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Sam Lord

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  1. 1dB sounds different and for the higher level nearly always gives an advantage when the amps are well below clipping. If the amps have a pretty even low frequency response in the audio band and somewhat below (not a given), that's an acoustic energy difference of over 20%. It's really better to use a DMM to measure AC voltage across the speaker inputs, where getting a >0.1 dB match is easy. But thank you for posting your impressions.
  2. I think around $10k. The Cello stuff was built well. Their preamp was, IIRC, the first really high-end discrete attenuator on the consumer market; the volume control had about 60 resistor pairs around a huge rotary switch. I think that provided ~1.5dB per step.
  3. Hi Chris, "The Pedestals are the complete opposite from the included Denafrips spikes. The spikes offer zero isolation and are in my opinion a conduit for unwanted vibrations to enter the DAC unimpeded. Don't get me started on the included plastic/metal spike shoe." What's wrong with the editor? My responses keep disappearing. Anyway you're right, spikes and horizontal-movement bearings are for speakers only and isolation is for everything else, for obvious reasons. Denafrips should know better. Cheers!
  4. You need a Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) that has at least an optical (AKA Toslink and SPDIF Optical) input, plus an optical digital audio cable. Prices for a standalone DAC start around $15. Sound quality is quite loosely related to price. Get an adapter to convert the two RCA outputs to connect with your speaker inputs; I expect you need only a separated pair of RCA cables. There is no reason to convert to mono anywhere; let each speaker receive its intended Left or Right channel. It's easy to see what cables or adapters you need by looking at pictures on Amazon. Here's such a DAC, $13: https://smile.amazon.com/PROZOR-Digital-Converter-Optical-Toslink/dp/B00KNNSKV0/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=dac&qid=1619271974&refinements=p_36%3A1253503011&rnid=386442011&s=electronics&sr=1-3 To be sure of good sound adequate for other uses and reliable function, consider something like a Schiit Modi 3+: https://www.schiit.com/products/modi-1
  5. I suggest you pay more attention: he did not score the Rega 9 out of 10. He accurately describes what upgrading brings in many evaluations. I don't characterize as he does, but misinform is too strong a term.
  6. How odd, I think he has one the most sensible and responsible approaches I've seen.
  7. The best thing you can do in any system is put whatever speakers you buy into the best position in the room that you can visually and ergonomically tolerate. Position the tweeter as close as possible to ear height. Get them AWAY from corners. Start with them an even distance from your ears and pointed straight ahead. You might need to tilt them forward or backward, since many don't come with proper time alignment. You might want to toe them in none, a little, or some, but listen for what gives the best soundstage. PA speakers are usually a bad choice for a small room, but speaker positioning matters more than anything. If the speakers HAVE to flank the tv, put them flush with the tv if possible, nearly touching it. Put something soft along the left wall to reduce slap echo. It'll sound way better after these changes.
  8. Ballistic ventilation is a cultural practice in my region. One sees its salutary effects on signs, mailboxes, and fixed pieces of lawn art.
  9. The Asgard 3 has a stronger output than most "good fits" for the Senns, delivering power in fact between the latest versions of the Schiit Valhalla and Mjolnir into 300 Ohms. But tube voltage swings and compression behavior do make a dense, highlighted sound. I agree that the A3 is not the best fit, but should be a decent fit.
  10. First, be sure the speakers are time-aligned. Raise them to be vertical and aimed at the correct part of your head for correct alignment. The ideal, cheap method is large bricks or paving stones. Use a _very_ thin sticky layer to affix the speakers to the stones. If you can't or refuse to raise the speakers, tilt them until aligned correctly. Use live percussion for this (my favorite is single tom tom): when alignment is ideal the drums sound natural and image well. Be sure to get maximum absorption of the table relections, use whatever you can live with. Heavy and thick foam are best, given your placement on the table. Try starting with zero toe-in, then add toe-in as needed. In midfield and farfield setups zero is typically best. In most situations it's much superior to toed-in setups, especially the ubiquitous equilateral triangle arrangement. The imaging and soundstage should improve a _lot_. You can even put them flush with your monitor if it's a very wide one. Don't be too close to that back wall, but get something absorptive on the back wall behind your head to address those reflections, that will reduce the strong distortion from that reflection. Good luck!
  11. I suggest that you consider powered speakers and a separate headphone amp/preamp combination. I have Edifier 1280 series (current model is now R1280DB, includes a DAC) powered speakers and their quality is amazing for their very low cost: $130USD or perhaps 150GBP excl. VAT. Micca PB42x are also excellent but have fewer features. Then you could get a Schiit Magni 3+ or Magni 3 Heresy (available soon) for 110GBP incl. VAT, or an older, used HP amp for much less. All of the Magni 3 amps, older and newest (currently out of stock in the UK), have preamp outputs. Look here: Schiit UK Headphone Amps. Good luck!
  12. I think my setup is ideal for this, look at my profile photo to view it. I use extremely heavy and rigid stands, each with an ATC SL20 passive on the top shelf, a stereo amp for vertical biamping on the lower shelf, then a Velodyne DD12+ on the base of the stand. Every transducer is time-aligned by ear for my preferred listening position. (Write me for instructions.) Each channel was positioned by rule of fifths wrt room depth and width. (It's a narrow room.) For stands I have custom-built Sound Anchor ADJ2s, around $1.5k/pr and about 130 lbs each. Each shelf mounts with 2 x 3/8" bolts, monstrously rigid. I run my ATCs full range and supplement with the subs. I roll the subs in at 55Hz, slope around 18dB/oct IIRC.
  13. Well yeah, partly because those adapters aren't wired correctly! See Rane notes #110 (Diagram #17, IIRC) about grounding. All off-the shelf rca-xlr adapters can easily cause ground loops: the shields are attached at both the rca ring and xlr pin 1 and thus, usually, to chassis ground = bad. The shield should *float* on the rca end, whose ring should only connect to xlr pin 3 (inverting input). In the case where the rca ring *is* connected to earth internally on the source, then the loop can be fairly free of hum, but that means the source is a bad design anyway.
  14. Vibration control is simple to understand: get the motion of components to frequencies well below the audio band. The main goal is to minimize displacement of speakers from the motion of their transducers, and to minimize acceleration of all other electronics. Like anything, It can be difficult to implement to the nth degree. Energy problems are easy to solve, but momentum problems are harder. The kinetic energy of objects can be converted into heat. But their momentum, being a vector, can never be stopped, only slowed or summed. Treating momentum problems can require effort, space, and mass or mechanical devices to reduce resonant frequencies to be very subsonic. The development of high-quality bearings for speakers (like Aurios) have been a big advance: they sum the horizontal momentum vectors for a wonderful effect, and settle at an ultra-low frequency. For all the other components, which need relief from mostly-vertical displacement, mass loading with sorbothane does a great job. If you shell out for fancier mechanical devices you can do better still, but mounting pieces on heavy, rigid bases like paving stones and then placing carefully-chosen sorbothane feet beneath those bases can do wonders for a fair price.
  15. Glad to hear it! FWIW, I have a good DAC but am in a similar situation; I'd like to try a different DAC, my current is an Oppo UDP-205. OTOH, My hearing has been very damaged in the last 2-3 years. I still want to keep native DSD payback ability (the Oppo does DSD512) because I've had good experiences with SACDs done from tapes, so want to keep the DSD ability. I'm looking at something very good but not terribly costly, like a Holo Spring KTE. Side note: I wish the industry would finally settle on PCM because the majority of sound engineers who actually use hi-res well prefer it, and there is always an absolute level indication. DSD could be delivered with metadata to provide absolute level every few ms, but currently that's not part of the process--silly.
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