[sabeking]

Good conversation going on here. Thanks for the ideas. If I want to get a different CD player (for bigger sound) and don't want to spend a ton of money; what should I look for? Used market is definitely preferred.

Thanks,

Stacey

 

[catscratch]

I'd say that you should go to a hi-fi store and see if you can audition different CD players and DACs, or whatever they have on hand. If you mean portable CD players - then I think you're SOL, unless you go vintage. Today's CD players are basically junk sonically compared to vintage PCDPs of old - but vintage PCDPs are notoriously fragile and unreliable, and can be very expensive, if you get the known quality ones. I lucked out with my Fisher; it's still going fine 16 years after I bought it, but I have two D311s which I paid out the *** for and they both broke within a month. They did sound nice, though

If you can find a Kenwood HD30GB9 for a good price (check European stores rather than going through Japanese grey-market importers which will charge you an arm and a leg), then go for it - it's a seriously good sounding DAP that works quite well with the SR-001. Just don't pay an arm and a leg for one - which you will, if Audiocubes is the only place you can find one.

Otherwise, just audition whatever you can get your hands on, and see how it goes. The SR-001 is notoriously revealing, but it also has a somewhat quirky personality, in that it will synergize with the strangest things, and then sound like crap with some quality gear. You'll know when you have the synergy right.

 

[Faust2D]

I sounds great with my Sony D-EJ01, so so with X5 and very strange with Vibez. Go figure.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by catscratch /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ack, don't use the MicroDAC with the SR-001, unless you absolutely positively hate soundstage. If you want everything to sound like it's coming straight from the center of your head with little depth or layering, then go ahead. I had very good results with the Kenwood HD20GA7 DAP, as well as Sony D311 and Fisher PCD5400 PCDPs. Both gave the system a good tonal balance and a very wide soundstage (for a portable), with the Sony being more detailed but the Fisher being more dynamic, while the Kenwood had a massive soundstage and a very warm, romantic tone. The X5 just sounds flat - little stage and compressed dynamic range. My trusty Rega Planet 2000 sounds pretty lousy with the system as well - not enough stage, too much roll off at both ends, and a midrange that's too thick and congested. Experimentation will be the way to go here. I think you need to audition a lot of sources and DAPs if you can. When you do find something that works right, the SR-001 will far outshine the E500 or the UM2 or any similar universal-fit IEMs. But, you have to get the synergy right. I gave mine up due to comfort and portability issues. Well, that, and the fact that I broke it

So far, my favorite source with the SR-001 is now the iMod with portable v-cap dock (with the barqy made silver LOD and mini-mini).

But, I am not hearing a soundstage problem with the Micro DAC when used with optical out from the iRiver and the Sony PCDP.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Take a look at the vintage Sony D-5 I have for sale in my sig? However, it is only portable if you build a 6 c-cell external 9v battery pack. I used it as my bedside rig for a while, and it drives HD600 and Grado RS-2 with authority from headphone out.

For SR-001 you can plug a mini-mini from the line out into the SR-001, and it sounds great. This is the bedside setup that I used until I went to an optical out vintage PCDP with iBasso D1 DAC, and everyone still laughed at me till I bought a full size Marantz

 

[catscratch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif So far, my favorite source with the SR-001 is now the iMod with portable v-cap dock (with the barqy made silver LOD and mini-mini). But, I am not hearing a soundstage problem with the Micro DAC when used with optical out from the iRiver and the Sony PCDP.

Well, it depends on what you compare it to. I used a H120 --> MicroDAC and Sony D-NE920 --> MicroDAC rig, and the soundstage was certainly on par with a Grado SR-60 or an Ety ER-4P (though the imaging was hazier) but it was nowhere near the soundstage I got with my Fisher or my Kenwood. There, it wasn't quite on par with the SR-404 but it was easily on par with the K340 in size, if not in imaging.

It could also be the recordings I used. The SR-001 really does not impart a soundstage to recordings that don't already have one, and in my book, that's not necessarily a good thing. It may be more accurate, but it's a lot less musical. With recordings that did have a soundstage, it was small, but it was there. With the Fisher or the Kenwood, of course, it's a different story.

It could also have a lot to do with how we're wearing the phones. I wear mine with the headband and large size tips, and I rest the phones on the opening of the ear canal and don't actually push them into the ear canal. My ears can't hold the phones in when I wear them as canalphones.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by catscratch /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, it depends on what you compare it to. I used a H120 --> MicroDAC and Sony D-NE920 --> MicroDAC rig, and the soundstage was certainly on par with a Grado SR-60 or an Ety ER-4P (though the imaging was hazier) but it was nowhere near the soundstage I got with my Fisher or my Kenwood. There, it wasn't quite on par with the SR-404 but it was easily on par with the K340 in size, if not in imaging. It could also be the recordings I used. The SR-001 really does not impart a soundstage to recordings that don't already have one, and in my book, that's not necessarily a good thing. It may be more accurate, but it's a lot less musical. With recordings that did have a soundstage, it was small, but it was there. With the Fisher or the Kenwood, of course, it's a different story. It could also have a lot to do with how we're wearing the phones. I wear mine with the headband and large size tips, and I rest the phones on the opening of the ear canal and don't actually push them into the ear canal. My ears can't hold the phones in when I wear them as canalphones.

Hmmm, I wear mine the same way. I find any IEM has a lesser soundstage than circumaural headphones, and the SR-001 is no exception - but I just don't find the sound stage to be smaller with the MicroDAC than with other sources. I know some sources and amps can make the soundstage seem more distant, I just don't see the MicroDAC as having that attribute (or I should say "hear" not "see").