[DougD]

  .... << snip snip >> 
 
Old and In The Way Title track from the self titled gem recorded on a 2 track Nagra. It's such a unique, honest and endearing performance and it was wonderful to hear it presented in the type of scale that made it seem even more like you were there! The revealed dynamics in the performance were all the more natural like I said, levels of detail + range I did not know 44.1/16 could do.
 
... << snip snip >>

 
Well there's some music I have not listened to in a while!  Thanks for the reminder.

 

[theaterdesign]

Cool, I'll have to try the Beck, I also liked the delightfully weird "Midnite Vultures", some pretty humorous lyrics. It took me 3X re-ripping the music library to finally get bit perfect + WAV tagging to work right. The WAV tagging was a pain, but I wanted to know I was dealing with lossless files for certain, storage is cheap! I don't really want to throw this out there as it is very subjective, but when getting serious re-ripping, I tried FLAC vs WAV on my studio monitors and swore I heard an undesirable (to me) difference. I know that FLAC is technically lossless audio in a compressed container, guess I would rather be sure. WAV is what we always used for studio masters too.
 
I just have a few albums with the originals lost that are non secure rips. Anymore, I don't keep the originals, just rip, copy over to a NAS drive for backup/Sonos and go trade in the CDs at the local record shop for more! Agree with you that right now we are enjoying a pinnacle in sound reproduction with digital, but also with transducers, preamp and power amps as well. There is some nice accurate equipment these days.  

 

[theaterdesign]

Yep, Old and in the Way is cool and unique! One I have not been able to find is Kingfisher in a somewhat similar vein, a friend in school recorded that from vinyl for me and I really liked it back then. That TDK cassette is long since worn to nothing! Ahh, so much music, so little time without ambient noise to enjoy it properly!

 

[theaterdesign]

  Just wondering...
 
If I connect my AK120ii via toslink into the GMB's optical input, will the digital signal from the AK simply pass through the Gumby to the amp, or will the Gumby transform the AK's input in some (magical) way?  I have the rig connected this way at the moment, and the SQ is really damn good!  Most of the time, I'm using my Macbook Pro as the digital source to the Gumby.
 
The rig is:  AK120ii - AQ evergreen optical - GMB - BHA-1 - HD800
 
The SQ seems to be better when connected this way.  Is there a chance that now the Mac apps aren't getting in the way of true digital bliss?
 
@Baldr 
 
Thank you -
RCB

I am not an expert on portable gear, but connecting via optical to Gumby would have Gumby doing the DA conversion, and I would guess it's a nicer DAC than the onboard one in your AK120ii............

 

[1800yolk]

I'm nowhere near pulling the trigger on a dac, but this is sort of at the top of my list right now. A big part of me is saying, yo don't do it, this thing costs as much as your amp and headphones combined! but at the same time, the DAC is probably the most important piece in a complete audio setup. Also, having balanced outputs could end up saving me money in the long run, if i ever decide to pick up a balanced amp to pair with it.
 
Setup so far:
Gemtune APPJ PA1502A (will swap tubes after more research)
Hifiman HE-400i
 
Am I blowing up the golf course for the gopher, so to speak? Or is this actually a reasonable setup?
 
related:

 

[theveterans]

  I'm nowhere near pulling the trigger on a dac, but this is sort of at the top of my list right now. A big part of me is saying, yo don't do it, this thing costs as much as your amp and headphones combined! but at the same time, the DAC is probably the most important piece in a complete audio setup. Also, having balanced outputs could end up saving me money in the long run, if i ever decide to pick up a balanced amp to pair with it.
 
Setup so far:
Gemtune APPJ PA1502A (will swap tubes after more research)
Hifiman HE-400i
 
Am I blowing up the golf course for the gopher, so to speak? Or is this actually a reasonable setup?
 
related:

 
You also need an amp capable of keeping up with the performance of the Gumby and your speakers/headphones IMO so you get the best out of your Gumby as well.

 

[sheldaze]

  I'm nowhere near pulling the trigger on a dac, but this is sort of at the top of my list right now. A big part of me is saying, yo don't do it, this thing costs as much as your amp and headphones combined! but at the same time, the DAC is probably the most important piece in a complete audio setup. Also, having balanced outputs could end up saving me money in the long run, if i ever decide to pick up a balanced amp to pair with it.
 
Setup so far:
Gemtune APPJ PA1502A (will swap tubes after more research)
Hifiman HE-400i

I agree with the post above that the entire chain, amplifier and all, is important. Below is a chain I like:
 
Gungnir Multibit > Cavalli Audio Liquid Carbon > HE-400i (balanced cables)
 
Note that the headphone is $300 (when I purchased), the amplifier is $600, and the DAC is around $1200. But in my opinion, they make for a good match. I would not agree that the price tells the whole story in the components used in this chain. Meaning I do not feel that the goodness in the Gumby is lost in the HE-400i simply because it is an inexpensive headphone. It is a headphone that performs way above its expected capability, and is quite suitable to play with the Gumby.

 

[Liu Junyuan]

That doesn't sound right - Are you sure you have  a  Gumby and are you sure it's switched on … LOL

Yes. It is on and it is a Gumby. Right now, for instance, it is actually cool to touch, though I havent turned it off for several weeks. It seems to sound just fine though.

 

[Ableza]

Multibit DACs work best if you turn them on and leave them on.  No matter if you are using it or not.

 

[joeexp]

Yes. It is on and it is a Gumby. Right now, for instance, it is actually cool to touch, though I havent turned it off for several weeks. It seems to sound just fine though.

 
This is very odd. My Gumby does get quite warm.  
And so it should as there is a lot of electronics packed into some very tight space.
 
The Bimby, that I used to have for 3 weeks on the other hand, did not get warm at all.

 

[pavement714]

  I agree with the post above that the entire chain, amplifier and all, is important. Below is a chain I like:
 
Gungnir Multibit > Cavalli Audio Liquid Carbon > HE-400i (balanced cables)
 
Note that the headphone is $300 (when I purchased), the amplifier is $600, and the DAC is around $1200. But in my opinion, they make for a good match. I would not agree that the price tells the whole story in the components used in this chain. Meaning I do not feel that the goodness in the Gumby is lost in the HE-400i simply because it is an inexpensive headphone. It is a headphone that performs way above its expected capability, and is quite suitable to play with the Gumby.

Absolutely agree. Before I sold my 400i for the 1000, I used it with the Bimby and it was an amazingly apparent upgrade. They really are powerhouse headphones for the price. 

 

[swspiers]

 
I'm nowhere near pulling the trigger on a dac, but this is sort of at the top of my list right now. A big part of me is saying, yo don't do it, this thing costs as much as your amp and headphones combined! but at the same time, the DAC is probably the most important piece in a complete audio setup. Also, having balanced outputs could end up saving me money in the long run, if i ever decide to pick up a balanced amp to pair with it.

Setup so far:
Gemtune APPJ PA1502A (will swap tubes after more research)
Hifiman HE-400i

I agree with the post above that the entire chain, amplifier and all, is important. Below is a chain I like:

Gungnir Multibit > Cavalli Audio Liquid Carbon > HE-400i (balanced cables)

Note that the headphone is $300 (when I purchased), the amplifier is $600, and the DAC is around $1200. But in my opinion, they make for a good match. I would not agree that the price tells the whole story in the components used in this chain. Meaning I do not feel that the goodness in the Gumby is lost in the HE-400i simply because it is an inexpensive headphone. It is a headphone that performs way above its expected capability, and is quite suitable to play with the Gumby.

+1000 the 400i's have the chops to keep up with gear priced way out of their range.

 

[B-Dawk20]

+1000 the 400i's have the chops to keep up with gear priced way out of their range.

 
 
You guys are making me get the itch to try out HiFiMAN again

. I sold my HE-500 because it just didn't stand out in my collection and got no head time, but everyone adores the 400i!

 

[RCBinTN]

Just adding a bit to the discussion about the impact of a good DAC in your rig...
 
I had a nice rig and showed it off at meets:  D/S Gungnir - BHA-1 - LCD-X.  I thought the SQ was great.  Then, I upgraded the D/S Gungnir to the Gumby.  The upgrade made a world of difference to my rig's SQ, without changing any other components.  It literally made my music come alive.  
 
I became convinced that the quality of the DAC is a very key component, maybe the most important component, in the overall SQ of the rig.
 
I think this upgrade idea could apply to any rig.  The only negative I see - a better, more resolving, DAC could reveal flaws in your music source that you may not have heard before.  The SQ will become more reference, which I personally want and like.  If you are listening to compressed music, or lower-quality music files, you may have a different experience.  Therefore, YMMV.
 
As a friend of mine once stated:  I have been, and will always be, a fan of the Schiit MB technology.  
 
FWIW, my friends.
RCBinTN

 

[rnros]

I became convinced that the quality of the DAC is a very key component, maybe the most important component, in the overall SQ of the rig.

+1 Especially true with the Gumby.