[Romanee]

EdipisReks --

I can't yet comment personally on how well the Echo Indigo works with my TiBook since I haven't gotten the card yet. I hope to get one locally this week. If you re-read this thread from the top you'll see several comments about good results with the ETYs, as well as other phones. The amplification certainly has limits with difficult-to-drive phones. Beyer DT531 was mentioned as needing a headamp in addition to the Echo Indigo card, and the AKG K501 I'll be using with it will definitely need an amp as well, so it depends on what phones the card is driving.

I'll post my findings later this week. Also, I'll be taking it to a local Qualia mini-meet soon and hope to give it a little workout with a few different amp/phone combos.

I haven't read any serious negative comments about the card, but haven't seen any details from Mac Powerbook users yet. Perhaps there is a Powerbook/Echo Indigo user who can comment on ease of setup, use as an amp (with what phones), and quality of sound.

Aside from its amp, Its DAC is 24bit/94MHz. There's an article that describes the Echo Indigo in detail at tomshardware.com -- see link below:

http://www.tomshardware.com/game/200...-03.html<br />

Here's a brief quote from the review: "The Indigo features a studio-quality, AKM 4393 digital to audio converter (DAC) that was chosen for its high-level sound quality. The choice of the AKM 4393 adds to the overall professional quality of the card."

 

[Romanee]

Ooops! I apparently pasted an incomplete link. I tested the link below, and it does work:

Tom's Hardware - Echo Indigo Review:

 

[EdipisReks]

thanks, Romanee

 

[bLue_oNioN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Romanee I'll post my findings later this week. Also, I'll be taking it to a local Qualia mini-meet soon and hope to give it a little workout with a few different amp/phone combos.

Yesss that would be very much appreciated, I too, would like to know what the limits are for this card

 

[thomaspf]

I have played with the Indigo on a powerbook and it works as expected.

I can't tell whether this is the way it is supposed to work but it caught me by surprise. When I switched the sound in the system control panel to use the Indigo and then ejected the card. I had to reboot OS-X (10.3.5) in order to get the sound back. I learned to switch back before ejecting the card.

The built-in amplifier is an AD SSM 2135.

http://www.analog.com/UploadedFiles/...2SSM2135_0.pdf

which seems pretty good with higher impedance loads. it drives my HD600 not to the levels of my stationary amp but still higher than I sanely want to listen.

Cheers

Thomas

 

[Romanee]

By the way, regarding price: the review I mentioned indicates "$99" as suggested retail price . . . that's a gross error. It frequently sells for $129 and I've seen it "discounted" for about $170!

I found one site selling it for $100 but it seemed a bit shady. Another is selling it for $119 with FREE shipping (UPS ground):

Echo Indigo (standard) for $119 / FREE shipping:

And of course, you can keep checking ebay on the chance that you find a real "NIB" auction that's not a vendor plug with a "starting bid" equal to the "buy-it-now" vendor price (or vendor's buddies pushing the "bids" to max price).

 

[Romanee]

Thanks Thomas for the fast reply and for the info.

 

[lan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Romanee Jahn: I will try to pick one up at B&H when next they open and bring the TiBook w/K501s to Qualia meet

You must be overworked since I think you were referring to me as Jahn.

Be sure to get some rest before the next Qualia meet

I look forward to hearing the K501 and the Indigo. You should download the latest OSX Sonica drivers here,

http://m-audio.com/images/global/dri....0.3f1.dmg.sit

Let the showdown begin!

 

[Romanee]

[size=medium]Hi, Lan!!![/size] When did you join this thread? (yuk-yuk)

Overworked, crummy respiratory thing . . . just generally crummy . . . Hope I wasn't hallucinating . . . my brain saw "Jahn" - Yikes!!!

Not much hope of rest this weekend. Oh, well.

Thanks also for the DL link. I'll get it now. Z-z-z-z--z.

 

[Romanee]

Howdy, Y'all! First install notes on Echo Indigo.

I installed the Echo Indigo tonight in my Titanium Powerbook G4 (Mac) 1.25Ghz 15.2” -- very simple. Install driver + update, plug card in and play.

It sounds good, but definitely does NOT quite have adequate power for the K501! At max setting you can hear music at decent volume (volume and extension are already improving with only about 9 hours of K501), but there's obviously no headroom for really great performance of the phones. These are new 501s and burn-in just started around midday today, so it'll be many hours before I can tell how much bigger, deeper, fuller, cleaner and more open the sound will get.

I'm using the OSX10.3.5's "iTunes" interface to play CDs and mp3s. I've been trying it with and without the equalizer active, with the EQ at a flat setting +9db to boost gain (for lower level recordings). The equalizer helps with some music, but its degradation of the signal is really apparent on recordings like "Cantate Domino". The voices have obvious distortion and clipping, especially on high/loud notes. Other recordings which have significant bass information clip at the low end.

It will take a good amp to really open up the bottom end. The equalizer cheat does push the bass, but often at significant expense to the sound.

With no EQ, "Cantate Domino" is lucid and ethereal. Even with hardly any burn-in, the spectrum is quite extended. As oft mentioned of the 501, the low frequencies are audible and tight, but need a good amp for real body. Still, on this marvelous recording, the Echo Indigo does convey the huge church space, the beauty of the individual voices and the robust attack of the brass choir. The Echo is much faster, detailed and dynamic -- more full-bodied -- than the Powerbook's built-in sound chip, which is sluggish and muddy (but actually much better than the powerhouse G5 dual 1.8Ghz beast I use at work … horrible sound!) -- especially in low mid to mid bass. The attack and texture are wonderful, with fast decay when needed and smooth decay of echoes and female voiced notes that trail off ever so gently. Pity I don’t have some wonderful phones here to compare!

I haven't seen any detailed notes on the engineering of this disk's fine new release, but with the Echo+501 it sounds like it was remastered from an analog master pressing (or an old master tape) -- I'll have to research that. What seem like subtle pops-and-ticks are sometimes audible, as well as what could be background noise level of either tape or analog disk.

Apologies if my notes are less than scientific or knowledgeable. I’m not a pro critic – just a happy lover of good music.

Yikes! Without EQ a soprano's strong upper note was really raggedly clipped! I'll have to be patient for at least a few days.

 

[Budley007]

Thanks Romanee. Just a little FYI for the folks following this thread: Echo has released some new drivers. Windows is dated 9/17 and OSX is dated 9/10. Here's da linkage...

http://www.echoaudio.com/Downloads/Drivers.php

I've been listening to Indigo>Prehead amp combo for the last few days. Wow! There's some great synergy going on here. I got a quite a bit of hash with the SR225s using the low impedence jack, but the 120 ohm jack had very little noise at all. Great sound.

The DT531s were a different story. No noise whatsoever. The sound was gorgeous. This by far is the best audio I've been able to achieve with existing equipment.

I can only recommend that you audition an amp with the Indigo before you buy. The indigo is, in itself, a very quiet high quality audio product, but with the wrong amp/headphone combination you'll get some very bad hash. With the right combination you can truly "amaze your friends!". The folks here at work still can't believe how good my rig sounds. Unfortunately, for me, I've had very little time to myself because of it.

 

[Romanee]

An important, if redundant reminder to all: Any judgments I make now are really premature due to the BURN-IN curve. Even as I've been listening, the drivers have been loosening up and volume is somewhat improved. BUT the 501 is also tough to drive properly to get the best out of them. Thus my notes are just transitory teasers.

For the curious: I found a brief tech note in the Cantate Domino booklet that the original recording in 1976 was made on a Revox A77 tape deck with two Pearl TC4 mics -- engineer: Bertil Alving (Sweden).

Transfered in 2003 from original analogue tapes using Meitner analogue to digital DSD converter. (Hybrid SACD mastering: Torbjorn Samuelsson.)

So . . . infrequent ticks and background noise may be from old tape. Still juicy sound, tho'. Aside from these few archaic artifacts, "spaces" between the music seem to be "black" and silent, so far.

I didn't realize the 501 starts out really stiff! In just 2 hours last night, the sound level increased noticeably, the overall sound has gotten "bigger", and EQ now sounds great on some recordings (that were clipped and distorted earlier with EQ): Stevie Ray Vaughan - Couldn't Stand The Weather, and Bill Evans - "Waltz For Debby" (the disk that sounded spacious but thin, frizzy and gutless on the Qualia 010 during our 1st rather failed mini-audition - sound great here, but with EQ) -- as does Cantate Domino.

Budley -- Thanks for posting the Echo Audio drivers link. (I did DL & install the latest from the start.) Yes, I expect to audition amps extensively to find one that matches with the Echo Indigo to my liking within budget ... I'm just a hard-working artist. I will endeavor the best, but it seems they're out of my reach for now.

Goodnite (again!).

 

[Romanee]

I'm still burning (in) the Echo Indigo and AKG K501 in the TiBook G4 -- steadily improving. On well-recorded material the sound is much better with NO EQ, any EQ interfering with many components of the sound: complex details, harmonics, overtones, ambience, transparency, dimension.

Some recordings produce too low a signal for any guts and really do need some EQ with this card.

IF ANY Mac Powerbook user is still following this thread: does anyone have any idea how to get the Sound control panel to keep the Echo Indigo as the default output device, rather than defaulting to the internal chip on every startup or restart? I've been searching Apple's "Knowledge" base with no success.

I'll post thorough remarks sometime after this Sunday's "Qualia Mini-Meet" in NYC, where I hope to try some other components with the Echo Indigo (headamps, better phones than the K501, etc.). It may take some time, since my high-pressure/long hours Ad Agency job + family demands keep me pretty well-cooked.

Best Regards.

 

[Budley007]

If you have to EQ for the K501, then I'm guessing that an amp is going to make a world of difference to the sound. I had the same problem with the DT531s out of the Indigo. When I added the amp it was like opening a window at a beach cabin. Instant wind, surf, sun, seagulls...and a few babes.

 

[Romanee]

Ahoy, Budley!!!

Sorry I didn't acknowledge sooner. Soooo busy. The K501 definitely needs a good amp. Only the best recordings generate something approaching big, round, spacious sound -- and only near or at the top volume level . . . leaving no "power headroom" for ease of performance and great sound. (Of course the Echo Indigo is already a huge improvement over the built-in chip.)

Tomorrow's mini-Qualia-round2 promises to be very interesting.

If I get some opportunity, time and space to try some amp(s) with my TiBook/EchoIndigo/K501 -- I wonder which will produce the most " Instant wind, surf, sun, seagulls" and "...a few babes"???

...TO BE CONTINUED.