[BournePerfect]

I'll chime in with a few thoughts on the V800, coupled with my HD800 and various amps. At first, it was pretty impressive. ecent soundstage for the price, nice blackground, neutral overal, w/ decent (not great) detail retrieval. Although technically it seemed like a bargain for the price, a couple of things annoyed me to the degree that I turned around and sold it within a couple of weeks. Namely, for lack of better teminology, I felt it had a 'hard' sound. Like how some headphones have 'hard treble', I felt the Violectric was 'hard' in all the frequencies. At first I couldn't understand why, and even after trying various inputs (USB,Coax, toslink)-I simply couldn't shake that hard sound. I think basically what was causing it was essentially most of the frequencies hit hard, with a lot of impact-but had improper decay. It also seemed like it was shouty at all registers-like it was saying 'LOOK HERE!' all the time, at anything and everything-trying to prove it's technical prowess, but at the cost of sounding hard, and at the expense of proper transient presentation. It was simply not an effortless sound-which is where I usually draw the line rather quickly.
 
I'll reiterate that these traits were unchanged regardless of input and amping used. Hope this helps.
 
-Daniel

 

[Tom W]

  I have not tried the Short Block yet but I am in the process of making my own. I know that simply cutting the +5V on the USB line to the OR5 incrementally improved soundstage. The next steps would be to put a choke on the ground and a common mode choke on the D+ and D- lines.

 
I liked the improvement the Short Block made in my system. IMO it brought the OR5 up another notch.
 
I wonder how much of that difference was to the cutting of the +5V line and how much was due to the filtering.
 
I only had the OR5 a few weeks when the SB arrived so I'm sure it wasn't settled in yet (according to Steve at EA) so I should remove it to see if the difference is still as great as I remember it to be.

 

[Maxvla]

That could be crucial though.

It was enough for me. As with the BHA-1 and Mjolnir I had a similar finding with the Mjolnir being the better value and the BHA-1 being better but significantly more expensive. Those amps were not nearly as identical sounding as these DACs were, however. There was more trade off with neither amps being perfect.

 

[tdockweiler]

Thanks Purrin.
I really don't want to know what all happens at a DAC-OFF

Do you order Pizza? I LOLed, but i'm not going there..
There is one guy on your forum who's opinion I really trust but I won't say who. I'm sure he played a role here..or not.
I've gotten into some friendly arguments with him too and you'd think we were worst enemies.
That's what makes things interesting sometimes. I really complain about my gear way too much sometimes I think.
Most people would think I hate the HD-598 but I actually love it.
 
I really do get tired of reviews that are too positive so please don't hold back on very negative impressions. Yet i'm the guy who complained about your 1/5 star reviews.
I haven't given anything a 1/5 yet but maybe someday. Nuforce Icon Mobile deserves that, but not even an E5 does.
 
Maybe when you listen to the (Uber) Bifrost you can add it to your list if it's worthy. Maybe even give a short comparison to the Modi.
I have a feeling I would like it since I love the Modi's sound and both have AKM chipsets.
 
You don't seem to like the Modi as much as me but IMO it really doesn't sound like a $99 DAC. I'd say more like $200 max.
When I had the HRT MSII I really never knew what I was missing until I upgraded to the ODAC and then the Modi.
MSII+ is supposedly comparable to the ODAC i've read.
 
Heard any desktop DACs with the CS4398 other than your UHA-6S? I really like it and I usually hate Cirrus Logic stuff.
I'm not a fan of whatever is in my Ipod Touch 2G (Cirrus) but somehow it manages to be a good match with the HD-650 using a dock.
 
I might be wrong but I can't imagine you liking the CS4398 as a DAC chipset..

 

[BournePerfect]

The X-Sabre's treble issues are in the upper band, not lower treble. I would not say the X-Sabre is thin sounding, but it is leaner in comparison to the Gungir. I am concerned about the Gungnir's aggressiveness with the HD800, particularly if it's un-modded. It may come down to the amp. It's possible my experiences with the Gungnir and HD800 were different from Maxvla's because mine were from tube amps (Maxvla had a BHA-1 and aggressive + aggressive is not good). And my Gungnir + Mjolnir experiences were mostly with speakers (which are tuned to be slightly dark.) Then again, you run HD800s unmodded, and you don't have any issues with the 6k region. No issues with resolution.

 
The stock HD800/Gungnir v.1/BHA-1 is still the worst experience I've had in this hobby. The very definition of bad synergy. I can't imagine how much worse the MJ would have ben in that chain. Keep in mind I found a number of combinations of the HD800/Bryston or HD800/MJ that was quite pleasing with a number of various dacs. The Gagnir (v.1) was the culprit.
 
-Daniel

 

[purrin]

   
I liked the improvement the Short Block made in my system. IMO it brought the OR5 up another notch.
 
I wonder how much of that difference was to the cutting of the +5V line and how much was due to the filtering.
 
I only had the OR5 a few weeks when the SB arrived so I'm sure it wasn't settled in yet (according to Steve at EA) so I should remove it to see if the difference is still as great as I remember it to be.

 
The +5 cut was pretty huge. And I suspect that to be most of the difference.
 
The filters / chokes on the data and ground lines I expect to have less of an affect because these are almost always implemented in the circuitry at the USB receiver end. I really need to test this out to be sure though.

 

[thegunner100]

Would cutting the +5v line on a usb cable do anything for the other a-gd dacs? Straight USB from my PC's mobo to the dac. 

 

[purrin]

  Would cutting the +5v line on a usb cable do anything for the other a-gd dacs? Straight USB from my PC's mobo to the dac. 

 
It might make them not work. 

 

[tdockweiler]

   
The stock HD800/Gungnir v.1/BHA-1 is still the worst experience I've had in this hobby. The very definition of bad synergy. I can't imagine how much worse the MJ would have ben in that chain. Keep in mind I found a number of combinations of the HD800/Bryston or HD800/MJ that was quite pleasing with a number of various dacs. The Gagnir (v.1) was the culprit.
 
-Daniel

 
Worse than Asgard 1 + K702?
I could have sworn you were the guy who told me years ago that combo was a total fail. I didn't want to believe it but you were right..
My problem back then is that I was new and clueless sort of and haven't heard better.
 
D2000 + HD600 on the Asgard 1 is PERFECT though! I even liked the ATH-AD2000 on it somehow.
Didn't like the HD-650 on the Asgard 1 much but it wasn't horrible.

 

[rawrster]

purrin I'm curious but have you ever heard a Buffalo III? I've always wondered how it stacks up against the non DIY dacs but of course not all buffalo's will sound the same due to different configurations.

 

[Stapsy]

Check what USB receiver chip your DAC uses.  Any of the XMOS based systems that I have seen need the 5v connection (this includes the yet to be released OR6).  Some M2tech based converters like the OR5 don't need the 5v, but I don't think it is universal.  A more expensive option is something like the iFi USB power where the dirty 5v from your computer is replaced by 5v from a battery.  I looked at it when I was thinking about the Concero and decided that I would be better off putting the money into something else.

 

[Maxvla]

Can't wait to see where the Yggdrasil lands in this list. Looking forward to giving it a shot. Hoping it doesn't need an offramp to sound its best.

 

[thegunner100]

I'll shoot kingwa a email and see what he has to say about it.

 

[BournePerfect]

   
Worse than Asgard 1 + K702?
I could have sworn you were the guy who told me years ago that combo was a total fail. I didn't want to believe it but you were right..
 

 
Been quite a while since that time, but yeah, that was me. I know Jason took some of my comments to heart and updated the Asgard after that, and it supposedly worked with the AKGs better. I had one of the very first batch though, and stuck with the m-Stage after that though with it's wonderful synergy. That said-yeah the HD800/Gungnir v1/BHA-1 is the worst I've heard. Crap synergy. I'm curious to hear the v.2 though now.
 
-Daniel
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Forgive me.

 

[purrin]

 
Been quite a while since that time, but yeah, that was me. I know Jason took some of my comments to heart and updated the Asgard after that, and it supposedly worked with the AKGs better. I had one of the very first batch though, and stuck with the m-Stage after that though with it's wonderful synergy. That said-yeah the HD800/Gungnir v1/BHA-1 is the worst I've heard. Crap synergy. I'm curious to hear the v.2 though now.
 

 
I still don't think it will change much even with Gen 2. The Gungnir is still a Gungnir, even if it does resolve softer sounds and more plankton. It's voiced a certain way. Personally I wouldn't touch that above combo either. And I think it's no secret by now that Schiit's HD800 demo pair has Anax 2.0 mods. Now the above combo would probably be great with LCD3s.
 

purrin I'm curious but have you ever heard a Buffalo III? I've always wondered how it stacks up against the non DIY dacs but of course not all buffalo's will sound the same due to different configurations.

 
 

There is a lot of individual tailoring with B3 builds (I was part of a secret team of ninjas working on behalf on MisterRogers evaluating boutique regulators for a slightly pimped B3 build); but for most of them, without any hesitation, I would scream "the horror", "the horror" as if I was lit on fire. I have heard one or two good builds though. So this why I have not officially rated it. It highly depends upon build.