luisdent
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2012
- Posts
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- 470
There is a DIY amp called "the wire"Supposedly, it's very clean.
Yeah, I have so many of those amps. They just never seem loud enough.
There is a DIY amp called "the wire"Supposedly, it's very clean.
Yeah, I have so many of those amps. They just never seem loud enough.
I'm not kidding, it actually exist. google it, it is suppose to be very clean. It's perfect for me since I need a very clean amp for sensitive IEMs.
I ordered a C5D yesterday and I'm really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, I've been a snob when it comes to DACs and amps over the past few years. For some strange reason, I've felt like if an amp/dac cost less than $300, it wasn't going to be enough of an upgrade.
The ODAC was okay, but I preferred other DACs. The only reason why I want the C5D is the PCM5102A chip in it. I loved it in the WA7 but its not a portable amp. I liked it in the Alo Audio Key, but my Windows based machines didn't deliver enough current to keep the chip from clipping. With its own battery, I'm sure that the C5D can deliver enough power to the chip to make it do its magic.
The amp in the C5D is just gravy. Is there any way to switch the C5D to DAC only mode?
I'm definitely interested. Would I just send back the amp after I receive it? Talk about amazing customer service! Could you also optimize it for an IEM? I plan on using it with my SE846 exclusively.
Is there any way or connection between the coax out to mini USB ???
I would also like to get in on this mod!
Coax would require new circuitry, sorry.
O.k. I've done some initial comparisons, and although I might get some flac for this, here are my findings:
First, let me say that I've done the initial testing with my Sony MH1. I'll be doing further testing with my other earphones, especially the ER4S, which are considered more critical of things.
So far though, with the MH1 using the same lossless files, the C5D from the usb of my MacBook Pro sounds identical to the C5 from my iPod Touch 5G, which sounds identical to the iPod Touch 5G headphone output, which sounds identical to the digital output of the iPod Touch 5G to the C5D, which sounds identical to the Fuze v1 and ZipClip.
Now let me explain this brief testing and give some opinions.
First, again, I used all the same lossless files on each device and volume matched each device. This is using no EQ, no effects, nothing but raw lossless audio. I used tracks ranging from Christopher Cross to Dream Theater. I compared a few seconds of each track, small sections of each track and tracks in their entirety.
This was a full double blind test. The connections were made without me or the person connecting them knowing which was which. Each song was synced perfectly for playback so well that I could flip the switch back and forth and the timing had zero interruption nor volume change. In fact, when I flip the switch quick enough it makes no noticeable audio disruption at all. I can flip the switch back and forth repeatedly, and when I do it fast enough it literally sounds like I'm listening to the same song and I wouldn't even know anyone was touching the switch.
It is very hard to rule out the brain, and last night I was listening to the C5D with the iPod and thought it sounded clearer somehow. But I believe now that I was trying to hear if it was clearer and therefor thought it might be. That is just my opinion.
So, before you think I'm saying anything bad about the C5D, quite the contrary.
The C5D is awesome. Very awesome. Every single device I have sounds better than the output of the MacBook Pro, which is really surprising. The MBP output has noticeable noise, and lower fidelity in general. Very disappointed in it myself, so much that I'd personally never use it. For a speaker output the noise isn't as noticeable, but with earphones it seems much worse. Anyway, the apogee duet costs around $500 new, the iPod touch with reasonable space (64gb) costs $400, the fuze+ costs roughly $100 or more when you add an SD card, but there are claims the fuze+ doesn't sound as good as the fuze (haven't heard it myself). But as the fuze is discontinued we'll use the + as a price point.
The point is, for any device with reasonable quality and storage capacity you're looking at a good chuck of change. The C5D can be used with any computer/laptop and turn it into an amazing sounding device with all of it's large storage and it costs $250. That's an awesome deal, since most people have a laptop or computer. But it's not just isolated to computers. It can improve the quality of a phone. Throw in an SD card and you have a great sounding player that way as well. Just look at what you get for that price in general:
- uber portable compared to most desktop sound interfaces that don't suck
- reference sound
- amplification for harder to drive earphones/headphones
- isolated battery mode which I believe would eliminate noise issues with some usb systems (such as grounding loops)?
- a built-in reference amp that doesn't require usb (for devices not compatible with the dac functionality)
- Two-point bass boost option that sounds great
So I think it's an awesome investment for anyone who is an audiophile, even if you have other amps. You can grab it and go, knowing that you'll be able to use it on pretty much any device. It allows you to KNOW you're going to have reference sound. It's an all-in-one package with a nice form factor.
In terms of sound, I'm not jumping to any full conclusions yet. I'll do a lot more testing with the more demanding earphones I have and see how it goes, but I'm predicting the results will be similar.
But either way, great job JDS on the C5D! I love how they threw the DAC right in the same case with the C5. And their devices all have the same profile. Very cool. I'll report back with more testing results in a while.
O.k. I've done some initial comparisons, and although I might get some flac for this, here are my findings:
First, let me say that I've done the initial testing with my Sony MH1. I'll be doing further testing with my other earphones, especially the ER4S, which are considered more critical of things.
So far though, with the MH1 using the same lossless files, the C5D from the usb of my MacBook Pro sounds identical to the C5 from my iPod Touch 5G, which sounds identical to the iPod Touch 5G headphone output, which sounds identical to the digital output of the iPod Touch 5G to the C5D, which sounds identical to the Fuze v1 and ZipClip.
Now let me explain this brief testing and give some opinions.
First, again, I used all the same lossless files on each device and volume matched each device. This is using no EQ, no effects, nothing but raw lossless audio. I used tracks ranging from Christopher Cross to Dream Theater. I compared a few seconds of each track, small sections of each track and tracks in their entirety.
This was a full double blind test. The connections were made without me or the person connecting them knowing which was which. Each song was synced perfectly for playback so well that I could flip the switch back and forth and the timing had zero interruption nor volume change. In fact, when I flip the switch quick enough it makes no noticeable audio disruption at all. I can flip the switch back and forth repeatedly, and when I do it fast enough it literally sounds like I'm listening to the same song and I wouldn't even know anyone was touching the switch.
It is very hard to rule out the brain, and last night I was listening to the C5D with the iPod and thought it sounded clearer somehow. But I believe now that I was trying to hear if it was clearer and therefor thought it might be. That is just my opinion.
So, before you think I'm saying anything bad about the C5D, quite the contrary.
The C5D is awesome. Very awesome. Every single device I have sounds better than the output of the MacBook Pro, which is really surprising. The MBP output has noticeable noise, and lower fidelity in general. Very disappointed in it myself, so much that I'd personally never use it. For a speaker output the noise isn't as noticeable, but with earphones it seems much worse. Anyway, the apogee duet costs around $500 new, the iPod touch with reasonable space (64gb) costs $400, the fuze+ costs roughly $100 or more when you add an SD card, but there are claims the fuze+ doesn't sound as good as the fuze (haven't heard it myself). But as the fuze is discontinued we'll use the + as a price point.
The point is, for any device with reasonable quality and storage capacity you're looking at a good chuck of change. The C5D can be used with any computer/laptop and turn it into an amazing sounding device with all of it's large storage and it costs $250. That's an awesome deal, since most people have a laptop or computer. But it's not just isolated to computers. It can improve the quality of a phone. Throw in an SD card and you have a great sounding player that way as well. Just look at what you get for that price in general:
- uber portable compared to most desktop sound interfaces that don't suck
- reference sound
- amplification for harder to drive earphones/headphones
- isolated battery mode which I believe would eliminate noise issues with some usb systems (such as grounding loops)?
- a built-in reference amp that doesn't require usb (for devices not compatible with the dac functionality)
- Two-point bass boost option that sounds great
So I think it's an awesome investment for anyone who is an audiophile, even if you have other amps. You can grab it and go, knowing that you'll be able to use it on pretty much any device. It allows you to KNOW you're going to have reference sound. It's an all-in-one package with a nice form factor.
In terms of sound, I'm not jumping to any full conclusions yet. I'll do a lot more testing with the more demanding earphones I have and see how it goes, but I'm predicting the results will be similar.
But either way, great job JDS on the C5D! I love how they threw the DAC right in the same case with the C5. And their devices all have the same profile. Very cool. I'll report back with more testing results in a while.
I'm doing some A/B tests with the K 701 right now. I did approximate volume matching with a 1 kHz sine wave via Audacity and I'm listening to Daft Punk's "Give Life Back to Music" song in 24/88.2. Using the FiiO HS2 to switch between amps, I'm noticing that the C5D has a slightly deeper low-end compared to the C5 (bass boost is off for both amps and at low-gain). Especially with the bass guitar notes, the C5D hits them harder and it's more noticeable near the end of the song with the background people talking. Overall though they sound pretty darn similar, as is to be expected.
MacBook Pro playing the 24/88.2 file via Audirvana Plus -> ODAC -> splitter -> C5 and C5D -> HS2 box -> K 701.O.k. I've done some initial comparisons, and although I might get some flac for this, here are my findings:
First, let me say that I've done the initial testing with my Sony MH1. I'll be doing further testing with my other earphones, especially the ER4S, which are considered more critical of things.
So far though, with the MH1 using the same lossless files, the C5D from the usb of my MacBook Pro sounds identical to the C5 from my iPod Touch 5G, which sounds identical to the iPod Touch 5G headphone output, which sounds identical to the digital output of the iPod Touch 5G to the C5D, which sounds identical to the Fuze v1 and ZipClip.
Now let me explain this brief testing and give some opinions.
First, again, I used all the same lossless files on each device and volume matched each device. This is using no EQ, no effects, nothing but raw lossless audio. I used tracks ranging from Christopher Cross to Dream Theater. I compared a few seconds of each track, small sections of each track and tracks in their entirety.
This was a full double blind test. The connections were made without me or the person connecting them knowing which was which. Each song was synced perfectly for playback so well that I could flip the switch back and forth and the timing had zero interruption nor volume change. In fact, when I flip the switch quick enough it makes no noticeable audio disruption at all. I can flip the switch back and forth repeatedly, and when I do it fast enough it literally sounds like I'm listening to the same song and I wouldn't even know anyone was touching the switch.
It is very hard to rule out the brain, and last night I was listening to the C5D with the iPod and thought it sounded clearer somehow. But I believe now that I was trying to hear if it was clearer and therefor thought it might be. That is just my opinion.
So, before you think I'm saying anything bad about the C5D, quite the contrary.
The C5D is awesome. Very awesome. Every single device I have sounds better than the output of the MacBook Pro, which is really surprising. The MBP output has noticeable noise, and lower fidelity in general. Very disappointed in it myself, so much that I'd personally never use it. For a speaker output the noise isn't as noticeable, but with earphones it seems much worse. Anyway, the apogee duet costs around $500 new, the iPod touch with reasonable space (64gb) costs $400, the fuze+ costs roughly $100 or more when you add an SD card, but there are claims the fuze+ doesn't sound as good as the fuze (haven't heard it myself). But as the fuze is discontinued we'll use the + as a price point.
The point is, for any device with reasonable quality and storage capacity you're looking at a good chuck of change. The C5D can be used with any computer/laptop and turn it into an amazing sounding device with all of it's large storage and it costs $250. That's an awesome deal, since most people have a laptop or computer. But it's not just isolated to computers. It can improve the quality of a phone. Throw in an SD card and you have a great sounding player that way as well. Just look at what you get for that price in general:
- uber portable compared to most desktop sound interfaces that don't suck
- reference sound
- amplification for harder to drive earphones/headphones
- isolated battery mode which I believe would eliminate noise issues with some usb systems (such as grounding loops)?
- a built-in reference amp that doesn't require usb (for devices not compatible with the dac functionality)
- Two-point bass boost option that sounds great
So I think it's an awesome investment for anyone who is an audiophile, even if you have other amps. You can grab it and go, knowing that you'll be able to use it on pretty much any device. It allows you to KNOW you're going to have reference sound. It's an all-in-one package with a nice form factor.
In terms of sound, I'm not jumping to any full conclusions yet. I'll do a lot more testing with the more demanding earphones I have and see how it goes, but I'm predicting the results will be similar.
But either way, great job JDS on the C5D! I love how they threw the DAC right in the same case with the C5. And their devices all have the same profile. Very cool. I'll report back with more testing results in a while.
I'm doing some A/B tests with the K 701 right now. I did approximate volume matching with a 1 kHz sine wave via Audacity and I'm listening to Daft Punk's "Give Life Back to Music" song in 24/88.2. Using the FiiO HS2 to switch between amps, I'm noticing that the C5D has a slightly deeper low-end compared to the C5 (bass boost is off for both amps and at low-gain). Especially with the bass guitar notes, the C5D hits them harder and it's more noticeable near the end of the song with the background people talking. Overall though they sound pretty darn similar, as is to be expected.
Perhaps you're hearing the difference in format? I heard no difference in the amp sections with a volume matched a/b. however, if you have 24/88 going through the c5d, perhaps you're picking up the increased dynamics showing in the bass.? Just a thought. What are you playing through the c5? The cd? The 24/88 output through your source?