[Maniac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 8140david /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't understand. Why do you need a bit-perfect sound card with the DA-131? Why can't you, on vista, send the signal unmodified using wasapi? If you do so, you're not using the internal sound card, are you? Is it that a sdpif output always relies on the internal sound card?

There's a lot of bit-perfect sound devices, but due to intel's infinite wisdom when defining sound card standards, they decide to resample everything to 48KHz so that they can easily mix sounds digitally. This decision makes sense on the engineering side, where everything gets quite simple when you want to play multiple sound at the same time. You no longer need complex analog mixer and multiple DACs, but they also cut the corner in the resampling system where it is done very poorly and without any way of bypassing the resampler.

Later sound cards are somewhat poisoned by the spec where they didn't bother to add a feature to bypass the resampler when required. Thus the discussion on bit-perfect capable sound card started, and as it progresses, it appeared that more and more sound chip designer are looking into this feature and even onboard sound seem to carry this feature now.

That's basically the whole story that I can recall off my head.

 

[8140david]

Concerning the DA-152, is the output a regular RCA output? So that one can use regular RCA cables to connect that to an amp like the Cambridge 640A v2?

 

[texashorn91]

Yes

 

[moonboy403]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 8140david /img/forum/go_quote.gif Concerning the DA-152, is the output a regular RCA output? So that one can use regular RCA cables to connect that to an amp like the Cambridge 640A v2?

Yes.

 

[neouser]

Hello everybody, I am really interested in buying this dac. I also sent a mail to Maniac on HeadWize but I also write here.

Actually I own a ESI Juli@ sound card directly connected to 2 active nearfield Yamaha MSP5 Speakers.

I am not an expert but I do know that Juli@ has a good analog out, only problems is that with this speakers I am experiencing some real annoying noise on the speakers of computer activity (for example when videcard goes in 3d mode etc). So I am searching for a really clean input, with a possibly better quality.

I was considering buying the 131.1, but my budget is not really huge so I ask you this:

The Juli@ has optical onboard and coaxial with multiple adapter coming in the box, BUT I also have a single Coaxial output on my Motherboard, wich is a Realtek ALC1200. In the Vista control Panel I can choose from 44.1 to 192khz so I guess it is not limited to 48khz resamplig?
If this out is ok I'd use this selling the Juli@ with some money coming back..

Also I am not going to use Audiophile quality cables because of the cost, for me 365$ of this amp is a huge investment.

Thank you,
Marco

 

[03029174]

Hi, im really interested in this dac and am looking to pair it with a Grado RA-1 and RS-1's. I dont really understand how the transfer from the PC -> DAC works. I had a v powerful PC but i use it for work and dont have a dedicated soundcard, i have a ASUS P5K Premium motherboard which i run the sound out of directly. Can anyone help me? As i see it i have to purchase an EMU 1212M soundcard or similar to output audio to the DAC ... the thing im missing here is "Where's the USB transfer?" or is it a case that Windows recognises the DAC so the soundcard can transfer the data to it by another means?
As you can see im alittle confused, any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you

 

[wundi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 03029174 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi, im really interested in this dac and am looking to pair it with a Grado RA-1 and RS-1's. I dont really understand how the transfer from the PC -> DAC works. I had a v powerful PC but i use it for work and dont have a dedicated soundcard, i have a ASUS P5K Premium motherboard which i run the sound out of directly. Can anyone help me? As i see it i have to purchase an EMU 1212M soundcard or similar to output audio to the DAC ... the thing im missing here is "Where's the USB transfer?" or is it a case that Windows recognises the DAC so the soundcard can transfer the data to it by another means? As you can see im alittle confused, any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you

Hello,

Unless I'm mistaken, Windows recognises a USB DAC (such as DA-151) as an external sound card of sorts, and it functions independently of any PCI(e) or integrated sound cards in the computer. Hopefully this answered your question and if my information is false, then this was quite embarassing and I hope someone corrects me asap.

I don't really have any experience with USB DACs.

On a sidenote, your motherboard has an ADI AD1988B audio chip with both coaxial and optical outputs, so basically you could also use that with the DA-131.1, but I don't know if it counts as a "high quality digital source" that Maniac was talking of earlier.

 

[wundi]

Almost forgot, I had a question of my own too.

Someone mentioned that the Keces DAC doesn't work together as nicely with a solid state headphone amp as it does with a tube amp. I would very much like to hear more opinions on that.

For the record, I'm using a pair of HD650's, a Meier Arietta (and on the lookout for a beefier SS amp), and I'm more interested in DA-131.1 than DA-151, if that matters.

Thanks for any responses.

 

[Callous]

Hey guys, I emailed David today about why all his units of DA-151's were being pulled off from ebay and audiogon, and he just send me this reply:

Quote:

Hello, we are actually preparing the second gen of DA-151, DA-151 MkII, which will be ready in about a couple of weeks.

 

[Maniac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wundi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hello, Unless I'm mistaken, Windows recognises a USB DAC (such as DA-151) as an external sound card of sorts, and it functions independently of any PCI(e) or integrated sound cards in the computer. Hopefully this answered your question and if my information is false, then this was quite embarassing and I hope someone corrects me asap. I don't really have any experience with USB DACs. On a sidenote, your motherboard has an ADI AD1988B audio chip with both coaxial and optical outputs, so basically you could also use that with the DA-131.1, but I don't know if it counts as a "high quality digital source" that Maniac was talking of earlier.

You got it exactly right with the way that USB DAC work.

As for the digital output from the motherboard, it should be fine, and I'd recommend using DA-131 in this case.

 

[Maniac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wundi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Almost forgot, I had a question of my own too. Someone mentioned that the Keces DAC doesn't work together as nicely with a solid state headphone amp as it does with a tube amp. I would very much like to hear more opinions on that. For the record, I'm using a pair of HD650's, a Meier Arietta (and on the lookout for a beefier SS amp), and I'm more interested in DA-131.1 than DA-151, if that matters. Thanks for any responses.

I think the choice of tube or solid state would be more of a personal preference (I've tried some tube gears here, and modded some... and I eventually moved back to all solid state setup again...), and since you are looking for a solid state headphone amp, I'll just post the link to our new headphone amp and isolation transformer.

KECES HA-171 Headphone Amp Prototype Sneak Preview~~

KECES PT-111 300W Isolation Transformer.

Enjoy.

 

[Maniac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Callous /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hey guys, I emailed David today about why all his units of DA-151's were being pulled off from ebay and audiogon, and he just send me this reply:

That is true, we were hoping to phase it in quietly... Ah well, currently the expected ship date is the end of this week, so anyone ordering before then will be able to get on the pre-order list. The new price will be increased by $10 to reflect the upgrade cost, but anyone that paid before the shipping date will still get the old $240 + shipping price.

Thanks

David

 

[vic1890]

Hi Maniac,

I was thinking of the KECES - but, have you any idea how it would pair with an SS amp like the Graham Slee Solo? via optical from a macbook to a sennheiser HD 650?

the 650s are pretty laid back, so I need a forward sounding DAC to bring it out - would you say yours is such a DAC?

 

[Maniac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vic1890 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi Maniac, I was thinking of the KECES - but, have you any idea how it would pair with an SS amp like the Graham Slee Solo? via optical from a macbook to a sennheiser HD 650? the 650s are pretty laid back, so I need a forward sounding DAC to bring it out - would you say yours is such a DAC?

Hello Vic1890,

I have not tried Graham Slee's amp myself, but with the current Mk2 version, I'd say 131 is a somewhat forward sounding DAC. However, that still depending on what you compare it to, and just by itself, I'd say that DA-131 Mk2 is a neutral sounding DAC.


Thanks

David

 

[oqvist]

Any owner in here that have a Dacmagic? What is the difference in term of sound? I need to decide before thursday if I want to keep it or send it back.