[S-O8]

 
Are you talking about the Master-1? I have that in active usage for about two weeks already (plus I'm not a believer in burn-in except for brain-burn-in which already happened in this case). Its just the U-05 that is new...

I meant the U-05.   I am not convinced on stuff like the U-05 but fwiw a couple of days of 'bedding in' seemed to make a difference.  Not great but enough.

 

[reiserFS]

  Received my UH-05-S just today, complementing my Master-1. A nice combination, lending a touch of warmth to the upper midrange/lower treble region I found slightly harsh when running out of my Benchmark DAC2. The U-05 also seems to have slightly more bass but a bit less than the V281, so still OK for me (I'm a bit sensitive to too much bass for longer listening).
 
Build quality looks good, I really like the design without visible screws and that its not plastered with proclamations of its internals, just stating what it is: "USB D/A Converter UH-5" in the upper right corner. Quite big... and fortunately the display can be dimmed (4 levels + off). One minor disappointment: headphone out cannot be used simultaneously with line-out. Nice touch: volume fine tuning by an additional knob below the main volume.
 
Overall a nice DAC/Amp at a very fair price.

Could you compare the balanced headphone out with the unbalanced one?

 

[plakat]

  Could you compare the balanced headphone out with the unbalanced one?

I'm sorry, but I don't have two identical headphones with balanced resp. unbalanced connectors... and changing cables would take much too long to have a reliable memory for such details...

 

[Cornan]

Anyone on this thread that have compared the single-end vs balanced headphone output? I am currently trying to figure out if it is worth the effort to make a balanced cable mod on my Fostex TH900 or not? Any suggestions is truly appreciated!

 

[plakat]

Anyone on this thread that have compared the single-end vs balanced headphone output? I am currently trying to figure out if it is worth the effort to make a balanced cable mod on my Fostex TH900 or not? Any suggestions is truly appreciated!

Normally I'd say with an efficient headphone like the TH900 balanced is unnecessary. In the case of the U-05 it may be worth considering as the single-ended output seems to have a simpler amp design behind it while the balanced amp section is a nice discreet circuit design. I think I read that on this thread, maybe the original poster can chime in with details.

 

[GourouLubrik]

I did some new test on my balanced TH-900... Still not believed my ears, I had to use my DMM to verify if my balanced to SE adapter had something wrong... and cannot find any problem, It's working...
The adapter use highest grade Neutrik XLR4 and Amphenol 1/4 jack, and forza audioworks OCC copper (the same than my recabled th900).
 
On my TH-900, the gap/difference in term of soundstage is so HUGE between the SE and the BAL that I still cannot believe it.
 
If I was relying on the SE output, I would just not have kept the Pioneer.
 
If you like very frontal "in your face" soundstaging, you may not like the balanced output though. there a lot of space in the balanced output that is not present on my SE output in my tests.
Imho, for my very own taste, going balanced with the th900 on the Pioneer isn't an option, it's mandatory.

 

[Cornan]

I did some new test on my balanced TH-900... Still not believed my ears, I had to use my DMM to verify if my balanced to SE adapter had something wrong... and cannot find any problem, It's working...
The adapter use highest grade Neutrik XLR4 and Amphenol 1/4 jack, and forza audioworks OCC copper (the same than my recabled th900).

On my TH-900, the gap/difference in term of soundstage is so HUGE between the SE and the BAL that I still cannot believe it.

If I was relying on the SE output, I would just not have kept the Pioneer.

If you like very frontal "in your face" soundstaging, you may not like the balanced output though. there a lot of space in the balanced output that is not present on my SE output in my tests.
Imho, for my very own taste, going balanced with the th900 on the Pioneer isn't an option, it's mandatory.

Thanks! I been wanting to do a cable mod like this one:




With this cable mod I will use Fostex own cables and tele plug but will use best possible AES/EBU male & female connections...possibly Furutech. It seems that you have done ut differently. Am I right? Any idea IF this is a better/worse/same way to do it?
One more thing. Any ideas of a good values AES/EBU digital cable. Price around EUR 200 is interesting. Audioquest Carbon AES/EBU is one cable I am looking at...but really want Vertere Acoustic as I am buying their USB D-Fi v2. But their Pulse line is way over my budget right now...and I cannot see any cheaper AES/EBU cables from them! :/
I have never owned a balanced setup before and appologize if my questions is very basic.

/Micael

 

[GourouLubrik]

The Fostex cable is supposed to already high grade 7N copper... so changing the whole cable could be quite unnecessary.
 
Still, I wanted to do a 8 wire braid on my own (8x24awg, so actual section is equal to 4x22awg)... And I did it, and I wouldn't want to do another one, it was quite difficult, and took me quite a long time to search/train/perform!
 
I used Neutrix XLR NC4MXX, Furutech is imho, does great quality housing, but still it's copper alloy just a tad better than plain old brass for pins... so it's not worthing the money.
Since I did my recable, there is now Eidolic XLR4 made of tellurium copper (with more than 99% copper) - and not overpriced (16.75$)
 
As the marketing say: "The Eidolic 4-pin XLR boasts a 93% IACS rating, which has a 65-68% higher IACS rating than effectively any other 4-pin XLRs on the market, typically using brass (25%-28% IACS)."
 
So I'd go Eidolic + stock cable, NC4FXX for adapter (Eidolic does male housing only), it's cheap, quick, and should be effective.
Otherwise, if I was lazy and could wouldn' want to pay ridiculously high amount a money, and could wait 3 weeks for a recable, I'd do it through Forza Audioworks services. cheapest high quality recabling service than I know in europe.

 

[Cornan]

The Fostex cable is supposed to already high grade 7N copper... so changing the whole cable could be quite unnecessary.

Still, I wanted to do a 8 wire braid on my own (8x24awg, so actual section is equal to 4x22awg)... And I did it, and I wouldn't want to do another one, it was quite difficult, and took me quite a long time to search/train/perform!

I used Neutrix XLR NC4MXX, Furutech is imho, does great quality housing, but still it's copper alloy just a tad better than plain old brass for pins... so it's not worthing the money.
Since I did my recable, there is now Eidolic XLR4 made of tellurium copper (with more than 99% copper) - and not overpriced (16.75$)

As the marketing say: "[COLOR=222222]The Eidolic 4-pin XLR boasts a 93% IACS rating, which has a 65-68% higher IACS rating than effectively any other 4-pin XLRs on the market, typically using brass (25%-28% IACS)."[/COLOR]

So I'd go Eidolic + stock cable, NC4FXX for adapter (Eidolic does male housing only), it's cheap, quick, and should be effective.
Otherwise, if I was lazy and could wouldn' want to pay ridiculously high amount a money, and could wait 3 weeks for a recable, I'd do it through Forza Audioworks services. cheapest high quality recabling service than I know in europe.

Appreciate your extremely detailed and useful answer! I will go for the Eidolic and keep a short cable with the original teleplug for later. Eidolic might do a female when I descide to switch back to SE or sell the Fostex! I will start investigating how to solder the pins correctly and gather enough currage to performance it. You would'nt by any chance remember the wire colours and were to solder them on a AES/EBU male?

 

[GourouLubrik]

No I don't...  You should test it throught a digital multimeter, if not, at least visually where it's connected. for both solution, you'll have to dismount the cups and have access to drivers.
The pinout of the pioneer is located in an additional PDF, the base manuel had an error.
=> http://www.pioneer-audiovisual.eu/sites/default/files/manuals/U-05-S_addendum_NL_EN_FR_DE_IT_ESpdf.pdf
 
If you've additional questions about th-900, PM me, let's not add more to the off topic

 

[plakat]

You would'nt by any chance remember the wire colours and were to solder them on a AES/EBU male?

Nota bene: the connector is called XL4 (or XLR4), AES/EBU uses XLR (the normal 3-pin version) and is a digital protocol, not a connector type.
 
If you search through the TH900 thread you might find info on changing to XL4. If not you may want to ask there, I'm sure one TH900 owner knows that.

 

[Cornan]

Thanks for your help @plakat and @GourouLubrik! Sorry for moving out of topic. I'm quite an expert in that area!
Returning to topic:
Have any of you tried the Pioneer U-05 as a preamp? Is it capable in this area or better to go for a pure preamp and use the Pioneer as a DAC/headphone amp only?
BTW, I am very satisfied with the Pioneer, Stello U3 & Fostex combo so far. I get a lot of air and 3D even with SE...but there are certainly other reasons for that as well in my current setup (but that belongs in other threads).

 

[plakat]

Thanks for your help @plakat and @GourouLubrik! Sorry for moving out of topic. I'm quite an expert in that area!

Returning to topic:
Have any of you tried the Pioneer U-05 as a preamp? Is it capable in this area or better to go for a pure preamp and use the Pioneer as a DAC/headphone amp only?
BTW, I am very satisfied with the Pioneer, Stello U3 & Fostex combo so far. I get a lot of air and 3D even with SE...but there are certainly other reasons for that as well in my current setup (but that belongs in other threads).

No problem with that -- your question was about the combination U-05 + TH900, so I think its fine to talk about the options here (while maybe the recabling is easier to answer in the TH900 thread as its more specific to that headphone).
 
If the number of inputs is enough for you -- why not use it as a preamp? Missing analog inputs may be a limiting factor, but otherwise it should be fine.

 

[Cornan]

 

Thanks for your help @plakat and @GourouLubrik! Sorry for moving out of topic. I'm quite an expert in that area!

Returning to topic:
Have any of you tried the Pioneer U-05 as a preamp? Is it capable in this area or better to go for a pure preamp and use the Pioneer as a DAC/headphone amp only?
BTW, I am very satisfied with the Pioneer, Stello U3 & Fostex combo so far. I get a lot of air and 3D even with SE...but there are certainly other reasons for that as well in my current setup (but that belongs in other threads).

No problem with that -- your question was about the combination U-05 + TH900, so I think its fine to talk about the options here (while maybe the recabling is easier to answer in the TH900 thread as its more specific to that headphone).
 
If the number of inputs is enough for you -- why not use it as a preamp? Missing analog inputs may be a limiting factor, but otherwise it should be fine.

Thanks! Another thing. Do you...or anybody else know if the Pioneer takes the 5v USB power internally or directly from the USB port itself? I have bought the USB Regen (delivery mid of Nov) and in order to get the best possible psu for it I need to know how the USB power is supplied on the U-05. I know this might be a tricky and unusual question....but I am asking here first before starting an investigation...if someone (who already own a Regen) might know?

 

[GourouLubrik]

I honestly doubt that the pioneer use external usb 5V, there is no good reason for a dac of this level to do this, even powering the dirty side of an isolator would better be done with another local regulator.
 
I did not test yet the pioneer variable ouput... but the Alps potentiometer can be troublesome at low volume, when handle by hand and not by the remote: one of my 2 units sometimes has the usual "pot scratch sound". I hope there is no mean thing that appears on the dac output when this happen. That's not a threat on my headphone out.
 
Pioneer did use Alps RK16 for pot, and some NJR chip for fine adjust. Two volume controllers in the signal path ain't my cup of tea.
 
I wish they had used dual MUSES72320 (which is also part of NJR) in passive configuration (not using their gain circuit, only the resistive ladder), digitally controlled by some rotary encoder. Pioneer, if you read me, consider this idea.