[Daryn Alexander]

Crossfeed is a wonderful thing. Without it, I really can't listen to music very long. It makes everything feel so natural.

I use the Aria with Winamp, mostly Ogg viles compressed to 499 kbps until I rip FLAC onto the new computer. No audible difference on the strong majority of recordings. It sounds excellent with DT 880's. Very smooth, and it brings out the brightness of them without harshness. In a word: tasty.

edit: I also prefer this amp/DAC with many live recordings I have. It separates the sound well. I can also notice the difference between straight amp and DAC right out of the box, before burn in.

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pace It sure looks nice on my desk: http://pace.1g.fi/desk.jpg

actually it looks perfect with the other stuff on your desk, including the DT880! nice, we don't have many "in the wild" pics of the Aria, so that's cool.

 

[apostate]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skylab For me, Crossfeed is a mandatory feature for a headphone amp. I don;t really like headphone listening without it. YMMV.

I find it critical as well. For me it adds to the pleasure of headphone listening, particularly for some older recordings that can be very fatiguing without it.

Ant

 

[trbl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cousin Patty Yeah it's pretty disheartening when you think about people that far away from Germany already having their amps when they shipped around the same time as ours.

Another day and no Aria. Tomorrow will make it a full 2 weeks. I'm sure it won't arrive then either. One unit has been put up for sale already (later withdrawn), and people are commenting about how bright the LEDs are, and all I can look at is the month-old hole in my bank account.

I've been trying for two months to get a good, working amp for my K701's and I have nothing to show for it, and no amp at all to use. I think it's time to admit defeat and give up.

I suppose I could sell the K701's since they're still hard to get.

 

[F1GTR]

What country do you live in? Are you in the states?

Just contact Dr. Meier and ask him if he has the ability to track them from his end. I really wouldn't worry at all, although I know you are eager to receive the amp. If there is an issue Dr. Meier will make sure everything is taken care of.

 

[JaZZ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trbl Another day and no Aria. Tomorrow will make it a full 2 weeks. I'm sure it won't arrive then either. One unit has been put up for sale already (later withdrawn), and people are commenting about how bright the LEDs are, and all I can look at is the month-old hole in my bank account. I've been trying for two months to get a good, working amp for my K701's and I have nothing to show for it, and no amp at all to use. I think it's time to admit defeat and give up. I suppose I could sell the K701's since they're still hard to get.

Sorry to hear! That's hard! -- But don't give up! I've found out lately that Aria (prototype) and K 701 are a really good match.
.

 

[Voltron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trbl Another day and no Aria. Tomorrow will make it a full 2 weeks. I'm sure it won't arrive then either. One unit has been put up for sale already (later withdrawn), and people are commenting about how bright the LEDs are, and all I can look at is the month-old hole in my bank account. I've been trying for two months to get a good, working amp for my K701's and I have nothing to show for it, and no amp at all to use. I think it's time to admit defeat and give up. I suppose I could sell the K701's since they're still hard to get.

Hang in there, I am sure your amp will arrive safe and sound. If you are in the US, then 2 weeks is not a long time for packages from Germany. I waited 30 days for my Prehead prototype to arrive, and I eventually worked with DHL/DeutschePost and Dr. Meier to track it down. It went missing somewhere after he posted it, but when he called and connected the dots from his shipping number (he had to make the call as the shipper--not like a tracking no. from FedEx) the package arrived within a day or two. Send him an email if you are concerned and he can find out what is going on if there is a problem. These days, however, the timing is hit or miss as things are sometimes held up by customs inspection or otherwise.

Good luck!

 

[voidstar]

FWIW mine shipped 12/27 as well and is still a no show (US midwest). I'm not worried yet but I do hope it shows in the next day or so.

 

[Daneel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn we don't have many "in the wild" pics of the Aria, so that's cool.

Here ya go. I hope we don't have to many people on dial-up here.

 

[Cousin Patty]

Another day and still no Aria.

 

[green84061]

Nice pics Daneel, I see we have the same case for our comps.

Has anyone with the aria done enough comparison to another DAC with it something fairly cheap like an emu0404 or maybe the Fubar II, I'm not really sure if I need a really expensive DAC for up/over sampling since I only listen to redbook audio on my PC which is only 44Khz and 16 bit which of course is the same as the Aria DAC.

 

[Superpredator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skylab I use my Aria via USB with iTunes, works and sounds great, no issues. No need for FooBar and/or ASIO.

Even though I want to, I won't go bashing iTunes. I haven't used it with the Aria yet. I have, however, done comparisons with my HD595s/soundcard combo, listening to iTunes, a slightly modded Windows Media Player (headphone plug-in), and Foobar. iTunes was just unlistenable.

Like some, I also had major problems with ASIO4All and Foobar... would drop out and go "beyond logic" according to ASIO4All. Directsound 2.0 works without issues with no difference in sound that I can hear.

 

[green84061]

I like using itunes for the great organization that doesnt take forever to set up so I just use the mulitplugin to bypass itunes and use foobar for sound.

 

[Superpredator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by green84061 I like using itunes for the great organization that doesnt take forever to set up so I just use the mulitplugin to bypass itunes and use foobar for sound.

I thought of doing this, but never did. Foobar did take me forever to set up... a solid, very frustrating week.

 

[blessingx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alwayswantmore BTW: What do Aria owners think of the Crossfeed?

Depends on the phones. I like crossfeed to help with Grados restrictive left/right soundstage, but find it less necessary for most other phones.