[Phiton]

Hi,
Figured out the output. 1792A --> 2x dual opamp for I/V conversion and the other ompamp for buffer/low-pass. Was in the manual
I also removed the 'C'  opamp and just took the balanced signal (L+/L- ; R+/R-) from the IC-socket. It is now turning into a real killer.
I used a BrownDog adapter with Gigabit ethernet cable to connect to my Nelson Pass preamp Balanced in.
 
My setup:
Dell Precision Workstation 390 for streaming
Marantz SA-7S1 SACD-player
Nelson Pass Balanced Line Stage with Mundorf silver oil --> DACT --> Nelson Pass jFet Buffer
Marantz PM-94 modded as dedicated power amp
DIY Speakers (dipole) with Fostex and Philips foil transducers.
 
But now for my initial and shocking impressions.
With redbook audio it kicks my top of the bill Marantz Flagship (SA)CD-player....
I run with the Asus on 24-bit/192kHz with master volume @ max, but the mixer setting on 76 (stock). I really hear a distortion with mixer > 80 or so.
Furthermore there is wide spread in output quality between ASIO, Wasapi and Windows Layer (WM-player).
I can clearly say that foobar with either ASIO or wasapi sucks, to my ears. The clear and absolute winner is Stealth Audio Player 1.9.
It has no clear interface, but it rocks as nothing i heard before. A good second is Cplay, with Pure Player comming in third. Foobar was just utterly disappointing.
 
So far for my impressions. And as far as clock upgrade goes; i read the 1792a documentation and found that it rejects clockjitter very well. Second change will be some diy discrete opamps as replacement for the I/V stage (as being the only non-discreet component in the signal line).
 
 

 

[Shredicus]

So I received my two 49720HAs today and popped them in. Once I went to put the EMI shielding back on it seems raised slightly due to the taller profile of these opamps compared to stock.. I was able to screw it back on, but I noticed the card is bending slightly. Will this damage the card? I know with large GPUs this is fairly common and rarely problematic, but wasnt sure if sound cards were more sensitive. I left the screws slightly lose on the EMI shielding to make sure the card wouldnt crack or anything. Anyone else encounter this?
 
Everything booted  up and sounds great though. Nice improvement over stock Opamps.

 

[ZorgDK]

Quote:

So I received my two 49720HAs today and popped them in. Once I went to put the EMI shielding back on it seems raised slightly due to the taller profile of these opamps compared to stock.. I was able to screw it back on, but I noticed the card is bending slightly. Will this damage the card? I know with large GPUs this is fairly common and rarely problematic, but wasnt sure if sound cards were more sensitive. I left the screws slightly lose on the EMI shielding to make sure the card wouldnt crack or anything. Anyone else encounter this?
 
Everything booted it up and sounds great though. Nice improvement over stock Opamps.

Great you like them. Yeah, I had the same experience, I kept the screws slightly loose and it fitted just fine. 
 
 
 
 

 

[walsh]

Quote:

Don't forget the burn in, I recommend at last 150h or more for it!   PPL don't believe it until they try it for yourself.
 
I just use Winamp here (last version), and everything at 192kHz@24-bit on output, and Dolby Home Theater as EQ.   Drivers are those unified ones.
 
Anyway, did you changed the crystal as well?  If not, DO IT!  You will get 20%~25% more of it!

 
How do you change the crystal?
 
 

 

[Shredicus]

Cool, thanks for the info. What  sort of  gain(if any) would I see for headphone listening if I upgrade the third Opamp as well? Also, what sort of upgrade path is preferable for this card? I've heard some talk of people upgrading the clock for these cards as well. How complex of a process is that and what sort of gains are there to be had?
 
Quote:

Great you like them. Yeah, I had the same experience, I kept the screws slightly loose and it fitted just fine. 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

[matbhuvi]

Can anyone recommend good buffer amp to pair with 2x49720HA?

 

[giedrys]

Quote:

 


The Stereophile review was released when the card was still using the original drivers that did not automatically change the sampling rate nor support the mentioned sampling rates.
The drivers were updated since the release of this review and IIRC now allow both auto sample rate adjustment through ASIO aswell
as support for 88.2 and 176.4.

Back to square one. Why does it sound like sh... with asio then when wasapi handles "typical" hi-res sample rates perfectly?
 
Guys, seriously. Someone must have some 88.2 files to test.
 

 

[Gradius]

Quote:

I was considering upgrading the crystal using the burson clock, probably will at some point as folks like yourself have reported very nice improvements.
 
 
cheers
 


 

No need that expensive Burson clock, you can just use this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Vanguard-Ultra-precision-Golden-TCXO-0-3ppm-24-576MHz-/120705132056?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item1c1a962618
 
I'm using that one btw.  Will do wonders!

 

[ROBSCIX]

 
Quote:

Back to square one. Why does it sound like sh... with asio then when wasapi handles "typical" hi-res sample rates perfectly?
 
Guys, seriously. Someone must have some 88.2 files to test.
 

Not sure.  I know support was added for those files awhile back.  Which drivers are you using?
If there was no support they wouldn't sound like sh... they just wouldn't play at all.

 
 

 

[ROBSCIX]

 
Quote:

Can anyone recommend good buffer amp to pair with 2x49720HA?

 It would depend on what type of signature you are looking for.  Maybe a nice OPA827?
I built some dual 827's units and they sound great.
 

 

[Shredicus]

Quote:

No need that expensive Burson clock, you can just use this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Vanguard-Ultra-precision-Golden-TCXO-0-3ppm-24-576MHz-/120705132056?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item1c1a962618
 
I'm using that one btw.  Will do wonders!

What's th process for installing that thinger? Is it just a pop in job like the opamps, or does that require soldering? Also, what sort of effect does upgrading the clock have on sound signature?
 
 

 

[matbhuvi]

Quote:

 


 It would depend on what type of signature you are looking for.  Maybe a nice OPA827?
I built some dual 827's units and they sound great.
 

Thanks ROBSCIX for the recommendation. I am using FA-011 which has a U shaped signature. So, i am looking for one which emphasize on mids.

 

[Shredicus]

Quote:

 


 It would depend on what type of signature you are looking for.  Maybe a nice OPA827?
I built some dual 827's units and they sound great.
 

I'm looking at OPA827 opamps on the Texas Instruments website and cant figure out which one is a correct buffer replacement. They all have suffixes such as OPA827AID/OPA827AIDG4/OPA827AIDGKR/ etc. Would you happen to know which suffix is correct for the Xonars? Also do these opamps require and adapter? 
 

 

[Iqbal]

hey guys, i have this card, in the asio control options what should i set the latency to ?

 

[Gradius]

Quote:

What's th process for installing that thinger? Is it just a pop in job like the opamps, or does that require soldering? Also, what sort of effect does upgrading the clock have on sound signature?
 
 

You will need two soldering irons to get the original (tiny) crystal out of PCB, after that do some cleaning with isopropyl alcohol.  You'll need to soldering the new one, here are the tips:
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/433533/upgrading-the-crystal-x0-on-essence-stx/195
 
Keep in mind Vanguard is +5V, I used AZ7805D (U20), and his GND too:
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/433533/upgrading-the-crystal-x0-on-essence-stx/210
 
I did something similar to catx, however I got GND from U20 as well, I used 24AWG (from Cat5E since they are good quality) for both (+5V & GND).  The only thing soldered directly (pin from clock) to PCB was Vanguard's (clock output) signal.