[jamato8]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nv88 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I hoping someone can help me again too. I want to change the opamps in my D1, but have gotten stuck and discouraged. I've replaced the AD823 with an OPA211. I've purchased a couple of AD8397 and AD8656 and brown dogs, months ago. But local friends that have done other soldering work for me don't want to touch them. I want to use the D1 from my computer (Foobar via USB) and from an iRiver H120 via Optical. I like detail. I would also like a more extended and tighter/ punchier bass. Not more bass, but deeper and better defined. A more realistic sound to voices and instruments such as strings would also be nice. I would like some that have tried lots of combinations (particularly folks like Jamato, MrArroyo, HeadphoneAddict, HiFlight...) for their suggestions. If the suggested opamps require solding, I'd like to know who here might be able to provide that service for a reasonable price. (I'm also looking for an inexpensive short mini to mini if that could be the same person.)

HiFlight has been of great help to people needing good sounding opamps and soldering them to the adapters as needed. He has a lot of listening experience to these combinations.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nv88 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I hoping someone can help me again too. I want to change the opamps in my D1, but have gotten stuck and discouraged. I've replaced the AD823 with an OPA211. I've purchased a couple of AD8397 and AD8656 and brown dogs, months ago. But local friends that have done other soldering work for me don't want to touch them. I want to use the D1 from my computer (Foobar via USB) and from an iRiver H120 via Optical. I like detail. I would also like a more extended and tighter/ punchier bass. Not more bass, but deeper and better defined. A more realistic sound to voices and instruments such as strings would also be nice. I would like some that have tried lots of combinations (particularly folks like Jamato, MrArroyo, HeadphoneAddict, HiFlight...) for their suggestions. If the suggested opamps require solding, I'd like to know who here might be able to provide that service for a reasonable price. (I'm also looking for an inexpensive short mini to mini if that could be the same person.)

My Favorites for main amp were the AD743 closely followed by the AD797 (the OPA2111 was not as good).
My favorites for buffers were the LMH6643 followed closely by the AD8397.
My Favorites for the DAC were the LT6234 followed closely by the LTC6241.

Any combination of those yielded good results - the only combo I didn't try was the AD743 with AD8397 buffers - I tried the AD797 with both of the recommended buffers and both of the recommended DAC chips above.

 

[Packgrog]

Finally got my D1 back (Apparently UPS thinks that Alaska is a good stop-over point between Kentucky and North Carolina, What?). Seems to be working just fine now. Currently works just fine with 24-bit/96kHz and 16/44.1 files. Hopefully it will continue to do so.

They forgot to ship the leather case though. Doh! Wouldn't mind having that back just as an extra layer of cushioning for it. Oh well.

 

[jamato8]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Packgrog /img/forum/go_quote.gif Finally got my D1 back (Apparently UPS thinks that Alaska is a good stop-over point between Kentucky and North Carolina, What?). Seems to be working just fine now. Currently works just fine with 24-bit/96kHz and 16/44.1 files. Hopefully it will continue to do so. They forgot to ship the leather case though. Doh! Wouldn't mind having that back just as an extra layer of cushioning for it. Oh well.

Just ask them to ship it back by regular mail. If I find mine you can have it as I really don't care for it much.

 

[Packgrog]

Yeah, it's not a huge deal with the cover, but until I can find a decent carrying case for it, I'd like to have SOMETHING to keep the case from getting scratched/dirty.

 

[breakfastchef]

When I connect my D1 as a DAC to my desktop PC via USB, it works fine. When I connect the D1 to my laptop via USB, music plays through the computer speakers, not through the D1. I am puzzled. Any suggestions as to what I should be looking for to correct this deficiency?

 

[Packgrog]

Quote:

Originally Posted by breakfastchef /img/forum/go_quote.gif When I connect my D1 as a DAC to my desktop PC via USB, it works fine. When I connect the D1 to my laptop via USB, music plays through the computer speakers, not through the D1. I am puzzled. Any suggestions as to what I should be looking for to correct this deficiency?

Select Start -> Control Panel -> Sounds and Audio Devices. On the Audio tab, chose the USB Audio device as your Sound playback Default device. That should do it.

This is, of course, assuming you're running XP. Different OS may be slightly different.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Packgrog /img/forum/go_quote.gif Finally got my D1 back (Apparently UPS thinks that Alaska is a good stop-over point between Kentucky and North Carolina, What?). Seems to be working just fine now. Currently works just fine with 24-bit/96kHz and 16/44.1 files. Hopefully it will continue to do so. They forgot to ship the leather case though. Doh! Wouldn't mind having that back just as an extra layer of cushioning for it. Oh well.

You got lucky. In my case they forgot the metal rear panel, and it took me 6 weeks to get a replacement, with my D1 ***** hanging out in the air.

To give them a little credit I must have confused them. I sent a naked defective P2 PCB back at the same time that I sent the D1, so they accidentally logged into their books that both D1 and P2 came with just a naked PCB. But, instead of sending the D1 back with no case at all (like their log book said they should), they thought they were doing me a favor by including a free "extra" case to protect it on the return trip. They just weren't going to also send an "extra" free rear panel for the return trip, having convinced themselves that they did me a favor by sending it back with a second case that I shouldn't have needed. It took 2 weeks to convince them to ship me a rear panel because I didn't have the missing parts, and then when it was lost after 4 weeks they did agree to send another via UPS (instead of airmail). So, I am sure they think I have two cases and three rear panels now, instead of the one.

So, I will almost bet money (but not 100% sure) that when you write to them about the missing leather sleeve that they will say you never sent one, and then argue with you about how you are wrong. Unless, they learned a lesson from me when I told them, "The customer is always right".

 

[breakfastchef]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Packgrog /img/forum/go_quote.gif Select Start -> Control Panel -> Sounds and Audio Devices. On the Audio tab, chose the USB Audio device as your Sound playback Default device. That should do it. This is, of course, assuming you're running XP. Different OS may be slightly different.

Yes, that worked, but I still hear the Windows default sounds. On my desktop PC, the USB/DAC function of the D1 hijacks the audio feed, but does not pass on the Windows sounds. I an certain there is something very queer with my laptop. Would not be the first time, though.

 

[Packgrog]

Dunno what's different about your setups there, honestly. I would recommend turning off Windows sounds anyway, as they're just annoying.

We're venturing into being off-topic here, but what are you using for playback? I would recommend Foobar2000 and ASIO4ALL, which has it's own set of setup steps. There, again, you need to explicitly select USB Audio as your output, but it guarantees bit-perfect output. Well worth it, honestly. Windows really muddies up music otherwise.

Back to the D1, I've tried out a couple 24b/96k files, including a needle-drop of the Classic Recordings needle-drop of Led Zeppelin IV, and boy is it lovely! I must say up-front that my laptop has a 24-bit sound card with toslink output, though, so I *AM* getting full resolution. The D1 definitely shows off all the annoying pops and clicks of the original vinyl source, but the increased resolution of the 24/96 digital recording is quite dynamic! Very impressive! So despite the noise, it's easily the best version of this album I've heard yet! Nice!

I'm still quite pleased with how deep the bass goes with the v2 stock D1. Not boomy or bloated at all, just DEEP. Wonderful synergy with my Atrio. Definitely shows off the limitations of poorly mastered/recorded source material, but well-recorded material (MFSL albums especially) REALLY shine here. Good stuff.

 

[sum1]

Just want to let you guys know that i've rolled my D1 with the help of Hiflight.

I find the v2 stock opamps to be distant so i asked for a combo that would bring the vocals more upfront and fuller.

And this is the combo that Hiflight gave me:
DAC: LT6234
Buffer:LMH6655
L/R:OPA228

And the result is exactly that. Vocals are more upfront and sounded more full when compared to the stock. I dont think this would suit everyone as this can be considered veiled and not neutral but give it a try if you wanted a more musical sounding D1.

 

[Packgrog]

The iriver H120 doesn't quite have enough horsepower to handle 24/96 FLAC files, unfortunately. Static bursts come through as the H120 tries to re-buffer. Dunno if it's a factor of drive speed, memory buffer size, or CPU limitations, but it just can't handle full high-res files. It's impressive that it was able to play any of it at all, but it can't quite decode at real-time. Ah well, not a big deal, but a fun test nonetheless!

 

[jamato8]

The H120 does pair nice with the D1 though. As a portable with optical capabilities it adds another high quality dimension to listening.

 

[fl00r]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamato8 /img/forum/go_quote.gif The H120 does pair nice with the D1 though. As a portable with optical capabilities it adds another high quality dimension to listening.

^ So true!

I've been using the 'portable' setup in my sig and could not be happier.
The H120 has everything that I wish in a dap.
I especially love the fact that it doesn't have the frills of today's daps but does have an optical interface

Ben

 

[Packgrog]

Well, the H120 has many of the frills of modern DAPs (plus many more!) if you install Rockbox. Just doesn't have the wholly-unnecessary color screen.

And yes, it does indeed pair quite well with the D1. As I said, it doesn't have the horsepower to play back 24-bit/96kHz FLAC files at real-time. But it DID play them, and thus lower bitrates may still be quite possible. I imagine resampling to 16/48 would work great (don't forget to dither!!!).

I'm currently using the H120=>D1 combo in my car through a Sony tape adapter I managed to fix. I'm still surprised at how much better it sounds than CDs playing through my in-dash changer, although it's not terribly surprising that the D1 would have a better DAC section than a stock Subaru head unit. I actually play from the D1's headphone jack, and it sounds surprisingly good for coming through a tape deck. Maybe some day I'll get a different head unit with a line-in port.