[TheSloth]

I think the Max DAC is killer, personally. For $100 more than the Home, to me it was a no-brainer.

I did actually have the chance to rather unscientifically a/b between the Max DAC and the Meridian output, and honestly couldn't identify which was which. I believe the Meridian would beat the Home DAC by a small margin, but the Max DAC is pretty serious stuff. Highly recommended.

lan heard my setup at the NY meet and actually enjoyed it, all this with a pair of sennheisers on his head! There must have been something good going on in there.

 

[SunByrne]

Hopefully this will appear only once...

Anyway, I found the Meridian and the Home DAC to be very clean. I found the treble on the Meridian 588 to be a little more resolved, which is how I was able to tell them apart. I didn't notice a huge difference in bass.

Yes, a good CDP will have better jitter properties, but I think jitter is often not as big a problem as one might be led to believe (but I guess that probably depends on your transport--mine must be OK). The DAC used in the Headroom stuff has pretty good jitter-resistance.

Is the Max DAC $100 better? I'm not sure. However, I think when I ordered mine, the price difference was higher, but I could be remembering that wrong.

Can't compare to a DAC1, as I've never heard one. I'm not sure what you're getting at with the comment about specs, though, thomaspf. The CS4398 chip in the Headroom stuff has great specs, and IIRC, a lot of the parts in the analog stage of the DAC1 aren't exactly worldbeaters in terms of specs. This is why you gotta listen to the sources, not just read the specs...

-Mike

 

[lan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSloth lan heard my setup at the NY meet and actually enjoyed it, all this with a pair of sennheisers on his head! There must have been something good going on in there.

you max balanced stuff was pretty nice. But i wish i coud've used other headphones to really tell the difference between source/amp/ and/or headphone was contributing to the sound. so i can't comment more on your system.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SunByrne Anyway, I found the Meridian and the Home DAC to be very clean. I found the treble on the Meridian 588 to be a little more resolved, which is how I was able to tell them apart. I didn't notice a huge difference in bass. The DAC used in the Headroom stuff has pretty good jitter-resistance.

That goes to show how differently we hear and it won't help the poster

I found the unit I heard had better high end resolving than the 588.

I thought the headroom DACs didn't have any special jitter resistance things built in except the max which has the asynochronouse resampler. I'm not a fan of ASRCs though.

 

[Teerawit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ref I thought that this topic will interest many people, because headroom Max DAC is only $400 more than no DAC (with Desktop AMP). The point is if Max Dac or Home DAC beats Apogee MiniDAC or Benchmark DAC-1...

Keep in mind that if you were to get the Max DAC, you HAVE TO get the Desktop Power Supply. So even though the Desktop Amp will benefit from the enhanced power, that's $800 total for you to decide if it's worth it or not.

 

[TheSloth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teerawit Keep in mind that if you were to get the Max DAC, you HAVE TO get the Desktop Power Supply. So even though the Desktop Amp will benefit from the enhanced power, that's $800 total for you to decide if it's worth it or not.

Unless you are already set on buying one of their amps with the built in PS's. At which point it becomes a very seriously good value DAC option! And $499 for a fully 'balanced done right' Max DAC is a steal, especially considering the sound!

 

[TheSloth]

Don't quote me on it, but I do believe HeadRoom are currently working on finding a bigger and better brick so that they can supply a working power supply with their standard Desktop + Home/Max stuff. Currently, they still include their 'brick' which of course doesn't work. I was actually surprised to find one included with my Desktop.

 

[mkozlows]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSloth Don't quote me on it, but I do believe HeadRoom are currently working on finding a bigger and better brick so that they can supply a working power supply with their standard Desktop + Home/Max stuff. Currently, they still include their 'brick' which of course doesn't work. I was actually surprised to find one included with my Desktop.

If it's a big brick power supply you want, just call up Microsoft and ask them who's supplying the unit for the Xbox 360...

 

[MikeW]

I got a useless brick with my Millet/DPS combo as well. It won't even power the millet with home. It's just gonna sit in my closet and do nothing. Shoulda kept it and credited me the cost.. even if it was 12 bucks lol.

 

[Teerawit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeW I got a useless brick with my Millet/DPS combo as well. It won't even power the millet with home. It's just gonna sit in my closet and do nothing. Shoulda kept it and credited me the cost.. even if it was 12 bucks lol.

You can sell it on the FS forums. I've seen some sold in the past.

 

[MikeW]

yeah lol im sure there is alot of demand for them

 

[n_maher]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeW yeah lol im sure there is alot of demand for them

You're probably right as it's most likely a +/- 15V wallwart. But still, a DIY'er might want it to try and use with an amp. You've got nothinig to lose by listing it

.

Nate

 

[mkozlows]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeW yeah lol im sure there is alot of demand for them

Well, HeadRoom sells it for $40, and it apparently can be used with some of their older products, so there's probably a bit more demand than you'd think.

http://www.headphone.com/products/ad...upply-110v.php