[GeorgeGoodman]

Does anybody know how much the new Sysconcept cable will be? Thanks in advance.

 

[jamato8]

Quote:

Does anybody know how much the new Sysconcept cable will be? Thanks in advance.

I think they are still sorting that all out. It will be more expensive as it has to have another jacket around the cable so it is durable and polishing the ends takes more time. Many companies just do a hot cut and leave it at that but of course that is a very poor quality way to do it. Joseph makes sure the ends are truly polished and examines each one carefully. 
 
I have to say, I am still surprised at the sound. I was listening to some classical last night and i kept looking around for the sound. it was so broad and deep with a very clean sound. I now know the meaning of low modal dispersion and wide bandwidth. 

 

[GeorgeGoodman]

Thanks for the update, Jam. It is good to hear they are taking the time and doing it right. 

 

[Gradoman]

Mine came today. Impressed so far. Tried analouge, didn't like the sound - quite thin. From iriver H140. Then optical, much better Love all the bits you get, not just the D12. Flexible too, charge over USB...saves using the power supply thing. Standard cable same as iriver h140 cable. Nice bundled with optical cable, adaptor, 3.5mm interconnect, opamps, case etc etc 

 

[LoveAndHonor]

Mine came today as well. I ordered it in black so if anyone is interested to see how it looks like compared with the silver version, let me know and I'll upload pictures.

 
I'm still messing around with that little box but I don't know what to think about the sound (so far - just over an hour of burning it in). I'm still fairly new with everything about audio so I only have these 3 sources at the moment:
 
- Dell laptop (unfortunately no optical out so I'm using it with USB).
- Samsung Galaxy S (this smartphone uses a Wolfson audio chip so I'm interested in what kind of complementarity it can offer when combined with the D12).
- iPod Classic 120 Gb (with the iBasso CB07 LOD).
 
I'm using the Ultrasone Pro900 (quite low impedance compared to HD-650 for example). I'm listening to music (lossless files and CDs) from my laptop so I haven't tried the D12 with my phone or my iPod yet.
 
The music sounded so melodic and harmonious. Pro900 are known to be analytic cans and the D12 made them even more revealing (but less fatiguing - at least for me!). I'm sure the sound will evolve some more but right now I don't wanna take my headphones off my head, which wasn't the case a week ago because of the listening fatigue. The highs are still agressive or me and the mids aren't crystal clear but I have very high hopes that this is only a matter of time before the D12 is fully burned in and makes my Pro900 sing. So far, classical music benefits a lot more from the D12 than music with lots of guitars, drums, pop-ish songs, etc. If I could describe my Pro900 when used with the D12, I'd say they're a lot more "mature". Overall very well balanced and more generous. I consider myself new with this hobby so please take what I wrote as a personal opinion rather than a mini-review.
 
---
I would like to know about people around here who own the D12 and their setting about the volume switch. I set the volume switch (with gain off) around the 12/1 o'clock mark (I seriously hope this is not a early sign of damage hearing! I'm only 23).
 
Last question: is there a way to use my Yamaha AV receiver with my laptop and D12 at the same time? Do I get more by using Receiver/D12/Laptop/Headphones than D12/Laptop/Headphones?

 

[jamato8]

Quote:

Mine came today as well. I ordered it in black so if anyone is interested to see how it looks like compared with the silver version, let me know and I'll upload pictures.

 
 

If you get a chance I would enjoy seeing it in black. 

 

[Za'afiel]

Got mine in black a couple of days ago. Second batch.
 

 

[mrspeakers]

First-off, thanks everyone for the great posts, they were quite helpful as I dove in to commit to my first serious IEM/DAC/AMP setup.  I'm an audio engineer (speaker and sub designer), and a regular on AVS and HDD forums, but am relatively new to being OCD around my IEMs.  And it's all your fault, really.  

 
However, I've got the bug....   After biting my nails about D12 vs. the RSA Predator, I went with this and must say I'm delighted.  I ordered my unit Monday morning it's already here. Fit and finish is quite good, though there's a little more gap around the jacks than there should be.  
 
I'm running it off a MacBook Pro using optical, driving my trusty Shure 530s (the JHA 16Pros should be here in week...).  Playing some nice 24/96 flac files, and very impressive how much air, stage and depth this little gem projects.  The background is absolutely silent, the music emerges from "black space" and the inter-transient detailing is superb.  I can hear the rosin on the bows, people turning their pages on the scores, a tremendous sense of depth and reverb in the performance hall.  I have to say, I have a lot more respect for the 530's resolution and top-end than I did off the iPod/Mac analog.  I had NO idea they were this good, and am drooling waiting for the JHAs.
 
Only two complaints: the D12 needs a lower-gain switch mode and the volume pot could be better.  At 10 o'clock it's as loud as I want, and audio only starts to come on at 9.  Worse, when audio starts, the two channels are clearly not tracking very closely until moderate volume.  As I seldom listen at low levels this isn't a huge problem, but a little more precision in this pot combined with a 1x gain mode would be quite nice.  The RSA Predator beats this unit out, with Ray's attention to selecting pots that track well, and a three-stage gain selector.
 
My next upgrade may be to use the D12 DAC to drive the 16s via a RSA Protector, which ought to pair well with the D12 as the DAC, or to upgrade to a fully balanced iBasso config.
 
For the money: 5 stars
 

 

[mrspeakers]

The Wolfson DAC can handle up to 192K sample rates, but alas my MacBook Pro only outputs up to 96K.  The USB chip is limited to 48K.  Looks like I won't be able to push this to it's full limits...  
 
Any Mac users know if there is a way to get full 192K output to drive devices like the D12?  I have some source at that resolution and would really like to give it a try...

 

[jermng]

I don't know if it's just me or my unit, but when fully charged, the D12 sounds awesome.
 
After about 4-5hours run-time (non continuous), it seems to have lost "energy" or power and the music starts to sound like it lacks "punch". It's not any frequency range in particular, it's just that I start to need to turn up the volume knob.
 
It's not ear fatigue for sure, cos I can remove the amp, plug my headphones into any other source and play back at my usual levels and they sound fine. 
 
 
Recharging to full usually does the trick, but I'm thinking it shouldnt be like that, cos the indicator lights still do not say the unit needs re-charging. 
 
 
Maybe I have a faulty battery? Or does anyone else experience the same?

 

[Packgrog]

Quote:

After about 4-5hours run-time (non continuous), it seems to have lost "energy" or power and the music starts to sound like it lacks "punch".

This is pretty standard for battery powered amps.  They always sound better with fully-charged batteries, as they're pushing higher voltage when fresh.  As batteries discharge, the voltage drops.  Nothing wrong with the unit.  Just the nature of the beast.

 

[Packgrog]

Quote:

The Wolfson DAC can handle up to 192K sample rates, but alas my MacBook Pro only outputs up to 96K.  The USB chip is limited to 48K.  Looks like I won't be able to push this to it's full limits...  
 
Any Mac users know if there is a way to get full 192K output to drive devices like the D12?  I have some source at that resolution and would really like to give it a try...

Dunno about computers being able to push this, particularly from a laptop, but a DVD player probably could from a DVD-A with the proper high-res stereo layer.  Never tried it, personally.

 

[HiFlight]

Quote:

This is pretty standard for battery powered amps.  They always sound better with fully-charged batteries, as they're pushing higher voltage when fresh.  As batteries discharge, the voltage drops.  Nothing wrong with the unit.  Just the nature of the beast.

That is true for SLA batteries, but lithium batteries maintain nearly a constant voltage level until they are nearly discharged, then voltage falls off rapidly.  This is what triggers the blinking light on the D12. 
 
I hear no differences on my D12 until the low-battery warning illuminates.  It is well over 15 hours using both DAC and amp.
 

 

[Packgrog]

Well, my D1 loses sound quality shortly before the battery dies (at least it did before the battery stopped charging at all, leaving me with a unit that always has to be plugged in, since I can't afford the $25 battery replacement charge AND shipping to china right now, meh).  Granted, it's usually a few minutes before it dies, but still.
 
Admittedly, this was much more dramatically noticeable with my custom-built Monica 2 DAC (oh how I miss that thing) running off of alkaline batteries (Duracells were best).  Fresh batteries provided significant improvement in depth.  I tended to run it until it started to crackle from inadequate voltage, and by that point everything sounded much more flat.  Never tried it with an external Li-Ion battery, though I'd researched it.
 
Dunno about the D12 in general, much as I lust after one, but maybe the voltage does drop just below that "sweet spot" after just 4 hours for jermng.  *shrug*

 

[jamato8]

I get no real change in sound on mine. Has the battery been cycled a number of times to fully condition it? 
 
I have a good external power source for the Monica II and with that get more transparency and generally, better sound but with fresh eneloop batteries, the Monica II sounds very good. I have read that a number of people actually prefer the II to the latest version. I asked about a dual dac version a while back and was told no way, to bad.