[Arum16]

Hello guys I thinking to change the power supply to my loxjie, any good recommendation in a fairly price to improve the sound...??
I m leaving in Europe so I need a 230v

I just replaced the original Loxjie PSU, with a 12V - 6A one, plus a plug adaptor for the DC conector/plug. Got my PSU from an electronics/hardware shop, and it delivers, no problems what so ever.

 

[JazzArtist123]

Anyone recommend a good budget dac that can feed this amp a balanced input?

As @Sebasistan pointed to, there is the iFi Zen DAC, where you would need a 4.4mm to Dual XLR cable. There is also the Motu M2 (which has similar specs to the Motu M4). If you went with the Motu M2/M4, you would need two 1/4 Inch TRS to XLR Male Balanced Signal Interconnect Cables. You would be paying more for the Motu M2 than the DROP Grace Design Standard DAC Balanced you already linked to, but if you needed to add a Microphone to your setup later for any reason you could. You can see on AudioScienceReview how the iFi Zen DAC, the DROP Grace DAC, and the Motu M4 measured, so you can use all that information to help you decide what to get.

I'm afraid the other balanced (Topping) DACs I would recommend are more expensive, so that won't help you much. Let us know which one you eventually decide on!

Update: I also just came across the SONCOZ LA-QXD1 on AudioScienceReview. More expensive than the Motu M2, but also measures better. So once again, it'll be up to you to decide on a money/performance ratio. Cheers!

 

[Basick]

I think I'll probably go with the DROP grace since it is recommended by audiosciencereview and is a good budget option thats balanced.
I'll pull the trigger nearing when my amp arrives

 

[iFi audio]

there is the iFi Zen DAC, where you would need a 4.4mm to Dual XLR cable.

That's correct, yes.

 

[Telin]

I think I'll probably go with the DROP grace since it is recommended by audiosciencereview and is a good budget option thats balanced.
I'll pull the trigger nearing when my amp arrives

I'm going to say something that is most likely going to upset most people around here but I'm going to say it anyway..

I don't really like ASR that much as ASR reviews are not much more then a bunch of measurements and then recommend or not recommend based on those measurements.
The reviews that I read on ASR barely, if at all, touch on the subject of how something actually sounds. Measurements alone don't say much about how it actually sounds. You buy a DAC or AMP to listen to actual music, not to connect to a tone generator and feed it a 1Khz tone all day.
The 99 dollar Schiit Modi3+ measures better then the 2500 dollar Schiit Yggdrasil yet everyone agrees that the Yggdrasil sounds better.

Don't get me wrong measurements do have a place with AMP / DAC reviews but it shouldn't be the only thing, there also should be a big(ger) part about how something actually sounds. That part is just completely missing from the ASR reviews and for me the main reason to look elswhere for reviews of products I'm intrested in.

 

[iFi audio]

Measurements alone don't say much about how it actually sounds.

Many people pay attention to measurements as a guide how well a given product is engineered, and audio designers rely on measurements for the same reason. It's all good.

 

[Telin]

Many people pay attention to measurements as a guide how well a given product is engineered, and audio designers rely on measurements for the same reason. It's all good.

Jason Stoddard mentioned in a Q&A that he can design someting in less then a day that measures near perfect but will sound absolutely horrible.
Again I don't say that measurements don't have any value. I just have problems with ASR putting some graphs and measurements underneath each other and label product X good or bad as it measures 1dB or 0.0002% lower/higher then product Y and call that a "review". How you experience music is more then some measurements.

 

[iFi audio]

Jason Stoddard mentioned in a Q&A that he can design someting in less then a day that measures near perfect but will sound absolutely horrible.
Again I don't say that measurements don't have any value. I just have problems with ASR putting some graphs and measurements underneath each other and label product X good or bad as it measures 1dB or 0.0002% lower/higher then product Y and call that a "review". How you experience music is more then some measurements.

ASR users are as focused on measurements as folks here on HF are into sound performance. Variety is the spice of life as they say, there's plenty of audio content for everyone

And lastly, how a given product is measured is the most important thing. Measurements can be manipulated to achieve desirable results, which is why I suggest taking them with caution just as everything else out there on the web.

 

[WaveTheory]

Many people pay attention to measurements as a guide how well a given product is engineered, and audio designers rely on measurements for the same reason. It's all good.

There's some circular reasoning. Engineering excellence is determined by how well the product/part/design solves the problem or does the job that the design was intended to solve/do in the first place. If the intent of an amp or dac is to have vanishing distortion and drive up SINAD scores, then sure, distortion and SINAD measurements will be indicators of engineering excellence. But if the goal of an amp or dac is hi-fidelity electronic reproduction of music, then such measurements will only give tiny insights into how well the product is engineered, and even then they can only indicate if there is something wrong with the design.

An analogy: the Golden Gate Bridge. That bridge is an example of engineering excellence because it is really good at doing what it was designed to do - provide a means to transport people and vehicles across the San Francisco Bay quickly and safely for many, many years. It also does so while being aesthetically appealing to many. If we only focused on the length and height of the bridge, we would have no idea how well it does that job. However, if the length of the bridge was less than the width of the bay it's spanning, then we would know there is a problem with the engineering.

IMO, ASR is cheapening the meanings of both of the terms 'science' and 'engineering' and I would really like to see that stop.

 

[iFi audio]

such measurements will only give tiny insights into how well the product is engineered, and even then they can only indicate if there is something wrong with the design.

Exactly. Although measurements are important for many reasons and, as you've said it, are extremely useful indicators if something's wrong, they're always just a part of a far bigger and more meningful whole. We could endlessly discuss full-range transducers, noisy DHTs, amps with no feedback and other types that often measure so-so yet sound great

 

[DenverW]

Has anyone had experience with 12au7 tubes with this amp? Not because they're an affordable alternative, but because I have quite a few already and wondered if there is any improvement rolling them and if I should bother getting an adapter. Thanks!

Edit: Surprisingly good out of the box. Running balanced from Drop X Grace Balanced SDAC. Great clarity and separation, and this is with stock tubes and power cord. Excited to see what a couple inexpensive changes can do. Tested with E-mu teak balanced and unbalanced cables, as well as ZMF Auteur.

 

[arielext]

Are 12au7 compatible with the p20?!

 

[Basick]

I'm feeding my P20 with this baby. For some reason it's not showing up on Amazon Canada though... https://www.amazon.com/iFi-Zen-DAC-Converter-Unbalanced/dp/B07YZK5MDS

I see it here, being sold for 200$ CAD
https://www.amazon.ca/iFi-ZEN-DAC-Audio-Zen-DAC/dp/B07YZK5MDS

How's it compare to the DROP GRACE balanced?

 

[DenverW]

Are 12au7 compatible with the p20?!

There was a sale posting in the forums that included adapters, so I thought I’d ask.

 

[arielext]

There was a sale posting in the forums that included adapters, so I thought I’d ask.

Did some quick bing-ing: DIY Audio Projects Forum • 6n3p to 12au7

The 6NP3/2C51 is a different pinout from the 12AU7 and has about twice the gain of the 12AU7. When making this kind of change you need to articulate what you are trying to do.