[leeperry]

 

I don't think an Essence STX will yield the same results from rolling as a Spitfire.
 
I hate LME49720/49710's plasticky sonic color.

 
I had a STX back in the days, and had a lot of fun rolling the opamps...I just couldn't stand the uber-crappy drivers. And saying that all the opamps as I/V sound the same is nonsense. Try LME49720HA/LT1364/AD8599 to replace the crappy stock 2114, hah. I also cannot stand the 4562/49720NA metallic mids...especially on the STX because they're clearly not stable there, as a 4562 on the Spitfire sounds miles different. And the $2 headamp on the STX is very harsh, line-out FTW.

 

[Bazzman]

Quote:

Dalamar is not the OP.

Whoops thats for pointing that out. The avatars threw me. It has now been corrected. Cheers Mad Max
 

 

[Mad Max]

Quote:

I had a STX back in the days, and had a lot of fun rolling the opamps...I just couldn't stand the uber-crappy drivers. And saying that all the opamps as I/V sound the same is nonsense. Try LME49720HA/LT1364/AD8599 to replace the crappy stock 2114, hah. I also cannot stand the 4562/49720NA metallic mids...especially on the STX because they're clearly not stable there, as a 4562 on the Spitfire sounds miles different. And the $2 headamp on the STX is very harsh, line-out FTW.

Unstable? How?

 

[leeperry]

 

Originally Posted by Mad Max /img/forum/go_quote.gif

Unstable? How?

 
When I first got the STX, I immediately rolled the 49720NA and the sound was literally "wooshing"...I put back the stock opamps for a while then installed the 49720 again, and it was working OK. But 49720/4562 always sounded very bright and harsh w/ uber-metallic mids, it supposedly can be one of the audible after-effects of oscillation. A friend of mine(ManuLM) also tried AD797B as I/V and said that it was a major crapshoot too. 4562 on the Spitfire sounds very bassy w/ a very balanced sound, what a change! but I still don't like its SS, bleh.
 
and to my placebo bs buddy, I've just been busy rolling the Spitfire+Bravo and Fubar III w/ and w/o the Supplier DPS and the USB Isolator. Their effect is virtually inaudible on the Fubar III(prolly because it's using a very crappy USB DAC and a terribly noisy pot) but on the Spitfire/Bravo the Supplier gives a much more dynamic/less edgy sound and the USB Isolator makes USB a frequentable guy all over again. The sound is just much more natural and enjoyable, just like this guy said: http://diyparadise.com/forum/index.php?topic=1063.msg11167#msg11167
 

it is funny, all the sounds are there, some details too, it just doesn't  sound so realistic without the USB-isolator. Music Dies away. Some of the magic dies out, the room perspective, depth is not so clear.. It's not coming out of the speakers properly without the isolator... Funny!

 
and about the SQ difference between the DAC's? oh my oh my, the sound is far more focused and clearer on the Spitfire. Both use my favorite opamps(LT1363CN8) as LPF and I used the same headphones(cd1k, same drivers as the cd3k). On crappy headphones, they might all have sounded identical, any weak link must be alleviated. Also the Bravo has a WM8804 chip that reclocks all the inputs w/ 50ps jitter.
  
You might wanna compare the STX/ST someday, and tell me again that jitter is inaudible if you dare..and use high end headphones this time

 
During those tests, I was using a Focal/JMlab reference CD...and my current set up is so clear sounding that I can't really believe what I'm hearing 

 

[Dalamar]

Quote:

Unstable? How?

The i/v slot requires higher current input than the 4562/identical chips with different model #. 12ma max for the 4562, manual says must support 15ma. It will overheat if used there in all probability.
 
LM4562 was not designed for i/v anyways.

 

[Mad Max]

Edit: Nevermind...

 

[ImAllOriginal]

okay, haha, so,
 
beyond the arguments and terminology I have yet to learn, you guys have been pretty helpful.
 
but, this does lead me to one question:
 
out of all of the dac/amps you guys have listed which would go with my asus laptop and make it sound good?
 
i'm not looking for amazing, i'm probably going to go with the HD 600s and i've really never heard anything with that good of sound quality before, i'm used to listening to people talk about how great the ****ing dr. dre beats are.
 
literally none of the employees that I work with at best buy think that amplification is necessary for high end headphones.
 
if anyone could give me a couple suggestions, in beginner terms if possible, I would be forever grateful.
 
I still have udac-2 in mind, feel free to steer me away if you think that's a bad idea
 
(try under $300)

 

[Dalamar]

Quote:

literally none of the employees that I work with at best buy think that amplification is necessary for high end headphones.

I'm surprised such insightful wisdom came from a Best Buy employee. You only need an amp when you need more volume, pretty much.

 

[ROBSCIX]

Quote:

okay, haha, so,
 
beyond the arguments and terminology I have yet to learn, you guys have been pretty helpful.
 
but, this does lead me to one question:
 
out of all of the dac/amps you guys have listed which would go with my asus laptop and make it sound good?
 
i'm not looking for amazing, i'm probably going to go with the HD 600s and i've really never heard anything with that good of sound quality before, i'm used to listening to people talk about how great the ****ing dr. dre beats are.
 
literally none of the employees that I work with at best buy think that amplification is necessary for high end headphones.
 
if anyone could give me a couple suggestions, in beginner terms if possible, I would be forever grateful.
 
I still have udac-2 in mind, feel free to steer me away if you think that's a bad idea
 
(try under $300)

Talk with the guys in the headphone forums.  They would have more information and can give you ideas or opinions.

 

[J.Pocalypse]

Quote:

 
 
 the uDAC is a portable realtek.

I kinda have to agree with this 100%.
 
My 1201N has the Realtek HD audio thing-a-ma-jig. For a nice placebo for myself, I have all that stuff in my sig goin', but if I change from WASAPI, to DS in Foobar2K, and use the HO on my laptop, I don't know if the quality increase was worth the $99 I paid for my uDAC. It does make things louder though. Could just be my low quality headphones. o.O
 
 
__________________________________
 
 
Bwahahaha!
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Dalamar 


I'm surprised such insightful wisdom came from a Best Buy employee. 
 
 

 

[leeperry]

 

I kinda have to agree with this 100%.

http://www.google.com/search?q=udac+ES9022
 
http://us.generation-nt.com/ess-technology-announces-world-best-stereo-sabre-dac-press-1675811.html
 
"ES9022 is sampling in a 16-SOP package and priced at $0.98"
 
and it's been confirmed that there's no opamps to drive headphones, ESS are paranoid(and don't provide any datasheet w/o signing NDA's) but more than likely it's got a poor built-in headphones amp. It's a cheap ASIC, nothing more...and the story doesn't say what takes care of the USB input, prolly a CMI108?
 
the uDAC is a perfect example of what hype can do for you, and for europeans it costs almost $150 huh.