What to get - Apogee mini DAC v Benchmark DAC1 v Apogee duet

[Solan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by xenithon /img/forum/go_quote.gif SA5000 sounds fantastic out of the Mini-Dac. I do not think Grado cans fare so well though.

HeadphoneAddict told me --if I didn't misunderstand-- that he has listened to the RS-1 straight out of the mini-DAC headphone jack (what a rhyme!), and that it sounded better than his Little Dot and was almost on par with his Woo 6.

 

[xenithon]

Too each his own. Either way though.....I was refering to running Grados balanced straight out of DACs such as the Apogee or DAC1; as opposed to via the built-in HP amp

 

[Solan]

Ah ... oh. Grawk said something to the same effect: Running a Grado out of the XLR would sound like ... well, I can't recall the exact word he used, but cows produce copious amount of it, and the farmers use it to fertilize their soil.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

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[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solan /img/forum/go_quote.gif HeadphoneAddict told me --if I didn't misunderstand-- that he has listened to the RS-1 straight out of the mini-DAC headphone jack (what a rhyme!), and that it sounded better than his Little Dot and was almost on par with his Woo 6.

Yeah, I was talking Apogee mini-dac headphone out with RS-1, which sounds very good.

The mini-dac HP out is just slightly ahead of the Dark Voice 336i (not little dot), but as the Woo burns in it is pulling away, especially after instalingl an expensive metal base GZ34 rectifier and some RCA 6DE7.

 

[Solan]

I just bought John2e's MD5000, so you will be hearing impressions from me on the mini-DAC >> MD5000 combo as well.

 

[Caution]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah, I was talking Apogee mini-dac headphone out with RS-1, which sounds very good. The mini-dac HP out is just slightly ahead of the Dark Voice 336i

Are you serious? Lucky I didn't buy a 336i half a year ago

Hrm... I wonder if some DIYer's are willing to make me a 220-240v Sigma 11 PSU. Whats the ballpark of the costs of these?

 

[Solan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caution /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hrm... I wonder if some DIYer's are willing to make me a 220-240v Sigma 11 PSU. Whats the ballpark of the costs of these?

I'm soon about to find out (230V), but with almost everything bought, I am up to less than $70. So say about $100. From what I understand at the DYI forum, you might want to buy a ready transformer if you are unskilled (like me). A colleague of mine, who runs the electro lab at the university, looked at the schematic for the sigma 11 and was impressed: "it just does everything right" So go for it, man!

 

[Solan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caution /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hrm... I wonder if some DIYer's are willing to make me a 220-240v Sigma 11 PSU. Whats the ballpark of the costs of these?

I'm soon about to find out (230V), but with almost everything bought, I am up to less than $70. So say about $100. From what I understand at the DYI forum, you might want to buy a ready transformer if you are unskilled (like me). A colleague of mine, who runs the electro lab at the university, looked at the schematic for the sigma 11 and was impressed: "it just does everything right" So go for it, man!

 

[grawk]

I'd be surprised if the figure was really that low. I guess if you buy from the US with the dollar the way it is.

 

[Solan]

I don't know how much I'm saving on getting a free transformer, though.

 

[Caution]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solan /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm soon about to find out (230V), but with almost everything bought, I am up to less than $70. So say about $100. From what I understand at the DYI forum, you might want to buy a ready transformer if you are unskilled (like me). A colleague of mine, who runs the electro lab at the university, looked at the schematic for the sigma 11 and was impressed: "it just does everything right" So go for it, man!

oh nice, now to find someone who is willing to make one, and ship to Australia :}

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solan /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't know how much I'm saving on getting a free transformer, though.

Oh so a seperate transformer is needed? I thought a 220-240v one could be made simply by adding more wires to something (I have no idea).

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caution /img/forum/go_quote.gif Are you serious? Lucky I didn't buy a 336i half a year ago Hrm... I wonder if some DIYer's are willing to make me a 220-240v Sigma 11 PSU. Whats the ballpark of the costs of these?

Yeah, naamanf came to my house today for a mini-meet, and he agreed with me that the Apogee mini-DAC HP out was better than the 336i (with good tubes - Sylvania VT-231 and JAN CRC RCA 6AS7G). However, his Mini 3 connected to the XLR>RCA out of my Apogee was better than the Apogee HP out, while my Travagans Red with AD743 was an approximate equal to the mini-DAC HP out.

But, the only amp I had that could come close to properly driving his ATH-W5000 was the Woo WA6, which makes too much bass for the Edition 9 and HFI-780 now (but is great with the Grados, HD600, PL2500 and Denon D2000). His W5000 still needed more bass than any of my amps could supply - kinda reminded me of Blutarsky's CD3000, but I still like the ATH better.

We also agreed we like my STAX Lambda and Lambda Signature and HE60 the most, but that is another story...