[Morkai]

Ok, here are my impressions. Bear in mind that I'm new to the audiophile world. I bought sennheiser hd650 and the maverick. I also own px100, porta pro, and pl30.

hd650 was an enormous improvement, period.
I can't make a serious difference between the mav and my integrated sound card (sigma tel audio).

I tested hd650 on an old sony Cdp xe500 cd player and a luxman A312 stereo amplifier.It seemed the sound had more space with them.. but i failled in a blind test. Anyway, I prefer listening through the Luxman.

The good point for the mav, is that it shields me from the PC noise. But with a high impedance headphone like the hd650 this noise wasn't that big to begin with.

Conclusion : I will be reasonable. My next buy will be a grado, then a closed headphone like d2000 in order to test different sounds. It's clear for me that the biggest difference you can achieve is by changing your headphones. At least with a low budget. I won't bother with cheap amp/dac and will go straight to something like lavry.

 

[Remains]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBigCW /img/forum/go_quote.gif Shippings been delayed a day or two, so I probably won't be able to comment on the Mav until after Christmas. Oh well. Hope the USB issues can be fixed with a patch of some sort.

Ah shoot thats disappointing, as I was really hoping to receive my maverick by christmas as well.

 

[TheBigCW]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Remains /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ah shoot thats disappointing, as I was really hoping to receive my maverick by christmas as well.

That's not out of the question. Ryan said that shipping was delayed until Wednesday, BUT average shipping time (DHL) from China to the US is two days. So there's a chance it will be there Christmas day. :]

 

[Remains]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBigCW /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's not out of the question. Ryan said that shipping was delayed until Wednesday, BUT average shipping time (DHL) from China to the US is two days. So there's a chance it will be there Christmas day. :]

It looks like I made it into the production batch before yours. I just received an email saying the maverick has shipped. You can expect my initial impressions later this week.

 

[TheBigCW]

Awesome! Be sure to take photos.

 

[lameduck]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bearmann /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, I don't beleive in "boutique parts". If an opamp oscillates in a circuit it doesn't matter if you used Rubycon caps and vishay dale resistors - the problem is the circuit design and not the selection of parts. That's just my opinion, of course. Of course, you can alter the sound by replacing all caps in the audio signal path - but in a good design (except for tubes) there shouldn't be any caps in the audio signal in the first place. just my 2 cents. (no intention of starting a war... ) best regards. bearmann

Most of what you said are true, however the OPA627 is hardly a "boutique part" because it only cost extra $10 compare to the other opamp from the place where I get my electronic supplies. I dont want to replace all the caps, just the tube preamp section because it's the heart of my system right now, I use it to drive a rotel amp which soon will be replaced by an OCM 200. From my limited experience, Wima cap are woeful for output coupling, Auricap or something similar is the minimum, muse cap is widely used on signal coupling and Rubycon are use in the power section. Of course all of these are extra hard because the Maverick did not come with a schematic. Will see how it goes, I will post picture if my D1 explode.

BTW to whomever asking for pictures, browse 2,3 pages back there are couple good shots of int/ext of the D1.

Cheer and happy listening

 

[grokit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lameduck /img/forum/go_quote.gif I dont want to replace all the caps, just the tube preamp section because it's the heart of my system right now, I use it to drive a rotel amp which soon will be replaced by an OCM 200. From my limited experience, Wima cap are woeful for output coupling, Auricap or something similar is the minimum, muse cap is widely used on signal coupling and Rubycon are use in the power section. Of course all of these are extra hard because the Maverick did not come with a schematic.

Hey if you work this out lameduck, you could be the goto-person for D1 mods!

I am concerned about integrating the Maverick into my system for preamp switching as well. It has all the right bells and whistles, but component quality and overall QC seem to be a bit worrisome.

 

[bearmann]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xtreme3X /img/forum/go_quote.gif Bearmann can i ask which series of AD797 your using? the B series or the A series? Thanks

I have the AD797ANZ - A series.
What are the differences to the B series?!

best regards.
bearmann

 

[TheBigCW]

Well, it's Wednesday over in HK, so the Mav should ship in a couple of hours. I'm pretty excited, looking at getting the Raytheon Windmill Getter 5670 off eBay. Anyone have any experience with them?

 

[Xtreme3X]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bearmann /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have the AD797ANZ - A series. What are the differences to the B series?! best regards. bearmann

I read this review that the AD797B sounds very different from the A series. From the review the B series, is like the combination of A series + OPA627BP.

Btw you need 2 x AD797ANZ right? Did you use it with the browndog adaptor? Seems like the capacitor are quite near to the DIP-8 Socket, wonders will the browndog adaptor fits?

 

[u20v00a]

After reading the first 20 pages of this thread, I was just getting ready to pull the trigger on a Maverick D1 when I read about the issue with USB... It seemed like the perfect budget solution vs a Compass or a Zero paired with Little Dot I+ that I had been considering. Considering that I planned on using this primarily with my computer via USB to replace the noisy integrated soundcard, this is a big deal... I hope a resolution can be found for this quickly as I'd like to place an order!

Also, do you think switchable gain level for the headphone amp are possible in future versions? It'd be preferable in order to pair it with a variety of different headphones, including low impedance ones like the Audio Technica ATH-AD700 that I'm using now. Although I'm sure I could replace the resisters, I'd be concerned about voiding the warranty.

 

[JustVisit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by u20v00a /img/forum/go_quote.gif After reading the first 20 pages of this thread, I was just getting ready to pull the trigger on a Maverick D1 when I read about the issue with USB... It seemed like the perfect budget solution vs a Compass or a Zero paired with Little Dot I+ that I had been considering. Considering that I planned on using this primarily with my computer via USB to replace the noisy integrated soundcard, this is a big deal... I hope a resolution can be found for this quickly as I'd like to place an order! Also, do you think switchable gain level for the headphone amp are possible in future versions? .

I am working on the USB issue right now. It could take some time for us to find a fix. While it is nice to have "bit perfect" via talking to USB HW directly, I would say the "difference" might be too "small" to notice. Just my 2 cents...I'm sure some people wouldn't agree with that, and I do agree it will be nice to get foobar working.

No we won't introduce "switchable gain level" in the future version. The current DAC will work with low impedance headphones as long as you turn the volume control between 8 to 9 o'clock. In addition, don't forget you can change the volume on your computer as well. I wouldn't recommend to manually "mod" the gain.

 

[TheBigCW]

I agree. Bit-perfect has never been too big of a difference... but I'm going to get a Musiland Monitor 01 US that supports 24/96 Usb to SPDIF conversion and try it out. I'll still be using "normal" USB most of the time I guess.

 

[jessel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBigCW /img/forum/go_quote.gif I agree. Bit-perfect has never been too big of a difference... but I'm going to get a Musiland Monitor 01 US that supports 24/96 Usb to SPDIF conversion and try it out. I'll still be using "normal" USB most of the time I guess.

I'm just doing the inverse way! haha! I own a musiland 01 US and it's fantastic. I'm planing to get a Maverick as a pre-amp and pair it with my Musiland 01 US!

 

[TheBigCW]

From what I've read, wouldn't the DAC in the Maverick be an upgrade from the US? (I'm getting the USD, the usb/spdif)

EDIT: I'm a bit worried. It's almost Thursday where Ryan is and he said he would ship Wednesday... but I still haven't received an email...