[PatOMalley]

It's time for a little flip out.
Got home a while ago and my kid was playing CDs via the DAC so I just waited my turn a flipped on a new Sonny Clark ~ Leapin' And Lopin'.

This must be the break-in thing Phill was talking about because the thing just took off. Really wide open like a record now. Really incredible. That doesn't mean I am going back to coax, though. It has got to be the output caps that took that long to form.

"The dude said it would take about 200 hours to break-in but when it does you will know it."

 

[tubes]

Hi Greeni, unfortunately I don't have another Dac or CD player here to compare the Valab to. As far as tonality goes I think it does a good job with trumpet and horns, piano may be a tad thin, vocals are good though a tad more presence would be nice but overall the Valab is very nice. As I said before, a strange thing is that some Cd's sound good but others really spring to life. Revisit the Valab when you have closer to 200 hours and see if there are any changes for the better.

Pat when do you think you will be getting those BG's?

Phill

 

[tubes]

Pat, this could also be a function of leaving the Dac powered up, I had my first Dac powered up for about 5 days straight to accelerate and finish off the break in and all of sudden it was there, open transparant, dynamic etc.. Glad to hear it's sounding good.
Phill

 

[PatOMalley]

Partsconnexion emailed me Friday. I should get them this week.
It's an easy job, may get to it by the coming weekend.

Given what Kevin said earlier about Transformer coupling I am really thinking about the Cinemag line transformers.

http://cinemag.biz/output/CMOB-2.pdf

You could mount them to the top of the chassis. There are nice transformer covers out there that could fit over both trannies or leave it nude.

 

[Pale Rider]

Still patiently waiting for my DAC. Did I say patiently? Maybe not as patiently as I would like to pretend.

 

[Xan7hos]

wow this thread has been getting a lot of attention, and it seems as though the DAC has gone through various iterations.

I've been having a bit of some trouble with my unit. Having it connected to a speaker amp, I never noticed that my DAC produces a high pitched low volume beeping/clicking noise. But I hooked it up to my FiiO e5 I notice a constant high pitched processing sound. It has become rather annoying.

Foobar2k> USB> DAC > Fiio E5 > Sennheiser HD280

anyone else experiencing this? Any fixes?

 

[Pale Rider]

Patience rewarded. My DAC just showed up, along with the interconnects I ordered. Really nice looking cables. In their own way, the cables are more impressive-looking than the DAC. No real surprise there; the DAC is a fairly unassuming little unit. But I'll start breaking it in right away. Thanks Kevin!

 

[tubes]

Xan7hos, I'm not sure of what you are hearing but try repositioning the Dac, keep it away from the power supplys of other equipment. If you are handy you can slide the circuit board out and have a look underneath for any irregularities, such as bulging caps, bad solder joints etc.. Make sure you unplug the unit first.

 

[Historicus]

PatOMalley: How much does such an output Cinemag transformer cost? On their site I couldn't find the prices.
Thanks

 

[krisno]

Guys!!

LiTe DAC-Ah And Baddymod LiTe DAC-Ah Review By Phil Gold

There is the Lite DAC(similar to Valab) but with a transformer MOD!

"Now the Baddymod DAC-Ah(transformer) goes well beyond the limits of its junior partner. The dynamics are the first thing to strike you, then the greater space between the instruments and the increased level of detail. Everything the stock DAC offers is trumped by the Baddymod, so much so that it is hard to go back to the stock unit after you've been spoiled by its big brother. But interestingly, it's all a matter of degree. Everything I like about the Baddymod is there in the stock unit, but now it's bigger and better, more spacious, more musical, and the music breathes more easily. Transient response it much improved, so jazz sounds more jazzy, the piano has more weight, and vocals are more intimate and exciting. I could live with this unit.

Now I did tell you there was bad news. The first bit of bad news is that you are certainly paying for the privilege. For $1,250 you may expect something that not only sounds the part, but looks it too. With the external transformers, this is far from the elegant Grace Design Model 901 Headphone Amp / DAC or even the Benchmark DAC-1, two strong competitors in this price range. The second is that the Baddymod comes up well short of the high water mark set by the reference Meridian G08"

 

[krisno]

Please, somebody do the transformer 'mod' and tell me exactly how its done... and then I can do one... Does the transformer just replace the Philips output caps??

And don't the transformers need their own powersupply??

K

 

[krisno]

Xan7hos

I have the exact same problem.... and never had that problem with my X-canv8 or Yulong dah1. The people here say its a ground loop problem, might be. When I remove powercord charger from the laptop, the DAC goes dead quiet. But wonder why this DAC is sensitive to this, and not the others I just mentioned.

 

[crumplertm]

I just received the valab dac, the first thing I notice is the amount of bubble wrap. Great effort done to protect the dac!! Next I proceed to plug in the RCA cables, I was shock to notice that the left RCA jack was rotating. No Big deal really I just careful inserted my cables and now its playing. Looking forward to the 200 hr burn in.

Just a question, anyone knows how to tighten the RCA jacks?

 

[crumplertm]

Duplicate entry

 

[tubes]

To access the RCA's the lid has to be removed by removing the 2 top screws on the front and rear plates, the nut on the RCA then needs to be tightened, take care not to twist the RCA as you tighten the nut you can damage the solder joint with the wire. Make sure you unplug the dac before removing the cover. Disclaimer, proceed at your own risk.

PS-Tell Kevin about your problem.