Wait- rb-- you mean my Breeze from a certain nameless forum member has the seal of approval?!! Or is my entire review null and void!? Even the part about the nature of human attraction?!! All because of one lousy Bnc mod??! Oh man.
Now I hafta order another Breeze
Phooey!
PS: my DAC has a bnc input and for once I got to use a bnc to bnc cable (came with the DAC) without any adapter. That alone made me feel warm and pure inside
No it's good! It was an evil joke on my friend!
When you mentioned BNC and bought used - I knew it was ORielly's - and posted that to twist his tail (as he does to me from time to time
).
I have not heard his - but don't see why it wouldn't sound good. He way preferred his Z to the Breeze (I believe) - I felt the opposite. So as with all matters audio - YMMV.
The sound of the two Breezes I have are so good and better then all other USB bridges that have come before - that I'm really hesitant to do anything to them! And that is a major first!
The next mod will be swapping the gold plated brass CRC RCA with an Eichmann RCA.
We've been PM ing each other over different mod ideas. So his gentle dig at my 'expensive' 'claiming to be 75ohm' Eichmann - going with a BNC instead.
The Eichmann is made in Germany (vs China) and is constructed of pure Tellurium-Copper - made to exact 75 ohm standards. They are $29 each - not a huge cost imo. Since I have expensive RCA SPDIF cables - I would prefer to go that route.
Here is more info on the Eichmann:
http://www.vhaudio.com/phonopod.html
The new Eichmann PhonoPod HC-XTC RCA female chassis socket is a low mass design with low inductive reactance for superior, extended bandwidth and more detailed, coherent sound. The PHonoPod HC-XTC uses 20 micron gold micro-plating over pure copper, resulting in better signal transfer, higher resolution, and our unique controlled 'skin-depth ratio' or SDR� for enhanced frequency/phase coherency. The PhonoPod also has the added advantage of being a true 75 Ohm impedance connection, making this an ideal connector for use in digital (SPDIF) or video applications
This is what I learned about 'copper' - really brass - connectors from the excellent Aural Thrills Audio website. I have many of their RCA interconnect cables and after rolling dozens upon dozens of different interconnects - they are what I use exclusively throughout my systems. All with the teflon connectors.
Teflon RCA
For years I have wanted to get the Brass out of my cables. Brass is a terrible conductor and adds a real dullness to the sound. Silver is the best conductor followed by Copper and then Gold. Brass is way further down the list. The reason that RCA connectors are made of Brass is ease of manufacture as well as malleability. Conductive ability is not on the list of positives for this type of construction. ALL Rca connectors are made of brass and then coated with Silver, Gold, or some exotic metal to make you think it is a great conductor. The truth is that it is just Brass that has been coated, no matter what they advertise, Straight Copper, Silver, etc., would be far too soft and not hold it's shape. Finally, I have designed what I feel is the finest connector on the market.. PERIOD. It uses a solid, pure Teflon base that has been machined to accept a center pin and ground conductor. Teflon is one of the most inert substances on the planet. The Teflon plug surrounds the RCA connections on your equipment as well as the cable wires to insure a quiet, interference free sound. Getting rid of the Brass allows the use of super conductor metals which insure the pristine delivery of your sonic pleasures. Why make a cable that is painstakingly designed to deliver all information and then plug up both ends with a poor conducting Brass connectors? Why use 99.999% purity wires and then use Brass in the circuit? Brass is really just copper with impurities in it. There is more to a good cable than the metallurgy of the wire. This design features a Silver, center pin and a thin Silver return line to insure a minimal contact point. Silver has a sound of great detail, air and space. The thing that really impressed me the first time that I heard this design was the spaciousness and unbelievable detail. Next I noticed the black background. A product of the solid Teflon plug. These plugs sound as good or better than the WBT NextGen's which sell for more than $35 EACH. These plugs blow away and are more reliable than the Eichman Bullet. These plugs sound better than any Brass plug made! No one else has them.
I use the Eichmanns for the digital input on my DAC60 Mod project - with great effect. So it worked so well there why not on the Breeze.
My APL NWOjr DAC uses the very expensive WBT NextGen silvers - which are considered the best RCA connector made. http://www.partsconnexion.com/product9724.html
I see the true Copper version of the WBT NexGen have gone on sale at parts connexion and may try a pair of those - one for the Breeze and one for the DAC60 mod project
http://www.partsconnexion.com/prod_pdf/wbt_66333.pdf
:wink_face:
