[rettib2001]

I recently upgraded my system and added a Marantz 2 channel amp, mm7025, , the LKS having its own volume control sounds WAAYY better when I run XLR's straight to the amp, bypassing my DENON x4200 altogether and having my 2 subwoofers plugged into the unbalanced outputs of the DAC. The sound coming out of my B&W 705 S2'S is amazing. Does anyone else here use the LKS as a pre amp?, if so what crossover do you recommend so I dont run my speakers full range? Thank you

I'm using it as a pre-amp having concluded that it sounds better than going through my 'pretty good' passive preamp.

I am still however eager to hear if anybody has found a preamp solution that sounds better than the lks acting as adigital volume control as I can't shake the largely accepted theory that any digital control of volume effects the sound quality.

 

[Whitigir]

How does digital controlled volume affect the sound quality ? The amplitude of the converted analog is upon the ES9038Pro alone, and the volume control is right at this process of howmuch power is being put in for the final process. It doesn’t change the outcome of the sound performances as it was engineered this way.

Yes, you may be using it at the best power output that 004 has, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it sounds any better. It just consumes more power in doing that.

Sometime I feel like giving freedom of choices too much to the people and they will believe in all kind of theories. Does it make you feel better if there was no volume control digitally ? I am sure, not me.

Have you ever thought about the facts that there are more that can affect the sound of the analog signals if you are OCD about digital volumes control ? Let me spell it out

1/ digital volume control was engineered so that every parameters stay the same, and measured by engineering, and qualify to come into productions.

2/ is any of your Interconnect engineered, passed the test to keep other parameters unchanging ? If yes, go to #3

3/ is your amplifier engineered, passed the test to only amplifying the signals from es9038Pro at 100% without colorations and degradations ? If Yes, go to #4

4/ Are you sure that LKs004 as the manufacturers implemented what is best for es9038Pro on the analog out ? you can hear the differences ?

5/ can you even tell the differences between digital filters ?

In my own experiences, I can tell you this #1 is fact , #2 is not (not even those expensive IC), #3 is not, there is no such thing as perfect amplifications, #4 is what matter (can you tell ?), #5 I can barely hear the differences and I cannot blind test them that is how hard it is

So, let’s just discarded them all, and answer their question. Try putting lks004 at max volume and your amp at lower volume VS your amp at max volume and LKS at lower volume. I can hear that my Amp sound so much better when the amp is at max, and the lks is at controlled volume. However, If you hear the opposite ? Then let me tell you what is best

What is best is that you max out LKS004 at max volumes to Bypass the digital attenuations. Then you find a way to have your Amplifier to stay fixed and bypass any type of volume attenuations (0 volume control on amp) at Just right listening comfort level. I am sure you will hear much more improvements with the ability to hear crazy things. But then, are you sure that different albums you have on different tracks are all recorded at the same amplitude of loudness ?

I hope I already make it clear and help you to stay on track. What matter is that you enjoy what you hear, and believe in what you are hearing. If you don’t hear the differences, don’t torture yourself and go insane by conspiracy and crazy theories. This hobby means nothing when you have 0 faith in your hearings ability

In the end, if you want to buy another preamplifier ? Do it, and enjoy yourself, just don’t throw out such ridiculous ideas about different theories

 

[Lennym]

Me bad. Made a mistake in the setup for the test. I had dsd bitstream turned off when I was playing the dsf files. According to https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/DSD, by default (with bitstream turned off), DSD sources will be converted to PCM for playback and handled by the Media Center audio engine like any other file type. The DSD to PCM conversion process converts from 1-bit DSD to 64-bit PCM at 1/8th of the DSD sample rate. The total amount of data from this conversion grows by 8x, so the process is effectively lossless / perfect. Once you have PCM, it will be 64bit @ 352.8 kHz for DSD, and 64bit @ 705.6 kHz for 2×DSD.
So effectively, I was playing the dsf file as 64bit @ 352.8 kHz and dpll 1, not as native dsd. Still it sounded pretty good (and the process is supposedly bit perfect).

So you have resolved the mystery. Thanks. Yes, I am familiar with that output. That's how I play my dsf files on my computer using Audioquest Dragonfly and computer speakers. IIRC when I did not know what was really going on, JRiver just reset the audio options on its own to convert the files. As was said, JRiver has a long learning curve (and pretty poor instructional materials) but it does some things really well.

 

[Paul Staples]

Well they are advertising their Deja Vu music server at $4555. In it is a "Intel quad-core processor with turbo boost up to 2.6 GHz". They aren't even using a fanless case. higher performance cpu doesn't necessarily use a lot more power. The cpu I pick is the i7 8700 non-K which has a low 65W rating. And giving I'm using a fanless case that eliminate the main source of CPU noise which are the fans makes all the difference.

whereas my older processor: Intel® Core™ i7-6700K 6700K - 4GHz Quad-Core 6th Gen. Socket 1151, generates 91W !! ...so it looks like they have overcome the heat problem to some extent with the newer and faster CPU's. I agree with your statement. Do you think 'with all respect', that Pink Faun are gulity of a bit of hypocrisy?

 

[Whitigir]

[QUOTE="Do you think 'with all respect', that Pink Faun are gulity of a bit of hypocrisy?[/QUOTE]

What ? I don’t get what your question is

Also “K” line is different than Non-K. I7-8700 is different than I7-8700K. I recommend you to read more into the differences

 

[Paul Staples]

"Do you think 'with all respect', that Pink Faun are gulity of a bit of hypocrisy?"

What ? I don’t get what your question is

“The faster the CPU, the more power it consumes, the more noise in the system, and the more potential bit errors. Having any more CPU speed than is required to run the processes a music server is running degrades performance. Most audiophile player software uses only one core in a CPU. Having multiple cores in the CPU that are unused also causes additional noise and degrades performance. So a simple high-efficiency dual-core CPU is often your best alternative. And having an "i7" or some other more advanced type of CPU is of no advantage to the audiophile. Note that the "i" in i7 refers to an "instruction set" that is not used by any audiophile player software. Using a dual-core high-efficiency CPU with 3MB of cache is more than enough for most audiophile player software. The higher the efficiency of the CPU the lower the noise and the more liquid, harmonic, and musical the server sounds. Also, a simple motherboard that consumes minimal power, such as one with only VGA video, low-res HDMI video, and/or no 7.1 channel audio, will have lower noise and better performance. This is why Mojo Audio uses a 6w stripped down industrial motherboard in our award-winning Deja Vu music server. Error prevention is always better than error correction. Prevention is better than cure!”


By stark contrast:

Well Mojo are advertising their Deja Vu music server at $4555. In it is a "Intel quad-core processor with turbo boost up to 2.6 GHz". They aren't even using a fanless case.

 

[Whitigir]

I still don’t get what you mean from your posts, why would you blame on Pinkfaun for being hypocrisy ?

 

[Villy]

“The faster the CPU, the more power it consumes, the more noise in the system, and the more potential bit errors. Having any more CPU speed than is required to run the processes a music server is running degrades performance. Most audiophile player software uses only one core in a CPU. Having multiple cores in the CPU that are unused also causes additional noise and degrades performance. So a simple high-efficiency dual-core CPU is often your best alternative. And having an "i7" or some other more advanced type of CPU is of no advantage to the audiophile. Note that the "i" in i7 refers to an "instruction set" that is not used by any audiophile player software. Using a dual-core high-efficiency CPU with 3MB of cache is more than enough for most audiophile player software. The higher the efficiency of the CPU the lower the noise and the more liquid, harmonic, and musical the server sounds. Also, a simple motherboard that consumes minimal power, such as one with only VGA video, low-res HDMI video, and/or no 7.1 channel audio, will have lower noise and better performance. This is why Mojo Audio uses a 6w stripped down industrial motherboard in our award-winning Deja Vu music server. Error prevention is always better than error correction. Prevention is better than cure!”


By stark contrast:

Video cards and other components clearly influence the purity of digital stream coming out of a board, I'm not convinced as to the impact of CPU cores and speed capacity though - do have any links to share which support the stated one way or another?

 

[ptolemy2k6]

Hi everyone,

I had a q.. since i2s cable is limited to maybe 6" before feed has a chance to degrade, does anyone has a cable recommendation that's available in USA?

 

[Paul Staples]

I still don’t get what you mean from your posts, why would you blame on Pinkfaun for being hypocrisy ?

Sorry! I meant: "Do you think 'with all respect', that MOJO are gulity of a bit of hypocrisy?" Many apologies.

 

[Paul Staples]

Video cards and other components clearly influence the purity of digital stream coming out of a board, I'm not convinced as to the impact of CPU cores and speed capacity though - do have any links to share which support the stated one way or another?

https://www.mojo-audio.com/blog/computer-audio-misconceptions

 

[Whitigir]

Sorry! I meant: "Do you think 'with all respect', that MOJO are gulity of a bit of hypocrisy?" Many apologies.

Well, I don’t think, I know what I know and I know what I hear. Anyways, i2s LVDS don’t degrade with longer cables. My cables is 1m and it is fine

 

[xiamen]

Sorry! I meant: "Do you think 'with all respect', that MOJO are gulity of a bit of hypocrisy?" Many apologies.

Yes and no. Their key premise (other than using low noise power supply) is to have a music server that requires least amount of power for motherboard and cpu (as use of power generates noise). That's fair enough but then to charge $4555 for a minimal system? I can get something like https://www.newegg.com/global/au/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813153316 that needs only 6W TDP/4W SDP for around $200.

 

[Paul Staples]

Yes and no. Their key premise (other than using low noise power supply) is to have a music server that requires least amount of power for motherboard and cpu (as use of power generates noise). That's fair enough but then to charge $4555 for a minimal system? I can get something like https://www.newegg.com/global/au/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813153316 that needs only 6W TDP/4W SDP for around $200.

 

[rikm]

...well fwiw, over the past several years I have been using and evaluating a series of ARM7 devices, but have recently been playing with the ASRock BeeBox

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856158058

the 3010 model is fanless and has way more horsepower than the ARM devices...so far results are good