[cavis]

Nice for you to have found one.
But if you want to have ultimate experience, really buy another one to have balanced listening.
You will enter in another world, at least as far as HD800 is concerned !

 

[Sylafari]

Nice for you to have found one.
But if you want to have ultimate experience, really buy another one to have balanced listening.
You will enter in another world, at least as far as HD800 is concerned !

 
I'll find a nice DAC first and than i'll hold off as any further purchases will kill my college budget. 

 

[Sylafari]

It's here. 

 

[BleaK]

Don't forget to post impressions!

 

[Sylafari]

After much deliberation, decided to go with the Yulong DA8 as the DAC for my setup, so far I have to use the DAC from my WA7 and I don't think its very good as when I used a 3.5mm to RCA on the AK240s, the AK240s sounded much more clearer and had better detail retrieval and a tighter harder hitting bass. Also for some reason the DAC through RCA OUT from the WA7 into the CMA800R sounds a bit grainier than just using the WA7 by itself (maybe the RCA Out isn't implemented well?). Also I plugged in a pair of Shure SE846s and there was a hiss that everyone was talking about but when music plays, most of the time the hiss is inaudible. Haven't heard the amplifier long enough to make a full impression. What I do know is that I've missed the instant loadup of a solid state amplifier over a tube amp that takes about 10 minutes to fully warm up and with the CMA800R that instant loadup is back 

. Also runs a lot cooler than the WA7.

 

[Sylafari]

Apparently there's a Questyle CMA800i, it was on their news page for one of their latest events. Seems to be the CMA 800 with a WM8741 DAC built-in. Does DSD and all that jazz.
http://www.questyleaudio.com/chanpin/20140527/298.html

 

[NicoD6]

Apparently there's a Questyle CMA800i, it was on their news page for one of their latest events. Seems to be the CMA 800 with a WM8741 DAC built-in. Does DSD and all that jazz.
http://www.questyleaudio.com/chanpin/20140527/298.html

Thanks for the info! I'm definitely looking forward to it.

 

[project86]

Questyle mentioned the CMA800i to me a while back, and now that they have it on their site (sort of) I imagine it's ok to discuss.
 
Basically the idea is to take a CMA800R amp and cram in a CAS192D DAC with as little compromise as possible. The headphone amp section loses the option for fully balanced dual-mono operation but is otherwise a full-fledged CMA800R. The DAC section uses mostly the same hardware as the real CAS192D, though I don't think they have room for a nice big display. I think the use of small LCD indicators was discussed as an alternative. As a 2-in-1 unit, it gives up some real estate to the double stack. So there isn't room for quite as much power supply regulation. But that's about the extent of the "compromise" involved.  
 
I'll probably check it out once it becomes available, since I've already got experience with the stand-alone devices. Depending on how they price it, this could be a killer all-in-one. 

 

[jacal01]

  After much deliberation, decided to go with the Yulong DA8 as the DAC for my setup, so far I have to use the DAC from my WA7 and I don't think its very good as when I used a 3.5mm to RCA on the AK240s, the AK240s sounded much more clearer and had better detail retrieval and a tighter harder hitting bass. Also for some reason the DAC through RCA OUT from the WA7 into the CMA800R sounds a bit grainier than just using the WA7 by itself (maybe the RCA Out isn't implemented well?). Also I plugged in a pair of Shure SE846s and there was a hiss that everyone was talking about but when music plays, most of the time the hiss is inaudible. Haven't heard the amplifier long enough to make a full impression. What I do know is that I've missed the instant loadup of a solid state amplifier over a tube amp that takes about 10 minutes to fully warm up and with the CMA800R that instant loadup is back 

. Also runs a lot cooler than the WA7.

 
Another poster, deadie, had complained about hearing graininess with his CMA800R unit.  I sort of dismissed his complaint to myself as something other than amp related in his particular setup, but now I'm wondering if it might well be an intermittant problem with some units.  Did your seller say why he was selling his amp, if other than deadie?  He had stated that he returned his.

 

[Sylafari]

   
Another poster, deadie, had complained about hearing graininess with his CMA800R unit.  I sort of dismissed his complaint to myself as something other than amp related in his particular setup, but now I'm wondering if it might well be an intermittant problem with some units.  Did your seller say why he was selling his amp, if other than deadie?  He had stated that he returned his.

 
My seller wasn't deadie, my seller compared the amp to another a while ago and just liked the cheaper amp better and he had it up for sale a while ago but closed the listing. I PM'ed and was able to purchase the amp from him. I also plugged in the AK240 to use as a source and my iPhone, and for those two I did not experience any grain in the sound, just with the WA7 DAC output.

 

[EraserXIV]

   
My seller wasn't deadie, my seller compared the amp to another a while ago and just liked the cheaper amp better and he had it up for sale a while ago but closed the listing. I PM'ed and was able to purchase the amp from him. I also plugged in the AK240 to use as a source and my iPhone, and for those two I did not experience any grain in the sound, just with the WA7 DAC output.

 
In my experience, circuits with tubes in them are commonly more prone to noise and interference. I don't have any science to back it up, but just what I've anecdotally experienced. Someone with more expertise, feel free to chime in.

 

[jacal01]

 
My seller wasn't deadie, my seller compared the amp to another a while ago and just liked the cheaper amp better and he had it up for sale a while ago but closed the listing. I PM'ed and was able to purchase the amp from him. I also plugged in the AK240 to use as a source and my iPhone, and for those two I did not experience any grain in the sound, just with the WA7 DAC output.

 
I would follow up with him to determine exactly why the cheaper amp "sounded better", and if graininess was indeed the issue, if he tried to resolve it with his seller and/or Questyle.
 
In any case, keep us posted as to whether the discrete DAC (Yulong DA8) fixes the problem.  If not, you need to apprise Questyle directly of this and work with them to resolve it, especially if it's indicative of a larger QA issue with some of their 800R units that they need to address.

 

[project86]

Could very well be the "cheaper amp" was smoother, less resolving, and therefore able to make his DAC sound better. The CMA800R is brutally revealing and a deficiency elsewhere in the chain will definitely be magnified. Makes sense to me. Not all amps are a good fit for every system, and that's a key reason why. 

 

[jacal01]

My original thought as well, but both posters have now used the same word "graininess", which sounds like digital chopping, if they're using the word correctly.  I know that it gets thrown around a lot (vs. "chalky", for instance 

).  But you and I both know that the CMA-800, and by extension the 800R, should sound smooth and analog like as well as revealing, all other things being optimum.
 
The other poster, deadie, said that the graininess went away when he merely swapped out amps (vs. Auralic Taurus) in his system.  As for his DAC, he was using a Chord Hugo, which I understand to have a very fluid output because of its outboard FPGA tap filtering.
 
I know that listening is mostly subjective, and that frequently amps get blamed for deficiencies in upstream system components or cabling, without the proper problem isolation, but 2 data points, if truly common, might just indicate a recurrent QA problem that Alden should be made aware of with his 800R units.
 
I hope that Sylafari will do a rigorous follow up and report.
 
EDIT:  Actually, now that I think on it, digital graininess and analog amplification should be mutually exclusive.  If not actually an upstream DAC issue, to which one would normally apply the term "graininess", maybe brutally revealing clarity is outside of some listeners' usual comfort zone.  Minimum distortion may very well not be for everyone, as witness the SET amp phenomenon.
 
And deadie is a basshead. 

 

[Sylafari]

  My original thought as well, but both posters have now used the same word "graininess", which sounds like digital chopping, if they're using the word correctly.  I know that it gets thrown around a lot (vs. "chalky", for instance 

).  But you and I both know that the CMA-800, and by extension the 800R, should sound smooth and analog like as well as revealing, all other things being optimum.
 
The other poster, deadie, said that the graininess went away when he merely swapped out amps (vs. Auralic Taurus) in his system.  As for his DAC, he was using a Chord Hugo, which I understand to have a very fluid output because of its outboard FPGA tap filtering.
 
I know that listening is mostly subjective, and that frequently amps get blamed for deficiencies in upstream system components or cabling, without the proper problem isolation, but 2 data points, if truly common, might just indicate a recurrent QA problem that Alden should be made aware of with his 800R units.
 
I hope that Sylafari will do a rigorous follow up and report.
 
EDIT:  Actually, now that I think on it, digital graininess and analog amplification should be mutually exclusive.  If not actually an upstream DAC issue, to which one would normally apply the term "graininess", maybe brutally revealing clarity is outside of some listeners' usual comfort zone.  Minimum distortion may very well not be for everyone, as witness the SET amp phenomenon.
 
And deadie is a basshead. 

 
Well the DA8 is arriving tomorrow to my doorstep (incredible shipping speed). We shall see.