[saintalfonzo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by olblueyez /img/forum/go_quote.gif You will wet your pants when you hear how nice the Stello DA100 Signature sounds. If you buy it from HotRod Audio Mods you can save a bundle on shipping. The guy is an authorized Stello dealer and he keeps the DA100 S in stock and I believe his price including shipping is the same as Stello before shipping. Got mine from him and its been great. Hot Rod Audio » Stello DA 100 Signature BTW, I have no clicks and pops. Ive had mine for about 8 months now and Im still excited like a kid with a new toy.

Thanks for the reply. Did you have clicks and pops before that were resolved with the DA100 S? Maybe I'm doing something else wrong; I just want to make sure there will be an audible difference when I buy the Stello. I know it's subjective, but I've got good ears - I've been into audio/recording since I was 15 (I'll be 30 in August), and am very attuned to listening for subtle nuances in recordings. I'm not claiming to have "golden ears", but I'm ahead of most. Angular banjos sound good to me(;

 

[olblueyez]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saintalfonzo /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for the reply. Did you have clicks and pops before that were resolved with the DA100 S? Maybe I'm doing something else wrong; I just want to make sure there will be an audible difference when I buy the Stello. I know it's subjective, but I've got good ears - I've been into audio/recording since I was 15 (I'll be 30 in August), and am very attuned to listening for subtle nuances in recordings. I'm not claiming to have "golden ears", but I'm ahead of most. Angular banjos sound good to me(;

Any pops and clicks you get wont be caused by the Stello. Only time I had a similar problem is when my Foobar settings were foobared, pun intended, and that was causing some dropouts, but pops and clicks? No sir, not a one.

 

[shuttleboi]

I was looking at DACs in the $250-$400 range. Candidates include:

Little Dot DAC, supposedly $269 coming out this month
Firestone Spitfire, $267
Headroom Micro DAC, $333
KECES DA-131 Mk2, $350
Cambridge Audio DAC Magic, $399

If I went up to $500 for a DAC, is there one that is better than the ones I listed here, given each of their prices?

 

[MCC]

I never thought there would be a difference between digital sources until I compared my motherboard's realtek S/PDIF to my AV-710. The difference is easily audible- the realtek is flat and boring. I'm guessing it must be resampling somewhere.

 

[somestranger26]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MCC /img/forum/go_quote.gif I never thought there would be a difference between digital sources until I compared my motherboard's realtek S/PDIF to my AV-710. The difference is easily audible- the realtek is flat and boring. I'm guessing it must be resampling somewhere.

Except this probably relies on other factors, like if you're running XP, if you're using DirectSound output or ASIO, whether your onboard is resampling before output, and whether or not it's bit perfect.

 

[Zenja]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saintalfonzo /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've been wondering about this since I've (pretty much) made a firm decision to upgrade to a Stello DA100S within the next couple months. I still get the occasional pops through my spdif->ZeroDAC while bypassing the kernel mixer, and I don't know if I'm missing something in this whole scheme. I'm far from being an expert on what actually goes on in the transport of a digital signal, and even further from being an expert on what's going on in a DAC with the inclusion of transfer to the analog stage. I read about it here and there, but work and other obligations interfere with my attempted self-education on the subject. Also I've been procrastinating on my CEs (continuing education credits for my imaging licenses for work), so I've got to get on that shiz. Anyway, if I spend $900 on a DAC and still hear these imperfections every now and then it's really going to bother me!

Those clicks and pops are due to your computer setup, not really the hardware. It seems to be a pretty common issue. You should be able to find some info online. It's usually caused by PCI latency settings that you can adjust with some free tools.

 

[saintalfonzo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zenja /img/forum/go_quote.gif Those clicks and pops are due to your computer setup, not really the hardware. It seems to be a pretty common issue. You should be able to find some info online. It's usually caused by PCI latency settings that you can adjust with some free tools.

Shouldn't I be able to fix it in ASIO/Foobar settings? I'd rather avoid any more software if possible. It's probably latency-related, but the pops happen so infrequently that it's hard to tell if the problem's been fixed or not. Just when I think they're gone I'll hear a couple here and there. I've been listening for 3 hours tonight, and haven't heard a thing. Last night I heard at least 15 in an hour. I restarted my computer today after not doing so for probably a week, so maybe that has something to do with it.

 

[MCC]

Quote:

Originally Posted by somestranger26 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Except this probably relies on other factors, like if you're running XP, if you're using DirectSound output or ASIO, whether your onboard is resampling before output, and whether or not it's bit perfect.

This is on Vista with WASAPI. The driver probably has a bad implementation- it wouldn't surprise me, I've never been impressed by Realtek ANYTHING.