[Kurios]

Quote:

Thanks. The problem is that Digikey charges me 18 EURO of shipping for a 4 EURO opamp! I can find them on eBay from sellers in China, but I'm not sure if they're original or fake...

Yes, that's why I looked for a local seller also. There is valuable information in this thread. I would say make a selection from opamps to try out - buy a few at once better then pay shipping again if an opamp does not work out.

Opamp swapping makes a difference. I am actually rediscovering albums I wanted to but could not because the headphone/dac/amp synergy was not there. And that with swapping just one tiny component.

 

[Kurios]

Update: Finally settled with OPA627AU opamps in both the DAC and AMP stages. Compared to the OPA2227PA in the DAC stage the sound is more relaxed, and the overall listening experience has improved. Two things stand out: Better instrument placement and smoother highs. The bass with the OPA2227PA was tighter and a little punchier though but overall OPA627AU gives better results.
 
Bought them at TAM audio presoldered on Browndog adaptors for $15,- pp only.

 

[project86]

Keep in mind the USB on the Cube is limited in resolution. So you can't play your 192khz stuff over USB.

 

[RuRu]

In your review you mentioned:
" I’m happy to say that the USB input here sounds indistinguishable from the other inputs. I’ve heard reliable sources who felt the same thing about the Valab products that use the CM108 chip."
"f this is true, perhaps it is the ASRC process in the Cube that is taking care of that problem, enabling the USB input to sound identical to the toslink and coaxial."
 
So I'm curious to know, if this statement is true for both 16/48 and 192/24 music. If so, when the music is upsampled by the ASRC (because it will always come at 16/48 from the USB), does it make any difference that it was originally in 192/24 or not at all?

 

[project86]

  In your review you mentioned:
" I’m happy to say that the USB input here sounds indistinguishable from the other inputs. I’ve heard reliable sources who felt the same thing about the Valab products that use the CM108 chip."
"f this is true, perhaps it is the ASRC process in the Cube that is taking care of that problem, enabling the USB input to sound identical to the toslink and coaxial."
 
So I'm curious to know, if this statement is true for both 16/48 and 192/24 music. If so, when the music is upsampled by the ASRC (because it will always come at 16/48 from the USB), does it make any difference that it was originally in 192/24 or not at all?

 
I suppose it would depend on your playback software. That's what would be doing the decimation from 192kHz to 48kHz and reduction from 24 bit to 16 bit. There may be some resolution lost but ultimately the Cube (keep in mind, a $200 product!) may not be of high enough resolution to show the difference. 
 
Another factor - 24/192 recordings tend to be exceptionally well done, in terms of mastering, etc. So that's a factor helping them sound good no matter what.

 

[RuRu]

So basically, for 200$ and assuming that my 192/24 music files were well done, (so even though there is a decimation and reduction to 16/48), would the CUBE be a good option to be used as a DAC (I have borrowed a Matrix MStage as AMP)?
 
If then, the headphone amp turns to be a decent amp for my Takstar Pro80, I wouldn't even need to buy a dedicated amp, right?
 
About the conversion from 192/24 to 16/48, I thought it was the audio driver in WIndows/MACs that performs this tasks, not my playback SW? am I correct?
 
 
Thanks!

 

[project86]

  So basically, for 200$ and assuming that my 192/24 music files were well done, (so even though there is a decimation and reduction to 16/48), would the CUBE be a good option to be used as a DAC (I have borrowed a Matrix MStage as AMP)?
 
If then, the headphone amp turns to be a decent amp for my Takstar Pro80, I wouldn't even need to buy a dedicated amp, right?
 
About the conversion from 192/24 to 16/48, I thought it was the audio driver in WIndows/MACs that performs this tasks, not my playback SW? am I correct?
 
 
Thanks!

 
Yep, at $200 it's pretty nice. The integrated amp does well enough as could be expected for an integrated amp in a relatively budget device. It's pretty satisfying to my ears. 
 
I always use Foobar (or whatever software) to do the resampling/downconversion. There's probably other ways to do it though.