[Th3Drizzl3]

ill wait till massdrop runs them again and grab one to check out. that way i can save 50$ and i have enough dacs to use till then anyway haha

 

[joasjoas]

those who already have it, do you notice the difference of using a balanced XLR to an unbalanced one? or what do they use? and the usb cable is fine? or better change?
The XLR cable will use a short one less than 0.5 meters, in principle I have seen one of 0.25 meters, and the balanced one is worth 50 $ approx, and the unbalanced one 20 $ approx. my configuration dt 990 (600ohm) su-8 and project polaris garage.

 

[DefiniteIntegral]

those who already have it, do you notice the difference of using a balanced XLR to an unbalanced one? or what do they use? and the usb cable is fine? or better change?
The XLR cable will use a short one less than 0.5 meters, in principle I have seen one of 0.25 meters, and the balanced one is worth 50 $ approx, and the unbalanced one 20 $ approx. my configuration dt 990 (600ohm) su-8 and project polaris garage.

XLR outputs are double the voltage, basically a 6dbu gain over the RCA outputs. There's no need to use the XLR outputs unless you're feeding the DAC output into a balanced amp/preamp.

 

[DefiniteIntegral]

Ok y'all. I'm really impressed with what I've heard so far.
That being said, I am a relative noob in the audiophile world, so please keep this in mind. I haven't heard multibit of any sort. The only external DACs I've heard are the ones I own:
1. Fiio E17K + K5 [can do 24/192 PCM and DSD64] and
2. The balanced AK4490 DAC module [non-MB] that came with my Schiit Jotunheim [24/192 PCM, I generally prefer this over the Fiio, but can't do DSD] and now
3. SMSL SU-8 [PCM up to 768kHz (honestly never even seen anything @ that rate) and DSD512 (whoa...)]
First impressions are that I definitely prefer the su-8 over both of the others. I'm not great at describing what I hear, but the detail and soundstage seem better IMO. Set-up was relatively straight-forward; configuring foobar to output native dsd w. the su-8 took a minute to figure out. But, yeah... Glad I held out for a balanced DAC. Seems like a great value @ this price [paid $212.50/free shipping w. a 15% off coupon via ebay]. So far, so good!

Set-up: cpu>usb>su-8 or Jot. DAC or e17k>Jotunheim amp>hd6xx

I will continue the "testing" and give it some burn-in and report back. Thanks for all the advice and feedback as always everyone!

How are you finding the USB Drivers? They seem a bit finnicky to me and it's unclear as to what's going with the "Format" Tab which gives two 2 channel, 32 bit outputs. They appear the same but when you switch them windows recognizes it as a different device.

 

[Hyp0xia]

There's a new drop for this up on Massdrop. My unit is due to arrive on 17 July.

 

[cobrabucket]

How are you finding the USB Drivers? They seem a bit finnicky to me and it's unclear as to what's going with the "Format" Tab which gives two 2 channel, 32 bit outputs. They appear the same but when you switch them windows recognizes it as a different device.

They seem ok so far. I see what you mean by there being 2 of the same name under the format tab. I've just kept it on the first option. In foobar, I've set it up to use the asio driver in order to output DSD.

 

[frogmeat69]

For the 1 or 2 that have this already, are you getting any clicking noise when playing a DSD file? Like when you go from PCM to a DSD, it makes a faint clicking sound, a double click, not loud or startling, but it is audible, and I can hear it in my headphones.

 

[cobrabucket]

For the 1 or 2 that have this already, are you getting any clicking noise when playing a DSD file? Like when you go from PCM to a DSD, it makes a faint clicking sound, a double click, not loud or startling, but it is audible, and I can hear it in my headphones.

Yes. I believe this is the sound that plays when the DAC is trying to decide what format the audio is in. It does it whenever I go to/from DSD or FLAC, but doesn't play once the first track is recognized [the format will be listed on the display]. I wish it would not happen, but it's not a big deal. Once the format is detected, you'll hear clicks. After that foobar will play without the clicks until you change format again.

 

[frogmeat69]

Ok, thanks, making sure it's something that's not just happening with my unit.

 

[cobrabucket]

Nah, I think it's normal. Like I said, I wish it didn't do it, but it's not a deal breaker. Hopefully it can be fixed by a driver update?

 

[cobrabucket]

I have also posted this as a full thread in the advice section. This might not be the right thread to ask this, but here goes. My main phones are HD6XX running balanced. I also have Argon Mk3s on the way [won't ship until late August/early Sept.]. But I have been tempted by the HE4XX @ Massdrop. While looking, I see there are HE400i Special Editions to be had for about the same amount. It appears that the new 400i though will have dual 3.5mm connectors. I really want to run these balanced. Would cables that would be compatible with Focal Elears work? I want a balanced cable that's reasonably priced [<$70]. Or I could just get the HE4XX and get some slightly cheaper and easier to find dual 2.5mm to XLR balanced cables. Is the HE400i better than the 4XX? Would this fill a role evenIs this an impulse buy and I should just wait for the Argons? Thanks!

 

[DefiniteIntegral]

I keep having an issue randomly at boot time on windows 10 with the April update. The DAC will produce the windows startup chime and then cut out. Once I am past my login screen it won't play any sound until I change the sampling rate to something else and then back to the original. Anyone else getting something similar?

 

[DefiniteIntegral]

I have also posted this as a full thread in the advice section. This might not be the right thread to ask this, but here goes. My main phones are HD6XX running balanced. I also have Argon Mk3s on the way [won't ship until late August/early Sept.]. But I have been tempted by the HE4XX @ Massdrop. While looking, I see there are HE400i Special Editions to be had for about the same amount. It appears that the new 400i though will have dual 3.5mm connectors. I really want to run these balanced. Would cables that would be compatible with Focal Elears work? I want a balanced cable that's reasonably priced [<$70]. Or I could just get the HE4XX and get some slightly cheaper and easier to find dual 2.5mm to XLR balanced cables. Is the HE400i better than the 4XX? Would this fill a role evenIs this an impulse buy and I should just wait for the Argons? Thanks!

I took a look at the massdrop pics for the 4XX. The connector seems rather recessed and the recessed space doesn't look very wide either. I have a pair of Focal Clears, which I believe uses the same terminations on the headphone side as the elear. From just eyeing it the termination of the cable on the Clear seems like it will be too wide to fit into the HE4XX. The exact measurements for elear cables can be found here: https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/dimensions-elear-diy-cable-builders

 

[cobrabucket]

I keep having an issue randomly at boot time on windows 10 with the April update. The DAC will produce the windows startup chime and then cut out. Once I am past my login screen it won't play any sound until I change the sampling rate to something else and then back to the original. Anyone else getting something similar?

I haven't noticed anything unusual. I will look into it and report back.

 

[cobrabucket]

I took a look at the massdrop pics for the 4XX. The connector seems rather recessed and the recessed space doesn't look very wide either. I have a pair of Focal Clears, which I believe uses the same terminations on the headphone side as the elear. From just eyeing it the termination of the cable on the Clear seems like it will be too wide to fit into the HE4XX. The exact measurements for elear cables can be found here: https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/dimensions-elear-diy-cable-builders

My bad. I was asking if the new HE400i Special Editions with the 3.5mm connectors would be compatible with balanced cables for the Focal Elear. So far, I can't find anyone selling XLR cables for the 400i SE w. the 3.5mm. I just purchased the 400i, so I guess I will see the size and do comparisons when they arrive. Can't wait!