[Sage Encore]

I support Denafrips all the time, but this time it require a criticism. There was such trend in PC power supplies, but it was abandoned. Many of these PSU's died prematurely during lightning storms or power surges. Don't play fool with power lines!!! Such auto switching logic can be confused and result is a dead box (including motherboard).

The best solution is a switch inside (and then you can apply additional protection against user stupidity). A wide range of input voltage (that do not require a switch) is achieved as a bonus when PFC (power factor correction) is implemented.

As explained by Alvin quiet clearly, there is a overload and over current protection in case of power surge, which by the way would probably trip ur incoming MCB first. I am sure designers would have taken the necessary steps to protect their equipment and not forgetting there is a 3 year warranty as well. I’m pretty sure Denafrips would not want their gear being claimed warranty and thereby diminishing their branding ever so often, not to mention they will go bankrupt.

 

[sajunky]

As explained by Alvin quiet clearly, there is a overload and over current protection in case of power surge,

Alvin wrote something more and my comment was not about OV/OC protection. Read carefully, only press reply button when ready.

 

[Sage Encore]

Alvin wrote something more and my comment was not about OV/OC protection. Read carefully, only press reply button when ready.

Care to enlighten us as I am only an electrical engineer by training.

 

[sajunky]

Care to enlighten us as I am only an electrical engineer by training.

Read first, but only a part I quoted Alvin's post, then you are free ask what you still don't understand.

 

[Sage Encore]

Read first, but only a part I quoted Alvin's post, then you are free ask what you still don't understand.

It’s ok, I’d rather be enjoying my music then getting involved in unnecessary gibberish. I am too old for that. Happy listening.

 

[sajunky]

It’s ok, I’d rather be enjoying my music then getting involved in unnecessary gibberish. I am too old for that. Happy listening.

Derogatory comment for no reason. I took your post serious, next time expect to be ignored.

 

[richardloh]

Hi John,

My apogee wyde eye completed its 6 days voltage and current burn in and was put into the test to replace the Canare d5.5uhdc01e bring used that was similarly treated by the Hagerman Audio's frybaby 2.

Indeed the apogee wdye eye is smooth but I also lost details and density especially at low volume in MY system. Not sure if you are running balanced analog connection and the reason but my tube Audible Illusion L3A (blackgate) preamp is only singled ended.

The canare d5.5uhdc01e is back into the system after 3 consecutive comparison and will probably get more if planned daisy chain clocking of both gaia and Avatar to the TP works out ok later this week .. hopefully without the need of the Mutec mc3+ usb as the masterclock with TP's 44.1/48khz word clock.

Cheers.

Richard

Hi John,

Just placed order for 2 more pieces CANARE D5.5UHDC01E to try out daisy chain with Avatar to TP in anticipation of the demo gaia to be successful since I have coming shipment from Japan and it is frankly too cheap for what it does.

Do consider the same and just maybe it also will improve significantly over apogee wyde eye in your system as it did in mine ... or you can wait if daisy chain does not work and I can send one piece to you at your shipping cost .. lol !

Cheers.

Richard

 

[richardloh]

The Terminator Plus and the Gaia are amazing together. Anyone deciding on an i2s cable should strongly consider the Tubulus Argentus. It’s still early, but I think the Wireworld platinum HDMI is going back. USB is much more holographic than AES into the Gaia, but this could be Aries G2 performing better via USB out (though Auralic says the AES is best). I’m excited to let everything continue to settle in, but I couldn’t happier with the Terminator Plus and Gaia combo. Smooth, detailed, engaging, limitless soundstage...

Hi John,

I can now share more on Argentus hdmi but with several slight twists when using my Avatar to the TP .... my friend in a small group of 5 audiophiles loaned me both his 0.5m and 1.0m ones as seen in below photo.

First of all, my Pangea Audio Premier HD24PC SE 6% silver with Cardas copper sounded veiled, lacking in details and "soft" sounding aka low density in comparison to the Argentus but it is usd60 compared to usd475 which is still not too crazily priced:

https://www.audioadvisor.com/mobile/prodinfo.asp?number=PGHDPSE

It was not easily to plug/unplug to do AB comparison but the difference was quite obvious and I had my china made TZ cable RJ45 i2s cable connected to i2s B RJ45 and switch to i2s A hdmi with the Argentus and Pangea separately as a reference which helped me tremendously:

SG$ 38.43 30%OFF | Cat8 Ethernet Cable RJ 45 Lan Cable Cat 8 Networking Cable 0.5M 1M 1.5M 2M 3M 4M 5M 7M 8M 10M 12M 15M 20M 25M 30M 40M 50M 60M
https://a.aliexpress.com/_dZxZpqH

Here comes the twist ... i2s B RJ45 with this 0.5m TZ cable (metal shield version) sounded just as good as the 0.5m Argentus in i2s A hdmi !

My dotter who plays drum, guitars, piano etc. and wife who is grade 8 piano trained prefers the TZ RJ45 and Argentus hdmi respectively ... AB testing via the main system was 5/5 and 4/5 for my dotter and wife.

I then did the final testing via both the main system with the Revel Salon 2 and my grado fg-1 headphones with silmic 2 modded gilmore lite mk2 which I dare say are both quite resolving and found the following:

Argentus hdmi:
- detailed
- smooth and musical
- slightly "soft" sounding

TZ RJ45:
- equally detailed if not more so
- more textured
- "pops".. more dense and engaging

In summary, they are very similar in sound quality and I removed the Argentus to return to my friend and will not miss it with the TZ RJ45 connecting the Avatar to the TP for the $ saved in MY system.

More importantly, I am happy camper as I was just advised/realised that only the i2s hdmi of the gaia is the preferred lvds as compared to its RJ45 lvcmos. This is because it means that if daisy chain of gaia and Avatar to the TP works, I have preferred i2s hdmi (perhaps the Argentus) to the gaia and i2s RJ45 to the Avatar .

I just placed order of the TZ RJ45 cables to replace current ugreen Cat 8 cables in my network .. 3m from NAS to switch, 1.5m from router to switch, 1.0m for planned Antipodes cx or current ex to switch, 0.5m for connecting planned cx to the ex for the "ultimate" of them running as server and renderer separately and even try upsampling.

Cheers.

Richard

NB: no clue if connection type of RJ45 and hmdi has an impact but I do lean towards RJ45 ethernet

 

[johnzz4]

Hi John,

Just placed order for 2 more pieces CANARE D5.5UHDC01E to try out daisy chain with Avatar to TP in anticipation of the demo gaia to be successful since I have coming shipment from Japan and it is frankly too cheap for what it does.

Do consider the same and just maybe it also will improve significantly over apogee wyde eye in your system as it did in mine ... or you can wait if daisy chain does not work and I can send one piece to you at your shipping cost .. lol !

Cheers.

Richard

I’ve been spending more time with the Mogami clock cables lately. The slight leanness they had the the beginning has filled out, and they now offer a better balance of smoothness and detail in comparison with the Apogee. I actually have some Kimber D60 cables on order to try, and for the price, I’ll probably get some Canare as well. I hope you’ll be able to daisy chain the clock with the Gaia and Avatar!

 

[johnzz4]

Hi John,

I can now share more on Argentus hdmi but with several slight twists when using my Avatar to the TP .... my friend in a small group of 5 audiophiles loaned me both his 0.5m and 1.0m ones as seen in below photo.

First of all, my Pangea Audio Premier HD24PC SE 6% silver with Cardas copper sounded veiled, lacking in details and "soft" sounding aka low density in comparison to the Argentus but it is usd60 compared to usd475 which is still not too crazily priced:

https://www.audioadvisor.com/mobile/prodinfo.asp?number=PGHDPSE

It was not easily to plug/unplug to do AB comparison but the difference was quite obvious and I had my china made TZ cable RJ45 i2s cable connected to i2s B RJ45 and switch to i2s A hdmi with the Argentus and Pangea separately as a reference which helped me tremendously:

SG$ 38.43 30%OFF | Cat8 Ethernet Cable RJ 45 Lan Cable Cat 8 Networking Cable 0.5M 1M 1.5M 2M 3M 4M 5M 7M 8M 10M 12M 15M 20M 25M 30M 40M 50M 60M
https://a.aliexpress.com/_dZxZpqH

Here comes the twist ... i2s B RJ45 with this 0.5m TZ cable (metal shield version) sounded just as good as the 0.5m Argentus in i2s A hdmi !

My dotter who plays drum, guitars, piano etc. and wife who is grade 8 piano trained prefers the TZ RJ45 and Argentus hdmi respectively ... AB testing via the main system was 5/5 and 4/5 for my dotter and wife.

I then did the final testing via both the main system with the Revel Salon 2 and my grado fg-1 headphones with silmic 2 modded gilmore lite mk2 which I dare say are both quite resolving and found the following:

Argentus hdmi:
- detailed
- smooth and musical
- slightly "soft" sounding

TZ RJ45:
- equally detailed if not more so
- more textured
- "pops".. more dense and engaging

In summary, they are very similar in sound quality and I removed the Argentus to return to my friend and will not miss it with the TZ RJ45 connecting the Avatar to the TP.

More importantly, I am happy camper as I was just advised
/realised that only the i2s hdmi of the gaia is the preferred lvds as compared to its RJ45 lvcmos. This is because it means that if daisy chain of gaia and Avatar to the TP works, I have preferred i2s hdmi (perhaps the Argentus) to the gaia and i2s RJ45 to the Avatar .

I just placed order of the TZ RJ45 cables to replace current ugreen Cat 8 cables in my network .. 3m from NAS to switch, 1.5m from router to switch, 1.0m for planned Antipodes cx or current ex to switch, 0.5m for connecting planned cx to the ex for the "ultimate" of them running as server and renderer separately and even try upsampling.

Cheers.

Richard

NB: no clue if connection type of RJ45 and hmdi has an impact but I do lean towards RJ45 ethernet

Thanks for the wire-up Richard! I believe the i2s-B on the T+ is LVDS, so indeed with the Avatar on i2s-B and the Gaia on i2s-A, I think you’ll have optimal connections all around. I agree that the Tubulus has a smoothness to it, though I’m not sure if that smoothness is an increase or decrease in resolution. I can say, however, that compared to the Wireworld platinum (which I would say is very detailed), the Argentus sounded more real and had a continuity to the sound that the Wireworld didn’t. The Wireworld sounded digital in comparison. The Tubulus does have a little more mid-bass as well, but I’ve found that to often be the case with heavier gauge wire (I’m not sure of the wire gauge on the Tubulus, but I’d love to know). I’m curious about the TZ cable, especially for the price. I may have to give it a try. Thank you for sharing your impressions... I enjoy reading them.

 

[johnzz4]

double post

 

[richardloh]

I’ve been spending more time with the Mogami clock cables lately. The slight leanness they had the the beginning has filled out, and they now offer a better balance of smoothness and detail in comparison with the Apogee. I actually have some Kimber D60 cables on order to try, and for the price, I’ll probably get some Canare as well. I hope you’ll be able to daisy chain the clock with the Gaia and Avatar!

Hi John,

Good news on the mogami and thanks thanks ... demo gaia should be with me this week and I still have the monoprice and apogee together with the canare to try out planned daisy chain.

Understand your further comment on the Argenta which does not contradict with my comment on it being more musical aka coherent or my wife's that it is better "blended". In this case, you may not prefer the TZ RJ45 via i2s B because your description of wireworld is more like TZ RJ45 but it is so cheap that I say it is worth the try.

I do prefer less complex setup and believe shortest path for audio and will be pleasantly surprised if having especially any usb improvement of my Antipodes ex with different clocking protocol via the gaia instead of directly to the TP .. I only hope aes digital at 96khz from my Bel Canto fm tuner improves significantly with the synced clock and is2 into TP.

Cheers.

Richard

PS: The TZ RJ45 cable is Cat 8 OFC copper

 

[BlakeT]

John you were right about the Tubulus Argentus and burn-in. The somewhat bright/hard edge has now completely vanished. I am certainly enjoying the cable.

 

[zzzmonster]

Wonder if I am the only one besides Alvin and Sarjan using D300REF connect directly to Terminator Plus. The sound is really heavenly - can listen to 90s pop music and 2000s rap and it is still "Hi Fi" sounding, and no need to have stupid warm up time like other dacs

 

[richardloh]

Wonder if I am the only one besides Alvin and Sarjan using D300REF connect directly to Terminator Plus. The sound is really heavenly - can listen to 90s pop music and 2000s rap and it is still "Hi Fi" sounding

Hi Sarjan,

Unfortunately I do not have the D300 Ref as I decided on the Antipodes instead.

However, I can say that digital AES output at 24 bits 96khz from my Bel Canto fm-1 never sounded so natural and real before the T+ .. even full flac at 1 to 1.5kbps at 44-96khz* internal stations like french F3, Radio Paradise, JB Radio etc. while sounding detailed just does not have the magic of fm tuner.

* https://www.hiresaudio.online/cd-quality-internet-radio/

Cheers.

Richard