[sandchak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rx7mark /img/forum/go_quote.gif Anybody know if Kingwa is planning a modest 2 channel amp in the same chassis footprint as the Compass/C2C? I thought I had read something about this, but can't find it now. I would really like to see a nice matching 2 channel amp to use with my compass to drive full size speakers. I'm currently doing this with an old Dennon integrated, but after listening to the Compass by headphone I would like something that comes closer to that sound quality for speakers. Current Audio-GD amp offerings are a little out of my budget. I was thinking of something under $500. Of course there are other brands, but I'm feeling partial to Audio-GD at the moment. If nobody has any info, I will contact Kingwa. Mark

As far as I know.. you will see one on Mid April.. its a power amp, but you can use the Compass as a preamp..and its going to be below your budget - (as far as I know).. Compass dimensions, maybe slightly more height and will have enough juice to drive full size speakers ..

 

[gevorg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by slim.a /img/forum/go_quote.gif I own both an EMU 0404 usb and a DAC-100, which is basically a dac section only of the Compass. In my opinion the 0404 usb and the DAC-100 have different sound signatures but I wouldn’t say that the 0404 usb is more detailed. In fact, the EMU is a little light on the bass and is more foreword on the mid-highs. By doing a quick comparison, one can mistake the EMU sound signature as very detailed. However, I have come to find that not only the DAC-100 is smoother sounding, but it is more detailed than the EMU-0404 usb: it has much stronger bass and more refined mids and highs (with the earth HDAM installed). For instance, instruments on live recordings sound more real with the dac-100. However, I am keeping the emu as a transport (spdif) since it yields much better results than the USB input of the DAC-100.

Thanks for sharing, I'll be upgrading from 0404 USB too.

What did you find better by using EMU as the transport (other than 24/96 by USB)? I thought Compass USB input should be better than EMU as a transport since it bypasses SPDIF and sends I2S straight to the DAC chip. I guess I have to compare both ways.

 

[rx7mark]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sandchak /img/forum/go_quote.gif As far as I know.. you will see one on Mid April.. its a power amp, but you can use the Compass as a preamp..and its going to be below your budget - (as far as I know).. Compass dimensions, maybe slightly more height and will have enough juice to drive full size speakers ..

Sandchak,
Thats great news, thanks for confirming, and this aligns with what I remember. Yes the plan is to use this with the Compass as preamp with this power amp to drive speakers. It will be great to be able to switch back and forth between speakers and headphones based on a flip of a switch on the compass.

Now to restock the wallet by the time it is available!

Mark

 

[D.C.]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Currawong /img/forum/go_quote.gif This is quite funny. I asked Kingwa about whether the C2C would work balanced, and he replied he could put two of them in a big box to work balanced. Before I knew it, he said he'd completed the design and was wondering how many inputs it should have!

That guy is from a different planet.

 

[ScottieB]

Yeah planet awesome!

 

[D.C.]

Curra, dude everybody knows you got the Ref 1 post some pics and first impressions, when you can pls. Thank you.

 

[slim.a]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gevorg /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for sharing, I'll be upgrading from 0404 USB too. What did you find better by using EMU as the transport (other than 24/96 by USB)? I thought Compass USB input should be better than EMU as a transport since it bypasses SPDIF and sends I2S straight to the DAC chip. I guess I have to compare both ways.

As you pointed out EMU 0404 USB lets you output up to 24/96 through spdif vs. 16/44 for the Compass/dac-100.
However, when using Foobar 0.8.3 (with otachan ASIO), I noticed that I get better results when using the 0404 as a transport even without upsampling (at 24/44). But the improvement becomes very dependant on the spdif cable used to connect both units : with the Belkin silver series and the canare coax, the improvement is small. But it is when I switched to a “high end” spdif cable (Sobek digital cable) that I got a big difference. With the Sobek spdif cable, the bass is stronger, the highs are more extended and the soundstage is bigger. In fact this cable is very nice as it combines and exceeds every qualities of the two other spdif cables I own.

As for why EMU would give better result than DAC-100/Compass, it was a mystery for me too at first. But there are numerous facts that may explain the differences. Granted the PCM2707 usb chip used in the DAC-100/Compass outputs I2S which doesn’t add jitter (as spdif does) but if there is no reclocking, the jitter present in the usb pcm2707 is not removed. I remember reading somewhere that jitter in pcm2707 is very high (over 1000ps).
When going through the 0404 usb, there is a lot of advantages : custom asio drivers vs. generic asio4all drivers, a better usb chip (?) that accepts 24 bit streams, and the streams goes through the DIR9001 spdif receiver that is supposed to be of a lower value, … There might other advantages such us isolation from the computer (?) or some of the points I listed might not have any effect on the sound.

In conclusion, I have found in my setup the 0404 usb better sounding that direct usb but I think everybody should try for themselves and trust what sounds best to their ears

 

[Currawong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by D.C. /img/forum/go_quote.gif Curra, dude everybody knows you got the Ref 1 post some pics and first impressions, when you can pls. Thank you.

Try here.

 

[PPkiller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by slim.a /img/forum/go_quote.gif As you pointed out EMU 0404 USB lets you output up to 24/96 through spdif vs. 16/44 for the Compass/dac-100. However, when using Foobar 0.8.3 (with otachan ASIO), I noticed that I get better results when using the 0404 as a transport even without upsampling (at 24/44). But the improvement becomes very dependant on the spdif cable used to connect both units : with the Belkin silver series and the canare coax, the improvement is small. But it is when I switched to a “high end” spdif cable (Sobek digital cable) that I got a big difference. With the Sobek spdif cable, the bass is stronger, the highs are more extended and the soundstage is bigger. In fact this cable is very nice as it combines and exceeds every qualities of the two other spdif cables I own. As for why EMU would give better result than DAC-100/Compass, it was a mystery for me too at first. But there are numerous facts that may explain the differences. Granted the PCM2707 usb chip used in the DAC-100/Compass outputs I2S which doesn’t add jitter (as spdif does) but if there is no reclocking, the jitter present in the usb pcm2707 is not removed. I remember reading somewhere that jitter in pcm2707 is very high (over 1000ps). When going through the 0404 usb, there is a lot of advantages : custom asio drivers vs. generic asio4all drivers, a better usb chip (?) that accepts 24 bit streams, and the streams goes through the DIR9001 spdif receiver that is supposed to be of a lower value, … There might other advantages such us isolation from the computer (?) or some of the points I listed might not have any effect on the sound. In conclusion, I have found in my setup the 0404 usb better sounding that direct usb but I think everybody should try for themselves and trust what sounds best to their ears

there's something which puzzles me... how does digital transmission over different coax cables affect the sound quality?

 

[Eric M]

So there's no way I can send 24bit/192khz to the Compass from my computer? I have a few 24/192 Blu-rays I was hoping to be able to hear at full res.

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric M /img/forum/go_quote.gif So there's no way I can send 24bit/192khz to the Compass from my computer? I have a few 24/192 Blu-rays I was hoping to be able to hear at full res.

The Ref 1 has a problem with 192Khz also. It will accept 192 but downsample to 96khz I believe.

.

 

[acetylcholine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PPkiller /img/forum/go_quote.gif there's something which puzzles me... how does digital transmission over different coax cables affect the sound quality?

Line induced jitter.

 

[Aleatoris]

=/ don't get started. There's a USB cable thread in the computer audio forum going right now, and I think that might explode.
No cable talk please.

On another note, I hope that my compass ships out this week...

 

[Olev]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sandchak /img/forum/go_quote.gif As far as I know.. you will see one on Mid April.. its a power amp, but you can use the Compass as a preamp..and its going to be below your budget - (as far as I know).. Compass dimensions, maybe slightly more height and will have enough juice to drive full size speakers ..

So it will be a Class-D (or class-t) amplifier? Like for example Winsome Labs

Can someone give some more information about this? I'm planning on buying that Winsome Mouse, but if Kingwa has his own class-d amp coming then I better wait.

 

[sandchak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Olev /img/forum/go_quote.gif So it will be a Class-D (or class-t) amplifier? Like for example Winsome Labs Can someone give some more information about this? I'm planning on buying that Winsome Mouse, but if Kingwa has his own class-d amp coming then I better wait.

It is surely not a Class T amp or T-amp as we commonly say, its more in line with his existing amp (S1) which will be in Compass size (more height possibly)..

S1 .. н¨ÍøÒ³ 1

although it will be not an integrated amp like S1 but power amp.

EDIT - The new power amp will be Class AB.. hope this helps