[CalvinandHobbes2020]

For anyone using the USB input on the Pontus II, the Stordiau Lush USB Cable is very smooth sounding and noticeably reduced digital glare. The Shunyata Venom was good, but the Stordiau Lush was both smoother in sound and more detailed in resolution.

https://stordiau.com/collections/cables-and-more-snakes-oil/products/lush-usb-audio-cable-70cm

These were the other USB cables to which I compared the Stordiau Lush:

1. Generic HP printer cable: Free with printer
2. Belkin Gold: $15
3. Pangea Audio Premier SE: $50
4. Shunyata Venom: $100-200
5. Stordiau Phasure Lush: $253

 

[FooFighter]

Guys, I did several times A-B now and am afraid my Streamer configuration is indeed a serious bottleneck
Trying extra upper mid centric songs of the likes of Birdie it's obvious that my IPhone connected via USB is more clear, has less harshness and thus less fatigueing effect.
I will now need to play longer on IPhone only and think my configuration over again.
Maybe skip the Streamer for now and directly wire by USB only.
My mentioned differences between RCA and XLR still apply though!

Edit:
And sorry guys if I was causing some uproar here as the biggest impact after all seemed my damn Streamer.
Guess listening to USB from phone only I wouldn't even think so much about amp rolling.
Now I am rather thinking that amp rolling will be a matter of personal choice and not essential to prevent digital glare. Music sounds really super out of A90.
Digital source and RCA/XLR have a much bigger impact than I expected before!

Nevertheless as I am also in the rabbit hole game I will investigate a bit more into Lyr3 / C9 within my A90 return window to just maximize listening experience

 

[centuriones]

Listening on Trailli: Incredible live feeling with forward vocals and huge stage and dynamics, lush hard hitting drums.
Really engaging.
I think I am getting an idea of how a tad more relaxed amping signature could be beneficial...
That A90? tuning is party animal like, with relatively elevated upper mids, could maybe get tiring after many hours.

I repeat, take a class A amp and solve the problem

 

[FooFighter]

I repeat, take a class A amp and solve the problem

Working on it
But as you could read before, the main issue wasn't A90

 

[sajunky]

Working on it
But as you could read before, the main issue wasn't A90

A point remains valid.

 

[Lolito]

I have one fear for another rabbit hole thinking about the latest observations and your posts, that is about the stunning resolution and dynamics of the Pontus.
Observations;
- I myself and other people starting to feel first symptoms of ear fatigue
- people are combining tube amps in order to enjoy the Pontus

This reminds me of my experience with my DX220 MAX which was the most resolving and dynamic DAC I have heard so far.
With certain tracks I was longing for attaching a tube amp in order to compensate the revealingness especially in upper mids.

One thesis, I can still be completely wrong:
If my newly ordered XLR- to headphone-out adapter is showing the same symptoms of ear fatigue then the above mentioned characteristics of the raw Pontus signal is so reveiling that some people are needing to compensate using specially tuned external amps.

That's the rabbit hole I was talking about and sorry guys, that's no product bashing whatsoever, just sharing my thoughts and experiences...

Next night I will experiment connecting the RCA cables which I bought for my Streamer for A-B testing to the Pontus and my A90 and see if there's a difference between these outputs too.
Balanced connections are often percepted as much more reveilling by people maybe due to the different voltages but sometimes also different DAC/amp designs are applied for SE/balanced which I know from the DAP scene

Eq down -3db everything after 100Hz. And then in your software, if you can downsample to 1/2 res... give it a go. I was trying to reproduce the ares2 sound with my cheap delta sigma dac, and doing that it certainly works. I think for speakers, all that resolution, can be good, you then position yourself in the room where that treble is gone, or lowered or... with headphones though, so much detail, gotta tame it... eq with a slope down, it will help a lot.

And as when volume is lower, you gotta rise bass and treble to hear properly, when there is a lot of detail in the ear with artificial reproduction, you should lower all those frequencies, and maybe try downsampling...

 

[FooFighter]

As for the class A amp I am on the jump ordering an Ifi Pro Ican, that should suffice I'd say

Regarding lowering frequencies that will be the very last option for me but indeed the thesis about alot details being delivered, more than one can process, is interesting.
Again I am reminded of DX 220 Max which did the very same to me.
Now playing from different sources I am though not encountering the same fatigue as before also without new amp

 

[jwilliamhurst]

As for the class A amp I am on the jump ordering an Ifi Pro Ican, that should suffice I'd say

I’ve been curious about this one, but well out of my price range

 

[FooFighter]

I’ve been curious about this one, but well out of my price range

Classifieds or B stock...
Still > 1k
I have jumped...
B stock coming this week...

 

[jwilliamhurst]

Classifieds or B stock...
Still > 1k

Nice! I’ll check it out, this one doesn’t have a 4.4 either. Says it has a 3.5mm balanced?! Means I would still need an adaptor

 

[FooFighter]

Nice! I’ll check it out, this one doesn’t have a 4.4 either. Says it has a 3.5mm balanced?! Means I would still need an adaptor

"Balanced Output options on 3-Pin & 4-Pin XLR plus 6.3mm Jack on front panel."

So Unfortunately yes, their newer idsd pro does have 4,4mm but I will get an adapter now to run my gear balanced

 

[jwilliamhurst]

"Balanced Output options on 3-Pin & 4-Pin XLR plus 6.3mm Jack on front panel."

So Unfortunately yes, their newer idsd pro does have 4,4mm but I will get an adapter now to run my gear balanced

Wish it didn’t have a dac included in the idsd pro….

 

[shafat777]

Can anyone please recommend me a HDMI (I2S) cable for my pontus 2? My hermes DDC will arrive this week and i was looking for any kind of suggestion. Nothing too expensive, budget of $100-$200.

Thank you

 

[jwilliamhurst]

Can anyone please recommend me a HDMI (I2S) cable for my pontus 2? My hermes DDC will arrive this week and i was looking for any kind of suggestion. Nothing too expensive, budget of $100-$200.

Thank you

I bought this one http://store.haveinc.com/p-63192-st...dmi-cable-w-audio-back-channel-1-5-meter.aspx recommended by Alvin from Vinshine.

 

[centuriones]

I bought this one http://store.haveinc.com/p-63192-st...dmi-cable-w-audio-back-channel-1-5-meter.aspx recommended by Alvin from Vinshine.

But this hdmi cable can be connected directly between the pontus and the emers or you need to make some changes