amigastar
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2011
- Posts
- 481
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- 92
thanks, but i can say that it sounds also a little bit fuzzy. but all in all it sounds more natural than my x-fi music.
Tell me please what kind of power do you use ? The stock wall power, the direct USB connection, one or you've got something else ? I use the stock wall power (15V~1A). I've got 1000+ hours on it, but trebles are still to bright and harsh..
So I replaced the AD8397 HP driver with TI's new TPA6120a2 and it's insane.
Recently I have upgraded the amp section, I've purchased a Little Dot MKIII tube AMP . And you now what ? I think I have spend about 300$ in vain (200$ the amp, 50 shipment and about 50$ for tube rolling)! The difference in sound quality is definitely smaller than i expected, it got warmer, a little more lied back, but no detail, separation or frequency response improvement compared to the stock amp, in other words, the Little Dot amp did only 'equalizer cosmetic job' instead of a substantial quality enhancement (even for some High Impedance Headphones like my DT990-s 250ohm).. So my conclusion is, Audinst has a really nice stock amp that does a good job for it's own, and any cheap upgrades in the amplification sector are not justified.
If you intend upgrade the amplifier, you should buy a really good one, preferably High-End, like Burson SS (700$) or the WooAudio 6 (620$) tube amp to get some noticeable improvement over the stock. As for me, I'm gona sell Little Dot MKIII and save money for the Burson HA160D dac/amp. It is somehow expensive (1150$), but they say, in this league Burson dac/amp is an overall winner. It should put a solid end to my dac/amp upgradings. Till then, I'll be happy using Audinst HUD MX1 as it is.
I've got the most apreciated bang-for-buck tubes on LittleDot MKIII -> Mullard CV4010 M8100 (neutral, lush midrange) and Russian 6J1P-EV Groove (bass burst, lush mids). I've also got about 1000+ hours burned-in on both, Audinst and Little Dot MKIII.
To tell the story short : a single desktop Dac-Amp like Audio GD FUN (350$) with Earth OpAmp did overall better job then the Audinst HUD-MX1 (200$) + littleDot MKIII (~250$) combo (no metter what tubes used). There was simply more substance in Audio GD's sound..
They say, there are even better DAC+AMP combos like Yulong D100, with a good price, but I had no chance checking this one... So, I wouldn't go for another dedicate amp in the near future, i'm gonna improve my source unit with nice amp section on board... High-FI / High-End dac+amp combos gave me much more satisfaction and bang-for-buck sound then separate units. This conclusion refers to Audinst HUD-MX1 dac/amp too !
But this is my IMHO... I don't have that much experience like those Headphone Supremus guys, so, take this in consideration too... I was talking only about my personal experience with DT990 (250ohm) and SRH840 headphones...
I still don't find LittleDot mkIII a noticeable improvement over stock Audinst Amp, but I haven't sold it because I want to try Beyerdynamic DT880 (600ohm) Premium Headphones, and tube amping is vital needed here..
Don't judge hardly Audinst, until you reach at least 100 hours burned. Audinst amp section, in my case, had changed it's quality very noticeable in two weeks.. All those crackings had been completely cured and cleared in 2 month...
I really hope you'll be satisfied with Audinst.. Buy the way, what headphones do you use ? If you had not bought one , be careful not to choose Beyerdynamic DT-line.. Their synergy with MX1 is so-so...
And I do not really find Audinst Hud MX1 neutral sounding.. It is closer to the brigh-sounding gear.. E-mu-s / RME-s, even Audio GD FUN (Earth) are noticeably softer in the treble region. I think I'm gone upgrade the power supply in time.. They say, it could make it sound better, I hope it gonna work...
How's the FUN's toslink/optical implementation vs. the USB implementation
Hi, I just now registered to this forum even though I read a lot about the mx1 here. I'd like to share some impressions on my audinst:
It sounded good straight out of the box, but restless as I am, I had to change/add some things. At first I noticed that the analog part of the wm8740 is powered via USB. Thats very bad, because the USB power usually has a lot of ripple. To solve this I put a ADuM4160 and a regulated 5V PSU in the USB line. Next I swapped the DAC output opamp for a pair of OPA827s. Then I did the same with the line out buffer, because I mainly use the line out. Finally I swapped the opamp caps for Silmics, because I didn't trust the Sam Youngs.
Here is a photo of the result:
Was it worth it? Yes. The ADuM4160 enhances clarity and reduces some sqeeling noises from the computer's PSU. The new DAC out OPA827s enhance the sound in every aspect: dynamics, precision, linearity, soundstage, ... The new line out buffer OPA827s haven't got the HF harshness of the original OPA2134 and add even more soundstage and precision. With the new caps the sound gets cleaner and has a much better dynamic range.
PS: I use the original external PSU from Audinst. I don't think a better PSU would enhance the sound quality, but I will try when i get a chance.
@borez: I tried the OPA2227. It sounds much better than the LME, but won't give it much more warmth. I had the OPA2227P and it worked fine. There is a sonic difference between the HP and the RCA out. The headphone out has more bass.