[ostewart]

Welp we got a TV today and the EL Dac is now serving in that system! I also grabbed some LS 308's from Sweetwater, wanted to get the 305's but the sale price on the 8s was stellar so I figured the extra 8 hrz down low would be worth while!

In a few days I'll have my first in home speaker listen with the EL Dac an OL Switcher ^^ already know what Movie I'm going to watch

My EL DAC has been happy in my home setup for a few weeks now, it's a superb DAC

 

[Makiah S]

My EL DAC has been happy in my home setup for a few weeks now, it's a superb DAC

That's excellent! I'm really impressed with how well the EL Dac handles Optical input, especially compared to my own NFB10ES2, really it does a better job with a Optical Source than my balanced dac does, seeing as the TV we got only has Optical Out it's serving as the perfect compliment! Though I'm going to be needing a second OL Switcher my self! Got some JBL LS 308s and I intended to have the OL Swticher control the both!

 

[musicfan145]

Hi @jseaber, I noticed that the OL DAC has a volume/gain control that can be adjusted with the iPhone and with Roon. Can you give us any information about this? Is it analog? Digital? Lossless digital?

 

[jseaber]

@musicfan145 - This is the OS/driver level volume adjustment. It can be disabled in firmware, but disabling is equivalent to setting volume to 100%, so we prefer to give everyone freedom to use their DAC as they wish.

 

[musicfan145]

I only tried the Drangonfly black on "my" setup as the local store allowed me to do a few tests with the same gear (aren't they cool?!)... and I actually noticed a painful amount of "shh" and background noise on the DF Black. What do you think this could have been?

Hopefully you took advantage of their Black Friday sale, but if you’re still deciding, I’ll offer this: I built a test rig that lets me switch instantly back and forth between two USB DACs playing a synchronized stream of the same song. I compared the OL DAC with my Dragonfly Red (at full volume) and I could not hear any difference. None. I had to check several times to make sure my switch wasn’t broken. My hearing is far from perfect, but if there are differences they were not night-and-day huge. Since the DF Red is supposed to have a better DAC than the DF Black, maybe the OL is also better than the Black.

Perhaps more important is the output voltage. The DF Red is rated at 2.1V, the OL is rated at 2.0V, and the DF Black is rated at 1.2V. As someone else pointed out, any noise that enters the system before your amp is going to be significantly louder (relative to the signal) using the DF Black. (In order to play at the same listening level, your amp has to boost the signal—and the noise—more with the DF Black.)

The DF Black and the new OL USB model are both $99 (give or take tax & shipping). For that price, the advantages of each seem to be:

DF Black: portability, MQA rendering, analog volume control, ability to drive some sensitive headphones directly.

OL USB: self-powered, significantly stronger output (better SNR), better DAC chip, much more rugged construction.

 

[Cheffy]

I only tried the Drangonfly black on "my" setup as the local store allowed me to do a few tests with the same gear (aren't they cool?!)... and I actually noticed a painful amount of "shh" and background noise on the DF Black. What do you think this could have been?

I get dead silence from my Dragon fly black from my laptop. Mind you my phone are very sensitive so I keep Windows volumes to 2-4% most of the time.

 

[davidland]

looks cool!

 

[musicfan145]

Sporadic error messages and inconsistent behavior from iOS is most often due to the CCK. It's a mystery to me how many different versions of the CCK exist, and unfortunately, only some are reliable. I keep a few of the best CCK model #'s at the office, and they just work.

Real world advice: Try another CCK. Some model #s are more reliable than others.

@jseaber, Could I trouble you to get out a magnifying glass (or check the settings menu) and check the model numbers of the ones that work?

My original CCK was part #MD821AM/A, and says model A1440 on the back of the adapter. I purchased the discontinued part number recommended on your blog (MD821ZM/A) and it also says model A1440 on the back. In the iPhone settings (General > About > Apple USB Camera Adapter), they both show exactly the same thing. Since this was purchased used, there is some chance it is a MD821AM in an MD821ZM box. Before I purchase a bunch more adapters or give up on consistently being able to use the OL DAC with my iPhone, I’d like to know exactly which adapters I should be looking for.

 

[jseaber]

I'll see what I can find on Monday.

Edit: Both say A1440 on the rear side. I hand marked one of them with "2015". The other was obtained in 2016.

Our office iPad needs to charge before I can check the firmware. Sorry, most of us have switched to Android.

 

[ostewart]

Productive afternoon changing the green LED to a red one to match my O2 amp

 

[Makiah S]

Took a bit longer than I'd like but my review for the EL Dac is posted! On my blog as well as here on Head Fi in short, I really felt the EL Dac is a phenomenal performer all around. The interface is super easy to use and overall installation of it into a system is straight forward and painless! Even better it's practically invisible in my system and offers an exceptionally black, well resolved balanced sound overall!

 

[Makiah S]

Took a bit longer than I'd like but my review for the EL Dac is posted! On my blog as well as here on Head Fi in short, I really felt the EL Dac is a phenomenal performer all around. The interface is super easy to use and overall installation of it into a system is straight forward and painless! Even better it's practically invisible in my system and offers an exceptionally black, well resolved balanced sound overall!

Just to hopefully get the ball rolling again, I recently upgrade my HD 800 to a silver cable and WOW I noticed quite a bit more detail out of my EL Dac system than I did before, you guys have really done an excellent job with this unit! It's resolve is pretty stellar, with what I feel is now a true flagship headphone [HD 800 with SDR Mod an Silver Cable [that stock one sounds icky] the EL Dac performs even more closely to my own NFB10ES2

I was also surprised to hear that it was actually a bit more natural than the first time I listened to it, I compared it with a Burson Play and found the Play was a little wider sounding with a cleaner output, less noise, but the EL Dac in comparison while just a little more intimate and a little nosier, was quite a bit more resolving! Transients, a sense of air, and micro dynamics really stand out with the EL Dac and that was fed into my Schiit Vali Gen 1. I can only imagine how much better it'll sound with an upgraded amp!

Either way guys, this is an excellent product and sadly I love it so much... I've moved it out of my TV room and keep it on my desk lol as part of my dedicated Secondary system. Even got another USB to Coax interface so I can have it up and running quicker, sadly the TV room has been downgraded to a Fioo D03k! Hopefully the wife and I don't notice too much of a difference

 

[TylersEclectic]

Hello people!

Got my DAC last week, and some pictures!
- IF JDS labs is looking at this post, I would like to say THANK YOU to them for all of their assistance (Jimmy and John assisted me with my issue). The Folks at JDS labs are phenomenal. I was having some Usb dropout issues (Windows 10 creators update issues) and they assisted me over the WEEKEND! - and all is good now! - So far I have done about 18 - 20 hours of listening via EL DAC (headphones + speakers)

and now for more good news! In a nut shell the EL DAC sounds very good. It's not the best thing since sliced bread, but it is a clean / natural sounding DAC. A very good piece of hardware to get your HiFi journey started. I do wish you could turn off the led (its too bright)

let me know if you have any questions

Haris

what is the volume control to the left of your Element and El Dac? I know it has been awhile, but I am using this same setup currently and will be getting powered 305s this week and this looks like a good solution to controlling the volume.

 

[Haris Javed]

what is the volume control to the left of your Element and El Dac? I know it has been awhile, but I am using this same setup currently and will be getting powered 305s this week and this looks like a good solution to controlling the volume.

sorry its been a while since I logged in - the volume knob you inquire about is a passive volume control unit. it is great! it controls the output from the EL DAC going to my power amplifier

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MXC9HHW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[TylersEclectic]

sorry its been a while since I logged in - the volume knob you inquire about is a passive volume control unit. it is great! it controls the output from the EL DAC going to my power amplifier

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MXC9HHW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thank you, I actually found it and purchased it! I am really liking it. I'll have to post a picture of my setup soon-ish...