[whitedragem]

a lot of variables, being TV model (flagship models and good sets do have better handling, generally from power boards and ‘a few variables’ being higher qual), and HDMI is a horrible format re:jitter… etc.
most people will tell you - “no” digital is digital, but the truth is, it ‘can’ matter. (and for those who’ve not heard a difference, ‘good for them’)

I wouldn’t worry about it- its a hornets newt of a question and impractical to worry about…

as someone who loves upgraded TV sound, I have been known, for apartment living, to use ancient flagship surround processors as DAC/preamps to offboard power amps etc.
(in hindsight, most of my ‘spot the difference’ re: cables/digital methods ‘making a difference’, has been when feeding into world class ‘top tier’ kit (a Sansui AU919 into Acoustic Research -LSTs was my default ‘go to’ for a decade+, with that amp in the heart of my system for ‘decades’)
It is expensive maintaining vintage kit, and sometimes apartments don’t need such ‘big’ setups…-
but; I love taking TV output and ‘upgrading’, and have done so countless times.
Judging a TOSLINK cable by thickness isn’t really a definitive test.. if you feel it has been flexed a lot over the years, sure grab a replacement, and ‘true’: glass ’grade’ fibre optic cables are a step up generally, but not always better than well built ‘plastic’ parts… (and lets not argue the semantics of ‘glass’ in a cable…(is it?))..
Whilst upgrading a fibre optic cable would make sense to someone running a ladder dac (r-2R DAC), it isn’t worth putting budget into cables at this level when that coin can go to actual front end kit/speakers (they will make a bigger Sound Quality change),.. cables should be done with hobby money, and when you want ’more’ from a system (and are already familiar with your kit).
What might be a ‘great buy’ would be an iFi AC conditioner part (that can go into existing setup easily), but again, ‘down the track’.
Know your system first.
If it gives you the sound you are seeking, what point would changing a cable even serve, other than being a theoretical improvement.

It is true that some SPDIF transmitters do a VASTLY better job (into reference grade processors (not integrated surround amps) the difference can be night/day (wider soundfield/cleaner steering/imaging etc..)

BTW those shield devices are awesome as is the amazon stick.. you’ve got the goods for getting the best A/V formats: ’nice’.

Seriously- at this point - take a break, pat yourself on the back,.. you’ve got there…

save some coin for a drink or whatever helps you relax, as being relaxed, when listening to audio WILL make a BIG DIFFERENCE to how you hear/‘what you hear’.

With a setup like that, I’d probably feed the shield box, assuming it has a fibre optic output, straight to endpoint, rather than going through TV, but then have the nightmare of potentially more steps involved for ‘regular TV viewing’ (although the HDMI might still feed a duplicate to the TV).
Some TVs can have the screen defeated but remain turned on.. I wouldn’t encourage you to use the TV as a switchbox, but it is easy to do… it comes down to how ‘family friendly’ the setup is…
how many remotes, and how hard to switch to the next use etc..

keeping stuff simple, and having ‘great two channel sound’ is where you are heading to…
If you do have the most budget TV available (ie you bought the biggest set your money could buy, but it required an odd brand name to ‘be the part’) you may wish to try and run straight from devices(shield) etc straight to DAC where possible..
If you DAC has multiple inputs there is a lot of things that can be done here…
and there are always adaptors and dongles and ‘thinking outside the box’; eg I keep an old DAC Magic (cambridge audio) around as it can switch USB to COAX/TosLink (eg useful for PS5)
pretty sure you have a community to raise questions with, and you have figured out how to vocalise your ideas there (here), so ; your future seems golden to me…

cheers.. (ps I have six super high quality Toslink cables in the room with me right now.. , and my best transport has the worst cable on it.. (also the width of a dry spaghetti noodle), and it does its task admirably. - I do do my best to keep it ‘unkinked’.. your astros may not have been so kind,.. but only you know the history… cable damage will still ‘work’ but the bass definition will be somewhat lost, the imaging prowess will be lessened, and depth/stage information will be subpar,.. but >90% of headfi would call bull on this statement (and the soundscience lawyers would demand I give reasons for how this is so) (I have many times, as have many others,.. but lets face it: no one cares)
Headfi is a hobby. You are its’ master, not its slave.
draw a line in the sand an DO NOT CROSS IT. Only way to get out where you still sometimes save for ‘other projects and hobbies’)

 

[pbui44]

Someone just posted the SMSL SU-8S going for $180 on Drop:

https://drop.com/buy/smsl-su-8s-dac

 

[Blue Shark]

Someone just posted the SMSL SU-8S going for $180 on Drop:

https://drop.com/buy/smsl-su-8s-dac

I was going to post about this and ask if it's better than the DO100. It wouldn't ship until August 8th but it's $60 cheaper. Not much info on the specs though. Is it really balanced? Better electronics?

https://www.smsl-audio.com/portal/product/detail/id/753.html

 

[carlcamper]

I was going to post about this and ask if it's better than the DO100. It wouldn't ship until August 8th but it's $60 cheaper. Not much info on the specs though. Is it really balanced? Better electronics?

https://www.smsl-audio.com/portal/product/detail/id/753.html

The DO100 has the newer ESS chip, and has LDAC support, which is better quality than AptX. I don't really need MQA as well, but YMMV

 

[Blue Shark]

a lot of variables, being TV model (flagship models and good sets do have better handling, generally from power boards and ‘a few variables’ being higher qual), and HDMI is a horrible format re:jitter… etc.
most people will tell you - “no” digital is digital, but the truth is, it ‘can’ matter. (and for those who’ve not heard a difference, ‘good for them’)

I wouldn’t worry about it- its a hornets newt of a question and impractical to worry about…

as someone who loves upgraded TV sound, I have been known, for apartment living, to use ancient flagship surround processors as DAC/preamps to offboard power amps etc.
(in hindsight, most of my ‘spot the difference’ re: cables/digital methods ‘making a difference’, has been when feeding into world class ‘top tier’ kit (a Sansui AU919 into Acoustic Research -LSTs was my default ‘go to’ for a decade+, with that amp in the heart of my system for ‘decades’)
It is expensive maintaining vintage kit, and sometimes apartments don’t need such ‘big’ setups…-
but; I love taking TV output and ‘upgrading’, and have done so countless times.
Judging a TOSLINK cable by thickness isn’t really a definitive test.. if you feel it has been flexed a lot over the years, sure grab a replacement, and ‘true’: glass ’grade’ fibre optic cables are a step up generally, but not always better than well built ‘plastic’ parts… (and lets not argue the semantics of ‘glass’ in a cable…(is it?))..
Whilst upgrading a fibre optic cable would make sense to someone running a ladder dac (r-2R DAC), it isn’t worth putting budget into cables at this level when that coin can go to actual front end kit/speakers (they will make a bigger Sound Quality change),.. cables should be done with hobby money, and when you want ’more’ from a system (and are already familiar with your kit).
What might be a ‘great buy’ would be an iFi AC conditioner part (that can go into existing setup easily), but again, ‘down the track’.
Know your system first.
If it gives you the sound you are seeking, what point would changing a cable even serve, other than being a theoretical improvement.

It is true that some SPDIF transmitters do a VASTLY better job (into reference grade processors (not integrated surround amps) the difference can be night/day (wider soundfield/cleaner steering/imaging etc..)

BTW those shield devices are awesome as is the amazon stick.. you’ve got the goods for getting the best A/V formats: ’nice’.

Seriously- at this point - take a break, pat yourself on the back,.. you’ve got there…

save some coin for a drink or whatever helps you relax, as being relaxed, when listening to audio WILL make a BIG DIFFERENCE to how you hear/‘what you hear’.

With a setup like that, I’d probably feed the shield box, assuming it has a fibre optic output, straight to endpoint, rather than going through TV, but then have the nightmare of potentially more steps involved for ‘regular TV viewing’ (although the HDMI might still feed a duplicate to the TV).
Some TVs can have the screen defeated but remain turned on.. I wouldn’t encourage you to use the TV as a switchbox, but it is easy to do… it comes down to how ‘family friendly’ the setup is…
how many remotes, and how hard to switch to the next use etc..

keeping stuff simple, and having ‘great two channel sound’ is where you are heading to…
If you do have the most budget TV available (ie you bought the biggest set your money could buy, but it required an odd brand name to ‘be the part’) you may wish to try and run straight from devices(shield) etc straight to DAC where possible..
If you DAC has multiple inputs there is a lot of things that can be done here…
and there are always adaptors and dongles and ‘thinking outside the box’; eg I keep an old DAC Magic (cambridge audio) around as it can switch USB to COAX/TosLink (eg useful for PS5)
pretty sure you have a community to raise questions with, and you have figured out how to vocalise your ideas there (here), so ; your future seems golden to me…

cheers.. (ps I have six super high quality Toslink cables in the room with me right now.. , and my best transport has the worst cable on it.. (also the width of a dry spaghetti noodle), and it does its task admirably. - I do do my best to keep it ‘unkinked’.. your astros may not have been so kind,.. but only you know the history… cable damage will still ‘work’ but the bass definition will be somewhat lost, the imaging prowess will be lessened, and depth/stage information will be subpar,.. but >90% of headfi would call bull on this statement (and the soundscience lawyers would demand I give reasons for how this is so) (I have many times, as have many others,.. but lets face it: no one cares)
Headfi is a hobby. You are its’ master, not its slave.
draw a line in the sand an DO NOT CROSS IT. Only way to get out where you still sometimes save for ‘other projects and hobbies’)

Thanks again for your thoughtful reply and sharing your wisdom whitedragem. You bring up a lot of great points and you're correct that I should just give what I have a try before tweaking the setup. I have a bad habit of always wanting to eat the elephant whole instead of one bite at a time.

My TV is just a cheapo 1080p insignia. I've thought about going directly from my sources to the DAC like you suggest. Before using the current HDMI switch I was just using a normal HDMI switch. I also remember I have a new in box $4 Aukey 3x1 toslink switch that Amazon was clearing out. Going directly from the shield would be best and I use it 99% of the time anyways.

I will give my toslink cable a try. I don't think it's been abused and no pets here so nothing has chewed on the cable. Unless I've set a component on top of it or it got kinked when moving cables around it should be ok. I just remember I have another cable. I believe it's connected from the PS3 or Xbox One to my receiver. It's a heavier and stiffer cable but it's in a tangle of wires from changing and moving components over the years.

Cheers!

 

[Blue Shark]

The DO100 has the newer ESS chip, and has LDAC support, which is better quality than AptX. I don't really need MQA as well, but YMMV

Thank you carlcamper. Sounds like we've made the better choice with the DO100.

 

[Blue Shark]

The amp arrived yesterday so I was able to listen to the DAC and AMP last night. I was really tired but here are my first thoughts. I did seem to notice a cleaner sound. I also don't think I was reaching for the volume control like with my last setup. I didn't need to go past 9 o'clock on low gain. At times I felt like there was more volume in the right ear so I guess that would be channel imbalance but like I said I was tired. The bluetooth was simple to set up and my phone does have LDAC. The DAC display shows 48 all the time when I'm not in the menu. I have no idea what it represents and the manual does not mention its function. It shouldn't be the volume since it's at 99 when I press the volume up button. Lastly the FN (function) button also turns the power off like the power button which is weird.

1. Is it ok to leave the DAC plugged into the wall and just shut it off with the remote or should I unplug it when not in use?

2. Is it best to unplug the Magnius when not in use or flip the power switch?

3. I bought a pair of Sundara headphones. Any suggestions for balanced cables (4 pin XLR to 2 x 3.5mm)? I really don't want to pay a fortune since I feel like I may be able to make them myself since I have a soldering station. Either way can you point me in the right direction please?

 

[whitedragem]

The amp arrived yesterday so I was able to listen to the DAC and AMP last night. I was really tired but here are my first thoughts. I did seem to notice a cleaner sound. I also don't think I was reaching for the volume control like with my last setup. I didn't need to go past 9 o'clock on low gain. At times I felt like there was more volume in the right ear so I guess that would be channel imbalance but like I said I was tired. The bluetooth was simple to set up and my phone does have LDAC. The DAC display shows 48 all the time when I'm not in the menu. I have no idea what it represents and the manual does not mention its function. It shouldn't be the volume since it's at 99 when I press the volume up button. Lastly the FN (function) button also turns the power off like the power button which is weird.

1. Is it ok to leave the DAC plugged into the wall and just shut it off with the remote or should I unplug it when not in use?

2. Is it best to unplug the Magnius when not in use or flip the power switch?

3. I bought a pair of Sundara headphones. Any suggestions for balanced cables (4 pin XLR to 2 x 3.5mm)? I really don't want to pay a fortune since I feel like I may be able to make them myself since I have a soldering station. Either way can you point me in the right direction please?

thinking our head-fi trades section will have the cables you need (i believe I saw some very affordable sets go up,yesterday, one that suits your needs included)
the ‘48’ is the sampling rate…
given it is like;y you are playing back 44khz files you may wish to check (and lock) the output from your source to 44khz.. (unless you are playing back 48khz, but that is a much rarer sampling rate for audio -DVDs used it, so ’sure’ there IS music at 48khz, (and I see reviewers list a few test tracks they use that are @48khz), but where possible you want bitperfect, rather than dithering in10% extra samples -that are not there, and create stepping artefacts- an unsmooth way to hear music…
when I first listen to kit, connected to a windows pc, I go into the sound control panel and change (lock) the output sampling rate to 44khz.. if Imcan hear a difference between that and 48khz, then I inow the kit is at least good enough to consider… some kit, changing between 44 and 48 equals ‘exactly the same sound’ to me, at which point I need to dig a little further as to what might be up.
cymbal hits and their decay are an obvious place to spot audible differences; when ‘dithering’ (bad upsampling) the metallic sound is lost somewhat… it is a night/day difference once ears are trained for this..
problem with locking windoze pc output to 44khz is, of course, not all your sources will be redbook ‘CD’ sound…
if you are using playback software that shows the sampling rate of the playback file, this may help you on this journey…
generally we want a match between output sampling rate (and source file) and what your DAC is playing back.

this isn’t really a guide, better ‘everyday’ setup is to have PC output set to max/equal to DACs upper sampling rates and use audio software that enforces a bitperfect output, so no matter what you spin, the DAC gets exactly what it should,.. upsampling to neat multiples (eg 44khz @ 88 khz, or 176khz) doesn’t introduce unsmooth steppings, and generally sounds as good as playing at the original sample rate.. but there are ‘a lot of aspects here to talk about, and I reckon you’d rather just enjoy some music….
(i just wanted to field your question regarding what the 48 might represent)

oops; just dawned on me that you are likely using bluetooth in, hence the 48khz sample rate.
I unlock developers options on my android phones, then under dev options screen we can lock bluetooth to 44khz. (i do so when using LDAC especially)

 

[pbui44]

The amp arrived yesterday so I was able to listen to the DAC and AMP last night. I was really tired but here are my first thoughts. I did seem to notice a cleaner sound. I also don't think I was reaching for the volume control like with my last setup. I didn't need to go past 9 o'clock on low gain. At times I felt like there was more volume in the right ear so I guess that would be channel imbalance but like I said I was tired. The bluetooth was simple to set up and my phone does have LDAC. The DAC display shows 48 all the time when I'm not in the menu. I have no idea what it represents and the manual does not mention its function. It shouldn't be the volume since it's at 99 when I press the volume up button. Lastly the FN (function) button also turns the power off like the power button which is weird.

1. Is it ok to leave the DAC plugged into the wall and just shut it off with the remote or should I unplug it when not in use?

2. Is it best to unplug the Magnius when not in use or flip the power switch?

3. I bought a pair of Sundara headphones. Any suggestions for balanced cables (4 pin XLR to 2 x 3.5mm)? I really don't want to pay a fortune since I feel like I may be able to make them myself since I have a soldering station. Either way can you point me in the right direction please?

1.) Yes, that is fine. However, you should e-mail the company and ask them about the price of a replacement remote, just in case a button shorts out down the road.

2.) You can just flip the power switch off and it will not draw out nearly any noticeable power when off. I have owned a Schitt Asgard before and just flipping the power switch in the back and the amp is turned off.

3.) Here are some highly-rated xlr cables for your Sundara and if you don't have prime, then just add some guilt-free turkey sticks or 5' roll of soldering wick for free shipping :

https://www.amazon.com/Youkamoo-Bal...LF36XD2/ref=pd_lpo_1?pd_rd_i=B08LF36XD2&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Old-Wisconsi...05-aef5-9a4e20a6606d&pd_rd_i=B076PN98S8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/MG-Chemicals...&s=hi&sprefix=solder+wick,aps,159&sr=1-2&th=1

 

[Blue Shark]

thinking our head-fi trades section will have the cables you need (i believe I saw some very affordable sets go up,yesterday, one that suits your needs included)
the ‘48’ is the sampling rate…
given it is like;y you are playing back 44khz files you may wish to check (and lock) the output from your source to 44khz.. (unless you are playing back 48khz, but that is a much rarer sampling rate for audio -DVDs used it, so ’sure’ there IS music at 48khz, (and I see reviewers list a few test tracks they use that are @48khz), but where possible you want bitperfect, rather than dithering in10% extra samples -that are not there, and create stepping artefacts- an unsmooth way to hear music…
when I first listen to kit, connected to a windows pc, I go into the sound control panel and change (lock) the output sampling rate to 44khz.. if Imcan hear a difference between that and 48khz, then I inow the kit is at least good enough to consider… some kit, changing between 44 and 48 equals ‘exactly the same sound’ to me, at which point I need to dig a little further as to what might be up.
cymbal hits and their decay are an obvious place to spot audible differences; when ‘dithering’ (bad upsampling) the metallic sound is lost somewhat… it is a night/day difference once ears are trained for this..
problem with locking windoze pc output to 44khz is, of course, not all your sources will be redbook ‘CD’ sound…
if you are using playback software that shows the sampling rate of the playback file, this may help you on this journey…
generally we want a match between output sampling rate (and source file) and what your DAC is playing back.

this isn’t really a guide, better ‘everyday’ setup is to have PC output set to max/equal to DACs upper sampling rates and use audio software that enforces a bitperfect output, so no matter what you spin, the DAC gets exactly what it should,.. upsampling to neat multiples (eg 44khz @ 88 khz, or 176khz) doesn’t introduce unsmooth steppings, and generally sounds as good as playing at the original sample rate.. but there are ‘a lot of aspects here to talk about, and I reckon you’d rather just enjoy some music….
(i just wanted to field your question regarding what the 48 might represent)

oops; just dawned on me that you are likely using bluetooth in, hence the 48khz sample rate.
I unlock developers options on my android phones, then under dev options screen we can lock bluetooth to 44khz. (i do so when using LDAC especially)

Thanks for your advice and thanks for potentially explaining what the 48 means. It was starting to drive me crazy not knowing what it was. Remember for now I'm using my DAC and amp with my tv. For now my sources are plugged into an HDMI switch (that I'm sure has some sort of audio settings) and its connected to my TV via HDMI and then Toslink out to my DAC. The only digital audio settings on my TV are PCM and pass thru and right now it's set to PCM. I've got a mess since my Shield has audio settings, HDMI has audio settings and my TV has 2 audio settings. My shield does have USB and it can be hooked to a DAC but not sure if I can use it with my powered DAC or if it can only be used with a DAC that needs USB power. https://support-shield.nvidia.com/shield-tv-user-guide/#t=USB_Audio_Setup.htm

Most the time I'm using the Shield as my source so if I can hook it to the DAC via usb I will do so if it means better audio. I just want to be 100% sure it can be safely connected to the DAC though since my DAC has its own power source.

I only wanted the bluetooth for convenience because I sit a bit too far away for a long USB cable to be run to my phone. I do see the bluetooth audio sampling rate in Developer options along with a handful of other bluetooth settings.

1.) Yes, that is fine. However, you should e-mail the company and ask them about the price of a replacement remote, just in case a button shorts out down the road.

2.) You can just flip the power switch off and it will not draw out nearly any noticeable power when off. I have owned a Schitt Asgard before and just flipping the power switch in the back and the amp is turned off.

3.) Here are some highly-rated xlr cables for your Sundara and if you don't have prime, then just add some guilt-free turkey sticks or 5' roll of soldering wick for free shipping :

https://www.amazon.com/Youkamoo-Bal...LF36XD2/ref=pd_lpo_1?pd_rd_i=B08LF36XD2&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Old-Wisconsi...05-aef5-9a4e20a6606d&pd_rd_i=B076PN98S8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/MG-Chemicals-Desoldering-Braid-Length/dp/B008O9VLA2/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1IAYWR6CBTMI2&keywords=solder+wick&qid=1656122262&refinements=p_72:1248909011&rnid=1248907011&s=hi&sprefix=solder+wick,aps,159&sr=1-2&th=1

Thanks for the links and help. I saw those cables last night but I'm a bit suspicious of their quality. I usually take most reviews with a grain of salt but the critical reviews about the sound is a bit concerning. The bad thing is the next price category up (+$40 cables) have even worse ratings. I haven't researched and priced decent connectors and wires but I would rather try to make my own cable rather than spend $45 on a bad sounding cable. Then again my only experienc with soldering was in the past and with connectors on RC electronic speed controllers and lipo batteries.

I just found moon-audio and apparently they have 4 different types of cables and each is different sounding. I wouldn't have the faintness idea of how they make that happen unless it's with less resistant / better connectors and/or wires. Either way I'm not spending $400 for cables lol.

 

[carlcamper]

The amp arrived yesterday so I was able to listen to the DAC and AMP last night. I was really tired but here are my first thoughts. I did seem to notice a cleaner sound. I also don't think I was reaching for the volume control like with my last setup. I didn't need to go past 9 o'clock on low gain. At times I felt like there was more volume in the right ear so I guess that would be channel imbalance but like I said I was tired. The bluetooth was simple to set up and my phone does have LDAC. The DAC display shows 48 all the time when I'm not in the menu. I have no idea what it represents and the manual does not mention its function. It shouldn't be the volume since it's at 99 when I press the volume up button. Lastly the FN (function) button also turns the power off like the power button which is weird.

1. Is it ok to leave the DAC plugged into the wall and just shut it off with the remote or should I unplug it when not in use?

2. Is it best to unplug the Magnius when not in use or flip the power switch?

3. I bought a pair of Sundara headphones. Any suggestions for balanced cables (4 pin XLR to 2 x 3.5mm)? I really don't want to pay a fortune since I feel like I may be able to make them myself since I have a soldering station. Either way can you point me in the right direction please?

I was afraid you might experience channel imbalance on the Magnius, as I did on my Heresy. I was going to offer you my Sabaj A20h and Gustard H16 since I'm upgrading to a Topping A90 Discrete , but it seems you are based in the US. As for balanced cables, I went for the cheap ones in aliexpress for my HE400SE, no issues so far I also leave everything on, and haven't had issues so far.

 

[whitedragem]

Thanks for your advice and thanks for potentially explaining what the 48 means. It was starting to drive me crazy not knowing what it was. Remember for now I'm using my DAC and amp with my tv. For now my sources are plugged into an HDMI switch (that I'm sure has some sort of audio settings) and its connected to my TV via HDMI and then Toslink out to my DAC. The only digital audio settings on my TV are PCM and pass thru and right now it's set to PCM. I've got a mess since my Shield has audio settings, HDMI has audio settings and my TV has 2 audio settings. My shield does have USB and it can be hooked to a DAC but not sure if I can use it with my powered DAC or if it can only be used with a DAC that needs USB power. https://support-shield.nvidia.com/shield-tv-user-guide/#t=USB_Audio_Setup.htm

Most the time I'm using the Shield as my source so if I can hook it to the DAC via usb I will do so if it means better audio. I just want to be 100% sure it can be safely connected to the DAC though since my DAC has its own power source.

I only wanted the bluetooth for convenience because I sit a bit too far away for a long USB cable to be run to my phone. I do see the bluetooth audio sampling rate in Developer options along with a handful of other bluetooth settings.


Thanks for the links and help. I saw those cables last night but I'm a bit suspicious of their quality. I usually take most reviews with a grain of salt but the critical reviews about the sound is a bit concerning. The bad thing is the next price category up (+$40 cables) have even worse ratings. I haven't researched and priced decent connectors and wires but I would rather try to make my own cable rather than spend $45 on a bad sounding cable. Then again my only experienc with soldering was in the past and with connectors on RC electronic speed controllers and lipo batteries.

I just found moon-audio and apparently they have 4 different types of cables and each is different sounding. I wouldn't have the faintness idea of how they make that happen unless it's with less resistant / better connectors and/or wires. Either way I'm not spending $400 for cables lol.

first: dealing with ‘elephant in the room’; cables CAN make audible changes to a setup, but are the LAST thing to concern yourself with.
Reviews being positive on cheap audio cables is ‘they support the budget (and belief) of EVERYONE buying them’; very easy to get ‘5 star ratings’..
The problem with going up market is that people who actually test and use cables (for sound altering/‘tweaking’) will have an opinion and bias will easily (as well as real world testing) make for some users giving ‘less ratings’,.. even if the cables are ‘heads and shoulders better than the lower tiered stuff.

For now, and ‘based on your setup’ the notion of playing with cables, beyond ‘what works‘ (ie ‘just about anything’) is a waste of time and effort.
If you wish to build your own, I’d suggest going down that path:
two things then happen-
a) feel good factor (knowing you beat the best price to performance ratio possible)
b) no one can have an opinion on ‘your setup’ (get out while you still can! - tongue planted firmly in cheek here..)

With regards to audio to your powered DAC- absolutely you can go from Shield straight there.. as can the fibre optic output (depends on Shield device I suppose)..

The TV settings allowing “pass thru”, means ‘unaltered’, which might have dolby digital attempt to pass through eg from netflix.. which your DAC wouldn’t decode,.. might make spurious noise…
I’d go from your TOSLINK splitter box and set the shield to appropriate settings,.. if you know you are only playing back ‘cd quality’ ie ‘redbook’ sound; 16bit (or can be set to 24/32 bit) sound @ 44khz sample rate.. otherwise if your source files are ‘all over the place’, set to 192khz, and let it output that way.. ideally find a music player that enforces output at correct format, OR do some DSD conversion using an appropriate app perhaps..

You’ve got this.. slow down (SERIOUSLY) -relax- music sounds better when relaxed…
you could play music via HDMI and the wrong sampling rates selected (and not even multiples of the source file, eg 48khz output for 44khz files) and it WILL STILL SOUND BETTER IF YOU ARE RELAXED.

Enjoy this setup..
please.

As an example, my best DAC requires bouncing through another preamp (due to cable config) and that output box WILL NOT play well withy my hifi kit.. this morning when I started having issues, I simply took a digital cable from my CD player, ran it straight from my music player, I had to give up all upsampling processing when doing this as ‘the other DAC’ will not speak via COAX the ‘DSD format’, and the other DAC (a fair bit older), is now my source.
I am relaxed with this ‘downgrade’ and the music sounds phenominal.

Or I could still be playing with cables, getting frustrated, worrying about ‘future setup and compatibility’ etc.. and NOT ENJOYING my music…

now if I take a step back,“why did I turn my music setup on this morning”? (was it to get frustrated and caught up with semantics? -NO)
I turned it on this morning to enjoy music..
so my HDCD recordings are NOT playing back through my HDCD sources (I have given up on 20bit sound quality and the nice pacific macrosonics filters), and I have given up on my best DAC, and I have forgone my better cables and …..
WE could argue I have ‘given up‘ all sorts of things///
reality is… “music sounds good”:I am enjoying the music.

please consider…

 

[doesthislookinfected]

Go "Schiity" and get the modi/magni combo. Great secondary market when you upgrade (if at all) and the specs are as good as you can get at that price. Enjoy!

 

[Blue Shark]

Please pardon the late reply. I wanted to take a step back and spend some time with the equipment. I also picked up a set of 6XX and they are really enjoyable with everything I listen to. They are great for movies, tv and music. I have never used IEMS so I have a set of Moondrop Starfield and Etymotic Research ER3XR on the way. I also got out my small collection of cd's and I'm ripping them to flac.

I was afraid you might experience channel imbalance on the Magnius, as I did on my Heresy. I was going to offer you my Sabaj A20h and Gustard H16 since I'm upgrading to a Topping A90 Discrete , but it seems you are based in the US. As for balanced cables, I went for the cheap ones in aliexpress for my HE400SE, no issues so far I also leave everything on, and haven't had issues so far.

First of all thank you for your reply and generous offer. It was very kind of you. After spending some more time with the Magnius I think it was the youtube music I was listening to that sounded unbalanced. I think the amp is fairly balanced except at maybe the lowest of volume settings. It's supposed to have a decent potentiometer which should help. Since getting the better headphones, amp and dac I have noticed that I don't like music with dominate right ear instrument/s. It's much more pleasing when the dominate sound/s are in my left ear.

first: dealing with ‘elephant in the room’; cables CAN make audible changes to a setup, but are the LAST thing to concern yourself with.
Reviews being positive on cheap audio cables is ‘they support the budget (and belief) of EVERYONE buying them’; very easy to get ‘5 star ratings’..
The problem with going up market is that people who actually test and use cables (for sound altering/‘tweaking’) will have an opinion and bias will easily (as well as real world testing) make for some users giving ‘less ratings’,.. even if the cables are ‘heads and shoulders better than the lower tiered stuff.

For now, and ‘based on your setup’ the notion of playing with cables, beyond ‘what works‘ (ie ‘just about anything’) is a waste of time and effort.
If you wish to build your own, I’d suggest going down that path:
two things then happen-
a) feel good factor (knowing you beat the best price to performance ratio possible)
b) no one can have an opinion on ‘your setup’ (get out while you still can! - tongue planted firmly in cheek here..)

With regards to audio to your powered DAC- absolutely you can go from Shield straight there.. as can the fibre optic output (depends on Shield device I suppose)..

The TV settings allowing “pass thru”, means ‘unaltered’, which might have dolby digital attempt to pass through eg from netflix.. which your DAC wouldn’t decode,.. might make spurious noise…
I’d go from your TOSLINK splitter box and set the shield to appropriate settings,.. if you know you are only playing back ‘cd quality’ ie ‘redbook’ sound; 16bit (or can be set to 24/32 bit) sound @ 44khz sample rate.. otherwise if your source files are ‘all over the place’, set to 192khz, and let it output that way.. ideally find a music player that enforces output at correct format, OR do some DSD conversion using an appropriate app perhaps..

You’ve got this.. slow down (SERIOUSLY) -relax- music sounds better when relaxed…
you could play music via HDMI and the wrong sampling rates selected (and not even multiples of the source file, eg 48khz output for 44khz files) and it WILL STILL SOUND BETTER IF YOU ARE RELAXED.

Enjoy this setup..
please.

As an example, my best DAC requires bouncing through another preamp (due to cable config) and that output box WILL NOT play well withy my hifi kit.. this morning when I started having issues, I simply took a digital cable from my CD player, ran it straight from my music player, I had to give up all upsampling processing when doing this as ‘the other DAC’ will not speak via COAX the ‘DSD format’, and the other DAC (a fair bit older), is now my source.
I am relaxed with this ‘downgrade’ and the music sounds phenominal.

Or I could still be playing with cables, getting frustrated, worrying about ‘future setup and compatibility’ etc.. and NOT ENJOYING my music…

now if I take a step back,“why did I turn my music setup on this morning”? (was it to get frustrated and caught up with semantics? -NO)
I turned it on this morning to enjoy music..
so my HDCD recordings are NOT playing back through my HDCD sources (I have given up on 20bit sound quality and the nice pacific macrosonics filters), and I have given up on my best DAC, and I have forgone my better cables and …..
WE could argue I have ‘given up‘ all sorts of things///
reality is… “music sounds good”:I am enjoying the music.

please consider…

Regarding the cables. I've been looking at the Hart audio cables and I like the idea of their system. I do plan on swaping headphones often so putting the wear and tear on an interconnect rather than the amps 4 pin xlr ouput sounds like a good idea in theory.

I've been playing around with the amp's low gain and high gain settings and they sound fairly different depending on which headphone I'm using. With some headphones I would like to combine the sound of two gain settings. Otherwise low gain sounds best. High gain seems to work better with the Sundara and 6XX which I guess makes sense. All this makes me wonder what the balanced output sounds like especially since I've haven't heard many good things about the SE output of the Magnius.

I finally connected the DAC to the shield with a USB cable and the DAC now shows 96khz instead of the 48khz when I was using toslink from the tv.

I've also been trying to listen to more music. I find myself listening to music I normally would not listen to. Many of the songs I normally like are now hard to listen to because of poor mp3 quality, instrument distortion, over-powering drums, and bad mixing. The headphones and stack are also pretty darn revealing. With that said there have been a couple of times when the dac, amp, cables and headphones disappeared and was the inner self listening directly to the music. <big smiley face> This was despite the fact I was listening to Amazon Prime non-HD music.

 

[whitedragem]

Please pardon the late reply. I wanted to take a step back and spend some time with the equipment. I also picked up a set of 6XX and they are really enjoyable with everything I listen to. They are great for movies, tv and music. I have never used IEMS so I have a set of Moondrop Starfield and Etymotic Research ER3XR on the way. I also got out my small collection of cd's and I'm ripping them to flac.


First of all thank you for your reply and generous offer. It was very kind of you. After spending some more time with the Magnius I think it was the youtube music I was listening to that sounded unbalanced. I think the amp is fairly balanced except at maybe the lowest of volume settings. It's supposed to have a decent potentiometer which should help. Since getting the better headphones, amp and dac I have noticed that I don't like music with dominate right ear instrument/s. It's much more pleasing when the dominate sound/s are in my left ear.


Regarding the cables. I've been looking at the Hart audio cables and I like the idea of their system. I do plan on swaping headphones often so putting the wear and tear on an interconnect rather than the amps 4 pin xlr ouput sounds like a good idea in theory.

I've been playing around with the amp's low gain and high gain settings and they sound fairly different depending on which headphone I'm using. With some headphones I would like to combine the sound of two gain settings. Otherwise low gain sounds best. High gain seems to work better with the Sundara and 6XX which I guess makes sense. All this makes me wonder what the balanced output sounds like especially since I've haven't heard many good things about the SE output of the Magnius.

I finally connected the DAC to the shield with a USB cable and the DAC now shows 96khz instead of the 48khz when I was using toslink from the tv.

I've also been trying to listen to more music. I find myself listening to music I normally would not listen to. Many of the songs I normally like are now hard to listen to because of poor mp3 quality, instrument distortion, over-powering drums, and bad mixing. The headphones and stack are also pretty darn revealing. With that said there have been a couple of times when the dac, amp, cables and headphones disappeared and was the inner self listening directly to the music. <big smiley face> This was despite the fact I was listening to Amazon Prime non-HD music.

“I wanted to take a step back and spend time with/‘enjoy’ the equipment…..”
Yep

Do not underestimate the power of this statement…
This is crucial.
Kinda the ‘why’ of being apart of head-fi (either casually reading OR with an active membership!).

I’d say ‘don’t get worried too much about ‘hi res’ (it limits your collection too much, and can be disconcerting to swap too and fro (between ‘CD’ and ‘super’ formats), but likely spot on with regards to how some of your low res collection makes you feel…
With regards to youtube music, I am not sure about the quality to be found there… (and I am a believer of some incredible DACs making ‘mp3s’ sound ‘pretty good’); I recorded a music sample yesterday, at a soundbit rate that was uncompressed and about 33% higher than ‘CD quality’, and upon monitoring it late last night, it was not of a quality level that I had hoped to achieve…(more ‘my error’ than youtube,.), but, it did sound ‘decent’ (enough) and I could see a situation where I would actually use chewyyoube for music source.. (after all- the music is the pursuit).. and a catalogue of choice is going to be better than playing ‘one song on repeat’ (for ’me’ anyhow…)

But I would certainly agree that once one has a high end REVEALING setup, some of the previous sources become ‘unlistenable’. (not really, but , I understand what you are saying…when describing ‘the pain’)

By the time my child was eight-ten years of age, their ability to spot ‘poor compression quality’ (squished dynamic range) and LOW BITRATE sound files was ‘pretty good’. (dynamically reduced sources around eight, ‘low bitrate’ around ten years of age)- as a family we skip some Prime TV series/shows if they have atrociously ‘over compressed’ soundtracks. (never had a problem with ANYTHING on Netflix, so take from that what you may)

But yes… those noise artifacts that plague sub 200kbps files (more so 160kbps and below) get to be horrific via nice setups.. (320 bitrates and ‘better codecs’ can at least keep the music alright, and, if played in the car/noisy environment, not really so much of an issue… but ‘critically listening’ ?- Yes - your hearing IS performing for you admirably.. (grins.gif)

Generally CD files (non ‘hi res’) are transparent enough, but it just about always falls on the mastering process.. -although GOLD discs have greater readability (with CDs the ‘extra reflectivity’ lowered the read error rate significantly- I used to always use the gold discs to sell ‘budget’ hifi systems cause the improved BASS response would always get customers grinning).. (gold DVDs are meaningless except for potential archival life, the wavelength/pickup of DVDs doesn’t benefit from the Gold surface (actually ‘worse’ for their readability)).

But a lot of this comes to owning a nice revealing setup…
hearing that ‘left side’ orientation dynamics don’t make your eyes water got me thinking creatively… (I’d encourage a music player with left /right multiband re-equalisation that allows you to ‘tailor down’ down some the offending frequencies!)
I use ‘HF Player‘ (android) although have never used one of its ‘best features’ (the re-equaliser- exceptionally ‘well done’), and I cannot confirm if it has independent Left and Right channels configuration. but regarding your Steam box, I am guessing you are using ‘PC based‘ audio sources..?


If it is running Windows, it might pay dividends to sort out the software volume mixer to ‘get out of the way’; presently your CD files (16bit @44khz sampling rate) will be upsampled to a ‘non even multiple’ of their base sampling rate- this creates ‘stepping artifacts’ where the samples become ‘less smooth’ - I can pick it in a heartbeat (generally ‘cymbal crashes and their ‘nice metallic sound’ suffer pretty badly, and the higher frequencies can reveal the issues ‘quickly’), and if the equipment I am using doesn’t have CD files (‘redbook audio’ as the industry refers to them) sound ‘different’ at 44khz or 48khz (and its’ multiples, including ‘96khz and 192khz’ etc) I move on from that equipment quickly as I have come to learn that not being able to reveal dithering artifacts in ‘upsampling’ is always a feature of the lowest calibre of kit- basically equipment that serves no purpose in a ‘high fidelity’ audio system.


badically this is me just rapping with you re: your new found passion- a nice revealing stack that actually has you wanting to sort your music catalogue by ‘file quality’ (grins)..
Yes, “one of us” (once a user experiences this stuff, no longer has the ‘ignorance is bliss’ to fall back on)..
I’d still choose to listen to great music through a poor stereo rather than crap music through a fantastic stereo, so just make sure you have some music to enjoy.
I love ’thrift stores and opportunity shops’ for $1 ‘rare’ music CDs.. generally from a catalogue of 200 discs, I will find 10-15 I WANT to purchase, and then , at the counter, three or more of them will be in perfect condition (this can be genre dependant, classical music discs are mostly flawless, but gangsta rap ‘not so much’; interesting take on use scenarios and age brackets of the users is worthy of a contemplation here perhaps).. but for $1 a disc, I will buy 10-20% of my catalogue from ‘random artists’ based on album and song titles and artwork etc.. (and engineering team/studio recorded at/‘label’ etc)..
Buying a small part of my catalogue ’blind’ over the decades has led to some wonderfull finds, and for $1 a disc the ‘risk’ is essentially nil, with the exception of the BURDEN of storing them..
Of course, ripping them all as lossless audio barely takes up any significant space.. (Twelve years ago I ripped a 1500 disc catalogue as lossless audio and it was about 330Gigabytes, which is an affordable Micro SD card ‘nowadays’- and ‘vs walking around with a ten-twenty disc CD wallet’, with a discman, or ‘tapes’, modern audio foolz have it ‘soo easy’)
Of course a subscription service opens the doorway to a near infinite catalogue at ones’ fingertips… (and as you mentioned ‘youtube’ etc)

NOW- With regards to cables;
IF you have found a cable system that allows switching cable adaptors/‘ends’ to be compatible with everything AND remove ‘wear and tear’ on associated equipment- excellent!!
For MMCX connectors -this would be sought for by quite a few peeps I would imagine,.. although with regards to those XLR connectors, probably ‘not so much’ (XLR is an industry format designed for reliability and use by a range of people- to me it seems ‘unkillable’).

I did notice that ALO cables seemed to make a noticable RELIABLE improvement to the sound quality, and I’d always trust a Nordost cable (but do not always have the budget for them!).
Cryogenic cables seem to be given a process that takes away the need to have the cable in use over the last few weeks for it to have its’ “better sound”, and this might be why I find some cables in the stores to be practical (ie ‘audible differences’, ‘for the better’ vs stock cables), and others, when given a brief sampling, do nothing…

But this comes down to the #1 point I read in your post above; being ‘relaxed’ and in ‘the right state of mind’ to appreciate music/sound.
If we are stressed ‘at all’ our ability to perceive audio does drop off quite noticeably (well ‘not really noticably’, our minds being ‘somewhere else’), and is why I cannot fathom how some youchewbe personalities will review headphones ‘on air’ and using ‘random audio files’.. (neither being very useful to garner an opinion regarding equipment, being ‘my opinion’)

Not trying to pick on reviewers who put themselves in front of a camera.. just acknowledging aspects of audio that are not always considered… and ‘being relaxed’ /in the right state of mind is certainly a thing, and is why taking home a little brew (be it beer or liquor etc) is something I sometimes do when installing a ‘long sought out piece of kit’ as part of the sillybration (celebratory) process. I wouldn‘t review kit when ‘under the influence’ perhaps (too scientific a process to follow, I find it ‘tedious’).. but when I am pitting two pieces of kit against each other, I would certainly spend at least one session with it ‘inebriated’ so as to appreciate aspects of what it does… (I must be a ‘cheery drunk’, as I seem to be only filled with positive reflection in such moments).

The benfits of Balanced mode vs ‘single ended‘ (SE) mode, to me at least, comes down to a doubling of the slew rate when using balanced mode. (having experience with a few super high slew rate amplfiers; they absolutely bring a liquidity to the sound).. otherwise, I’d encourage using whichever works for you, and as you have already experienced, some perceivable sound cues/differences can be associated with various gain modes- whilst some gain modes can be destructive (a little) to the sound quality, this is just as likely (/more likely) an impedance effect that the ‘audio circuit’ (/headphones AND amp combined) exhibits.
I have had this for a year plus with an iFi Diablo, and the differences between Normal/High (and ‘Eco’) modes is very noticable with some low ohm headphones in particular.
Most people noticing the audible differences ALSO seem to be running low ohm headphones, so whether this is a thing (and is amp and headphone dependant, no advice I can give) for you, I have faith that such observations are not ‘in a users head’. (OK they ARE ‘in the head’ but only cause that is where our ear canals feed to…)

I believe the trick IS to have the equipment disappear and to just enjoy the music as intended.
Always made me laugh that one of my favourite alternate bands in the 90’s really didn’t like the mastering on their second album, whilst I was LOVING IT.
joy with you as you continue your time being apart of ‘head-fi’.
~smiles