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alfie2902

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  1. Hey Chris. Febuary 2009 Hi-Fi Choice. Yes its the one with the DAC tests!
  2. Hi Zach, If you want to just dip your toe into the water of DAC's there is a very cheap dac on a wire option. I think it costs about £25 & is the same sort of idea as the Devilsound. Its from headphonia.com & its usb > 1M cable with TI's 16-bit PCM2704 DAC chip with the sampling rates 44.1 and 48 kHz. > mini jack. I got one for my daughter & it sounds ok tbh, a big improvement from her laptops onboard sound. She is so impressed shes now saving for a beresford dac or a dacmagic. Just pointing out an option if you just wanted to dip your toes, but then again the Beresfords only a £100 or so more!
  3. I'll awaken this thread because i'm so p***ed off with some modern distored, overcompressed no dynamic range CD's. Red Hot Chili Peppers' Californication is a fine example (Chris check out the 2lp vinyl copy if you can find one & have a turntable. Considerably better) If anyone else is disappointed or dissatisfied with the products of this 'Loudness War' check this site. www.TurnMeUp.org "Turn Me Up!™ is a non-profit music industry organization working together with a group of highly respected artists and recording professionals to give artists back the choice to release more dynamic records" "Turn Me Up!™ is a non-profit music industry organization campaigning to give artists back the choice to release more dynamic records. To be clear, it's not our goal to discourage loud records; they are, of course, a valid choice for many artists. We simply want to make the choice for a more dynamic record an option for artists. Today, artists generally feel they have to master their records to be as loud as everybody else's. This certainly works for many artists. However, there are many other artists who feel their music would be better served by a more dynamic record, but who don't feel like that option is available to them. This all comes down to the moment a consumer hears a record, and the fear that if the record is more dynamic, the consumer won't know to just turn up the volume. This is an understandable concern, and one Turn Me Up! is working to resolve. " "Turn Me Up!™ Certified To preserve the excitement, emotion and dynamics of the original performances this record is intentionally quieter than some. For full enjoyment simply Turn Me Up!" Check it out & maybe add your support - I Have!
  4. I agree with JensPH that this overcompressing, "hot", "brickwalled" mastering process is probably the main reason for the OP findings!! The majority of my music collection is rock based music which has always suffered with some compression but nothing like the overcompression in todays recordings. I rip my CD's lossless & make a low bitrate copy for my childrens ipods & i have noticed quite a few sound better at the lower bit rate! This makes me wonder why i bother to strive for the best sounding replay equipment i can afford! When some the recordings are not good enough to be played on it!?! Metallica's "death magnetic" is well documented example! (google It). I took my CD back & signed the online petition to try to get the album remastered. IIRC there was about 18000 signed before me! So if this many 'deaf rock fans' can hear this overcompression bad enough to complain just how bad is this becoming!?! Well bad enough for me to have got my Turntable from its resting place in the loft! I am now in the process of restoring it; new cartridge, new belt, new bearing oil. I will then look for releases on vinyl that have been mastered with less compression, they can then be ripped to hopfully provide a copy of the album that is listenable! "Death Magnetic" was released as a 5 12" album box set @ 45rpm (i believe) but costs about £50 (ouch) & this may even be recorded from the same overcompressed master! I hope not!
  5. Before getting my ADM9's my computer listening was mostly done through my my Pico Dac/Headphone amp into my Senn HD600 or Beyer 770pro's. Sounded pretty good but i wanted a speaker set up. I wanted to keep it a small, low box count, desk top based Near field listening system. Whilst waiting for the CA Dacmagic to be released (was on my shortlist) i went to Millennium Music (Pro audio Type shop here in Nottingham) & had a listen to a few studio type monitors. I went there looking for a pair of Mackie HR 624 monitors that i had read good things about. They didn't stock the mackies but i had a listen to Dynaudio BM5A, KRK VXT6 and a pair of PMC DB1S-A (about 2.5 x the price of the other 2). They were all very impressive! sounding a little brighter & better controlled in the lower frequencies than any Passive consumer speakers i had owned. (which is not to many & nothing high end, PMC GB1 being about the best) I was about to bite the bullet on either the BM5A or the VXT6 (PMC's were out of my budget even though the better monitor IMO)When a work mate offered me his AVI ADM9 for a week. He never got them back!! they had everything the Studio monitors had, plus more IMO. I am a big fan of the ADM9's but would also reccomend people to have a listen to some of the pro audio gear. In my limited experiance it was pretty impressive. And by the way i very really now listen through the HD600's so this approach may very well suit other headphone fans.
  6. x2 on the HeadAmp Pico. Used to get great results from mine with my HD600's. But not listened through a Duet though. RSA Predator also very good & the iBasso D2 & D3 may be worth a look.
  7. x2 for the Sennheiser HD600s, I love mine. I also agree with the majority of what you've said through this thread. First define the purpose. then select the right headphone for this purpose with the right sound sig for yourself. Then on to Amps. All great advice! However i think you were a little harsh towards 'Head-Fi'. Again i agree "I think it is a fabulous place to get far too much varying and contradictory information and pick up a ton of voodoo and fanboy flavor of the month nonsense in the process" But i think we all agree that audio boards give us a fun read with lots of subjective information. But then go on to buy gear after suitable demo's. Head-fi opened up to me all kinds of products i didn't even know existed. I had no knowledge of RSA, HeadAmp, Woo, Darkvoice, Little Dot etc etc the list goes on! Therefore i think its a good place to find out just what is in the market place. But that produces it own problems, trying to get a demo of alot of these products here in the UK is next to impossible. But through Head-fi i have listened to some of these products through mini-meets arranged by head-fi members. CAN JAM 2009 is going to be a big meet where alot of Headphones, Amps etc can be demo'd this again is being set up by Head-fi members (these events already run in the US). Also there are loaner programmes (OK not many) where amps etc are mailed to you for a week or so. You can then evaluate the product as a home demo,before mailing on to the next person on the list. Yes Head-fi is another typical audiophile board but its not all voodoo & snake oil
  8. Firstly there is another thread very similar to this in the speaker section (umm. not sure how to link it) I owned a HeadAmp Pico for a while & is a great little unit very neautral sounding & Has probably got the best Dac of the portable Amp/Dac's (I have only owned the Dac in the Pico & the Dac in my ADM9's, but if you check across at Head-fi.org people also use the Dac as a stand alone into a bigger form headphone amps & rave about its quility) I've listened through but not owened a Predator, I only listened through the amp not the Dac. Also a great sounding amp a little warmer than the Pico IMO. There is however a few more that should be taken into consideration the iBasso D2 Boa and the newer iBasso D3 Python. Meier-Audio Corda2move & Corda3move (basically the same Dac/Amp but with crossfeed filter added to the 3move) are all very well regarded units. Most of these are very hard to get a demo of & different Headphone Amp - headphone combinations will sound different. So again another recommendation for Head-fi, a great place to read LOTS of info & find which may match your headphones. These little amps hold there price very well (if looked after) & there is a great 2nd hand market over at head-fi. Box swappers delight.
  9. Headfi can be a bit intimidating! But i've met some real nice people there. it is a great resource for all things headphone. I would start with the headphones. I'm not sure where you live, but if possible go & listen to a few pairs in your budget. Headphones have a greater tonal variation than speakers that is easy to notice when comparing models. Just compare Senn's to Grado to Beyer's! I think its due to them not having a flat frequency response. Because some frequencies get accentuated when the speaker is very close to the eardrum headphones have a more tailored response. So you need to find one that suits you! Also there is differences in open & closed back designs & you need to consider this also. (Isolation from the outside world for you or anyone else in the room) Also comfort factor can play its part. How they sit on the head, over the ear, around the ear. The music you listen to will also play its part! All this makes Headphones quite personal so its hard to give recomendations! I enjoy my Beyer 770pro's, HD600's at home & sleek sa6 on the move but they may not do it for you! the AKG k701's i have no experiance with but is supposed to be very airy with a great soundstage, very revealing, slightly bass light but with liquid mids & sparkly highs. Very nice! but the best thing is for you to listen! Then when you have your headphones or a shortlist look for an amp/Dac, The Predator, Pico, iBasso's are nice portable Dac/Amps. Or you could get larger form seperate dac & Headphone amp (there's a whole load of Chinese stuff thats well regarded. SS & tube gear) You could check back at Headfi for peoples reccomdations of what gear might suit your favourite headphones. You should be able to put together a real nice system with your budget. Oh & op-amp rolling is just swapping op-amps to get a better sound or a better amp headphone match. the chip or chips just plugs into a socket (not dissimilar to a cpu just a lot less pins)
  10. Yes i have heard the RSA Predator. it is infact a very good amp! I only had a short demo at a mini meet & only using my iPod, it drove my Sleek & shure IEM's very well & was a good match for my HD600. So i have have no experiance of the Dac but it is very well regarded on the Headfi forum. I did own a RSA Tomahawk which was designed for IEM but also drove my HD600 very well. I did also own a HeadAmp Pico for several months though & that is an equally well regarded headphone amp. I found both Dac & amp very good. the dac uses a wolfson 24bit WM8740 chip. the sound was slightly more neautral to the predator IMO.
  11. x2 for the RSA products. I have used the Tomahawk with my IEM & it does sound very very good. Even though it was designed for IEM It will drive most headphones very well. I have also listened to the predator but never owned one (also includes a good usb Dac). I have not had the pleasure of the Mustang but its reported to be RSA's best portable amp yet! RSA products do have their own sound though but so do all the portable amps that i have used. Some other brands worth looking at are Meier-Audio, iBasso, HeadAmp (Pico- best portable i owned) & thats just a few. But don't discount a CMOY great SQ for what it would cost you to build or even to buy pre-built (Quite a few on ebay). Alot of the above cost £200-300+ So good headphones are where you should start. Headfi.org has a good trade section & some great prices if 2nd hand is ok. Mostly sold us only though.
  12. is one way you could go. (Cheap) Or you could look for a quality switch box to connect to your Dac outs & connect both Nait & a headphone amp & switch between them! (some expense) Or you could look at a Dac/Headphone amp; Meier- audio Corda 3move (usb),iBasso D2 & D3 (usb), HeadAmp Pico (usb), RSA Predator (usb). All would work as a portable headphone amp aswell (not using the Dac) if you ever needed one!. or if you have digital outs on your pc you could probably find a suitable Dac/amp to connect via optical/coax. (could prove costly) Take a look over at Headfi.org forum a great source for anything headphone. Hope this helps.
  13. As Daglesj said 'Headfi' is the place to go for a read. But, watch your wallet once you start on that forum!! I've used several headphone amps over the years (portable & home rigs). There's some great sounding kit around but its hard to get any demo's. It depends on what headphones your using & trying to find an amp to match. Not all 'cans' benifit the same from one amp. If your using an ipod? a line out dock to the amp will provide a worthwhile improvement too. But the Headphones you use are the most important bit!! IMO. For portable use i get great results from the Sleek sa6 IEM's. Amped or not they sound great, i tend to use them unamped though, because once you start to carry amps, Lod's etc your portable rig gets less portable! PC/Mac > Dac > Headphone amp > Headphones can sound awesome & give speaker set-ups a good run for the money though, but i guess thats a whole new thread!
  14. I picked up the ADM9's 2 days ago & I'm loving them! They sound just.- so right...fast, detailed & well controlled & boy do they go loud for such a small box. Bass is fast & punchy, clarity in the mid band make for an awsesome vocal. No fault of the ADM9's but its not all been plain sailing though! like i said in an earlier post i'm new to PC audio. I run a windows XP PC. The media player i use is iTunes & i've got a modded Emu 0404pci sound card. I set up the speakers, Plugged in the Toslink to the digital break out box & fired up iTunes & NOTHING!! So i took ADM9's in to my main system sat them on top off my floorstanders & Toslinked them up to my Naim CD5i & WOW. They sounded a bit different to my speakers & sub, but definitely give them a run for the money! After a little internet research i found out that the Emu 0404's digital out only works with ASIO drivers & iTunes doesn't. With over 1000 CD's ripped to ALAC & some also to low bit rates for the kids ipods i wasn't sure what to do! So i downloaded Foobar2000 & ALAC plug-in & added my iTunes Folder, plugged in Toslink & WOW can now enjoy ADM9's using the DAC on the PC. But then being as my PC isn't a dedicated music PC I had no sound from Youtube, Last.fm etc. So i ran a pair of RCA interconnects from 0404 analouge outputs to ADM9 analouge inputs & now i got i've got sound from all applications. But surely there must be a better way of connecting all this up? Anyone got any ideas?
  15. Thanks for your input guys! I'm picking up the the ADM9's 2moro for a few days. If i like them in my system/room i will probably buy them, as Ash says (thanks for your input Ash & i will email you if i need anymore info/Questions answering) i could probably sell them on for not much of a loss if i do at a later date want the 9.1s. I will let you know what i think soon.
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