[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by musicmaker /img/forum/go_quote.gif So I've done a fair bit of listening with a bunch of opamps in the LR and buffer sections, with the line out of my iriver feeding the D1. I feel the amp section of the D1 feels pretty congested especially when dealing with complex sections of music (many instruments, voices etc). While opamp rolling has certainly made the amp section a lot better (especially with the Ad797), I still feel the amp section is still lacking (the airiness, separation, soundstage) ? I can quite put my finger on it but there is something about the amp section that really bothers me. Perhaps I'm just spoiled by my RSA XP-7. Now with the DAC its a different story, with the optical out of the iRiver music comes to life. The DAC's great but I'm disappointed with the amp. Is it just me or does anyone feel the same ?

I haven't used analog input since 11/5/07 - I only feed it via optical CDP or optical out from iRiver, or from USB into the DAC > then headphone out or line out, depending on whether I use IEM's or my tube amp for full size headphones.

 

[Dual]

Heres some DIY dummy opamps I just cooked up to bypass the buffers for the AD797.

They are very simple to make all you need to do is short pins 1-3 and 5-7 on the socket with some thin metal wire.
You don't even need to solder them in if the wire is a tight fit but do so anyway just to be safe.

I perfer the AD797 with bypass buffers than with 2x AD8397.

 

[musicmaker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamato8 /img/forum/go_quote.gif How many hours are on the D1? I find that in these finer musical qualities that it is the burn in that either makes or breaks the finer points. If they clean up with time great if not then it is just the intrinsic quality of the amp. I found that with time the amp did open up more and with correct opamp use.

The amp had an owner before me. I have been listening to it for the last 2 weeks or so (added maybe 25 hours or so). Not sure how many hours the previous owner had. At any rate, your point is well taken. I'm going to give it burn in time and hopefully it'll open up.

 

[cafe zeenuts]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dual /img/forum/go_quote.gif Heres some DIY dummy opamps I just cooked up to bypass the buffers for the AD797. They are very simple to make all you need to do is short pins 1-3 and 5-7 on the socket with some thin metal wire. You don't even need to solder them in if the wire is a tight fit but do so anyway just to be safe. I perfer the AD797 with bypass buffers than with 2x AD8397.

Hey thanks for posting those pics, now i know how to make a dummy socket

! Just have to wait for my AD797 to arrive to try them.

 

[ndskyz]

Very interesting thread. Im thinking about picking one of these up.
Thanks for all the great info guys!

 

[souperman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ndskyz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Very interesting thread. Im thinking about picking one of these up. Thanks for all the great info guys!

You will really enjoy the D1. Opamp rolling will be INCREDIBLY fun as well.

 

[jamato8]

Yes the dac section is proving out to be excellent for the intended use.

 

[tracyrick]

So I'm one of those lurkers who's been reading about this D1 for a while now. At first the large size and mediocre amp impressions put me off. But then the new chip upgrade put me over the edge. Plus of course, how can anyone own an H120/H140 and not get a DAC for the optical out? Impossible to resist this!

So I just got my D1 yesterday. Ordered 12/15, shipped 12/19 per packing slip (Asia time), arrived in Colorado 12/20 via UPS Saver. Took that long to ship because I wanted the "simple" package so we had some back and forth e-mails. But 2 days actual transit time - wow! That was fast. Customer service was excellent.

No pictures yet, but some quick tips for people with H120/H140 (which I have 1 of both). Assumes you stack your D1 on top of the H120/H140. I believe this will be the ultimate audiophile portable setup:

1. Ordered 3 cm center to center toslink to toslink cable (sliver) from sysconcepts. Joseph rocks. Also getting tos to tos 90 adapter and tos to mini 90 adapter. There is a good picture on their website that shows what this looks like. A Japanese customer ordered this before. Tightest connect solution you can get - I think.

2. Bought a "Chisco" fanny pack from Sports Authority. Measures 8.5" long, 3" thick, 4" wide. Did a lot of searching for this, Target and Wal-mart didn't have anything I could find. You put your stack in long ways (horizontal to the ground) instead of vertical to the ground. Excellent waist band with buckle. I am sure I can hit the gym and even use my weight belt with this setup. This is tight. Portable? YES! I was worried that portable would be out of the question with the D1...I was wrong.

3. Sound impressions? Using only the amp so far and SR80, it sounds very similar to my Portaphile V2 Maxxed. Maybe a little brighter or distorted, not sure yet, but the treble may be different. Bass lines and kick drums sounded very similar. Need to do more comparisons and level the amp volumes with my R.S. SPL meter. Will try with my ER-4S also (main earphones for portable, can pickup more details in the sound with these).

The ultimate test will be when I get my sysconcept cable (shipping today, was in stock, nice!) next week and can use the DAC, ah, ah, ah!

Will I need to go H140>D1 DAC>Portaphile V2 for the best SQ? That would screw up my portable bag setup above...Or will the D1 amp come through a winner and I can just go H140>D1 DAC/AMP? I can't wait to find out.

I'll try to add pics with my sound impressions next week. Thanks to those who have gone before me!

 

[jamato8]

When you start using the optical in from the iRiver you will notice a real difference. I have a number of different lengths now of the optical cable from Joseph (I have dealt with him for some years now and he is great) and he went out of his way to make us the very shortest length of terminated toslink in the industry. They all hold up great and since he understands how we are using it he tries very hard to make sure it is very durable.

 

[bobby001]

Can it drive Headphone over 300 Ohms ?

 

[HiFlight]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobby001 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Can it drive Headphone over 300 Ohms ?

Yes, it very easily drives my HD650s. I am getting my best performance using the THS4032 opamp in the L&R channel, and the LMH6655 as buffers.

This combination sounds very good with both low and high impedance headphones.

 

[jamato8]

So why isn't anyone talking about the USB input on the D1 and how it sounds?

 

[cafe zeenuts]

well the USB input to my ears does not sound as good as coaxial or optical. it just lacks a bit of detail i like coaxial best then follow by optical.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

The USB DAC sounds great on my macbook core 2 duo. My desktop pc sounds better with usb than analog, but it can't approach the sound from the macbook via usb. Optical out of the macbook isn't much different than usb. Desktop doesn't have optical to compare to.

 

[cafe zeenuts]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiFlight /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes, it very easily drives my HD650s. I am getting my best performance using the THS4032 opamp in the L&R channel, and the LMH6655 as buffers. This combination sounds very good with both low and high impedance headphones.

Which version of THS4032 do you use, THS4032CD or THS4032ID???