Jump to content

laughingbuddha

  • Posts

    9
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Country

    country-ZZ

Retained

  • Member Title
    Newbie
  1. By the way few developments with the DACtil 1.2 just received a used but very immaculate Oyaide DR-510 coax (already burnt in I would guess) they are pretty cool cables link below attached to the DACtil I'm getting a much much cleaner more powerful sound it was like listening to a whole new Dac so I can recommend the DR-510 I'd say they are twice as good as the Wireworld Starlight 6 at least. I also found out that the power interconnecting cable was junk like worth 2 euro's sitting between my Si and X2 so next week will have a new one made at Black Rhodium just mailed them the heed plugs, looking forward to what they send back. I have also added Black Rodium Jazz mains cables so that accounts for some of the clarity I'm getting back at the moment (yet it will be some time for those to burn in ). I think the interconnecting cables will be the last push over all, but power cables into the Si and X2 are very important all this affects the DACtil's performance as the card is sitting in the Si. Anyways I went for a pair of Niam Allae Speakers used but immaculate condition they supposed to have deep round lower octave credentials and will work nicely with the heed, they should turn up in a few days, be interesting to see how they preform with oddles of jazz fusion stuck into them.... I think USB connections are out for the time being from the Mac I'm doing well with SILFLEX GLASS Toslink connections into the Fiio which then connects to the Si via RCA's. Oyaide DR-510 Cable: http://www.oyaide.com/ENGLISH/AUDIO/products_category/digital_cable/pg532.html
  2. I think the Fiio with the right cables may well give you a surprise at $30 it's worth a try ? You can stick short RCA's into the Fiio to test it like 100 mm lengths bet you it gives the BiFrost a run for it's money are you willing to experiment ? The Heed DAC I have is good but I think it would be better if there were mono amps attached driving some floor standers like the Wired4Sounds I heard they kick. I have a pair of Monitor Audio's stand mounted 100W speakers they are very entry level .I'm thinking of buying some Monitor Audio PL 100's or ProAc Tablette Anniversary Loudspeakers as a compromise mainly due to space, the PL 100's would be my first choice ''deadly speakers'' for their size. What Speakers Cables are you using at present Thomas ?
  3. Windows can run on a macbook the upgrades are doable well worth the risk in my opinion take your DVD drive insert the extra SSD and raid the two together I'm doing just that. The audio is far superior on a mac than any windows based laptop I also use a Fiio D3 outstanding bit of kit only thing lacking was that their usb port should be an source input not just a power inlet !
  4. Apple had the foresight to use Tunderbolt though !!
  5. Yep I still have the Heed Si with X2, DACtil v1.2. I have to agree with you that the DACtil v1.2 lacks power and 'Ommmfff' without a doubt and is probably better utilised with two mono amps attached to the Si, then there will be power haaaa, or rewiring the signal path to the DAC using silver and adding WBT signature sockets might work - who knows ????? Actually more recently have been listening a Fiio D3 Mini DAC with Wolfson WM8805 on board, it pretty much beats the pants off of everything on it's price and size to start with, also a very mean,as not a lean sound, lot's of detail for the price wide sound stage, perhaps a bit too wide therefore not as focused as it should be - hat's off I must say to Fiio based in HK for making it affordable for everyone ! I found out so far you can add some tone enhancement to the Mini DAC using different RCA cables. I tried some Chord and Van der Hul (balanced interconnects), the latter seemed to dramatically improve power output although it sound it's a little raw compared to the DACtil V1.2, or less polite shall we say but still a useful bit of kit none the less. I can confirm from a SACD player as transport 24/192 is sharp from the DACtil v1.2.I have also tried ipod transport ND-S1 direct using a WireWorld Starlight 6 coax into the D3 or Heed DACtil v1.2 I'm experiencing very good things but the burning in process is not over as yet for this cable. Black Rodium seemed to have a very good range of digital coax cables which they are willing to loan,so I'm contemplating trying some of those out in the months ahead . Particularly trying new stereo cables that interconnect both the Si and X2 together as I have no idea what cable joins them together at present the units were shipped in from Hungry used but in mint condition. Black Rodium suggested that their rhythm stereo cable should be a good enough to produce a crisp detailed sound between Si and X2. I think the Heed DACtil v1.2 has a little more refined and polished sound compared to the D3 but by adding the right RCA cables to the D3 smoothing of sound and more power and tone control can be achieved. I beieve this is more like a filtering issue with the D3 and DAC's generally it makes me wonder why ''dare I say it'' manufactures don't integrate more software based 'tone control' into the DAC's generally so you an store your custom settings into it's memory tweaking as required, cable type emulation if you like, but then lots of cable companies wouldn't survive but it would be a more enviroment friendly approach in my opinion. I'm yet to test the Mini DAC with a Linear power supply but wondering if it would change things that much anyway since it is a direct mains feed micro usb port, 5V low power uptake ? Rhodium coat the RCA Sockets perhaps ?? I'm finding myself alternating between DAC's and just waiting for a delivery of two 'Silflex' glass strand Toslink cables from the US to be used into the D3 from a Macbook Pro.I think it would be better than using a 'Hiface' coming in from the Mac's usb port, less jitter,transport issues, noise etc as many have mentioned on this forum it is debatable wether in fact the human ear can actually discern 24/192 Hz resolution or not ?! Interesting info on the Schiit BiFrost the company look like the mean business but I think they could do with the USB thrown in for that price...with the Fiio they could consider making their usb port active giving us a source line in rather than just a mains feed mini usb socket, even if it hiked the price slightly. The more I listen to the DACtil v1.2 it indicates it has a more balanced sound certainly much less rackus than my trusty Mini Dac which certainly is capable of causing my neighbours to bang on the floor, not that I can hear them anyways. What say you Thomas ? Has anyone out there tested a Fiio D3 with a Linear PSU, would be nice to know ? Fiio D3 Specs: ? Built-in high-performance phase locked loop (PLL), with extra-low JITTER digital receiver chip WM8805. ? Maximum support 192KHz/24bit audio signal ? Optical/coaxial optional input function ? 2 channels standard RCA output port ? Indication for digital receiving status (LOCKED) ? MINI USB power supply port http://www.fiio.com.cn http://www.lifatec.com/toslink2.htm http://www.blackrhodium.co.uk/ Two possibilities for Linear Power Supplies for the D3 : Custom PSU by Mike Grierson http://www.rock-grotto.co.uk/ (made to order) http://www.squeeze-upgrade.com (need to use a mini adapter or cable mod) http://www.aqvox.de/
  6. See flat cable design considerations for d+usb by Oyaide Elec, Japan. S class cable spec: Cable?USB2.0 cable(HI-SPEED) Transfer speed?Maximum 480Mbps Conductor?PCOCC?0.18mm×14?0.18mm×33? Structure?Flat (Inverted concentric structure) Shield?Double shielding?tin plated wire + aluminum tape? Insulator?Polyolefin Sheath?Thermoplastic Elastomers Connectors?USB Type A-USB Type B Terminals?Platinum + Rhodium plated bronze ally Body?PBT + Glass Fiber30%
  7. Saw an interesting cable for less than $60 made by Oyaide Electronics,Japan. In their breakdown on what matters in the cable they consider even the form of the cable ie: being flat like wire worlds usb mentioned before in the forum as a contributing design factor as well as the following areas below: ?The architecture under digital environment Although the fact that the sound quality under the digital environment is influenced by the quality of AD/DA converter and jitter accuracy of audio clock is well-known, there are other factors that actually change the sound such as noise contamination or matching with the appreciation, driver, and PC hardware. And for the high-performance serial bus, it is influenced by the system architecture of software, connectors and circuit patterns, ICs and cables. In addition, isochronous transfer that is applied in many USB audio I/Os have no error correction despite of carrying a huge amount of information at the same time. “d+ USB series” was designed for smooth and lossless data transmission in both of the software and hardware system structure. The important thing in the digital signal transmission is passing the signals from sending side to receiving side as natural as possible. Because the signal flows in a cable is, even if it is digital, the electric signal, and the analog-like approach considering the electric property would be very important and effective. We took an approach to protect the signal from external and internal noise by electro-magnetic wave and control its electric conductivity and permittivity. ?Impedance matching We carefully made an adjustment impedance matching by advanced technology by considering pitch, diameter, and strand of conductors. Consequently, we achieved accurate data transmission and excellent stability with attenuation of terminal reflection wave. ?Selected materials For class B, in order to transmit serial bus at hi-speed, we applied the silver coated OFC which resistance is 5% lower than copper conductor. For class A and class S, considering bus-powered, we selected the hi-quality PCOCC pure copper conductor. Because the signal flows on the surface by skin effect, the PCOCC which has no grain boundary and flat surface is very effective for even data transmission. Therefore, it actualizes the stable data transmission and power supply. In addition, the conductor diameter of the class S is set to AWG22/AWG18 which is twice as thick as the regular cable for powerful sound reproduction. ?Flat design architecture The flat designed cable prevents the signal loss caused by cable bend, change of impedance and electrostatic capacitance. And it protect signal from external/internal noise and electro-magnetic wave by combination of TPE outer sheath, double-shielding, and twist-pair structure. ?Connector The contacts of the USB connectors are made of bronze alloy with selected combination plating for each class. For class S, it is a combination of platinum and rhodium. For class A, it is a combination of silver and rhodium. And for class B, it is gold plating. Each plating enhances durability and stability of the connectors. ?USB2.0 (HI-SPEED) compliant ?Eye Pattern In telecommunication, an eye pattern, also known as an eye diagram, is an oscilloscope display in which a digital data signal from a receiver is repetitively sampled and applied to the vertical input, while the data rate is used to trigger the horizontal sweep. It is so called because, for several types of coding, the pattern looks like a series of eyes between a pair of rails. Weblink : http://www.neo-w.com/catalog/2010/06/d-usb_en.html
  8. The KingRex U192 looks like it is good for the price tag not as pretty as the Halide though !
  9. Just wondering if anyone had some experience with this card built into the Obelisk Si with X2. Just purchased trying to connect Macbook to the card which is limited to RCA Coaxial input only at 192/24 ? The closest for the budget in terms of a converter to the DAC card I have found was the KingRex UC192. the KingRex 192/32 going from usb to spdif coax out, after the cables and a linear power supply wondering wether it's worth keeping the Dactilus 2 ? Wether a stand alone DAC might be better save buying the UC192 and selling the Dactilus 2 altogether ? Lb
×
×
  • Create New...