[marflao]

Good to hear, J.P.
Keep my fingers crossed that you don't encounter any hiccups.

 

[wingsounds13]

Thanks guys.
uncola, that is pretty good... I don't remember back that far.
Alvin, I went straight to the Jay's Audio LPS. I will probably try the stock switcher out just for kicks, but after burn in has settled. At 168 hours / week, that will probably be about three weeks.

Current update: at 26 hours in the bass is back but is muddy. The mids and highs are kind of harsh. I had to pull the headphones off after about 45 minutes. I expect this all to mellow out over time, but am curious as to what it will sound like once burned in.

Maybe I need to find a safe load for the headphone amp to get more active load time on it, as I do not yet dare leave my good headphones connected. I'll see if I can scrape up a couple of 47 ohm 5 watt resistors and a spare XLR-4 connector to make up a dummy load.

Oh well... It's really late and I am tired. More listening tomorrow.

J.P.

 

[Lord Raven]

Hi Guys,
 
Can I power up a 12V heater of a pair of vacuum tubes and Geek Pulse SFi off of Jay's LPS? How many inputs are there and their output rating? I think I might buy Jay's LPS since I got a new use of it together with the heaters LOL
 
Thanks!

 

[wingsounds13]

Raven, you probably can power the tube heaters along with the Pulse. The Jay's LPS is good for 2A, the stock SMPS for the Pulse is 1.5A and the LH Labs LPS 12V outlets are rated for 1.2A. Any idea how much current the tube heaters will need?

The Jay's Audio LPS has only a single regulated supply but it has two power out jacks that are the common 5.5/2.5mm barrel connectors.

J.P.

 

[Benny-x]

I got my Infinity 2.0 and LPS4, but I RMA'd the LPS4 because I have one of the earlier units that has a grounding issue and missing resistor. When the issue was first spotted they said it happened when connecting improperly grounded competitor gear, but later it was found to be a defect. Good thing I used to frequent the old Geek Force forums so that I knew what to look for. Anyway, I didn't get a real chance to compare the sound, I just got to find out my unit was also affected.
 
About the Infinity, though. I only used the included SMPS, but I thought it sounded great. The bass doesn't bloom, like it's not full sounding, but it is impactful and tight. If the song has a strong bass line in it, you're going to feel it punch. I tested it with my Emotiva Pro Stealth 8s via the back XLRs and thought the pre-amp functions worked well. 
 
The verdict is still out for me on burn-in, but as someone else said, it's free so why not try? Once I get home I'll leave it to burn in for 3 weeks with something connected to it's back panel XLRs and then flip to its front XLR 4-pin. It'll be fun to see how it goes.
 
I'll report back in on the sound in a few months, but I'd say I'm happy with the unit overall. I'm EXTREMELY happy I held out for Chassis 2.0, I hated 1.0. I do wish the knob and shaft felt better in hand, but the body looks good and feels sturdy.  

 

[Lord Raven]

Raven, you probably can power the tube heaters along with the Pulse. The Jay's LPS is good for 2A, the stock SMPS for the Pulse is 1.5A and the LH Labs LPS 12V outlets are rated for 1.2A. Any idea how much current the tube heaters will need?

The Jay's Audio LPS has only a single regulated supply but it has two power out jacks that are the common 5.5/2.5mm barrel connectors.

J.P.

Thanks J.P.
 
I just confirmed, one tube takes about 0.35A and two tubes will take 0.7A for their heaters. Two output jacks will help me power these tubes and the Geek DAC.
 
Will there be any issue to run both the DAC and tubes? I don't want to buy cheap laptop power adapter that might cause HUM in the tubes. I got no noise, total dark background both on my DAC and tube amp even with any LPS.
 
Also, I am sorry to ask, what does SMPS stand for?

 

[RickDastardly]

  Thanks J.P.
 
I just confirmed, one tube takes about 0.35A and two tubes will take 0.7A for their heaters. Two output jacks will help me power these tubes and the Geek DAC.
 
Will there be any issue to run both the DAC and tubes? I don't want to buy cheap laptop power adapter that might cause HUM in the tubes. I got no noise, total dark background both on my DAC and tube amp even with any LPS.
 
Also, I am sorry to ask, what does SMPS stand for?

SMPS = Switched-Mode Power Supply

 

[miceblue]

I just got back from a mini-meet.

The short:
X Infinity still sounds really great for a Delta-Sigma DAC, and even more so considering it uses an ESS Sabre DAC chip. Doing A/B tests (XLR line-output to Master 11/Master 9), a friend and I preferred a modded Audio-gd Master 11. Between the Master 11 and Yggdrasil, the Yggy was preferred overall.








The long:
The X Infinity with LPS4 is no slouch in terms of sound especially for a Sabre DAC (some may know of the infamous "Sabre glare" sound). My friend was surprised to learn it uses a Sabre DAC actually, and a mobile chip at that. It has great detail retrieval, pretty good dynamics, and good instrument separation.

However, compared to a modified (I think a replaced USB board, upgraded capacitors, added EMI shielding, 0.5-2 ps clocks, +22 dB gain) Master 11 (Master 7), which uses Burr Brown PCM1704UK DAC chips, we both thought the Master 11 did a better job in the treble region where it sounded much more natural and well-defined overall versus woolly and a bit steely with the X Infinity. Yes..the X Infinity was warmed up for some 5.5 hours before the testing session. The instrument layering, soundstage depth, and instrument separation were also better on the Master 11, being able to pick out instruments in more specific locations.

The Master 11 actually did sound a bit brighter than the X Infinity, so I preferred the X Infinity in that aspect.


Compared to the Yggy, the Yggy definitely sounds more natural overall: having a deeper, more authoritative bass response, smoother treble, even better instrument laying, soundstage depth, and instrument separation.

 

[carz]

What filters in the Infinity did you use during the comparison?

Would a modded Infinity change the game?

 

[carz]

Yggdrasil don't support dsd.

Have you tried similar tracks using dsd on Infinity vs pcm on Yggdrasil?

 

[musicheaven]

I just got back from a mini-meet.

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

The short:
X Infinity still sounds really great for a Delta-Sigma DAC, and even more so considering it uses an ESS Sabre DAC chip. Doing A/B tests (XLR line-output to Master 11/Master 9), a friend and I preferred a modded Audio-gd Master 11. Between the Master 11 and Yggdrasil, the Yggy was preferred overall.








The long:
The X Infinity with LPS4 is no slouch in terms of sound especially for a Sabre DAC (some may know of the infamous "Sabre glare" sound). My friend was surprised to learn it uses a Sabre DAC actually, and a mobile chip at that. It has great detail retrieval, pretty good dynamics, and good instrument separation.

However, compared to a modified (I think a replaced USB board, upgraded capacitors, added EMI shielding, 0.5-2 ps clocks, +22 dB gain) Master 11 (Master 7), which uses Burr Brown PCM1704UK DAC chips, we both thought the Master 11 did a better job in the treble region where it sounded much more natural and well-defined overall versus woolly and a bit steely with the X Infinity. Yes..the X Infinity was warmed up for some 5.5 hours before the testing session. The instrument layering, soundstage depth, and instrument separation were also better on the Master 11, being able to pick out instruments in more specific locations.

The Master 11 actually did sound a bit brighter than the X Infinity, so I preferred the X Infinity in that aspect.


Compared to the Yggy, the Yggy definitely sounds more natural overall: having a deeper, more authoritative bass response, smoother treble, even better instrument laying, soundstage depth, and instrument separation.

Lol about the fan up there, I guess Class A does generate a lot of heat after all.
Of all the ones displayed I liked the Master 11 look the best; classy and modern.

 

[cbar]

  I got my Infinity 2.0 and LPS4, but I RMA'd the LPS4 because I have one of the earlier units that has a grounding issue and missing resistor. When the issue was first spotted they said it happened when connecting improperly grounded competitor gear, but later it was found to be a defect. Good thing I used to frequent the old Geek Force forums so that I knew what to look for. Anyway, I didn't get a real chance to compare the sound, I just got to find out my unit was also affected.

Can you remind us what to look for on the LPS4 to identify grounding issue? Not sure the old forums are still available. Thx!

 

[musicheaven]

It's not that difficult, the music will be superimposed with a humming noise, stop the music and crank the volume and it will be there instead of the so called black background, I would do that with speakers preferably.

 

[miceblue]

What filters in the Infinity did you use during the comparison?

Would a modded Infinity change the game?

I was using the FTM filter.

I'm not really sure what kind of modifications one would do for the X Infinity other than add some extra EMI shielding on the inside and on top of IC components. It has internal op-amp upgrades, MELF resistors, hand-matched components, naked resistors, etc..

Yggdrasil don't support dsd.

Have you tried similar tracks using dsd on Infinity vs pcm on Yggdrasil?

No, but that would be a good test to try next time!

The first A/B test I did with the X Infinity and Yggy, I was using CD-quality rips like this one:

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHwtFaK6CMk[/video]

Absolutely phenomenal track to test bass presence, timbre, and instrument separation. Your DAC should be able to pick up the recording hiss too.


During yesterday's session, we were using a Linn Records test album at 24/192.
http://www.linnrecords.com/recording-linn--selektions--the-surround-sound-sampler-sacd.aspx

Black Coffee is a nice track to test the treble with the hi-hats as well as instrument separation. On the X Infinity, they sounded kind of splashy and steely in timbre in comparison to the Master 11, which sounded more like what I'm used to hearing when hearing a hi-hat.

Salvator Mundi is great for instrument separation and soundstage. Or just about any well-recorded choir track really.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjlmnqDJvio[/video]


Suite in A minor : Fantaisie is great for bass presence, timbre, and instrument separation again.

Lol about the fan up there, I guess Class A does generate a lot of heat after all.
Of all the ones displayed I liked the Master 11 look the best; classy and modern.

Yeah the room itself heats up pretty quickly since there's only 1 way in/out, and no ventilation (there was a small fan outside the doors blowing air into the room to help circulate airflow). When we were doing the A/B tests with the X Infinity and Master 11, we closed the doors and things got really hot. XD

 

[uncola]

"we closed the doors and things got really hot."  TWSS