[Xcalibur255]

Quote:

You're most welcome. And that Wyred4Sound DAC? It may come faster than you think at a price you can afford! I'll be looking to go from DAC-1 to DAC-2 soon. 
 

Heh, well soon in this case is probably not in either this or next calendar year.  WA22 will come first, and the way things have been lately it may not come at all.  I at least managed to break my addiction to buying vacuum tubes, so money is no longer bleeding through that spending avenue.
 
As for the PC, I honestly can't even tell how many hours I've spent comparing various combinations of settings and methods now.  The one thing I have managed to confirm for myself is this:  anything hardware direct or kernel streaming sounds the same to my ears.  There are folks who say ASIO, WASAPI, WASAPI-ES, and Kernel Streaming all sound different.  Even those who think changing the buffering delay can affect the sonics.  My ears found all those modes to be identical.  Wave Out and Direct Sound, on the other hand, are radically different sounding and mostly in a bad way.  The thing I find most curious out of everything on the subject, I think, is the fact that so far as tonality goes Wave Out sounds absolutely identical to the output of my standalone CD transport.  The only actual difference is a big reduction in clarity.  If it didn't sound so soft I would use this option because otherwise it sounds right to me.  Why all the hardware direct modes alter the tone of the music is what baffles me so much.  In the most recent go around with this new PC the effect really gives the impression that something like volume leveling or replay gain is taking place.  The dynamic range feels compressed.  I went and checked all of my EAC rip settings to make sure I wasn't accidentally normalizing my files just in case the first time I heard it.

 

[WarriorAnt]

Quote:

Funny you should mention the Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2....just picked one up today (should be here by Monday according to Canada Post). The only reason I picked it up was to feed my WA22 a balanced source; otherwise I was exceedingly happy with my Cary XCiter DAC (both cost the exact same). This place is truly sinister.

 

Your gonna love the DAC-2.  Burn it in for a long time. I got the W4S balanced cables for it but I'm real interested in trying other balanced cables with it.  You using it with a Mac or windoz?
 
 

 

[WarriorAnt]

Quote:

Very interesting FlyingBear, thanks for clearing that up 

 
Seriously, I guess the run-length encoding is what I was referring to as far as eliminating the non-audio data.
 
It sounds like you might have hit on why FLAC may have some superiority over ALAC with the easy-to decode part, as Apple has that extra (unactivated but it's there) DRM data and all.
 
 

Spinning platters rule! WD just came out with a new 3tb external My Book drive for $250.

the bigger drives frighten me.
 

 

[MacedonianHero]

Your gonna love the DAC-2.  Burn it in for a long time. I got the W4S balanced cables for it but I'm real interested in trying other balanced cables with it.  You using it with a Mac or windoz?
 
 

Windows 7 (64bit)....I picked up a pair of Kimber Hero XLRs....I was a big fan of the RCA WBT Heros (I owned a few pairs over the years), so the balanced version was a natural fit for me. If it's as good as the Cary, but with balanced outs (to better work with my WA22), then I'll be a very happy camper.

 

[WarriorAnt]

Quote:

Windows 7 (64bit)....I picked up a pair of Kimber Hero XLRs....I was a big fan of the RCA WBT Heros (I owned a few pairs over the years), so the balanced version was a natural fit for me. If it's as good as the Cary, but with balanced outs (to better work with my WA22), then I'll be a very happy camper.

  For me it's what a front end digital source should be.   
 
 

 

[Silent One]

Quote:

Your gonna love the DAC-2.  Burn it in for a long time. I got the W4S balanced cables for it but I'm real interested in trying other balanced cables with it.  You using it with a Mac or windoz?
 
 

How many hours on your DAC-2 to-date? Reached minimum burn-in Wednesday night. Now entering the extended phase awaiting more refinement with 253 hours and counting...
 

 

[WarriorAnt]

Quote:

How many hours on your DAC-2 to-date? Reached minimum burn-in Wednesday night. Now entering the extended phase awaiting more refinement with 253 hours and counting...
 

I started burning it in on May 8th and it pretty much goes 18 hours a day since then.  I used it also to burn in my V200 which I installed on June 8th.  So its been plenty burned in.  Now I'm burning in a new pair of LCD that arrived today.  I'll burn them in whether they need it or not just because I can 

    I'm all solid state though so it is easier to burn in 24/7.  I'm looking in the future for a Woo but I get a lot of nay sayers pulling on my coat.  That's one reason I hang in here, trying to get the vibe on the impulse to pull the trigger or to at least sell off some of my vintage hand forged Japanese Bonsai tools to fund the purchase.  
 
 

 

[Silent One]

Quote:

I started burning it in on May 8th and it pretty much goes 18 hours a day since then.  I used it also to burn in my V200 which I installed on June 8th.  So its been plenty burned in.  Now I'm burning in a new pair of LCD that arrived today.  I'll burn them in whether they need it or not just because I can 

    I'm all solid state though so it is easier to burn in 24/7.  I'm looking in the future for a Woo but I get a lot of nay sayers pulling on my coat.  That's one reason I hang in here, trying to get the vibe on the impulse to pull the trigger or to at least sell off some of my vintage hand forged Japanese Bonsai tools to fund the purchase.  
 
 

Did your W4S start gettin' really good 'round 300-400 hours?
 

 

[WarriorAnt]

0-100 big big changes   100-150 decreasingly smaller changes 200+ moving into the infinitesimal.
 
We haven't heard from Mike.  I'm thinking he doesn't like the DAC-2 but doesn't want to say anything...

 

[Silent One]

Quote:

0-100 big big changes   100-150 decreasingly smaller changes 200+ moving into the infinitesimal.
 
We haven't heard from Mike.  I'm thinking he doesn't like the DAC-2 but doesn't want to say anything...

If we're to speculate at this hour, got tea? 

  I think he's fine. Certainly has his hands full - with audio gear, notes on the audio gear and in a few hours, an espresso. So he may contemplate the gear and the notes he's holding in review in the first place. I'd like to be in that position...
 

I remember Clint advising me last month on minimum burn-in 200 hours. But that between 200-400 hours things will really start to sing. While I am optimistic, I am also a bit concerned. The presentation is starting to bloom quite nicely. But I noticed I ended up surrendering (against my will!) a bit of bass and slam, though I did gain beautiful mid-range magic. I'm hoping I'll see a slight change in the overall signature.
 

 

[Icenine2]

Mac,
 
You are going to love the W4S.  When mine hit 100 hours there was a big difference and when it hit 200 the clouds opened.  W/the WA22 it's incredible.  A great match.
 
Quote:

Funny you should mention the Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2....just picked one up today (should be here by Monday according to Canada Post). The only reason I picked it up was to feed my WA22 a balanced source; otherwise I was exceedingly happy with my Cary XCiter DAC (both cost the exact same). This place is truly sinister.

 

 

 

[Silent One]

Extended session ~
 
Now entering hour eight of my listening session to celebrate my Woo's one year anniversary. I've been feeding the amp some 200 tracks of Karen Mok through Fixed-Integer mode playback... sounding good, baby!

 

[jerico]

For you Mac guys - I just downloaded the latest version of AirFoil. This version allows audio to be sent FROM an iOS device TO a computer. This caught my interest, because I have a headless Mac Mini at the heart of my headphone setup - but this program would allow me to, say, watch Netflix video on my iPad while routing its audio through the Mac Mini and on into my DAC and my cans. Sure, it won't be greatest audio quality, but kinda cool to be able to do it! I'll report back once I get it all running...!

 

[mikemalter]

 
Quote:

0-100 big big changes   100-150 decreasingly smaller changes 200+ moving into the infinitesimal.
 
We haven't heard from Mike.  I'm thinking he doesn't like the DAC-2 but doesn't want to say anything...

    Quote:

If we're to speculate at this hour, got tea? 

  I think he's fine. Certainly has his hands full - with audio gear, notes on the audio gear and in a few hours, an espresso. So he may contemplate the gear and the notes he's holding in review in the first place. I'd like to be in that position...
 

I remember Clint advising me last month on minimum burn-in 200 hours. But that between 200-400 hours things will really start to sing. While I am optimistic, I am also a bit concerned. The presentation is starting to bloom quite nicely. But I noticed I ended up surrendering (against my will!) a bit of bass and slam, though I did gain beautiful mid-range magic. I'm hoping I'll see a slight change in the overall signature.
 

Hey guys, thanks for thinking of me.  I continue to burn in the DAC-2 and Bryston BDA-1.  Am at 190 hours, give or take, and was going to wait until after I hit 200 hours on both DAC's before I said anything.
 
Am also working through ideas and thoughts on the format for my media library.
 
And, of course reading the latest news and experiences as we unfold the pages of mystery and delight with our Woo's!

 

[WarriorAnt]

Quote:

If we're to speculate at this hour, got tea? 

  I think he's fine. Certainly has his hands full - with audio gear, notes on the audio gear and in a few hours, an espresso. So he may contemplate the gear and the notes he's holding in review in the first place. I'd like to be in that position...
 

I remember Clint advising me last month on minimum burn-in 200 hours. But that between 200-400 hours things will really start to sing. While I am optimistic, I am also a bit concerned. The presentation is starting to bloom quite nicely. But I noticed I ended up surrendering (against my will!) a bit of bass and slam, though I did gain beautiful mid-range magic. I'm hoping I'll see a slight change in the overall signature.
 

I can't really address the DAC-1 as the DAC-2 has a more hefty analog output and the super caps which is the main reason I choose it over the DAC-1.  I find the bass to be deep and strong in combo with the V200 and even more so now with the latest LCD-2 which in some ways is a bit of a different beast than the earlier LCD.     But  I cant really say anything past that combo because that's all I know.  Bass definition for me is very refined but I'm in another type of universe.  The DAC-2 has a high output and I use the gain switch functions on the V200 to lower the V200's output so I can use the volume control around 12 or 1 o'clock and make better use of the range of the pot otherwise the DAC-2 would have me running  around 9 O'Clock.