[Baten]

when you say linear DAC you mean a DAC that doesn't color the sound, it's just true to the source?

Yes!

 

[Noobzilla]

For a bit I panicked thinking that linear DAC means I wont get full benefit with a balanced amp, which is false.

 

[Baten]

For a bit I panicked thinking that linear DAC means I wont get full benefit with a balanced amp, which is false.

No no

 

[Muataz]

One of my friend got A90 and dislike it so bad. he said he only can use high gain @ 12 to hear very well. He used chord qutest at 3v output.

Any thought what goes wrong for him ?

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

Why not borrow it and test for yourself...

 

[Baten]

One of my friend got A90 and dislike it so bad. he said he only can use high gain @ 12 to hear very well. He used chord qutest at 3v output.

Any thought what goes wrong for him ?

What heapdhones..? 3V input high gain output should go very loud, especially with XLR output :s

 

[Muataz]

What heapdhones..? 3V input high gain output should go very loud, especially with XLR output :s

Qutest has RCA only

 

[Baten]

Qutest has RCA only

You can still use 4-pin XLR and 4.4mm balanced output, even with RCA in...

 

[Noobzilla]

One of my friend got A90 and dislike it so bad. he said he only can use high gain @ 12 to hear very well. He used chord qutest at 3v output.

Any thought what goes wrong for him ?

What RCA cables? I bought cheap cables in the past for my subwoofers thinking they're all the same. Tried more expensive ones just to try to see if they made difference and it was total night and day difference to my shock.

 

[NickT23]

What RCA cables? I bought cheap cables in the past for my subwoofers thinking they're all the same. Tried more expensive ones just to try to see if they made difference and it was total night and day difference to my shock.

what is the difference then ?

 

[KenMan85]

what is the difference then ?

their will be fairly significant difference. In volume and clarity. RCA is Analogue , unlike Digital. Upgrading those cable types does yield improvement. Especially with subs because of how much power they produce. Having shielded cables will increase blackness in the back round and add depth

 

[NickT23]

their will be fairly significant difference. In volume and clarity. RCA is Analogue , unlike Digital. Upgrading those cable types does yield improvement. Especially with subs because of how much power they produce. Having shielded cables will increase blackness in the back round and add depth

You mean RCA vs XLR ?

 

[Noobzilla]

what is the difference then ?

The sound from the subwoofers became cleaner and more impactful. I'd say more complete. My sub goes up to 140hz (I use up to 90hz). For some tracks particularly male vocals, I started hearing parts of voice when I go all the way up to 140hz. I only clearly noticed the voice with the better cables.

Actually now that I think of it. RCA cable from his qutest is less likely the culprit if he has another amp that works fine with it.

edit: it sounds like he has another amp. If he does, what's that amp?

 

[Abodh]

I have been doing some serious ABX testing between A90 and THX 789 using D90 and LCD-4 for the past week.
Very first thing I noticed was a90 seemed little warmer but upon further listening i hear that it has more clarity in mids and much better sub bass compared to THX. But it takes a hit on upper notes, it lacks air on top. The overall synergy is of more details on individual instruments; but as the tracks gets busy, the soundstage, imagine and separation takes a hit.

It degrades the holographic nature compared to THX, which is the whole game-plan/aim of my setup with LCD4 and d90. It feels more musical but lacks the 3D nature which makes the headphones disappear. I always felt that I am wearing the headphones even after 15-20 minutes of listening.

Upon further research i found that on paper, a90 has much better slew rates but much worse crosstalk between channels.

This confirms my findings that a90 sufferers in separation and soundstage which ultimately ruins the “in the room” holographic sound.
THX on the other hand feels so effortless even with less sub bass impact and individual instrument details. Just because it maintains that Impressive spatial separation and room size clues, no matter how busy the track gets.

I really wanted to like A90 to pair with d90 in terms of sound and looks. I tried really hard to like it but I just couldn’t ruin the main objective of my setup. So sadly I am returning it and keeping my old faithful THX 789.

 

[Lucky87]

One of my friend got A90 and dislike it so bad. he said he only can use high gain @ 12 to hear very well. He used chord qutest at 3v output.

Any thought what goes wrong for him ?

What is he using as a program to listen to music? Roon, Tidal, Windows 10, Apple? I had a problem when I used the Qutest in my Apple Mac Mini with my other AMPS. I use ROON and it will let you select what source to use etc no need to find other sound sources to disable.