[ninjikiran]

 
Quote:

hey, has anyone tried using a high-end usb cable and know where if it will indeed make the sound coming through the usb port 'better'?
 
i know that many use toslink cables but from what i understand a toslink optical cable capable of achieving a high-grade audio standard will usually cost much more.
 
also, does anyone has the opportunity to try both the opa627 as well as the lt1364cn8 and lm4562na op amp?
I install opa627 both at the dac and headphone side. the resulting sound is smoother and cleaner at the expense of some details so i wonder if I should change my op-amp to lt1364cn8 and lm4562na. The only thing I dislike is that they are all sold in pairs. =(
 
or shall I wait for the new upcoming headphone amp? 

Some people will argue about it but lets face it, Toslink COAX and USB are all the same in terms of transporting audio.  Don't believe the placebo of digital cables changing sound quality between high and low quality.
 
Coax is more finicky, I used a cheap RCA cable to test it out.  Sound quality was the same as the cable I use now but it was  very thin and poorly insulated so it did result in some drop out at random times.

Sound music file on your computer technically becomes "audio" when it hits the DAC and its converted into something analog that your headphones can translate into audio.  From there on it is static 1's and 0's and 1's and 0's is not something you can really mess up unless it is done intentionally.  The DAC and the chosen opamps are the only place where real coloration can occur.
 
 
At the same time on my machine using USB is not advised because windows uses a standard driver which locks it out at 48khz meaning any song going out of USB needs to be resampled in some way shape or form which is a lossy process(whether or not the differences in SQ is worth using USB over another transport is up to you).  Using either Toslink or Coax from my sound card as a transport to the DAC provides a lossless(or variable-less) transfer to the DAC.  Mainly because my sound card can be turned into a bit-perfect transport but I don't know if the onboard ones can.
 
I use the LM4562 opamp on my headphone output and it works like a charm, in terms of SQ from default it sounds basically the same.  Difference being the default opamp has sort of a higher pitched sound on certain syllables like s so it is less fatiguing on my ears over time.

 

[erasermaj]

Hello All, This is my first post to this forum.I'm quite new to the world of hifi and find this forum quite informative.
 
I am planning to buy a DAC primarly with the purpose of using it as an intermediary between my laptop and Speakers(AudioEngine A5).Sometimes I might use it between my IPOD and Speakers as well. The primary purpose is to improve the Sound quality of the Songs.
 
I have done some research & finally narrowed it down between
 
MF V-DAC
 
&
 
Maveric D1
 
These are available for more or less the same price in my country.I have read some reviews on each but nothing that compares them side by side.
 
Keeping the above parameters in perspective, Can someone (preferably who has had experience with both the products) suggest which would be a better buy ?
 
Thanks & regards.

 

[ULTRA-HARMONICS]

Tagged...

 

[sp70]

Well I just rolled the venerable WE 396A into my mav, and its just warmed up for 10 minutes - but I can still easily tell that this is a huge improvement. The sound stage is as vast as i've heard with tubes (not that my opinion on tubes necessarily means much!) anyway a huge improvement over the stock tube I was using before. Not to mention, tamed, far more accurate sounding highs, and as mentioned by another user, a darker background. I bought it used for a decent price figuring i'd give it a go and if it was no good I wouldn't be at much of a loss as my stock tube was developing some weird harmonics anyway. I wish I could compare it to the JAN GE 5670 but alas I do not have one, though the general consensus seems to be the WE 396A > GE 5670. Awesome upgrade, highly recommended. sp70.

 

[ninjikiran]

Can't really answer this, the mav has more features and might be $100 cheaper but an actual comparison might be a little more difficult.  My sound card has a Burr Browns DAC which the V-Dac has and I think the SQ out of the maverick is better.  But there is a ton of variables besides the actual chip.
 
Either way the maverick is great in my opinion and offers you a power amp built in if you want to use headphones eventually(since I know your A5's are powered speakers)  Question is would you hear a difference between dacs on such speakers is more questionable.  I am biased against speakers since I can't afford anything good in that category nor do I really have the environment for it.
 
Quote:

Hello All, This is my first post to this forum.I'm quite new to the world of hifi and find this forum quite informative.
 
I am planning to buy a DAC primarly with the purpose of using it as an intermediary between my laptop and Speakers(AudioEngine A5).Sometimes I might use it between my IPOD and Speakers as well. The primary purpose is to improve the Sound quality of the Songs.
 
I have done some research & finally narrowed it down between
 
MF V-DAC
 
&
 
Maveric D1
 
These are available for more or less the same price in my country.I have read some reviews on each but nothing that compares them side by side.
 
Keeping the above parameters in perspective, Can someone (preferably who has had experience with both the products) suggest which would be a better buy ?
 
Thanks & regards.

 

[uelover]

 

seems like the use of toslink is the way to go for computer. i'm using a very very cheap toslink cable and the sound is inferior to that of my usb cable as a lot of details were dropped. i borrowed a high-end toslink cable and i could immediately hear details i could not in the past, just that it is too costly.
 
anyway, i own the stock beijing tube, the nos ge 5 star 5670, raytheon 5670 as well as we396a.I would say that while the nos ge 5 star 5670 sounded ok, it would sound muddy if you were to switch to it from we396a, so much so that it sounded quite bad.
 
raytheon 5670 is in a class of its own, with its focus on airy highs while the strength of we396a is on its mids and soundstage.
 
that said, everyone has different preference so it is really up to the individual.
​

 

[ninjikiran]

Once you go monoprice you never go back .
 
I have tried the pre-out before but only with a cheap amp, might check out the new tube amp they are releasing and connect it to the solid state just to try it out.
 
Quote:

 

seems like the use of toslink is the way to go for computer. i'm using a very very cheap toslink cable and the sound is inferior to that of my usb cable as a lot of details were dropped. i borrowed a high-end toslink cable and i could immediately hear details i could not in the past, just that it is too costly.
 
anyway, i own the stock beijing tube, the nos ge 5 star 5670, raytheon 5670 as well as we396a.I would say that while the nos ge 5 star 5670 sounded ok, it would sound muddy if you were to switch to it from we396a, so much so that it sounded quite bad.
 
raytheon 5670 is in a class of its own, with its focus on airy highs while the strength of we396a is on its mids and soundstage.
 
that said, everyone has different preference so it is really up to the individual.
​

 

[uelover]

 

I don't live in the States so it is difficult for me to buy from monoprice. Yeah I am well aware of their new tube amp. I guess that connecting the tube pre-out to a tube amp may over color the sound. Maybe solid state out is a better choice. 
 
I wonder if the new tube amplifier will have its own DAC since from Ryan's blog he said that it can be used individually.
​

 

[ninjikiran]

Separately as in with another DAC other than the D1.  It is just an amp for all intents of purposes as far as I see it, when the product page is released and the full spec and details are available to us it'll be easier to see.  If it has a digital input than it would be usable as a DAC considering it would require some kind of chip to convert the digital signal into an analog signal.

 

[ngower]

Bought the GE 5670 version early this morning. I've been contemplating over a DAC for a while and this one offers the most versatility in my eyes. I'm heading off to finish my university studies (finished the first two years at community college locally) and wanted to bring good sound with me. I figure this would serve as a good intermediary between sources and my headphones.
 
I'm just curious about a few things:
 
1) Optical from my iMac is probably the best way to go, yes? Are Monoprice optical cables adequate for what I need? I'm not looking to break bank here, the reason this is going to school is so that I don't have to lug my (modest) setup.
 
2) Does the tube work through the headphones or is it only when connected to another amp?
 
3) Is there any particular way to hook it up to an amp or should I just "direct audio" straight into a spare line-level input?
 
4) Can this work as a phono pre-amp? I'm assuming no.

 

[ninjikiran]

Quote:

Bought the GE 5670 version early this morning. I've been contemplating over a DAC for a while and this one offers the most versatility in my eyes. I'm heading off to finish my university studies (finished the first two years at community college locally) and wanted to bring good sound with me. I figure this would serve as a good intermediary between sources and my headphones.
 
I'm just curious about a few things:
 
1) Optical from my iMac is probably the best way to go, yes? Are Monoprice optical cables adequate for what I need? I'm not looking to break bank here, the reason this is going to school is so that I don't have to lug my (modest) setup.
 
2) Does the tube work through the headphones or is it only when connected to another amp?
 
3) Is there any particular way to hook it up to an amp or should I just "direct audio" straight into a spare line-level input?
 
4) Can this work as a phono pre-amp? I'm assuming no.

1a) No idea, but personally I would try both USB and Optical output and see if there are any differences in terms of quality.  I never have owned a mac so I don't know how the settings are. 
 
1b) Monoprice is perfect, HQ cables that are rather inexpensive.  You can go a little more expensive on the cables but for short range connections it is less of an importance considering Monoprice are solid.
 
2) The tube is solely for coloration purposes, and is only connected in a pre-amp configuration meaning you will require an amp.
 
3) There is a pure DAC RCA solid state pre-out, next to it is the tube RCA pre-out.  You can connect the amp to either output depending on whether you want coloration from the tube or not.
 
4)  Don't completely know what you mean by phono pre-amp so can't answer this.

 

[ngower]

2/3) So if I'm using this as a headphone amp at school (iMac>>>D1>>>HD555) the tubes won't be in use, but if I'm using it as a DAC (iMac>>>D1>>>NAD C326BEE>>>headphones/speakers) the tubes will be in use?

 

[ninjikiran]

Basically yea, the tubes have a separate output that is not amped.
 
There are many ways to use the D1,
Another dac(or analog device to which they have a DAC already PSP for example) -----> D1 Headphone Amp
D1 DAC (Clean Output) -------> Seperate Amp
D1 DAC (Tube output) --------> Seperate Amp
D1 DAC/Amp as a combo

 

[Ultrainferno]

Received mine yesterday after only 6 days. Was marked 40$ and sample so didn't have to pay custom anything. Great service from Ryan!
 
D1 was very easy to install and works great, only had 2 hours listening so far but atm I think:
 
- It is very small, expected it to be bigger!
- The Tube upgrade was worth it, sounds good!
- The D1 is perfect, I love all the different inputs
- There do is a hiss hearable when no music is playing at higher volumes (doesn't bother me)
 
Only thing I am not liking (yet) is the headphone out. With the Beyer DT99~600ohm it sounds way too high and there is no warmth or bass at all.
So atm I'm just using it as a dac/pre amp and I'm using the B&W speakers and the headphone out from my amp, sounds much better. it sounds better with the M50 :s
 
Any idea how i can make the headphone out (a whole lot) warmer with more bass?
 
Now back to listening some more

 

[Currawong]

Quote:

Any idea how i can make the headphone out (a whole lot) warmer with more bass?
 

Buy different headphones or a much more capable amp.
 
Sorry.