[cqtek]

Hi.

Here I leave my humble unboxing (in spanish), as you can see, I'm not a professional ... yet.

 

[TheMaestro335]

Hello all,
I know it is early in your evaluations, butI am thinking on purchasing this DAC/Amp. Would I get a much better sound from this unit compared to my current Red Dragonfly through a modded Matrix M-Stage Amp? Phones are HD600 and K701s. I have been away from the headphone experience for the last 8 years. Ready to dive back in with new cans as well.

Regards
Jeff

 

[Dżoneł]

Hi guys, some inside photos of Playmate including power regulators, capacitors, DAC module etc. Enjoy!!

 

[raoultrifan]

OK, so they now use XL6007 and TPS5430, right? http://www.ti.com/product/TPS5430
I guess the TPS5430 is replacing the negative rail XLSEMI boost regulator, that used to be a little bit more noisy than the positive one, at least inside the PLAY.
I think it's great move actually, so many thanks for updating us with close-up pictures!

BTW, where' the 5th regulator and what is this one for? The 4 regs are for +/- for each of the two channel, but the 5th one would be for what?

 

[raoultrifan]

So it's one ES9038C2M inside, very close I see caps and the quartz, also linear low noise regulators.

I see lot of decoupling caps and very good ground plane, I do hope for a very low background noise.

Pretty much the same USB transport, which is very good...I also like the USB hub chip, this provides some sort of isolation from the possible noisy computer's USB port and also provides the +5V rail too.

I also like @cqtek Youtube's review...bold and detailed approach.

 

[Renfield1217]

Are we sure about the splitting of those two dual opamps?

Ren

 

[MIR05LAV]

Would I get a much better sound from this unit compared to my current Red Dragonfly through a modded Matrix M-Stage Amp?

Short answer: yes.
I was disappointed when I have tried df red and compared it to my Burson play Classic. Music was soo much less dynamic and alive..

 

[Renfield1217]

good to know v6 classics work good on the playmate
I had burson play, but had strange hiss sounds sometimes, even on not so low impedance headphones in my play..
So I have writen to burson and they offered me to upgreade my unit for the new playmate for 100$, which I decided to do They even agreed to change my 2x v6 single classic opamps (play takes 3x doubles and 2x singles) for one new dual one to work with the playmate.
Now I have send them my play unit and I am waiting for the playmate. Hope it sounds even better

Hi Miro5lav

That is a heck of a deal.

Ren

 

[raoultrifan]

Are we sure about the splitting of those two dual opamps?

Ren

Pretty sure actually, but someone with an eagle-eye or a 1:1 macro lens and good lights could take more close-up pictures and see how the audio path (PCB traces) are doing their way from the ES9038C2M till the first IV opamps, then after that...till the jack plug.

 

[Renfield1217]

Pretty sure actually, but someone with an eagle-eye or a 1:1 macro lens and good lights could take more close-up pictures and see how the audio path (PCB traces) are doing their way from the ES9038C2M till the first IV opamps, then after that...till the jack plug.

Just an update...has been 10 days now and this unit is really starting to sing ( still using the Basic opamps).
The detail is outstanding. Totally black/silent background. Balance is very good.

Ren

 

[TheMaestro335]

Short answer: yes.
I was disappointed when I have tried df red and compared it to my Burson play Classic. Music was soo much less dynamic and alive..

Thank you! Probably going to purchase this with the vivid op amps.

Regards,
Jeff

 

[cqtek]

Hi guys, some inside photos of Playmate including power regulators, capacitors, DAC module etc. Enjoy!!

Can you tell a lot of difference in sound between the OpAmps 5532 and the V6?

 

[Sir Duke]

Quick impression of Playmate Vivid vs Mojo. I haven't compared them directly yet but it's hard to unplug the Playmate

The Mojo had previously blown away everything else that I have tried but I wanted to keep it for mobile use. Considered the Hugo 2 but the price put me off. Also a suspicion that amplification quality is far more important than DAC development.

With the Playmate I am hearing lots of new detail on well-loved recordings. Who knew that there were three backing vocalists? Why have I never noticed the intricate hi-hat playing before? Wow, it's a fretless bass!

PC>Foobar>Wasapi event>Optical>Playmate Vivid V6 x 4>Sony MDR Z7 headphones

 

[Dżoneł]

Can you tell a lot of difference in sound between the OpAmps 5532 and the V6?

Hello, I can't say how it differs becouse I don't have 4x5532 to replace them.
I have to admit that on PLAY it was an audible difference so in my opinion inside a PLAYMATE (which is better) it would be even more distance between V6 and 5532

Cheers

 

[holden4th]

Slightly off topic but I noticed a couple of references in this thread to the PSU of the PLAY. The power supply of my first PLAY (V5i) died within three months. I upgraded to the V6 Vivid for the extra cost and this has also died - I got it in late July. So did anyone have issues with the power supply dying on them with their PLAY. I'm also going to post this in the PLAY thread.