This seems to be a common issue below a certain price point. The excellent DAC with the marginal amp or vice versa. I have to think it's possible to make it happen.
As I said, Asus E1 Muses nails it pretty much. Excellent DAC and an excellent amp, each section on it's own comparable to standalone devices at the price of the entire Asus package. The only thing missing is a balanced headphone output.
Have anyone tried change power cable for better performance? Just got my HD-dac1 for a month or so and really liked the sound it output. But I am thinking for the possibility of optimizing what I have on hand. Since Dac/amp is sensitive to power source, I am thinking to replace the original power cord with Vovox initio power cord. Do you think It will improve the sound performance? Thank you.
Think about this for one sec. You have about 1000 miles between your DAC1 and the power company's gernerator. Do you really think changing 2 feet of that 1000 miles will make a differnce.
Forget all that. What about JUST the wiring in your wall. Change your outlet while you are at it.
Came back to the thread after about a year of owning the Marantz.
I read some people think the amp is bright. Don't really agree. Maybe its your cans. None of the cans I have tried sounded bright to me at all.
I do agree that amp is a little on the weak side. But weak doesn't equal bad. People seem to equate power = quality. The Mangi put out what? 1 watt! That doesnt mean the Magni is better than the amp in Marantz by any measure.
Yes, this amp will have some problems for sure pushing some harder to drive headphones, but if own some LCDs you should probably get a nicer amp anyway. This thing drives my AKG Q701s wonderfully. But just barely. On really high DR tracks I hit about 90% volume, thought I usually stick to about 50% volume on the average DR 7 album. Thats on low gain too. The higher the gain I use on this thing, it seems to close in the sound stage.
But I will say I was looking at the Fostex's two amp/dac are laughably weak. The a4 is 100mw at 32ohms. The A8 is a little weaker than the Marantz at 700mw.
"Some here in this thread reported NO clicking from their Marantz HD-DAC1. I have Valab DAC-X9 - no clicking whatsoever."
Thats weird. You should always here a click. There is a physical relay switch that opens and closes. It used to drive me nuts. Then I realized its a feature. and not really a big deal. I don't even notice it anymore. In fact I just had to double check it was still there.
Just quick question?
I just ordered A little dot Mark 4 SE tube amp. I plan on using the HD-dac1 as a DAC for the tube amp. My first time messing with this feature, meaning just as a DAC. The manual says NOT to connect a power amp to the "fixed output". I should use the variable out put. So what? set the tube amp pot at a fixed level and use the Marantz to adjust the volume? What would give me the best SQ (I will experiment to find out but I am curious what anyone else thinks)
Also I ordered the Hd650's to go with my Little Dot. But of course I will try them out with the SS amp in the Marantz. Anyone else try the 650's with the marantz?
I had the 650's and Marantz HDDAC1. They pair extremely well. But never tried the 650 with a tube amp...
I agree that IMO the Marantz isn't bright. Not even with DT880 cans I used to own.
I now use the HDDAC1 with HD600 and Focal Spirit Pro. Very happy with the results.
Two weeks ago I bought the Chord Mojo so I can compare the two dac/amps. I don't hear any (extra or overly) brightness from the Marantz compared to the Mojo.
My sources are a MBP connected via usb (Wireworld Ultraviolet) or iPad via same usb cable and Apple CCK
I also use my old CD-spinners (Audiolab 8200CDQ or Onkyo DX7555) as a transport connected via coax (Oehlbach The Pure Sound, 75Ohm cable) to the Marantz.
Results from the CD players as a transport are to my ears clearly better than from any computer or mobile device. This is also the case if I use the Chord Mojo.
The H650s are well paired with HD DAC1. You will get a different flavour from them with a good tube amp. I think they are excellent though I find the soundstage a bit tall-oval shaped for my liking. The Marantz seems to reduce this effect somewhat.
Dedicated Headphone Circuit with Adjustable Gain and HDAM-SA2
Designed to deliver the ultimate listening experience with the widest range of headphone types and impedances the HD-AMP1 features a dedicated headphone amplifier block that employs our exclusive HDAM-SA2 technology. There are 3 gain settings available in order to provide optimum matching with the widest range of headphone impedances.
It has even better headphone output with three gain stage... I think DAC1 doesn't have gain stages...
This new HD-Amp1 costs 1,000 USD. I'm not sure when we will see this on Amazon.
Hi,
HDAM-SA2 is embedded on the DAC1 too, with 3 gain levels.
I think the headphone amp section is the same on both, the AMP1 is although a speaker amp, and has a sabre dac with 384 khz / 32 bits and 11.2 DSD
Yeah, the HD-DAC1 has a low-mid-high gain stages for the headphone amp. But the device is a much better DAC than it is a head amp. I much prefer listening to cans out of my DX90 rather than the DAC1.
No, but I had the AH-MM400 for some months and I was a happy camper with that headphone. Then I replaced the Denon with the cheaper, but oh-so-much better sounding Philps Fidelio X2, a super companion to HD-DAC1. Try!
Has anyone experienced the "click" noise? I use VOX and I don't hear the clicks when I play from a playlist, is it because the playlist is gapless playback?
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