[granodemostasa]

Hello
Before I go off searching for voodoo upgrades and unfocused spending to “improve my rig” I think asking this would be a better option

My rig is currently this:
T42 2GB Ram, 140GB hard drive USB to
Audiophile usb, spdif to
Monster datalink 100
Ori-descrete output stage modded-zhaolu dac ad 1852
Chimera Advantage II ICs
Corda Headfive
Blue Dragon V2 cable
Sennheiser HD650

Problem 1: I am not getting the type of depth I like to hear with my music. Not that I don’t’ love the upfront sound I’m getting out of my dac, but I know the furthest away sounds can get further than that. basically, the problem arises when large orchestras or orchestra/choir combos start sorta piling atop each other and become very unfocused towards the back… this could either be my dac or amp….

Problem 2: as a woodwind player, I know what we sound like. What I’m not hearing is the type of airiness that’s often associated with a flute or clarinet’s sound.

If someone could come up with another possible problem or tell me what is the weakest link in the chain it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[lan]

Lowering your jitter and the noise in your power will help with depth and clarity when things get busy. Some tweaks you could do are:

Add power cord to the computer, DAC, and Corda.

Get better PSU for Audiophile USB, get it modded, change the SPDIF to BNC, change digital cables to BNC

I would further mod the Zhaolu. Use a BNC here. The output stage is at the end of the chain. I would enhance the power section if it hasn't been done already.

Have you verified your interconnect is good in the treble?

 

[granodemostasa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lan Lowering your jitter and the noise in your power will help with depth and clarity when things get busy. Some tweaks you could do are: Add power cord to the computer, DAC, and Corda. Get better PSU for Audiophile USB, get it modded, change the SPDIF to BNC, change digital cables to BNC I would further mod the Zhaolu. Use a BNC here. The output stage is at the end of the chain. I would enhance the power section if it hasn't been done already. Have you verified your interconnect is good in the treble?

Thanks
right now the component i have the most confidence are my ICs.... after hearing the difference they made over the blue dragons, i doubt they are the problem

on the digital side...i don't know anything about modding, so i'd have to get someone to do it...but i dont' think it should be too hard.

I've ordered a volex pc for the dac and a jellyfish for the amp...they should get here this week.

I'm thinking of getting a new digital cable...but i'm enormously confused as far as that goes... same story with the power filters and such.

btw: i got a stancor psu for my audiophile usb a long time ago...3.4 amp, over the standard 1amp

Thanks...i'll keep researching into those specific things.

 

[Thaddy]

I'd also look into a new source. Modding a unit will only change it so much since it'll still retain it's general "house sound". The DAC-Ah, Micro DAC, and MHDT Labs Dialogue II are the three that come to mind that fall within that same general price range.

 

[yellafella321]

just wait until the meet, and then until you get back to berkeley.

You can speculate all you want, but nothing will be the same as actually sitting down and listening.

I'll have a d02, daba has his dac1, you have your zhaolu, humanflyz will hopefully have his 220. If its the source, you will know.

Headphone-wise we have hd650, gs-1000, and k701's, hf-1, 325i ,and the k340's. If its the phones, we'll know.

Amp range will probably be rather large, gosh knows when someone will finally buy my gs-1, so it'll probably still be around, and we'll have at least 1 ppx3 as well as the headfives and the dynamight, so we'll have a large range of amps, but hopefully i'll have my mpx3 or upgraded my ppx3 by then.

We can have a big meet, and see whats really going on.

 

[lan]

Upgrading is rather tricky. You can either find a new sound that you like or never knew you liked or you can actually bump up what you already have.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thaddy I'd also look into a new source. Modding a unit will only change it so much since it'll still retain it's general "house sound". The DAC-Ah, Micro DAC, and MHDT Labs Dialogue II are the three that come to mind that fall within that same general price range.

There's nothing wrong with modding. It's good if you like the character but want to increase the quality. THis is a possible way to go if you want more of what you have already. I do not consider stock other units necessarily an upgrade. Those DACs you mentioned do not have the same resolution as the zhaolu. Of course depending on how you prioritize your needs, this may or may not be ok.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yellafella321 just wait until the meet, and then until you get back to berkeley. You can speculate all you want, but nothing will be the same as actually sitting down and listening. We can have a big meet, and see whats really going on.

This is good in finding the sound you like but it's too complicated to get anything useful in finding out where things stand quality wise. Ideally you'd have your own personal entire setup and swap only one component at a time. This is difficult in a meet setting nor is there enough time.

 

[granodemostasa]

right now i'm fine with the zhaolu's sound... it's just these few problems i'm having.

to focus on the digital side of things.... i just ordered a triplite isobar filter, and am trying to get a digital cable.

i would next need to put a new coaxial input jack on the zhaolu and audiophile usb...right?

 

[humanflyz]

Just to play devil's advocate here for a second:

Maybe you just can't find what you are looking for within the price range that you are comfortable with. Sometimes it's just not possible to find everything you want within a certain budget. If that's the case, adding auxiliary tweaks and mods wont' fundamentally solve the problems you've been having miraculously.

But that was just me playing the devil's advocate, but it's just something to think about.

 

[granodemostasa]

um.... any suggestions for an "airy" amp?

 

[skyline889]

I thought you said you were broke?

The Gilmore Lite is supposed to be pretty "Airy".

 

[rincewind]

See my thread, but I assume you already have. Take that opportunity to listen to yellafella's D02 if you can - It's got "depth" in spades.

 

[granodemostasa]

i had a g-lite, didn't like it much... but i'll try it again, since my preference might have changed with the dac.

and yes...i am definitely going to try yellafella's DO2

 

[granodemostasa]

This is what i've done since i started this thread
1. Volex power cord came in mail-nice with dac
2. Jellyfish pc should be here this week for amp
3. I got an oritek X-1 digital cable...will see what this can do
4. I optimized my computer for audioplayback more.
5. replaced the usb cables in my chain
6. cut out the usb hubs from the audio chain
7. got rid of everything but my audiochain on my power strip
8. ordered a tripplite isobar
9. unpiled the stack and laid it out, like at a meet.


While all these things added up to minor improvements. What really brought some serious depth into the picture was sampling at 16/48 instead of 24/96. while the soundstage's width decreased, i must have gained 25 feet of soundstage.

 

[Jon L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by granodemostasa This is what i've done since i started this thread 1. Volex power cord came in mail-nice with dac 2. Jellyfish pc should be here this week for amp 3. I got an oritek X-1 digital cable...will see what this can do 4. I optimized my computer for audioplayback more. 5. replaced the usb cables in my chain 6. cut out the usb hubs from the audio chain 7. got rid of everything but my audiochain on my power strip 8. ordered a tripplite isobar 9. unpiled the stack and laid it out, like at a meet. While all these things added up to minor improvements. What really brought some serious depth into the picture was sampling at 16/48 instead of 24/96. while the soundstage's width decreased, i must have gained 25 feet of soundstage.

What software player program were you using and which upsampler?

If you were upsampling to 24/96, no wonder you were losing depth of tone and soundstage depth. I HATE 96kHz upsampling, and even though I've tried many upsampler programs (Secret Rabbit, PPHS, SRC), I always prefer straight 44.1kHz, which gives you much richer tonality, microdynamics, and natural resolution. BTW, why are you using 48kHz instead of 44.1?

 

[McRat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon L I HATE 96kHz upsampling, and even though I've tried many upsampler programs (Secret Rabbit, PPHS, SRC), I always prefer straight 44.1kHz, which gives you much richer tonality, microdynamics, and natural resolution.

I was quite surprised to find out the same thing last week as I was playing around with foobar2k upsampler and Kernel streaming. My AV-710 is feeding the Headfive terminating to HF-1/HD580.

I have been enjoying this combo tremendously in the past few weeks. When I tried the upsampling to 24/96, the sound immediately became harsh and fatiguing, losing the natural tone. Going back to 16/44.1 it was all good again.

I was truly shocked about the result, although I have been favouring my stone-age NAD 5330 (16/44.1) CDP to it's younger rivals.