goranmaler

I recently got PWDII for home trial. When I connect it to MacMini (Pure Music) or PC(Foobar) via USB there is immediately rise in background noise from speakers. I tried different USB cables, power cords with same result. When I use USB/SPDIF converter (m2Tech, Berkeley alpha USB) system is dead silent. I asked the same question at PS Audio site but no answer yet. Anyone experienced something similar or have any idea? Thanks, Goran

I had same dilemma a month ago. Thanks to our Berkeley dealer I had chance for 14days in house trial period. Finally I liked my alpha 1 better over alpha2 in my system . With alpha2 all music sounded like it was recorded in same space. Big cavernous soundstage no matter was it concert hall or jazz club. But alpha usb was real game changer. Music was full bodied and sounded more like real thing and that could be heard with both alphas. So finally I left my old alpha1 and added alpa usb. Very happy with the system now.

Hi Chris, glad you like it. These are my second Quads. I had 989s until last September. These are much better speakers with even more resolution especially in bass. Midrange, solo cello, female vocals sound so real. I like listening loud but never experienced shut down to prevent arcing. My listening room is round 50m2 and hight is almost 3m. I usually listen to singer/songwriter music, jazz and classical. I grew up on Pink Floyd, Dire Straits and Clash so I play them to. Big orchestral works are no problem, room is filled with music and my ears shut down before the system. I also tried Maggies 3.6 and Martin Logan Summits but prefered Quads musicality. I heard CLXs on show in Munich and liked tham but they are twice the price. Goran PS. Great site!

Sill working on it (and for the past 25 years). Alpha dac was on loan.

My qbd76 ia almost two year old now. I use it in setup with notebook PC/Foobar2000/EMU0404 external usb sound card. For last two months I use m2tech hiface interface. Sound is much better when using spdif connection than with usb which is limited to 24/48. I did a lot of listening using Stax tube amp and their headphones. Rest of the system is McIntosh 2300pre/501power amps/Quad 2905 speakers. Balanced xlr connection is used through the system. Before deciding on qbd i listened to many high end cd players and dacs including Meitner, Metronome, Wadia, AudioNote and dcs. Haven t heard new Ayre dac. In my system qbd sounds very dynamic, transparent with deep and wide soundstage. Midrange sounds natural I enjoy listening to female singers or cello recordings. Firm bottom end and opened highs no listenig fatigue. So far I haven t heard dac that would make me think of upgradeing. Cheers, Goran

Dentist

Zagreb,Croatia

Hello, I m also waiting for my hiFace to arrive. Price is 99Euro plus around 10Euro s&h for Europe. BNC version is plus 15Euro. Goran

I use notebook computer running xp,Foobar2000 and emu 0404 usb sound card to feed Chord qbd76 DAC. I am limited to 24/96 using single wire SPDIF connection. Are there any external solutions I could use to get dual wire connection and higher sampling rates. Goran Maler

Thanks GrahamS, I didn t know about Magna products but I was also shocked with the prices. That plus Lynx card would be a solution but certantly not cheap one. QBD76 is great DAC, my favorite are downloads from High Definition Tape Transfers. I could not belive how it sounds when I first heard it. All of my audiophile friends were speechless when they heard it through Quad 989s. I am now in a long process of riping my cd collection to hard disc. Listening through Foobar and upsampling to 88kHz makes them sound a bit better. As you said maybe we should wait for a cheaper alternative! Goran

Well after I bought Chord DAC I exchanged a lot of e-mails with their tehnical stuff and after all they addmited that qbd76 usb input is limited at 48kHz but they did not mention it in the owners manual. Reviews like one in Hi-Fi plus also leave you with an impression that no matter which input is used you get 24/192. I looked at Lynx site but as I understood it all of these cards are built in and can t be used with notebook. But computers are not my strongest side...

Yes, it looks that way. Thanks. Any recomendations for an outboard usb card that can output 24/192 via SPDIF interface?

Thank you all for your input. It may be design of 0404 that does not permit higher sampling rates through digital outputs. http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?product=15185 Best regards, Goran

Hello, After initial problems with 0404 everything works fine. I use it for reproducing 24/96 music from my laptop to Chord qbd76 DAC via coax connection. It sounds way better than 16/44. Yesterday I got 3 Reference Recordings HRx discs containing 24/176 encoded music. I copied it to hard drive tried to play but it would not work. Is it possible to play higher sampling rates and how to do that. I use Foobar2000 and Chord DAC can reproduce up to 192kHz. Thanks, Goran Maler

Hi, thanks for answering. This DAC is new on the market and the manual is not on the Chord site yet. There is only some sort of tehnical description. http://www.chordelectronics.co.uk/specs/QBD76.pdf In the printed manual I received with the unit they say that DAC will lock to 44,48,88,96,176 or 192K but I don t know if that apply to all inputs. I´ll contact Chord and ask. Goran Maler