[breadvan]

HI pekingduck, have your experimented or thought of any outboard USB power solution, ie, have the Korg powered by NOT your PC/MAC, and from a dedicated USB power source? I wonder if that would make any positive difference.

 

[pekingduck]

Not yet but I've always wanted to. That iUSBPower device is too expensive but I have some power banks lying around that should be able to power the Korg. I just need to find the right cable... 

 

[breadvan]

Yes the cable is the tricky part to start with a few audiophile USB power supply around. Anyone has suggestion?

 

[breadvan]

Probably not the most elegant solution, but looks promising:

http://www.aqvox.de/usb-power_en.html

 

[breadvan]

There is one from Kingrex, but at USD600.

http://www.idealez.com/kingrex/product-detail/en_US/69105

 

[pekingduck]

USD $600 

Fortunately I found one for around USD $25 (built by some DIYer) and it's on the way.
Will report back.
 
Quote:

There is one from Kingrex, but at USD600.

http://www.idealez.com/kingrex/product-detail/en_US/69105

 

[breadvan]

USD $600 

Fortunately I found one for around USD $25 (built by some DIYer) and it's on the way.
Will report back.

Yeah I know $600 cable for a $500 DAC is .... not for me anyway.

Mind sharing your USB cable DIY source?

 

[pekingduck]

Sure! Actually DIYer isn't the right word. That guy is the designer of TeraDak products (there are couple threads here on head-fi) but he also sells some DIY cables. 
 
Here's the one I bought http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=16979179835
 
He ships overseas but I don't know if he speaks English or accepts PayPal.
 
Quote:

Yeah I know $600 cable for a $500 DAC is .... not for me anyway.

Mind sharing your USB cable DIY source?

 

[breadvan]

Sure! Actually DIYer isn't the right word. That guy is the designer of TeraDak products (there are couple threads here on head-fi) but he also sells some DIY cables. 

Here's the one I bought http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=16979179835

He ships overseas but I don't know if he speaks English or accepts PayPal.

Great stuff! I checked out their power supply before although I never bought any, wow this is so much better (money wise at least) than the mega buck cable!

Much appreciated.

 

[pekingduck]

My cable is here! I haven't done any serious A/B testing but I did notice the clicking/static noise experienced earlier (which I thought was software/driver related) was completely gone! Couldn't be happier!

 

[breadvan]

My cable is here! I haven't done any serious A/B testing but I did notice the clicking/static noise experienced earlier (which I thought was software/driver related) was completely gone! Couldn't be happier!

Great stuff, I ordered mine and hope to get it soon. Thanks for the heads up.

Noticed another one of these cables, still pricey: http://www.acoustic-revive.com/english/pcaudio/usb_cable_01.html

 

[One and a half]

I've had the DAC for about two weeks and listening where I could.
 
The intent of my purchase for this DAC is to take the DAC away on trips, and listen to up to and including DSD128 files with JRiver18. If there are just headphones to listen with, then that's fine, but I don't expect the DS-DAC-10 to used in aircraft cabins. The headphones for travel are audio Technica ATH-ANC7b Noise cancelling jobs, although for these notes, used Denon AH-D7000 and Audeze LCD3 were tried.
 
As a headphone amplifier driving the LCD3, well not gonna happen. it's like convincing an elephant to move by pushing with a feather duster. Forget the LCD3 with this DAC. For the Denon, the result is a little better, bit more drive, but the best results to hand were the DS-DAC-10 partnered with the Sony PHA-1 amp. This partnership opened up the bass and gave the headphones some room to breathe. The rest of the sonics and resolution are a $500 DAC, murky at times, violins don't have that sharp edge, the bass is not very tight, the sound is there, but there's no incentive to appreciate music.
 
The Audio Technica were tolerable, since their resolution is nowhere near the other two headphones, and with the Sony amp, music was appreciable. If you don't have a better DAC, you'd think the Korg was a great DAC, for a "portable" system that I wanted it for, it will work very nicely. It's light and not too cumbersome, and more importantly it can play anything, whereas the Meridian Explorer or the Dragonfly cannot. 
 
If you change sample rates with PCM material, the driver will auto select, until you come to DSD and you have to use the stick and change gears with the driver applet. I found Audiogate useless to use other than to reduce the volume gain on DSD material by about 15db since I couldn't quite work out how to do the same with JRMC's DSD streaming output and the output was grossly overloaded. Audiogate could manage the auto switching for all sample rates, so I guess that's another plus, as a music manager for 30,000 songs plus, it's a big yawn and very frustrating, only good for a small set of albums, like 2.
 
Would I recommend this DAC...? for the money...borderline, if it had a better driver, in time this is worth a revisit. But it does play DSD, others don't, a big plus.
 
Ancilliaries:
- PD MPD-3 DAC
- Accuphase E-450 Amp
- Kef Reference 3 Speakers
- Balanced power supply
- Sony Vaio FW56 Dual core Intel something 
- JRMC 18 latest build
- DSD64, DSD128, PCM redbook to 192/24 music files

 

[breadvan]

I've had the DAC for about two weeks and listening where I could.

The intent of my purchase for this DAC is to take the DAC away on trips, and listen to up to and including DSD128 files with JRiver18. If there are just headphones to listen with, then that's fine, but I don't expect the DS-DAC-10 to used in aircraft cabins. The headphones for travel are audio Technica ATH-ANC7b Noise cancelling jobs, although for these notes, used Denon AH-D7000 and Audeze LCD3 were tried.

As a headphone amplifier driving the LCD3, well not gonna happen. it's like convincing an elephant to move by pushing with a feather duster. Forget the LCD3 with this DAC. For the Denon, the result is a little better, bit more drive, but the best results to hand were the DS-DAC-10 partnered with the Sony PHA-1 amp. This partnership opened up the bass and gave the headphones some room to breathe. The rest of the sonics and resolution are a $500 DAC, murky at times, violins don't have that sharp edge, the bass is not very tight, the sound is there, but there's no incentive to appreciate music.

The Audio Technica were tolerable, since their resolution is nowhere near the other two headphones, and with the Sony amp, music was appreciable. If you don't have a better DAC, you'd think the Korg was a great DAC, for a "portable" system that I wanted it for, it will work very nicely. It's light and not too cumbersome, and more importantly it can play anything, whereas the Meridian Explorer or the Dragonfly cannot. 

If you change sample rates with PCM material, the driver will auto select, until you come to DSD and you have to use the stick and change gears with the driver applet. I found Audiogate useless to use other than to reduce the volume gain on DSD material by about 15db since I couldn't quite work out how to do the same with JRMC's DSD streaming output and the output was grossly overloaded. Audiogate could manage the auto switching for all sample rates, so I guess that's another plus, as a music manager for 30,000 songs plus, it's a big yawn and very frustrating, only good for a small set of albums, like 2.

Would I recommend this DAC...? for the money...borderline, if it had a better driver, in time this is worth a revisit. But it does play DSD, others don't, a big plus.

Ancilliaries:
- PD MPD-3 DAC
- Accuphase E-450 Amp
- Kef Reference 3 Speakers
- Balanced power supply
- Sony Vaio FW56 Dual core Intel something 
- JRMC 18 latest build
- DSD64, DSD128, PCM redbook to 192/24 music files

Thanks for your impression, have always wonder how it would perform as an amp as I plan on getting LCD3 in a few months, I wasn't expecting a miracle but would be a pleasant surprise if it did but it appears not to be the case, fine though since I got the Korg for DSD files mainly. Some questions:

- Does the volume in the front also control the analogue output, or is the output fixed?
- What you meant by you have “to use the stick and change gears with the driver applet”? I use Audiogate on PC, as clunky as it is, DSD sample rate changes on the fly, as confirmed by Korg’s front panel.
- How did you manage to stream DSD via JRiver? I also have latest version and attempted methods mentioned in JRiver’s wiki http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/DSD_Format, but it didn't seem to work.

Thanks.

 

[One and a half]

To Breadvan
 
The LCD3 really needs watts to drive them. Others may have an actual figure, but 5W would be minimum as a guess. If you only have 5V at 500mA, there's nothing much up your sleeve to make things louder and do D to A conversion. Despite that, and the headband *a little too tight*, the LCD3 are exemplary  definition of resolution. There is a lot you will like in them. While we are on the LCD3 a little, I don't like the appearance of the four core cable, it reminds me too much of the supplied cables with cheap DVD players, so perhaps factor in a set of accessory Mini XLR cables. Oyaide have a set, HPC-X62, inquiries to the distributor are continuing, you'd think the question is going through a Senate hearing, cause to get an answer is mind blowingly slow to arrive....There are others but haven't studied them in detail.
 
To your questions,
 
- The RCA jacks at the rear are fixed according to the Japanese manual that comes with the Dac, lucky mathematics and physical quantities descriptions are universal, cause the rest of the text is unreadable to English readers....is -6db into 10k Ohm. Headphone output is 0-85mW for 32 Ohm. The SPDIF out is IEC60958 PCM only, so no DoP.
- Stick and change gears is adjusting the sample rate manually in the supplied Korg control applet. You can manually select the sample rate and PCM/DSD from there. For DSD it's mandatory to change, as it won't recognise Jriver to do it. In time, this may change.
- Streaming JRiver 18, I use the ASIO approach cause AudioGate uses the same system mechanism for their driver. From the Wiki, which is a little out of date for 18.
 
"To bitstream using this method:

1. Select 'ASIO' in Options > Audio > Output mode (and configure 'Output mode settings...' as necessary)
2. The ASIO mode is the driver for the KORG, it's listed in the drop down under audio settings
3. Select Options > Audio > Bitstreaming > Custom... and check _only_ 'DSD' (in MC17 and earlier, Bitstreaming is under Options > Video)"

For this approach the signal is way too high and it distorts badly. If I find a solution,there will be a post. Probably a simple one! 

 

 

 

[breadvan]

Thanks mate for your detail reply. I didn't imagine the Korg was resigned to drive big cans but just thought may be a surprise was snugged in there somewhere, no luck this time.