[kumar402]

In discussions with Tony about the upgrade of my U18, me mentioned to me don't bother with the upgrade as Mutec will be announcing a new DDC around Christmas that will be so far above the U18 even with his upgrade. He mentioned that would be a better bang for the buck than the upgraded U18. He couldn't get into any further details because the product is not yet announced but he is working with Mutec on the product. I'll make my decision whether to upgrade my U18 or go with the Mutec after the release of the product and seeeing at what price point it is at.
One thing I will mention for anyone from the US considering sending their U18 to Coherent, due to the ridiculous cost to ship from the US to the UK, they will arrange to have the U18 picked up by a carrier as their rates are much less than shipping from the US using UPS, FedEx etc.

A common marketing statement touting new product as latest and greatest.

 

[Highfive99]

A common marketing statement touting new product as latest and greatest.

As technology betters with time, new products are typically better than what is currently available. So what is your point?
And if you were familiar Tony's design and engineering background he knows from where he speaks. I don't think he would dissuade a customer of taking advantage of a service he offers and persuading to wait for a new product unless that product is designed to be a better overall performer and value for the money invested.

 

[MartinWT]

In discussions with Tony about the upgrade of my U18, me mentioned to me don't bother with the upgrade as Mutec will be announcing a new DDC around Christmas that will be so far above the U18 even with his upgrade.

Great. It had better be a lot better than the current Mutec MC-3+ USB which I used to own, had modded by Coherent but still fell behind a stock U18 as it doesn't support I2S, only AES. I2S is mandatory for a symbiotic link between DDC and DAC, especially when used with an external clock, and sounds far better.

 

[milkdudd]

Greetings all. Installed the Purple fuse in my U18 yesterday. Also put them in my C18 and A22. I'll wait a little to give my opinions (I know to expect a long burn in process) but so far I'm impressed. When I went to put the fuse in the U18 (or the C18, not 100% positive which one) I noticed the voltage setting was set at 220V. I'm in the USA so obviously we're 110V so I moved the switch to that setting. I realize I should have checked it before I installed it. What seems odd is it worked fine the whole time it was set that way. The switch is recessed pretty deep so I don't think I switched it accidentally while removing it to put the fuse in. Can someone explain to me how it worked fine when it was set wrong? Thinking as I'm talking, maybe plugging into 110V works fine regardless of where the switch is set and the danger would be if you plugged into 220V while it was set for 110V. Am I making any sense? Don't worry about hurting my feelings if I'm not

 

[MartinWT]

Setting it for 220V but running it on 110V would mean much lower unregulated voltage on the power rails reaching the regulators. Could be lower than that required to actually regulate. The chances are that sufficient voltage reached the main circuit to work, but without any headroom for regulation or noise reduction. It would definitely be running suboptimally.

Better than setting it to 110V and running it on 220V, though.

 

[milkdudd]

Thanks martin. I listened last night with the new fuses and the voltage adjusted. Since I made the changes at the same time I can't be sure which and the better effect but I sure enjoyed my listening! The fuses had about 12 hours powered up by the time I shut things down. Tonight will be 24 hours more so I'm anxious to give another listen

 

[Jake2]

I'm in the process of evaluating streaming via HQplayer to my Zen/U18 combo vs direct to my newly arrived Gustard R26's internal NAA. OCK-1 as ext master clock for both. So far it is pretty close, though I slightly favour the R26 NAA direct at the same sample rate, and then the R26 NAA can do twice as high PCM & DSD rates as the Zen.

But others in the R26 thread with different setups have expressed strong views to the contrary. Possible explanation is OCk-1 + C2 cable is optimizing the R26 NAA streaming for me beyond what those others have heard AND I have a few bottlenecks in the Zen/U18 chain which prevents them performing at their best. Only Zen/U18 tweaks so far are a USD100 Aliexpress usb cable and an Ifi Power X for the Zen.

Sounds like a purple fuse would give the U18 a good boost, but then I ought to do the same for the R26.

How about a modestly priced mains cable upgrade for the U18? (again I ought to do same for R26) Any recommendations?

 

[jgwtriode]

Well that's awfully decent of them at Coherent. Any idea how much that is to get an overall sense of the cost including shipping both ways? It's worth condsidering. Would you say the improvement is on a par with the improvement that the u18 made by itself in the first place or perhaps even a greater difference after the coherent mod. Any thoughts @MartinWT?

Thanks,

jgwtriode

 

[MartinWT]

Any thoughts @MartinWT?

Remembering as best I can, the initial addition of a U18 to replace my previous Mutec MC-3+ USB was a small improvement using AES and a mighty improvement using I2S when using an external clock. The Coherent modded U18 made a step up somewhere in between the two but closer to the improvement made when switching from AES to I2S.

The sum total is an impressive improvement in soundstaging, bass potency and sheer timing.

 

[T 1000]

Currently--Pegasus DAC--HiDiamond AES/EBU--U18, I got the idea of replacing the DAC, for X26 and switching to I2s
I don't know if my expectations are too high from those changes
And it's back to D/S

 

[Crypt Keeper]

Currently--Pegasus DAC--HiDiamond AES/EBU--U18, I got the idea of replacing the DAC, for X26 and switching to I2s
I don't know if my expectations are too high from those changes
And it's back to D/S

I had U18 ---> the Pagasus via I2S (AV Play I2S) and it was great with AD Dbl Crown clock. Not Sure if X26 (without the clock) will be much better than Pegasus...

 

[T 1000]

I had U18 ---> the Pagasus via I2S (AV Play I2S) and it was great with AD Dbl Crown clock. Not Sure if X26 (without the clock) will be much better than Pegasus...

I made a mistake with Pegasus by not sending it for I2s repair, and then I bought an "expensive" AES cable and I read all the time about the advantages of I2s.
Lately I've been bombarded with ads about the superiority of the X26
Thanks for the engagement
I will also consider other options that include I2s

BTW-I don't have a clock

 

[MartinWT]

Is anyone here using a Tubulus Argentus I2S cable?

 

[Crypt Keeper]

Is anyone here using a Tubulus Argentus I2S cable?

Aye, Received the cable a few days ago... Doing the burn-in ATM... Pretty sure it will beat the Audiolund I2S I've been using for a while now...

Edt: Tubulus concentus

 

[jgwtriode]

I have my Wywires Platinum headphone cable back now! With 6 hours of burn in on that cable, it needs 200. about 70 on my modded X26pro, 40 on my U18, 20 on my SR orange. Everything else is pretty well burned. Sound is far and way the best I have ever heard out of my system, but you can still hear it improving ever few hours. Figure in about 2 weeks it will be there.

And then I will start doing some more tunning mods I have in mind to refine it that last couple of percentage points. But even at this point it's more fun than ever, just listening and not being to terribly critical of what I am hearing. Did a few cable tweaks, I like toilet paper rolls cut to drop cables in and move them away from walls floors and each other.

Where I need tensioning to pull them away I uses old covid mask stretch band tied together which helps me position things more appropriately...these are subtle but noticeable diffrences and of course my crazy DIY layered isolation platforms. I am quite stunned how much the u18 and SR orange bumped the performance up, which I was using my desktop Swans to listen to.

But now I can listen to my Airmid OTL running National Union 6J5 GTs and Tungsol 5998's. Here's the kicker. The amp is dead silent with no music playing and the volume turned up full. No tube or trannie noise at all. You can at that point only tell its on by the light of the amber, orange triodes glowing! Too much fun!

Happy listening,

jgwtriode