[Ferbose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik I bought it thanks to this review and have no complaints. Well, a small one. I wish it had a power switch. And I'd like to unbolt the rack ears, but they don't come off. Aside from that, no complaints. It's a fantastic unit and has given me much pleasure and good music over the past five months or so. Also, I wanted to mention that I picked up a Rega Planet in the For Sale Forum here a little over a week ago. It arrived yesterday and I just had a chance to unpack and set it up. I just jacked the Planet into the Central Station's coax input and put on Dave Brubeck's "Time Out" with the K-501s. It's awesome. A little smoother and more musical than computer-as-source. It's just awesome. These are *very* early impressions, but what I'm hearing is making me quite happy.

Does CS sound better than Rega Planet's internal DAC?

Looks like CS really needs some more publicity.
Maybe it's time for me to start another CS thread.

 

[music_man]

roy_jones,

i changed my mind because my first one had a damaged pcb. it was the headphone pcb no less. i also had a bad couple of days. first broken(and overpriced musical fidelity units). then a broken cs that caused me to have to drive 200 miles to get a new one. i would like to point out that it is sold out everywhere here now. i got the last one and sweet it is. wonder why they are all sold out? is the hype secret and no one wants to admit they actually use pro-audio for hi-fi? hmm, maybe.

anyhow, like i said with the k701's i have not heard a better amp(and i have heard plenty of $500 to $4,000 amps).

just go buy it. guitar stores will sell it for less than advertised price and you have at least 30 days to return it. what do you have to loose?

plus if you get the right $50 upsampling dvd player, all you need is a $50 dvd player because this thing is doing all the work. the cs plus a either a modded $50 player or a run of the mill player($300 either way) a good cable, good power filter and your choice of headphones(lets say k701), you have a reference quality system for under $1,500usd. that is a lot less than reference systems usually cost last time i checked.

i went ahead and listened to the gs1000 already i just couldn't wait. they are nice but i will probably be mostly listening to the k701's and it has nothing to do with this amp. my friend brought over r10's and agreed the cs should be at least 5 grand not five(or four) hundred bucks!

btw, grados are easy to drive. they do however require high current to drive them to bliss. even though an ipod will do in a pinch. you are correct: grados high current, low impedance. senns high impedance high voltage. the amazing cs can power both kinds of phones at once no less! it only has one op amp too. they must have sprinkled magic dust on this thing or something because i do not see how it's parts add up to it's abilities but they really do.

i say what is good and what is bad. i try to tell it how i see/hear it. sometimes i make mistakes and correct them as soon as i am aware that i did.
i have been getting(and always have) broken new gear because it is the dealers and ups/fedex drivers that do not care how they handle a fragile package.

music_man

 

[music_man]

lol. it's a frenzy now. i let the cat out of the bag.

the cs caused me to get rid of a music hall maverick($2,000+) in favor of a $50 modded($300 total) dvdp. see the philips dvp642 thread.

it is powering akg k701's and grado gs1000's together as we speak and they both sound proper.

most good gear does not have power switches(certainly not on pro gear). it should be kept warm always.

i got rid of my rack ears by popping on the sides from the hp4(or any other component in their small series). i won't be listening to the hp4 anymore so it will not miss it's sides lol.

music_man

 

[russdog]

Please forgive my ignorance, but I am new to all of this.

I recently used EAC to transfer about 700 CD's to LAME-Extreme mp3 files. At the moment, I've got an Echo Indigo in an old laptop feeding my stereo. I have been thinking about trying a dedicated DAC. There are many things I don't know, 5 of which come to mind right now:

1. Is a decent DAC likely to generate better quality sound than the Indigo? (I realize the other components are a limiting factor, but let's not go there right now

2. If so, is there a better way to spend $400-$500 on a DAC than buying this thing? (If so, what?)

3. How would you compare the DAC in this box with the Micro DAC?

4. How would you compare the quality of this box as a headphone amp with the SuperMacro IV?

5. If I don't care about appearances and packaging, does this thing outperform the combination of a SuperMacro IV and a Micro DAC?

thanks...

 

[Naga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ferbose Does CS sound better than Rega Planet's internal DAC? Looks like CS really needs some more publicity. Maybe it's time for me to start another CS thread.

we could start a " Team - Presonus Central Station "

 

[russdog]

Quote:

Originally Posted by russdog Please forgive my ignorance, but I am new to all of this. I recently used EAC to transfer about 700 CD's to LAME-Extreme mp3 files. At the moment, I've got an Echo Indigo in an old laptop feeding my stereo. I have been thinking about trying a dedicated DAC. There are many things I don't know, 5 of which come to mind right now: 1. Is a decent DAC likely to generate better quality sound than the Indigo? (I realize the other components are a limiting factor, but let's not go there right now 2. If so, is there a better way to spend $400-$500 on a DAC than buying this thing? (If so, what?) 3. How would you compare the DAC in this box with the Micro DAC? 4. How would you compare the quality of this box as a headphone amp with the SuperMacro IV? 5. If I don't care about appearances and packaging, does this thing outperform the combination of a SuperMacro IV and a Micro DAC? thanks...

Does anyone know?

 

[music_man]

russdog,
1,yes.
2,not for that price.
3,probably better depends on you mostly.
4,probably better depends on you mostly.
5,probably

i just found out that the cs only locks to the input frequency. it does not internally upsample. it does oversample though.

i would only use a transport that can send at least 24/96 to get the most out of the cs then. othrwise you are not getting nearly it's full capability.

i don't remember if i mentioned that i have now replaced the psu caps,bluetacked the dac and receiver and put heatsinks on the headphone and cue op-amps. now this thing is solidly reference quality. there is not really better out there. maybe just different at this point. it is now a class 'a' product. it was class 'ab' to begin with.

edit: i am positive that the unit does upsample. i ran logic on the ic's. the person from presonus that informed me it does not probably just isn't aware. they are made far away in china and designed in a upstairs office(probably) so customer service does not know every nook and cranny about it. since in pro-audio that is probably a question that is not asked of them.


music_man

 

[Naga]

music man, you have driven cans out of the balanced outputs of the HP4, have you done the same with your CS yet?

 

[JJ15k]

The CS does not have balanced out

 

[Ferbose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JJ15k The CS does not have balanced out

JJ51K means the headphone jack is single-ended.
The line level outpus TRS jacks are balanced.

 

[music_man]

nope. i am just using the 1/4".

hey, look what is going on over in my philips dvp642 post. i am surprised no one has dissed the cs yet. ie, someone says it is not 6 grand worth of stuff or even 1 grand for that matter. well maybe not, but it is certainly more than you can get for $500 anywhere else. it would be one thing if it was just a lot of stuff in one box that was just ok. but it is more than just ok. a lot more. all of us that own it seem to agree. it holds company with the grace and benchmark at least. i returned a mf xcan,xdac,xpsu for this and i am a lot happier. that was $1,600 into $500 and did not even include a preamp. let alone a purely passive one. the only thing i wonder is if this thing would be better off with the talkback board removed for hi-fi use. maybe it is so good that removing it will make no difference. stay tuned.

music_man

 

[Naga]

that TB switch is noisey, i just ignore it even tho it wired as my computer's microphone

 

[music_man]

i think it probably adds noise even when it is not being used. i am going to remove that circuit today.

music_man

 

[roy_jones]

Has anyone compared the central station to the zhaolu DAC?

I know that Ferbose did, although it was something of a secondary review, being that the primary comparison was between the Zhaolu and the DAC1. The problem being that the Zhaolu that was a part of that comparison didn't have the upgraded discrete headphone amp, thus making a true comparison difficult. Apparently the DAC section competed well with the Zhaolu...but Ferbose's conclusion between the DAC1 vs. the Zhaolu seemed to be in contrast with the majority of posters that have also used both dacs.

The big question I've got, is which is the better value. I don't intend to use the pre-amp function, it would be purely as a DAC/Amp. The amp on this thing has me confused, because from a technical standpoint, it shouldn't be able to hang in with an M3, Gilmore Lite, Darkvoice, etc...but you guys are saying it does. My big question would be how it performs with Grados, whereas it seems that most of the usage seems to be happening with K701's, or other AKG's, which have very different requirements. I know some of this stuff has already been addressed.

My dilemma is whether to go with the Zhaolu with upgraded discrete amp, and then buy something like a Darkvoice in addition. I think I could get the CS for $400 US though, which would be cheaper by atleast a couple hundred bucks, and I'm quite broke, so all that money actually means something to me...regretably.

 

[Ferbose]

Music_man,

Did you start using CS at your work place?
If so, what is it replacing?