[upstateguy]

Quote:

I feel rather stupid not knowing how to post what I have:
 
Speakers: Nomad Audio Ronin RMD w/custom rear firing pure ribbon tweeter along with the Plate Amp option.
Amplifiers: For Midbass/Tweeter only=Dynaco MKIII w/Oritek's modification.
Pre-Dac: Oritek OMZ Pre/Dac.
Cables: Oritek X-2 for analog, X-1 for digital.
Wiring is all Furetech (sp).  
Transport has varied from Squeezebox's-Hiface-PC cards, a few CD/DVD players, etc.  Have not established what transport I will use on a consistent basis.
 
Used to have a very very nice TT setup.
 
I only have multiple pairs of Koss KSC-75 headphones driven right off my laptop and used with Sansa/Cellphone/etc. portable devices.  Have owned the best Ety's, Shures, and Senns in past.  Have heard tons of others including Stax and other various stat and dynamic driver cans.  I would never put money into a headphone setup unless I lived in a situation that permitted me from listening to my two channel system, by which I never have either by virtue of the girlfriends or now wife, neighbors, or children.  I'm blessed NOT to have to have to listen to headphones unless it's very late and the KSC's will do plenty fine in spite others are obviously better.

 
IC, it seems that you don't really have a headphone rig. 
 
I would like to submit then, that it is impossible for you to experience the clarity and resolution that Shahrose's rig is capable of. 
 
I don't mean any offense, but Shahrose's system is truly high end, while yours is mid-fi at best.

 

[Audioexcels]

 
Quote:

 
IC, it seems that you don't really have a headphone rig. 
 
I would like to submit then, that it is impossible for you to experience the clarity and resolution that Shahrose's rig is capable of. 
 
I don't mean any offense, but Shahrose's system is truly high end, while yours is mid-fi at best.

 
As already mentioned, no, I know headphone rigs cannot get me sound that I want to hear, so why bother with it when I never need to use headphones but on rare occasions.  I have heard exceptional headphone rigs and they indeed sound exceptional.  These are rigs that make Shahrose's rig seem like a low-fi setup.  I like what Shahrose uses.  It is "modest" (i.e. some money into it, but focus is on bang for buck rather than cost-no-option).
 
Onto my speakers=
 
Here's some words from a reviewer of 6 moons that gives it as straight as it can be.  He used the less transparent paper version of the Ronin and his are not plate amplified like mine are, and that takes the speaker into an entirely different sound level/category:
 
"If the Ronins were priced at $8000/pr, I would still recommend them."  " It may seem silly to pair nearly $10K of amplification with $4500 speakers but the RPDs performance is such that their asking price becomes fairly irrelevant in deciding on what electronics to pair them with."
 
If you didn't have a look at my other components, my modded Dynacos beat the 5K Lamm amplifiers that can beat 20K amplifiers.  My Oritek pre-dac just levelled a $5K setup by some French company and has be equally compared with a 30K digital front end.  Need I go on?
 
What you said is the equivalent of me saying that my Koss KSC75's driven by my laptop playing Youtube at 240P is better than Shahrose's headphone setup playing FLAC rips, or that watching a 3D movie on the big screen is far worse than watching it at home on a 20" CRT!
 
 
BTW...just for the record, I have spoken with Shahrose and I find him to be a very kind person.  I hope nothing in this is taken personal by Shahrose as it is non-intended to do so.  Just as much as I love listening to my system, I'd just as much be more than happy to head to his place if we lived closer and enjoy the music!  In the end, music is music, and as much as I know phones can never do it (for me), it doesn't mean I cannot enjoy the sound especially from setups that merit the worth of listening to since a good phone system including Shahrose's can indeed be a LOT better than a lot of other stuff, including poorly executed home audio setups.

 

[K3cT]

Quote:

The OR5 is $1099. For what it's worth, Steve believes it outperforms anything else on the market. At the very least for those with a $1K budget, I don't think it makes sense to spend that on the AP1 or the WaveLink when you have the superior OR5 for similar money, and of course you can always further improve the OR5 with the available upgrades from Empirical, or just by adding something like a Hynes linear power supply in place of the wall wart. At the $500 level, the JKMK3 is probably the one to beat.
 

I haven't followed the OR development for some time but is it still essentially a highly-modified M-Audio Transit? 

 

[DaveBSC]

Quote:

I haven't followed the OR development for some time but is it still essentially a highly-modified M-Audio Transit? 

I dont think so. The asynchronous tech I believe comes from M2Tech, the rest of it I'm pretty sure is all in-house. I'm sure Steve could fill you in though.
 


 

 

[Audioexcels]

 
Quote:

I dont think so. The asynchronous tech I believe comes from M2Tech, the rest of it I'm pretty sure is all in-house. I'm sure Steve could fill you in though.
 


 

I don't think Steve will offer up the details because his designs are extremely propriety, but...
 
This should help some including a photo down below and in the article:

http://www.stereophile.com/content/empirical-audio-ramp-4-usb-format-converter
 
 
"The question whether purchasing the Off-Ramp 4 is a cost-effective strategy to getting better sound, compared with upgrading the DAC or buying the excellent but less-expensive Halide Bridge or the very good and very cheap V-Link, will depend very much on the owner's current DAC. But there is no doubt that the Off-Ramp 4 is a well-engineered product that can give superb sound quality from your PC."
 
 
Soooo...who's right?  The USB converter makers like Steve/Philip/JKenny/etc. that believe it has to do with the Transport....OR John Atkinson among others that believe it has to do with the DAC???  I personally think the Off-Ramp is the way to go for as-good-as-it-gets now and future proof USB transfer of the digital.  This said, I wouldn't doubt an Audiophellio or Jkeny MKIII would "not" do equally well.  
 
The most important part of this review is the fact that the Halide didn't give much of anything up to the modded OR4.  Whenever reading "user" reviews of the OR4, it's so similar to reading these artsy fartsy reviews that give you a million adjectives about the sound and try to write in some kinda posh way so as to impress the reader with their delightfully poetic, fancy, and lovingly divine script...or flat out, outrageously on speed types that have "obvious" system flaws that such simple components can just make them go blitzkreg and spout OUT LOUDLY just how AMAZING some device is.  But then a few weeks later, that device is suddenly not so great anymore, especially now that this other device is soooo unbelievable!!!
 
Audio=find what you can find that does it for you, learn to live with the fact that nothing is nor will ever be perfect, and simply let the music touch all of your emotions!
 
 
Internals:
 

 

[BrainFood]

Can the JK Hiface MK3 be connected straight to a DAC like the Audiophilleo 2 can?   The only decent spdif cable I have is a Stereovox HDXV from a few years ago.

 

[Freazy]

You could but you will have to place something underneat either on the DAC or the MK3 so the connectors are level to avoid any strain on the the connectors.
Hope this helped a bit

 

[BrainFood]

Thanks.  I'll try direct and with the cable.
 

 

[drez]

You would also need a right angled USB cable input and a male to male BNC adapter.  I may try this in the future but you I would need a longer version of the USB cable I am using.  Switching the mk3 off would be less practical installed this way also, but hey who needs praktikos when there is SQ improvements to be made.

 

[DaveBSC]

Quote:

You would also need a right angled USB cable input and a male to male BNC adapter.  I may try this in the future but you I would need a longer version of the USB cable I am using.  Switching the mk3 off would be less practical installed this way also, but hey who needs praktikos when there is SQ improvements to be made.

I wonder if that's true. I think if you used something like a 3" S/Pdif cable with high quality 75 Ohm connectors on it, the difference between that and a male/male adapter (with potentially questionable impedance) would be virtually nil.

 

[BrainFood]

 
Quote:

You would also need a right angled USB cable input and a male to male BNC adapter.  I may try this in the future but you I would need a longer version of the USB cable I am using.  Switching the mk3 off would be less practical installed this way also, but hey who needs praktikos when there is SQ improvements to be made.

 
 
Having had the MK3 for a bit, how do you rate it?   You weren't happy about the prospect of daily battery recharging, I remember.
 

 
Quote:

I wonder if that's true. I think if you used something like a 3" S/Pdif cable with high quality 75 Ohm connectors on it, the difference between that and a male/male adapter (with potentially questionable impedance) would be virtually nil.

My 1-metre Stereovox is BNC to BNC with RCA adaptor for the DAC end.  Do you think that will be fine?  I chose the JK over the audiophilleo because it worked out around 25% cheaper and I'd rather not negate that by spending more money on cables, adaptors etc.

 

 

[DaveBSC]

Quote:

My 1-metre Stereovox is BNC to BNC with RCA adaptor for the DAC end.  Do you think that will be fine?  I chose the JK over the audiophilleo because it worked out around 25% cheaper and I'd rather not negate that by spending more money on cables, adaptors etc.

 

I'm sure it will be, the Stereovox cables have a very good reputation.
 

 

[tf1216]

Is there any verdict regarding BNC versus RCA out?  I have read that BNC is the way to go.  Are there many places to get a BNC to 1/8" cable for a JH3A?

 

[drez]

You could ask partsconnexion to make up a cable with whichever 75 ohm coax you like, but not sure if it is that important seeing as 1/8" is not 75 ohm the impedance of the wire is probably not that important.
 
Maybe ask one of the MOT cable makers to make one up.

 

[bozebuttons]

[VIDEO][/VIDEO]

Is there any verdict regarding BNC versus RCA out?  I have read that BNC is the way to go.  Are there many places to get a BNC to 1/8" cable for a JH3A?

I bought my Bnc to1/8 cable for them jh3a from moon audio