[Solude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by akwok /img/forum/go_quote.gif I absolutely love my Monarchy M24.

To be fair I'm not sure I've ever read you not liking your latest gear. Also fairly sure you usually sell your previous piece before receiving your new. Whether the two are related... who knows

 

[akwok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solude /img/forum/go_quote.gif To be fair I'm not sure I've ever read you not liking your latest gear. Also fairly sure you usually sell your previous piece before receiving your new. Whether the two are related... who knows

I see my latest gear as an increase from the last. Otherwise I would've have bought the gear in the first place. The only exception to this was the Ack DAck 2.0 and the Stello DA100, which seemed more like a sidestep from my previous DAC (the D02, which I sold in spite). The Ack DAck was a downgrade, so I didn't bother posting about it.

The only time I recall I've sold a DAC before a new one would arrive was the DAC-60M, which I thought the Monarchy would be at least similar to.

 

[Solude]

Fair enough, amazing how perception based on posts and reality differ sometimes

 

[akwok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solude /img/forum/go_quote.gif Fair enough, amazing how perception based on posts and reality differ sometimes

Or grudges.

 

[bizkid]

These Philips 6922 are fine, i have a pair too. They have an airy coloration and soundstage depth that makes my headphone disappear unlike any other solid state source i've heard. I also have a pair of amperex 7308 pq which is more linear (and natural), bass & little more impact, clearer vocals and more dynamic but also less airy compared to the philips. Tubes i still want to try out (maybe they'll offer a good mix of the jan philips and the amperex?): Mullard and Valvo 6922s.

 

[akwok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bizkid /img/forum/go_quote.gif These Philips 6922 are fine, i have a pair too. They have an airy coloration and soundstage depth that makes my headphone disappear unlike any other solid state source i've heard. I also have a pair of amperex 7308 pq which is more linear (and natural), bass & little more impact, clearer vocals and more dynamic but also less airy compared to the philips. Tubes i still want to try out (maybe they'll offer a good mix of the jan philips and the amperex?): Mullard and Valvo 6922s.

Ah. I was always on the assumption the that stock tubes are bad.. I guess not! Too bad 6922/ECC88 are so expensive now, so it's hard to try to tuberoll.

 

[bizkid]

The original LITE dacs come with Sovtek 6922s, these are horrible indeed. Closed in soundstage, rolled off at both ends and flat dynamics compared to the philips.

 

[003]

Haha, my Sonicraft DAC-60 is going to come with $400 amperex tubes at almost no extra cost! I really scored a good deal here!

 

[audioengr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bizkid /img/forum/go_quote.gif Interesting! Where is that 5V supply? I only see 1 x 8V, 2x9V and 1x180V for the tubes. Are they bypassing larger caps? Do you have any suggestion instead of the blackgate cap? Im a little clueless about which other caps work nice in a tube power section. I was trying to find those kendeils (also read good about them on various diy sites) but they are impossible to find, kendeil only sells in large volumes says their german distributor. What values are being used with the blackgate and relcaps? Thanks again for your help Steve. It's really interesting to do and especially learn about these mods, but in the end i probably paid more (including soldering equipment & tools) than i would have paid for those mods avaible. Akwok: What tubes are you using?

In order for you to understand what needs to be modded, I would have to educate you on advanced electronics concepts, including power delivery, decoupling, power supply design, digital signal integrity, grounding and shielding and more..... I have been doing digital design for 30 years. You cannot learn this overnight.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

 

[003]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audioengr /img/forum/go_quote.gif In order for you to understand what needs to be modded, I would have to educate you on advanced electronics concepts, including power delivery, decoupling, power supply design, digital signal integrity, grounding and shielding and more..... I have been doing digital design for 30 years. You cannot learn this overnight. Steve N. Empirical Audio

Steve, based on what you know about the sonicraft DAC-60 and the PV DAC-62, which one would you GUESS (if you haven't heard them both) to have better quality, assuming they have good tubes?

 

[bizkid]

If what steve said earlier is true, that the mod include the big blackgate and relcaps in addition to the other mods, then it would be a much better bargain than what you get in the PV 62. The parts in the 62 are worth hardly more than 50-60US$, however im still unsure which mundorf caps were used, they're intentionally very unclear on their website, AND they have it done in China so theyll pay even less for the parts and the actual work.

Im considering selling my LITE 60, i auditioned an SACD Player yesterday and i was seriously wowed... SACD is alot more than i expected it to be. I'll have a friend come by with his sacd player to see how it mates with my W5000 rig.

 

[bizkid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audioengr /img/forum/go_quote.gif Another improvement that you can do is to replace the S/PDIF input series caps with some good .1uFd Poly caps, like Wima's. Steve N. Empirical Audio

Are these the 2 caps directly above the CS8414 chip ?

 

[audioengr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 003 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Steve, based on what you know about the sonicraft DAC-60 and the PV DAC-62, which one would you GUESS (if you haven't heard them both) to have better quality, assuming they have good tubes?

Sorry, I wont even venture a guess here.....

Steve N.

 

[granodemostasa]

Hello
the owner of the dac just stopped by and i had a listen of it. He seemed like a very old timer, and he obviously didn't understand much of my "audiophile" talk so i didn't push him so far as opening it up and such.

okay:
frequency response:
this is far more neutral sounding, less bassy and has more treble presence than the Wavelength brick- i obviously think that this is the flattest dac i've heard yet. while the zhaolu (on my system) had a tendency to go towards brightness and leanness, this one does have a tendency towards the midrange. Overall, i didn't hear a flat sound...instead what i got was a gradually lowering treble, not too much, but enough to be noticable.

Frequency extension
basically, how far it can go up and down- simply put, this was the best i've ever heard. the zhaolu was a cube, the wavelength brick was a pancake and the Dac 60 is an ocean- it just goes that far into the bass and treble.

speed- this dac is surprizingly fast and powerful- every hit of the drums was like nothing i've ever heard before. i actually think this is faster than the zhaolu and certainly far faster than the wavelength brick.

treble- it's got a very soft, extended and sweet treble. while i normally like this, there is one problem- the clarity and ring of triangles i clearly heard on the benchmark Dac-1 simply isn't there... in fact, triangles melt into the background to the point where they need to be listend for to be heard.

soundstage- YES! the best i've ever heard. it was wide, deep, up, and down.. it just was exactly what i'm looking for.

resolution and detail- lacking. this thing has less resolution than the brick, and certainly less detail than the benchmark and ori modded zhaolu. yet... somehow listening to this thing, i dont' mind, it just sounds that good.

Piano- well, it's not the dry piano of the zhaolu, or the muddiness of the brick, but it does have problems-it seemed a little too sweet sounding compared to all the pianos i usually hear.

vocals- not as good as the brick, but certainly better than all the other dac's i've ever heard.

Dyanmics-yes, very very very good... i can't understate how amazing the dyanmics were with this thing. Also- the blackness and the abiltiy to differentiate between different insturments was spectacular.

Violins- here we have a problem. it sounds like a sennheiser- by that i mean, the string section sounds like one thick organ pipe, much of the naturalness and that beautiful wooden sound just wasn't there.... overall, this is what bothered me the most; that it didnt' sound the way it was suppose to.

 

[akwok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by granodemostasa /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hello the owner of the dac just stopped by and i had a listen of it. He seemed like a very old timer, and he obviously didn't understand much of my "audiophile" talk so i didn't push him so far as opening it up and such. okay: frequency response: this is far more neutral sounding, less bassy and has more treble presence than the Wavelength brick- i obviously think that this is the flattest dac i've heard yet. while the zhaolu (on my system) had a tendency to go towards brightness and leanness, this one does have a tendency towards the midrange. Overall, i didn't hear a flat sound...instead what i got was a gradually lowering treble, not too much, but enough to be noticable. Frequency extension basically, how far it can go up and down- simply put, this was the best i've ever heard. the zhaolu was a cube, the wavelength brick was a pancake and the Dac 60 is an ocean- it just goes that far into the bass and treble. speed- this dac is surprizingly fast and powerful- every hit of the drums was like nothing i've ever heard before. i actually think this is faster than the zhaolu and certainly far faster than the wavelength brick. treble- it's got a very soft, extended and sweet treble. while i normally like this, there is one problem- the clarity and ring of triangles i clearly heard on the benchmark Dac-1 simply isn't there... in fact, triangles melt into the background to the point where they need to be listend for to be heard. soundstage- YES! the best i've ever heard. it was wide, deep, up, and down.. it just was exactly what i'm looking for. resolution and detail- lacking. this thing has less resolution than the brick, and certainly less detail than the benchmark and ori modded zhaolu. yet... somehow listening to this thing, i dont' mind, it just sounds that good. Piano- well, it's not the dry piano of the zhaolu, or the muddiness of the brick, but it does have problems-it seemed a little too sweet sounding compared to all the pianos i usually hear. vocals- not as good as the brick, but certainly better than all the other dac's i've ever heard. Dyanmics-yes, very very very good... i can't understate how amazing the dyanmics were with this thing. Also- the blackness and the abiltiy to differentiate between different insturments was spectacular. Violins- here we have a problem. it sounds like a sennheiser- by that i mean, the string section sounds like one thick organ pipe, much of the naturalness and that beautiful wooden sound just wasn't there.... overall, this is what bothered me the most; that it didnt' sound the way it was suppose to.

Please don't hurt me.. but.. could it sound like a Sennheiser because of your Sennheisers?

:runs:

In all seriousness though, system matching is imperative. Running an inherently warm and smooth DAC, a tube amp, and an inherently warm headphone will most likely disappoint! A DAC-1 would be more to my liking as well in a system similar to yours.

Of course all of this is null and void if you didn't use the HD650.