[devwild]

Another item of note. The DAC requires full 5V power to operate. It doesn't work on the USB ports of my Dell laptop, which have no problem powering my external 2.5" disk drive or charging my ipod or pda. This is probably why it wouldn't work properly on the iBook mentioned. It works fine on my desktop at work, on my G5, or with a powered usb2 hub.

 

[happyangryhappy]

I just got mine in the mail as well. I thought I'd take a chance with one and try it and so far I am happy. I sounds quite a bit less flavored and more realistic than the audigy2 I was using before (which isn't necessarily saying alot). I am waiting on a better amp and then I will be able to tell much more so. Either way, I think for the price it seems like a pretty good source and it works flawlessly with xp and foobar thus far. Also it does work with just headphones but it sounds to me a little thin - probably because of the limited usb power.

 

[manhattanproj]

one question about the color, derwild, you ordered a black one, right? from the pics you posted, is the top of the eb01 a silver color? or is it black? it looks like it's silver.

another question, so the eb01 can't be powered straight out of the usb port of a laptop? it needs an external powered usb hub to run it? if that's the case, then it kind of sucks. which dell do you own derwild?

 

[devwild]

Quote:

Originally Posted by manhattanproj one question about the color, derwild, you ordered a black one, right? from the pics you posted, is the top of the eb01 a silver color? or is it black? it looks like it's silver.

It's black. The top looks brighter in the pictures because of the overhead lighting. The newegg pictures look similar.
Quote:

Originally Posted by manhattanproj another question, so the eb01 can't be powered straight out of the usb port of a laptop? it needs an external powered usb hub to run it? if that's the case, then it kind of sucks. which dell do you own derwild?

Inspiron 600m. While it might be frustrating that it won't work with some laptops (well, many probably since the inspiron and ibook are both popular machines), silverstone clearly intended this sizable heavy aluminum product to be used with desktops (preferably their nice aluminum htpc cases and the upcoming matching amp I'm sure

). I doubt the sound would be nearly as good with this circuit operating on less power either.

Noone should be buying this device with the intention of using it directly with headphones. It is a dac and intended to be used with an amp of some form.

 

[jude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by manhattanproj one question about the color, derwild, you ordered a black one, right? from the pics you posted, is the top of the eb01 a silver color? or is it black? it looks like it's silver....

I have one black one and one silver one here, and they both look nice. One thing to consider in picking one of the colors is that the LED glow shows up much more visibly with the silver model. The glow you see in this manufacturer photo of the black model is, I'm guessing, enhanced, as the the glow just doesn't show up that prominently on the black one I've got here, even in a low light environment. On the black model, the glow of the LEDs is hardly visible when viewed directly from the front. On the silver model, the glow is easily visible, from virtually any angle from which the unit's front panel can be viewed. Again, this might be something to think about for some--for this reason, I personally prefer the silver model. Quote:

Originally Posted by manhattanproj ....another question, so the eb01 can't be powered straight out of the usb port of a laptop? it needs an external powered usb hub to run it? if that's the case, then it kind of sucks. which dell do you own derwild?

I run the EB01 directly out of the USB of a Dell Inspiron 9300 (using one of the two side USB ports), and it runs very nicely from that.

 

[devwild]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jude The glow you see in this manufacturer photo of the black model is, I'm guessing, enhanced, as the the glow just doesn't show up that prominently on the black one I've got here, even in a low light environment.

It's a (poorly done) photoshop combination of the black and the silver dac. Someone should be smacked for that one.

 

[digitalmind]

Very interested in this DAC, seems like a great budget DAC to get me started. Only problem is that every supplier in my country noted on Silverstone's site doesn't carry the EB01, nor does google seem to know any other store that carries it.

 

[manhattanproj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jude I run the EB01 directly out of the USB of a Dell Inspiron 9300 (using one of the two side USB ports), and it runs very nicely from that.

oh, in that case, that means it depends on the laptop. 9300 is more like a desktop replacement and a 600m is more for mobile use. could it be that the 9300 has more power behind it since it's designed to be a desktop replacement?

wonder why silverstone dont make it ac powered... but this gadget looks pretty enticing because of its price and looks.

please let us know how this thing compare to micro dac, devwild, once you got enough hrs behind it. thx

 

[devwild]

Quote:

Originally Posted by manhattanproj oh, in that case, that means it depends on the laptop. 9300 is more like a desktop replacement and a 600m is more for mobile use. could it be that the 9300 has more power behind it since it's designed to be a desktop replacement?

Quote:

Originally Posted by devwild While it might be frustrating that it won't work with some laptops...

I'm sorry I gave you the impression that it wouldn't work with laptops in general. I was pointing out that it won't work with underpowered USB ports, which are more common on laptops. You can run into this problem on poorly built desktops as well, or on ports on the top or front of the machine.... on some machines.

Though, for all intents and purposes I personally think of the 9300 and kin as portable desktops.

Quote:

Originally Posted by manhattanproj wonder why silverstone dont make it ac powered... but this gadget looks pretty enticing because of its price and looks.

Companies like Silverstone and Cooler Master focus on selling a package that works together with, and is easy to use with, their products. This is especially important with the growing HTPC market where matching looks are important to the customer. Their cases are their primary sale items, and these are matching addons.

With the EB01, I'm quite sure the primary target is htpc. This is also probably why they are only available so far at their major retail partners like Newegg. If word gets around about their product and people other than a handful of low/mid audiophiles buy the product, then they would maybe look at releasing a more robust product for general use.

My opinion of course, based on past experience with the industry.

 

[Tim D]

Quote:

Originally Posted by devwild Another item of note. The DAC requires full 5V power to operate. It doesn't work on the USB ports of my Dell laptop, which have no problem powering my external 2.5" disk drive or charging my ipod or pda. This is probably why it wouldn't work properly on the iBook mentioned. It works fine on my desktop at work, on my G5, or with a powered usb2 hub.

All USB powered devices work off 5V and any in spec usb port supplies 5V. I believe it is current that varies. Lower powered devices should only need less than 100 ma. Highest powered devices can need up to 500ma. You can try disconnecting all other USB connections besides the EB01 and see if battery VS AC power matters on laptop or different ports as not all of them may be high-power ports.

If your laptop port can handle an *usb* powered printer, scanner, or harddrive it probably can handle the EB01 (well not at the same time of course). Since it isn't an uncommon problem however you'll probably see that the majority of usb devices that require high current are self-powered.

Course if you get a self-powered USB hub that is of high quality (and is ground isolated from the host), you get flexibility in perhaps upgrading its power supply. On the otherhand if it isn't ground isolated you have potential for nasty ground loop issues (which is the same if the usb unit itself was self-powered).

 

[Andrew_WOT]

You can also try one of these special USB cables that drag power from 2 USB ports. I have one supplied with my Speedzter 2.5 HDD external enclosure.

 

[devwild]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim D All USB powered devices work off 5V and any in spec usb port supplies 5V. I believe it is current that varies. Lower powered devices should only need less than 100 ma. Highest powered devices can need up to 500ma. You can try disconnecting all other USB connections besides the EB01 and see if battery VS AC power matters on laptop or different ports as not all of them may be high-power ports.

I was thinking that was the case but didn't know the numbers, thanks for clarifying.
Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew_WOT You can also try one of these special USB cables that drag power from 2 USB ports. I have one supplied with my Speedzter 2.5 HDD external enclosure.

I have an external USB HDD that I use all the time on my laptop that is self powered via two usb ports (proprietary connector on the disk end, so I can't try it here)... so this would probably work, I wonder how well.

 

[Mecc]

I've disabled the eb01 from the mixer because I wasn't convinced that asio was actually bypassing kmixer. I could still adjust the volume through control panel, sounds and audio devices. Wouldn't ASIO bypass all those controls? Maybe I'm missing something.

Then came another problem... I also have an audigy 2 NX connected to this PC. In case you don't know, the NX is also a USB card. I'm using the NX to connect to my receiver via S/PDIF. I'm hoping it will tranport 5.1. I think it will. It can do 96/24 over s/pdif, DTS/Dolby Digital out. (whatever that really means) I'm waiting for my speaker cables to find out. Why doesn't the 1212m transport 5.1? And why didn't I figure that out before I bought it?

Anyhow, by disabling the eb01, for whatever reason, the NX gets disabled as well. Which means I get no sound in zoomplayer. I found the solution.

Zoomplayer Reclock

Basically, you use Kernal Streaming. It does what asio does and bypass the Kmixer. This should give you better quality sound over DirectSound and waveout.

The bad part is that you can't adjust the volume through ZP. I got the volume control on my reviever, so I'm fine. Most of us have volume kb ob on amps or dacs, so I don't think it's a big deal. Everything is working flawlessly.

 

[richpjr]

I finally got around to hooking the DAC up last night. To my horror, when I plug in the EB01 and get some pretty bad background noise, which I don't remember on the quick audition I did on my laptop. If I unplug the USB from the DAC the MacMini, my amp is dead silent. I tried switching over to a PC and the noise returned, though not quite as bad - yuk! I didn't have enough time to play around with it much last night, but I doubled checked the amp against my normal source and it sounds fine.

Anyone else experiencing anything like this?

 

[Tim D]

It's a ground loop.