hardfour

That's great news on being able to control volume with JRemote! I'll be trying it out shortly.

Yes, it plays it fine. My exaSound DAC does DSD direct (not DOP), and works with my Carbon.

I've used it a bit with Jriver, though only with 16/44. No issues. I couldn't get it to work with Jriver for higher sample rates. I'm pretty sure the reason had nothing to do with the server.

I received a Teddy Pardo 12V/2A power supply to use with my e20 recently. I haven't had a chance to do that much listening with it yet, but I am happy to share my initial impressions. The biggest improvement I've noticed is in imaging and soundstaging. Backgrounds seem blacker, with a more realistic sense of space and greater separation between instruments. The improvement is not subtle - it jumped out at me immediately. So far, I haven't noticed much, if any, difference in other areas (dynamics, tone, etc.). But, to me, the improvements I have heard justify the cost of the power supply for sure. I'll report more as I have a chance to listen more.

Correct.

Well, I wound up purchasing this. I don't have the 2011 remasters, but I do find the sound to be a marked improvement from the CDs that I purchased in the 1980s.

I had both the Benchmark and Mytek in house for a 30-day trial. I preferred the Benchmark (though I ultimately wound up purchasing neither, and got an Exasound e20 instead). I particular, I found the analog volume control on the Mytek poorly implemented, and imparted a veil to the sound. The Mytek used with a digital volume control was better, but I still found the Benchmark more detailed and natural. The sound signature of the two units was fairly similar.

I would certainly agree with you there. It's a shame that's the album that's not in 24/96.

I don't check the HDTracks site hourly, and don't know how long it's been up. Since you apparently do monitor the HDTracks site hourly, perhaps you could provide the forum a service and let us all know the instant they release something new?

Looks like HDTracks now has the complete Smiths discography in 24/96 (except The Queen is Dead, which is 24/44). Anyone purchase it yet that can comment on sound quality? I haven't listened to the 2011 remasters (from which it looks like this is based) either. https://www.hdtracks.com/index.php?file=catalogdetail&valbum_code=HD825646443536

I also preferred the 24/352 files over the DSD 128. (And both are very, very good). Of course, that says nothing about which of the lower-resolution formats would sound best, actually or theoretically.

Agreed. I have found this thread HUGELY informative.

Interesting. I was able to rip and extract the Pentatone Fischer Mozart Violin Concertos and the Mendelssohn Piano Trios discs just fine. But I couldn't extract the Fischer Brahms Violin Concerto. For discs where I can't extract the files, I just import the ISO into Jriver, then use a custom filter to hide the multichannel tracks in Jremote. Though the tags are stored in Jriver rather than in the file, its a perfectly workable solution.

George - Do you happen to know the power output (in watts) of the E20 headphone output?

I've had the E20 for a little over a month now, and have really been enjoying it. While I'll typically be using it with my main system, I have a baby on the way, and am planning on buying some headphones for when the speakers are not an option. Does anyone have any feedback on using the E20 as a headphone amp, particularly with harder-to-drive headphones? I'm deciding between the HifiMAN HE500s, which are relatively hard to drive, and either the Sennheiser 600s or 650s, which are easier.