Argo Duck
Formerly known as "AiDee"
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2007
- Posts
- 2,245
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- 433
LOL indeed. I think Prep's back-up back-up back-up rig could be my end-game
Ha ha ha.. Yea right guys. It's my bedroom rig..It should be hear soon..
And you will probably enjoy it... but not with the MDs
Do you have a need for closed headphones in your bed-rig?
I can recommand one of the most overlooked pair of cans ever: Hifiman HE-4!
Have you heard of it?
I mean the pairing might not be to your liking, in tonality.
the Ciunas is rather warm overall and, IMO, the MDs work well with a brighter source ala Eximus or Metrum.
Again, I have warmish amps, so YMMV
Exactly - the a-100 is a bit forward or may be on the bright side.
The Metrum bright?
No, I said brighter
The Metrum is my definition of neutral (and transparent, too).
The slight bloom in the mid bass makes it a very slightly warmish DAC, but it is neutral nonetheless.
By comparison, the Ciunas is more like a NFB-3.
That's my first impression, so take it with a grain of salt
I don't find the Ciunas lacks of details and dynamics as well.
I can hear tons of details and atmosphere, even with a 2 meter long USB cable.
I found no way to place the RCA cable if I use the USB adapter between my laptop and Ciunas, so have to use USB cables.
I am still waiting for a 20cm USB cable to arrive. I have tried 4 different kinds USB cables, all sound with significant differences.
I use a duel boot system on my laptop, the Win XP sounds less sheen than the Win 8,both using foobar1.1.11 or JPLAY./quote]
Depends on the RCAs, but you need two to clear many and these are the two I use and sound great. The first is recommended by John. I sent him the second link, but don't know if he got around to trying it out. The clearance is just enough for my RCAs out the back of my computer, though I have to remember to check every few days that the computer side hasn't worked loose (wish I could figure out a way to keep the connector firmly in).
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002B9AR8I/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (see dac instructions onlin for UK model's link)
http://dx.com/p/usb-male-to-female-adapter-converter-28990
You had any trouble with Win 8, foobar and JPlay? With the ASIO/JPlay device setting, I ran into skips early on CDs unless the buffer was set high and, more annoyingly, some computer freezes, especially using Ultrastream engine, but really all (I live River the best - more natural, less processed sound). Over at the foobar forum, they're really hostile to JPlay, so it's hard to get any help there.
You had me agreeing until you went the cable route. Source changes are more subtle than amp or headphone changes but cables? Digital cable ceiling is in around the $50 range. Length is more important than anything else in spdif cables. If you spend more than what a WireWorld UV USB costs on USB you need to read up on how USB audio streams work, throw your palm into your face and accept you got robbed
A friend forward me this paper
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue14/spdif.htm
I use 1.23 m black volace and 1.5 m Audioquest, and prefer Audioquest.
Not sure whether its the length or the material though.
Hope it help.