[regit]

  Thanks for the advice castleofargh. Having A/B between LO and HO for most part of the evening, I will most likely try to make a low-profile connector. The preference is definitely with LO as it sounds a lot cleaner. However, the back of my mind is wondering if the inter-connect for HO is getting more details (Fiio L5 vs L6)... Will try to have the LOD made with similar wire and test again. Cheers!

 
Trimmed the connector from L5, got some silver litz and Neutrik plug and made a rather crude LOD. Not pretty, but it works well As seen, the profile is even (very slightly) lower than the Neutrik L-angled plug.
 
http://1drv.ms/1xH7kVz
 
Btw, anyone use the A10 with NuForce Primo 8; what is the synergy like?

 

[castleofargh]

 

  Thanks for the advice castleofargh. Having A/B between LO and HO for most part of the evening, I will most likely try to make a low-profile connector. The preference is definitely with LO as it sounds a lot cleaner. However, the back of my mind is wondering if the inter-connect for HO is getting more details (Fiio L5 vs L6)... Will try to have the LOD made with similar wire and test again. Cheers!

 
Trimmed the connector from L5, got some silver litz and Neutrik plug and made a rather crude LOD. Not pretty, but it works well As seen, the profile is even (very slightly) lower than the Neutrik L-angled plug.
 
http://1drv.ms/1xH7kVz
 
Btw, anyone use the A10 with NuForce Primo 8; what is the synergy like?

now you make 10 of those and sell them to me for 5$ each.

 

[tenedosian]

Hi friends, please don't crucify me if I'm asking some highly basic question(s), but I, at the moment gave up my decision to buy a pha3 for $700, and decided on getting a Centrance HiFi-M8 LX RSA in its stead. I'm planning to use it single-endedly (no balanced phones yet) in the foreseeable future for my account. 
 
My questions are :
 
1) Despite being quite satisfied with my A16's dac section, I am generally planning to use it as mere transport, bypassing everything and use the whole hardware of Centrance itself. In order to do that, would I need anything other than that WMC-NWH10 cable for digital out..?
 
2) On the go, when I'm low on the battery, can I spare some time by using the Walkman's dac, but bypassing its internal amp and use Centrance's amp section via the analog output..?
 
I've not given my final decision yet, so I'm open to any suggestions!

 

[castleofargh]

  Hi friends, please don't crucify me if I'm asking some highly basic question(s), but I, at the moment gave up my decision to buy a pha3 for $700, and decided on getting a Centrance HiFi-M8 LX RSA in its stead. I'm planning to use it single-endedly (no balanced phones yet) in the foreseeable future for my account. 
 
My questions are :
 
1) Despite being quite satisfied with my A16's dac section, I am generally planning to use it as mere transport, bypassing everything and use the whole hardware of Centrance itself. In order to do that, would I need anything other than that WMC-NWH10 cable for digital out..?
 
2) On the go, when I'm low on the battery, can I spare some time by using the Walkman's dac, but bypassing its internal amp and use Centrance's amp section via the analog output..?
 
I've not given my final decision yet, so I'm open to any suggestions!

it would be cool to get confirmation that the hifim8 can work with the A10 digital out from somebody who tried it. because from what I remember, the usb input isn't the most generic stuff there is, so compatibility isn't a certainty(the problem with anything going above 24/96).
 
now if that works you might cry seeing how many times you'll charge the m8 before having to charge the sony once, but when it comes to sound, if you have a few hard to drive headphones, it is IMO a very solid choice(if it works?)

 

[Frederick Wang]

Hi all, I'm in search of a portable music player that can double as a usb dac, primarily for the reason that the background noise on my macbook pro is unbearable when it's hooked up with high sensitive headphones (I'm currently using a pandora hope vi), so how is the background noise level on A10 series, can they bypass the built-in dac on macs through a usb cable?
 
Any information is appreciated

 

[Raketen]

  Hi all, I'm in search of a portable music player that can double as a usb dac, primarily for the reason that the background noise on my macbook pro is unbearable when it's hooked up with high sensitive headphones (I'm currently using a pandora hope vi), so how is the background noise level on A10 series, can they bypass the built-in dac on macs through a usb cable?
 
Any information is appreciated

I don't think so (my computer only recognizes it as a storage device), but that's a cool idea! Wouldn't mind such an all-in-one device myself. I wonder if the fiios don't do that since they make usb dac already.

 

[castleofargh]

 

  Hi all, I'm in search of a portable music player that can double as a usb dac, primarily for the reason that the background noise on my macbook pro is unbearable when it's hooked up with high sensitive headphones (I'm currently using a pandora hope vi), so how is the background noise level on A10 series, can they bypass the built-in dac on macs through a usb cable?
 
Any information is appreciated

I don't think so (my computer only recognizes it as a storage device), but that's a cool idea! Wouldn't mind such an all-in-one device myself. I wonder if the fiios don't do that since they make usb dac already.

no the sony doesn't have any input abilities be it digital or analog. and yes the FIIOs will do that(not the X1 though).

 

[Raketen]

 
 and yes the FIIOs will do that(not the X1 though).

I wonder if I had known about that would I have still chosen A10. Still the fiios are a little big for my taste as portable... would be nice to travel with a little less clutter if it doubled as external DAC, though.

 

[rovopio]

no the sony doesn't have any input abilities be it digital or analog. and yes the FIIOs will do that(not the X1 though).

 


hi mr castle, thank you for writing a A10 review, i'd like to ask.. what is crosstalk? what do you mean on the review when you said

To me most DAPs sound good enough once plugged into the right amp(deals with impedance, often improves crosstalk and power)

- - -
ps: i've read this thread http://www.head-fi.org/t/194549/what-is-crosstalk but i'm still unsure what do you mean by amps improving crosstalk to get better sound...

 

[Jackson 6]

Put some dawn of Reggae tracks on it at a mere 256kbps. Goodness me it's good. Never ever heard hiss.

 

[Raketen]

Depends on sensitivity/tuning? I get hiss with ATH IM02, JVC HAFXT90, so dual balanced armature and dynamic driver both, but, no hiss with EPH100 not really noticable w/ music playing though I'm not prone to notice usually.

 

[Frederick Wang]

yes fiio x5 does that and i have the same concerns that it's too bulky on the go...
as a matter of fact, I would happily live with an nw m505 if it suits my needs, provided that it generates decent audio quality...
 
with a 10 ruled out, i guess i have to wait for the new fiio x3ii to come out

 

[castleofargh]

hi mr castle, thank you for writing a A10 review, i'd like to ask.. what is crosstalk? what do you mean on the review when you said

To me most DAPs sound good enough once plugged into the right amp(deals with impedance, often improves crosstalk and power)

- - -
ps: i've read this thread http://www.head-fi.org/t/194549/what-is-crosstalk but i'm still unsure what do you mean by amps improving crosstalk to get better sound...

hey rovopio you can call me arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh(short for castleofargh), we're buddies by now ^_^.
 
ok the crosstalk doesn't really matter. we're most of the time, at levels where people are not likely to be able to notice a difference. I just mentioned it in the middle of other possible improvements I could think of on the top of my head, because it is easy to measure and so represents a factual improvement of sort. and why I mention it, well it's just that most DAPs when confronted to low impedance IEMs (like 16ohm or below) will tend to have more crosstalk, that's a fact. I'm guessing because more current flows into the circuit so maybe more induction effects and possibly other reasons that I don't know about because I'm not an engineer.

still you can often observe this when looking at measurements values into different loads for DAPs or amps. and the A15 is a perfect example of this.if only the headphoniaks had posted their review before mine so that I could leech on it and pretend that I know stuff ^_^.  http://headphoniaks.com/blog/sony-walkman-a15-analisis-tecnico-y-review/     look at the crosstalk readings into different loads(impedances). they're soon below the first pictures in the summary of measurements.
 
a nice amp able to deal with a 16ohm IEM will tend to have better crosstalk(and most likely better many things). so bypassing the amp of the A15 for that better amp, we will de facto improve the sound fidelity in a few domains. that's why I'm so pushy about amps when it comes to people who want only the best sound(because for others it's just another bulky brick to carry around).

 

[rovopio]

  hey rovopio you can call me arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh(short for castleofargh), we're buddies by now ^_^.
 
ok the crosstalk doesn't really matter. we're most of the time, at levels where people are not likely to be able to notice a difference. I just mentioned it in the middle of other possible improvements I could think of on the top of my head, because it is easy to measure and so represents a factual improvement of sort. and why I mention it, well it's just that most DAPs when confronted to low impedance IEMs (like 16ohm or below) will tend to have more crosstalk, that's a fact. I'm guessing because more current flows into the circuit so maybe more induction effects and possibly other reasons that I don't know about because I'm not an engineer.

still you can often observe this when looking at measurements values into different loads for DAPs or amps. and the A15 is a perfect example of this.if only the headphoniaks had posted their review before mine so that I could leech on it and pretend that I know stuff ^_^.  http://headphoniaks.com/blog/sony-walkman-a15-analisis-tecnico-y-review/     look at the crosstalk readings into different loads(impedances). they're soon below the first pictures in the summary of measurements.
 
a nice amp able to deal with a 16ohm IEM will tend to have better crosstalk(and most likely better many things). so bypassing the amp of the A15 for that better amp, we will de facto improve the sound fidelity in a few domains. that's why I'm so pushy about amps when it comes to people who want only the best sound(because for others it's just another bulky brick to carry around).

 
so... in layman's term, what's a crosstalk? hehe~

 

[shady1991]

   
so... in layman's term, what's a crosstalk? hehe~

when in the right monitor you here little bit of left channel source as well and the other way around. so lower the crosstalk is the better stereo you get.
But I don't think it is very important, and to be honest I don't understand why soundstage isn't directly related to it.