[Balmoral]

Good news about the change of policy.  Eager to hear what he comes back with with regards to the ortho's.  I don't know alot about them, but it seems to be the general consensus that they need a fair bit of power to really come into their own.

 

[power]

I wish I could run t1s straight out of the hp?  anedio  could you add output capable of 600ohm up to your specs or would that require a whole new design?  I can see how just blowing up the image would actually make the image less cohhesive. 

 

[wuwhere]

While they're at it, perhaps they can up the juice a little bit more for HE-6?

 

[GeorgeGoodman]

Thanks for the review, Project86! Another fantastic write up. I love analyzing stuff, so the longer the better for me. This is very far out of my budget, but it is good someone is making very high quality products for a not so crazy price. I like their philosophy of simplicity and value. It is good people keep pushing the boundaries of audio performance for a lower and lower cost instead of repackaging it. How did you like it with the QA350? I use my DAC with the QA350 and like the results very much.

 

[project86]

Quote:

Thanks for the review, Project86! Another fantastic write up. I love analyzing stuff, so the longer the better for me. This is very far out of my budget, but it is good someone is making very high quality products for a not so crazy price. I like their philosophy of simplicity and value. It is good people keep pushing the boundaries of audio performance for a lower and lower cost instead of repackaging it. How did you like it with the QA350? I use my DAC with the QA350 and like the results very much.

Thanks for the comments, I appreciate them very much. The QA350 seems about equally as good with the Anedio D1 as any of my CD players or my Squeezebox Touch... which is to say it works fabulously. I know the QA350 is a fairly low jitter transport so that is to be expected. What I need to do is find a crappy old player and see how well the Anedio does at cleaning up that signal, and whether or not I can discern a difference compared to a low jitter source. But I'm too busy enjoying my music to mess around like that. One of these days though...
 

 

[GeorgeGoodman]

Thanks for replying. This is far out of my consideration now, but maybe one day...

 

[Balmoral]

I'm getting really close to pulling the trigger on this.  I was originally looking at the Burson HA160D or this.  Other than the 6moons review and a very few scattered reviews here I haven't heard much about it though.  I kinda thought that both these units would have built up more steam. Oh well.  Project86's review is what made me decide on the Matrix M-Stage, so I think I'm probably going to trust his ears and top notch reviewing skills once again.

 

[GeorgeGoodman]

Quote:

I'm getting really close to pulling the trigger on this.  I was originally looking at the Burson HA160D or this.  Other than the 6moons review and a very few scattered reviews here I haven't heard much about it though.  I kinda thought that both these units would have built up more steam. Oh well.  Project86's review is what made me decide on the Matrix M-Stage, so I think I'm probably going to trust his ears and top notch reviewing skills once again.

I got the QLS QA350 because of his review and I absolutely love it. If you decide to get the Anedio, be sure to post your impressions or a review here. The more head-fiers review a product the more respected it is.
 

 

[project86]

For those who are curious about how well the Anedio D1 can drive the new planar magnetic headphones, I received word back from Anedio adressing this question. In a nutshell: LCD-2 yes, HE-6 sort of but not ideal.
 
Keep in mind that without having the actual headphones on hand to listen to, James from Anedio is basing this purely on their published specs as well as his experience with full size magneplanar speakers. He believes driving the LCD-2 should be roughly similar to driving a K701, which is something the Anedio D1 does brilliantly with plenty of headroom to spare. The HE-6 however he predicts will be driven well enough but have somewhat limited output capabilities. He estimates the maximum output at full volume (99 on the display of the D1) of 108 dB. That might be loud enough for some people but not enough for others. Here is a chart I found with a rough idea of different volume levels expressed in decibels:
http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html
 
I assume those are rough estimates as obviously some lawn mowers would sound louder than others, but it gives you a general idea. And there is always the possibility that the 108 dB estimate for the HE-6 is off by a bit.
 
The bottom line is that the Anedio D1 should have plenty of power on tap for the LCD-2 and likely the HE-4. HE-5 and HE-5LE can probably squeak by too, but the HE-6 is questionable depending on how loud you listen. I'm hoping to try out some of those when I get a chance and I'll report my findings here when I do.

 

[wuwhere]

That's pretty good for HE-6. I guess they're still working on USB 24/96?

 

[project86]

Quote:

That's pretty good for HE-6. I guess they're still working on USB 24/96?

Yep, they want to spend the time working through it and finding the best solution rather than just plug in one of the usual chips like Tenor TE7022. This should allow them to build expertise on the topic. In the meantime a converter is coming soon to convert USB to SPDIF at rates up to 24/192.
 

 

[wuwhere]

Quote:

Quote:

That's pretty good for HE-6. I guess they're still working on USB 24/96?

Yep, they want to spend the time working through it and finding the best solution rather than just plug in one of the usual chips like Tenor TE7022. This should allow them to build expertise on the topic. In the meantime a converter is coming soon to convert USB to SPDIF at rates up to 24/192.
 

That's pretty cool. Thanks.

 

[Balmoral]

 
Quote:

If you decide to get the Anedio, be sure to post your impressions or a review here. The more head-fiers review a product the more respected it is.

I will absolutely give my impressions on this once I get it although they will not be nearly as detailed or well written as project86's.  I'm just not capable of that caliber of writing or descriptiveness.
 
 
Quote:

For those who are curious about how well the Anedio D1 can drive the new planar magnetic headphones, I received word back from Anedio adressing this question. In a nutshell: LCD-2 yes

Well this seals the deal for me.  I will be ordering the D1 very soon.  I can't wait!

 

[soulrider4ever]

After having now over 100 hours, I can share a few things.
 
The DAC is clearly cut from a different mold than any other DAC I've ever heard.  The thing that sticks out to me is the CLARITY.  I mean really really clear.  In an analogy the only thing that comes to mind is the different scale that diamonds use to determine clairty.  This DAC would be on the clearest possible scale.  That clarity has 0 edginess to it.  It's so clear while being very musical and cohesive sounding as a whole. 
 
If unamplified live music is 'Flawless' then this DAC would be that 1 notch away - because it's that good.  Other DAC's I've heard only hinted at this kind of clarity - while others can be musical or warm or analytical, this DAC just paints a whole picture with such fine detail and resolution that your brain is tricked that the performance is occuring there with you.  While I will admit that I've said this in other DAC review's (Matrix Mini-i) - I don't think you realize just how much more life like and real it can sound until you plug something like the Anedio in to your system. 
 
If you love music, and you love more than just soundstage and imaging and detail (this has all of these in bounds), but theres always that little bit more that seems to elude so many systems.  That little bit more, that air, the realism, 'the juiciness' the 'recorded it in that kind of room' is what the Anedio gives you that simply satisfies that upgraditis and the need to keep finding that lost art in music reproduction.
 
I really can't write this DAC up the way project86 did, but I can say that his review is accurate and I'm happy I took the leap without any demo.  Seriously, buy it because you will enjoy it, it's worth so much more than $1270 because it takes the music to the place that has been eluding you for so long, at least it has for me - until now.

 

[GeorgeGoodman]

Thanks for the impressions, soulrider. Do you live near White Plains, NY or the city? I am probably going to make the spring White Plains meet and canjam if it is in NY. 
 
Quote:

 
Quote:

If you decide to get the Anedio, be sure to post your impressions or a review here. The more head-fiers review a product the more respected it is.

I will absolutely give my impressions on this once I get it although they will not be nearly as detailed or well written as project86's.  I'm just not capable of that caliber of writing or descriptiveness.
 
 
Quote:

For those who are curious about how well the Anedio D1 can drive the new planar magnetic headphones, I received word back from Anedio adressing this question. In a nutshell: LCD-2 yes

Well this seals the deal for me.  I will be ordering the D1 very soon.  I can't wait!

Cool! Any description of the sound with whatever you use it with is very welcome, and I look forward to it. I just can't get over how clean and elegant the DAC looks. I like the blue lights, although I could see how some would not. There is too much nonsense in high end audio, and a company who is willing to be objective and make really good products without bells and whistles that detract from the point of the product is welcome addition to the industry and to head-fi.