to the DAC via a wonderful-sounding silver cable (Oyaide DR-510).

Of course I'm hoping for a sonic bump resulting from reclocking and even less jitter. I'm also hoping that this box, used w/o external power (the Matrix either runs on USB power or external walwart power) will provide a bit of shielding at the source from a groundloop that has plagued this complex system for 3-4 years, defeating every remediation tactic I throw at it.

 

[Lolito]

I'm at a simpler & cheaper place in all this compared to you: having owned & liked the sound of SPDIF converters for years, I just purchased a midrange DDC (Matrix audio x-spdif 2) and will soon install it in my main desktop system in place of the current SPDIF box; I'll continue using coax out to the DAC via a wonderful-sounding silver cable (Oyaide DR-510).

Of course I'm hoping for a sonic bump resulting from reclocking and even less jitter. I'm also hoping that this box, used w/o external power (the Matrix either runs on USB power or external walwart power) will provide a bit of shielding at the source from a groundloop that has plagued this complex system for 3-4 years, defeating every remediation tactic I throw at it.

very interesting, can you recommend a next best cable, but cheaper than that one? for the poor people here and their future ddc. Do you recommend silver for this digital coax cable or not really? thanks a lot.

 

[daytrader]

Repost, deleted.

 

[Pharmaboy]

very interesting, can you recommend a next best cable, but cheaper than that one? for the poor people here and their future ddc. Do you recommend silver for this digital coax cable or not really? thanks a lot.

Sorry, but this is only the 2nd coax cable I tried. The first (Billy Jeans) was sturdy & inexpensive. Based on good sound through that, I dropped toslink/glass (which I had used up 'til then) and stayed w/coax. Then I read some intensely positive comments about this silver Oyaide cable and decided to take the plunge: paid ~$215 for the 1.3M RCA version 4 yrs ago (it's now up to nearly $300)--immediately liked the sound better than w/the Billy Jeans cable.

This is the only piece of silver cable I own. I've actually avoided silver in any analog signal cable (interconnects, headphone) where silver is often described as bringing more detail & resolution in the treble (not something I want). Perhaps because this silver cable is carrying pure digital information rather than analog signal, none of the usual silver "sound" is present. It's a great cable. BTW, there are dozens of ebay listings for this cable at 50%-60% list, but I wouldn't go near any of them. Too easy to counterfeit.

Not sure if I recommend silver for coax in general--I can only specifically recommend this one silver coax cable.

 

[]eep]

I've posted a review of the Ares 2 here:


It's a great DAC for the money, though it's not actually a NOS dac

I can tell we gave you a lot of feedback, even beforehand, but it made the review better I think. I really liked the review. You're probably the only one on YouTube who actually took the time to open up the case and show the inside.

In conclusion (I hate that mindless phrase 'at the end of the day' ) it doesn't really matter if it's truly or not NOS. It is the result that counts. Only, I really do prefer the 'NOS' setting with slow rolloff. And I know there are many others who do. No need pushing the opposite. It's a choice, let everyone listen and make up their own mind. I'm still not convinced on the relation of NOS to the transient behavior and pre-ringing which I like to avoid.

I totally agree on the phase button. That should be a NOS /OS button.

I totally do not agree on the comment on 'cheaper r2r dacs' being rubbish or however you put it. My €45 R2R dac beats the Ares. It's not standard, I know, but it's not a given that cheaper R2R dacs can't sound good. Measuring is a different thing.

 

[daytrader]

Apparently a very complete review, but you don't even talk about how does it work in RCA versus XLR, for example. Since it has those issues you mention, this would have been nice to compare. Then you say it is warm but lacks impact on the bass or lacks bass... a bit of head scratching there. Nice that you mention how this company works, there is this Alvin guy then the product, and then the company is like inside some kind of bunker that no matter what's happening, they are like more hidden than the creator of bitcoin. really nice you mention the slow filter strange thing. I use mine is NOS and fast filter. OS on te dac not as good as previously, which also doesnt work well, and if it is alreay OS'sed as you say, better leave it at NOS and fast filter, for my experience so far. Now, I did not compared RCA out versus XLR out, wuld have been nice to have that information.

I very much appreciated his explanation on NOS vs OS. I think it’s up to the end user to figure out what sounds best even down to which output to use. Just try both, at separate times of course as we see based on his information re the output stage. Plus the high impedance thing was a good to know as well for mating to equipment.

 

[daytrader]

I can tell we gave you a lot of feedback, even beforehand, but it made the review better I think. I really liked the review. You're probably the only one on YouTube who actually took the time to open up the case and show the inside.

In conclusion (I hate that mindless phrase 'at the end of the day' ) it doesn't really matter if it's truly or not NOS. It is the result that counts. Only, I really do prefer the 'NOS' setting with slow rolloff. And I know there are many others who do. No need pushing the opposite. It's a choice, let everyone listen and make up their own mind. I'm still not convinced on the relation of NOS to the transient behavior and pre-ringing which I like to avoid.

I totally agree on the phase button. That should be a NOS /OS button.

I totally do not agree on the comment on 'cheaper r2r dacs' being rubbish or however you put it. My €45 R2R dac beats the Ares. It's not standard, I know, but it's not a given that cheaper R2R dacs can't sound good. Measuring is a different thing.

Wait! I think I read in the online manual, in NOS filters have no effect. That only in OS they do. Is the manual wrong? Or am I missing something?

 

[GoldenSound]

Wait! I think I read in the online manual, in NOS filters have no effect. That only in OS they do. Is the manual wrong? Or am I missing something?

That's correct.
In nos the filters don't do anything.

On a real nos dac there would be no filter (otherwise it wouldn't be NOS).

On denafrips 'nos' is effectively just a 3rd digital filter option. So you have fast, slow, and linear interpolate

 

[gdwallasign]

Apparently a very complete review, but you don't even talk about how does it work in RCA versus XLR, for example. Since it has those issues you mention, this would have been nice to compare. Then you say it is warm but lacks impact on the bass or lacks bass... a bit of head scratching there. Nice that you mention how this company works, there is this Alvin guy then the product, and then the company is like inside some kind of bunker that no matter what's happening, they are like more hidden than the creator of bitcoin. really nice you mention the slow filter strange thing. I use mine is NOS and fast filter. OS on te dac not as good as previously, which also doesnt work well, and if it is alreay OS'sed as you say, better leave it at NOS and fast filter, for my experience so far. Now, I did not compared RCA out versus XLR out, wuld have been nice to have that information.

I don't think the warm vs. lacking bass hit is head scratching at all. In hqplayer I've experienced just such a thing.