digitalzed
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2012
- Posts
- 526
- Likes
- 109
*UPDATED ADDED AT THE END*
I received my standard (Vanilla) Pulse yesterday and have now had a few hours with it. I've been using my Geek Out 720 as my DAC prior to receiving the Pulse. However the GO 720 is not my only DAC but for this brief first go it's what I'll use for any comparison. I should also say that I've been very pleased with the GO, especially after the firmware update. Being able to switch filters when using different headphones and in my desktop speakers really allowed the sound to open become more in depth and engaging to me.
My desktop set up consists of:
1. 2012 iMac 27
2. AudioEngine A5+ desktop speakers
3. LaCie 2Big 4TB Thunderbolt RAID
4. Sennhesier HD 700
5. Sennheiser HD 650
6. Media Center 20 for Mac
7. Audirvana Pro 2.x
I listen to a lot different music but I center mostly on jazz, classic rock, alternative, and older metal.
The Pulse is packaged well and includes everything you need in the box to get going, the unit, power cord and international adapters (a nice touch), four, substantially large rubber feet to attach to the bottom of the unit, and if you were an early backer, a 1G USB cable.
And here's a photo of my rig for reference:
Build quality is nice, but not over the top. It is a pretty basic box and was surprisingly light to me. I didn't weigh the actual unit but I'm sure less than two pounds. And being light doesn't make it bad. Heft does not mean quality in every case either. Fit and finish on the Pulse are what you would expect. I was just expecting a heavier unit based on the eight pound ship weight (I know this includes packaging). I plugged the unit in, fired it up, and all systems checked and it was ready to go. Pushing the volume knob gives you control over the features of the DAC like Input Select, Gain Select, Digital Filter (As found on the GO except with the addition of an SSM filter that will be implemented down the road for streaming), and Volume Setting. The volume knob itself is solid but jiggles slightly. This has no affect on the function or the unit. Just an observation.
Of course on a Mac installation is straight forward, plug it in and you're good to go. Firing up MC 20 make sure you have the "Bitstreaming" option enabled under tools so MC 20 can take advantage of the DSD capability of the Pulse. In Audirvana Plus detection is under Preferences>Audio System>DSD Over PCM Standard 1.0. Each program found the Pulse automatically.
I'm not a huge numbers guy. I like to listen to the music, not analyze the specs to the nth degree. So this won't be a highly technical post, but I do have enough experience between different DAC's and the chips they use to have a somewhat educated opinion. That said, the ESS chip LHL decided to use would not have been my first choice. I always found ESS chips to be harsher sounding the erred on the bright side and delivered low level warmth. Larry made a compelling argument that this was not so much the chip as the code and hardware surrounding the chip. So I dove in on the GO and was not disappointed compared to other DAC's using ESS chips.
That said, the Pulse came out of the box sounding a little lean. The GO 720 had broken in nicely and had a sound I really enjoyed with a very good mid and upper presentation and a solid, detailed bottom end. I initially thought it might be the HD 700's which have a reputation for being pretty bright and even harsh in the upper end at times. But my concern was squelched pretty quickly. The Pulse calms down nicely and starts to hit a groove within a couple of hours. Warmer sounding headphones like Hifi Man, LCD, and others should sound brilliant with the Pulse. I believe Larry and the team have done a nice job of getting a highly detailed yet warm and detailed sound from Pulse. All the good qualities of the ESS9018 K2M without any of the harsher side of the chip. Noise floor is very low with a silent background. Detail on CD rips, and hi res files was clear, evident, and very revealing. If the source material is crap, you'll definitely hear it. If you have a wonderfully mastered source, Pulse will reward you with resolution, detail, and depth that is in the original. Switching between formats and sample rates was no problem for the Pulse. The display showed that each file was playing correctly. Pulse runs cool, no heat issues.
The sound out of the desktop speakers was fantastic. Using my Audioengine A5+'s mirrored what I found in the HD 700 use. The line out is quite good on the Pulse and much better than on the GO (duh) for this application. The Pulse does not have an internal mute switch to go between a desktop set up and your headphones, so you'll hear sound out of both if you leave them both plugged in or on.
That's it for the moment. I plan to let the Pulse burn in and will continue to put it through its paces. So far, very happy. Here's couple for photos of the Pulse in closing.
A LITTLE OVER 1 MONTH IN
I've had the Pulse now for about 6 weeks. In that time I've burned it in with well over a 100 hours of use, updated the firmware to v1.1, and added an LPS/4. I won't dwell on the volume issues in the original unit. I also experienced this as did all Pulse owners. The Firmware revision while not perfect, is much better than having to remember to turn the volume knob every time you shut down the unit, or close out of your playback software and open up again, so you don't get blown out of the water. There is still work to do on the implementation of the features through firmware. But overall I'm happy with the current version and look forward to future releases.
First, the Pulse before the LPS/4. I received the LPS/4 about 3 weeks after the Pulse so there was plenty of time to warm up the Pulse before introducing the LPS into the chain. I am not a huge ESS fan. I have found their chips to be too harsh for my ears in most applications. I mention this in my original review but reference it here again because I think LHL has truly done a good job with heir implementation of the chip. And in that time between I found the the sound of the Pulse to evolve from a very clear, sometimes harsh sounding unit to a much more mellow, extended sound that greatly reduced any listening fatigue over extended sessions. One thing for sure, Pulse doesn't color what you put into it. If the recording is crap that's what you'll hear, in spades. And the opposite is also true. Great recordings sound just that, great. I've heard detail I wasn't aware of in some familiar recordings. I'm sometimes astonished at the imaging coming from my headphones and desktop speakers. I guess the downside to this is that I know I have some recordings I simply won't listen to very often, or at least, not critically.
I had read from Larry and those that received the LPS before me that it made a noticeable difference. I took these claims with a grain of salt because that's usually what I do. I didn't disbelieve that a power supply could work, but I personally had not jumped into that end of the pool before with anything other than high quality power strips (different, I know). But the difference between without and then with the LPS was immediately noticeable and favorable. The sound tightened, imaging became even more precise, separation in recordings became more well defined, and the sound carried more overall warmth and long session listening satisfaction. Any doubt I had about the value of the LPS has gone away and I recommend it (or maybe any good PS) to really take the sound of the basic Pulse to another level.
My initial favorable impressions of the Pulse remain but have been strengthened by time with the unit, the addition of the LPS, and the firmware update. If you bought one of the units for the original Kickstarter or IGG price you're getting one hell of a deal. But LHL needs to make sure Pulse has the right display and firmware out of the box at $999 for it to be a success at that price point.
I received my standard (Vanilla) Pulse yesterday and have now had a few hours with it. I've been using my Geek Out 720 as my DAC prior to receiving the Pulse. However the GO 720 is not my only DAC but for this brief first go it's what I'll use for any comparison. I should also say that I've been very pleased with the GO, especially after the firmware update. Being able to switch filters when using different headphones and in my desktop speakers really allowed the sound to open become more in depth and engaging to me.
My desktop set up consists of:
1. 2012 iMac 27
2. AudioEngine A5+ desktop speakers
3. LaCie 2Big 4TB Thunderbolt RAID
4. Sennhesier HD 700
5. Sennheiser HD 650
6. Media Center 20 for Mac
7. Audirvana Pro 2.x
I listen to a lot different music but I center mostly on jazz, classic rock, alternative, and older metal.
The Pulse is packaged well and includes everything you need in the box to get going, the unit, power cord and international adapters (a nice touch), four, substantially large rubber feet to attach to the bottom of the unit, and if you were an early backer, a 1G USB cable.
And here's a photo of my rig for reference:
Build quality is nice, but not over the top. It is a pretty basic box and was surprisingly light to me. I didn't weigh the actual unit but I'm sure less than two pounds. And being light doesn't make it bad. Heft does not mean quality in every case either. Fit and finish on the Pulse are what you would expect. I was just expecting a heavier unit based on the eight pound ship weight (I know this includes packaging). I plugged the unit in, fired it up, and all systems checked and it was ready to go. Pushing the volume knob gives you control over the features of the DAC like Input Select, Gain Select, Digital Filter (As found on the GO except with the addition of an SSM filter that will be implemented down the road for streaming), and Volume Setting. The volume knob itself is solid but jiggles slightly. This has no affect on the function or the unit. Just an observation.
Of course on a Mac installation is straight forward, plug it in and you're good to go. Firing up MC 20 make sure you have the "Bitstreaming" option enabled under tools so MC 20 can take advantage of the DSD capability of the Pulse. In Audirvana Plus detection is under Preferences>Audio System>DSD Over PCM Standard 1.0. Each program found the Pulse automatically.
I'm not a huge numbers guy. I like to listen to the music, not analyze the specs to the nth degree. So this won't be a highly technical post, but I do have enough experience between different DAC's and the chips they use to have a somewhat educated opinion. That said, the ESS chip LHL decided to use would not have been my first choice. I always found ESS chips to be harsher sounding the erred on the bright side and delivered low level warmth. Larry made a compelling argument that this was not so much the chip as the code and hardware surrounding the chip. So I dove in on the GO and was not disappointed compared to other DAC's using ESS chips.
That said, the Pulse came out of the box sounding a little lean. The GO 720 had broken in nicely and had a sound I really enjoyed with a very good mid and upper presentation and a solid, detailed bottom end. I initially thought it might be the HD 700's which have a reputation for being pretty bright and even harsh in the upper end at times. But my concern was squelched pretty quickly. The Pulse calms down nicely and starts to hit a groove within a couple of hours. Warmer sounding headphones like Hifi Man, LCD, and others should sound brilliant with the Pulse. I believe Larry and the team have done a nice job of getting a highly detailed yet warm and detailed sound from Pulse. All the good qualities of the ESS9018 K2M without any of the harsher side of the chip. Noise floor is very low with a silent background. Detail on CD rips, and hi res files was clear, evident, and very revealing. If the source material is crap, you'll definitely hear it. If you have a wonderfully mastered source, Pulse will reward you with resolution, detail, and depth that is in the original. Switching between formats and sample rates was no problem for the Pulse. The display showed that each file was playing correctly. Pulse runs cool, no heat issues.
The sound out of the desktop speakers was fantastic. Using my Audioengine A5+'s mirrored what I found in the HD 700 use. The line out is quite good on the Pulse and much better than on the GO (duh) for this application. The Pulse does not have an internal mute switch to go between a desktop set up and your headphones, so you'll hear sound out of both if you leave them both plugged in or on.
That's it for the moment. I plan to let the Pulse burn in and will continue to put it through its paces. So far, very happy. Here's couple for photos of the Pulse in closing.
A LITTLE OVER 1 MONTH IN
I've had the Pulse now for about 6 weeks. In that time I've burned it in with well over a 100 hours of use, updated the firmware to v1.1, and added an LPS/4. I won't dwell on the volume issues in the original unit. I also experienced this as did all Pulse owners. The Firmware revision while not perfect, is much better than having to remember to turn the volume knob every time you shut down the unit, or close out of your playback software and open up again, so you don't get blown out of the water. There is still work to do on the implementation of the features through firmware. But overall I'm happy with the current version and look forward to future releases.
First, the Pulse before the LPS/4. I received the LPS/4 about 3 weeks after the Pulse so there was plenty of time to warm up the Pulse before introducing the LPS into the chain. I am not a huge ESS fan. I have found their chips to be too harsh for my ears in most applications. I mention this in my original review but reference it here again because I think LHL has truly done a good job with heir implementation of the chip. And in that time between I found the the sound of the Pulse to evolve from a very clear, sometimes harsh sounding unit to a much more mellow, extended sound that greatly reduced any listening fatigue over extended sessions. One thing for sure, Pulse doesn't color what you put into it. If the recording is crap that's what you'll hear, in spades. And the opposite is also true. Great recordings sound just that, great. I've heard detail I wasn't aware of in some familiar recordings. I'm sometimes astonished at the imaging coming from my headphones and desktop speakers. I guess the downside to this is that I know I have some recordings I simply won't listen to very often, or at least, not critically.
I had read from Larry and those that received the LPS before me that it made a noticeable difference. I took these claims with a grain of salt because that's usually what I do. I didn't disbelieve that a power supply could work, but I personally had not jumped into that end of the pool before with anything other than high quality power strips (different, I know). But the difference between without and then with the LPS was immediately noticeable and favorable. The sound tightened, imaging became even more precise, separation in recordings became more well defined, and the sound carried more overall warmth and long session listening satisfaction. Any doubt I had about the value of the LPS has gone away and I recommend it (or maybe any good PS) to really take the sound of the basic Pulse to another level.
My initial favorable impressions of the Pulse remain but have been strengthened by time with the unit, the addition of the LPS, and the firmware update. If you bought one of the units for the original Kickstarter or IGG price you're getting one hell of a deal. But LHL needs to make sure Pulse has the right display and firmware out of the box at $999 for it to be a success at that price point.
