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topofdaworldma

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  1. I have just dragged myself through this thread, admittedly as it was pointed out to me rather than curious choice. I very rarely post here, mostly just a reader but feel a light touch of moderation is required as it would appear Chris lacks the time to be an all- seeing, big brother style mod. ( maybe to some point the inclination, as a proportion of threads that are in need of moderation instill a lack of willingness to live on reading them! ) The vast majority of moderation needy threads are the old subjective vs objective type. We are all aware of the two camps. While there is no harm in the opposite camp stating their case within a thread, that is where it should end. This is so any reader is made aware/reminded not to be carried away on a wave of one sidedness. Once the bloodshed starts that's when the mod(s) should step in sharpish. At that point the thread is otherwise derailed and lost to the great bin in the sky of the-sameold-brown-smelly-stuff. On this forum there is a sense that, unofficially, an active OP is to some extent a moderator, guiding the thread in the mood originally intended, allowing for sensible/amusing/loosely-connected meanderings. Without an active OP the thread usually dies off PDQ anyway.
  2. Although the Mac is a solid choice if you like the look and sound of them, bear in mind the very expensive casework, which at the lower levels is a significant part of the overall build cost. I personally think you will get better performance/$ elsewhere. For a standard integrated I've not heard anything that can touch the ATC integrated, if you can find one second hand. Active speakers or a power amp to add to the Teac have also been suggested, that is a sensible route if you're happy with the sq you have now but just need more welly.
  3. Not actually correct. Although Alex does have age related ailments the reason for not posting is that he has moved to a very rural area where there is currently insufficient adsl/optic nodes to provide usable internet for all residents. New infrastructure is on the way but it's a waiting game.
  4. You seem to misunderstand my criticism so using your argument; As there was no significant numbers of listeners, full stop, the test cannot draw any conclusions. You so willingly state the claims are not valid, yet those who heard "correctly" can now corraborate AQ's claims.
  5. Maybe the test would have been a little more valid if one pair of tracks had been keyed from the start i.e. we knew which was which in advance. Then the remaining tracks left to the listener to decide. However, which was better would only be in the ears of listener and subject to many things including personal preference. The better question could have been which is preferable, as the manufacturer intended, the other way, or no difference. This would at least be a valid argument. Without any reference point, of how the track(s) should be, the test was pretty much scuppered from the start. Another point, as already stated by Superdad, is that this test only has validity on cables that are not mechanically directional e.g. pseudo-balanced. (I think I'm correct in saying the cables used here were indeed psuedo balanced if used in RCA form). All, of course, IMHO. For the record I only listened to the first two tracks but had them the "correct" way around.
  6. A very popular and legally accepted programme for this type of thing is Diamond Cut Forensics. In the right hands it can work wonders. Maybe they have a trial period or if this is something you want use to use more, then possibly a purchase at less than half that of the quotes you had! Diamond Cut Forensics10 Audio Laboratory [DCP-920F] - $1,499.00 : Diamond Cut Productions, Professional Audio Restoration Tools
  7. Are you saying you are not updating Win8 because of the automatic Win10 nag? If yes, simply choose view all updates and remove Win10 from the two lists (essential and optional). Quite agree with this, plus I have a couple of peripherals that are still having trouble Win10, although my Elements HDD is behaving well on Win8.1 We have approx. 6 months left to make up our minds on a free Win10 upgrade, hopefully by then combatability issues will be few and more known of it's musical capabilitites.
  8. I can offer my experience of older but similar products. I had a Xonar DS card and an M-Audio Audiophile USB interface, the latter was quite superior for digitising vinyl.
  9. I spotted this little board on €bay and thought it may have some possibilities or simplify some modifications. The board is open to criticism on its execution, especially when thinking of mounting into a chassis but I'm sure some thoughtful bodgery would get around such trivial hurdles. Thoughts for usage range from decomplexifying adapting an old PC PSU into a workbench PSU to facilitating the simpler insertion of modifications to the power being fed to various parts of a computer. With the aid of a PICO power adaptor board the laptop PSU could also find new uses. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/24Pins-ATX-Benchtop-Power-Board-Computer-Power-Supply-Breakout-Adapter-/181964686234?hash=item2a5df0c39a:g:C5IAAOSwk1JWcpK2
  10. Yes, I took your initial reply quite differently to its intention, it would seem. Thanks for the clarification.
  11. I get your notion. I guess what I trying to say is, has anyone upgraded from a Curryman or very similar and been pleased with an increase in general sound quality. The Amanero is doing its job well enough but having heard quite a difference between my basic 9023 board and Curryman I was hoping I could nudge things up, if anyone has experience of travelling this path?
  12. I'm currently on the hunt for a new I2S input DAC board. It will be replacing a basic 9023 based board. Supply is from an Amanero USB to I2S board. In another DAC I have the Curryman board which has been a great bang for the buck and certainly better that my basic 9023. The question being, is there a board that is now usefully superior to the Curryman in sound quality without going mad on price?
  13. I took the online test scoring an imperfect 5/6. I failed to discern differences on the rather dire recording quality of the Coldplay track. (Windows 8.1, PKDAC & SCHA) I then downloaded sandyk's .wav rip of Suzanne Vega's track to compare to the online .wav. Below is a quote from the email I sent him. "I then compared the SV track, their .wav and yours. Firstly the levels are different, I guess they boosted their's to match the MP3 level? Beggers the question, what else did they do to it? Once past the level difference, equating to their's being two notches higher on my valab volcon on the SCHA, there was a marked difference in naturalness of tone especially, add to that breathing cues and little "smacks" in her voice being clearer on your rip." After that I thought maybe the downloaded track had an unfair advantage by being played through Foobar/ASIO so I let the default player take over to equalise the playing field. The gap was narrowed a little but the level difference and the those others mentioned above were still present.
  14. As I fit that description I can personally vouch for the differences achieved between files using many of the described methods, these I have verified/reproduced on my own lesser system. If you have genuinely tried these to the letter and hear no difference then don't worry, move on, you don't need it. Otherwise, enjoy the improvement to be had. We all listen differently and have different priorities in the way we listen/rip. The majority of my rips use the installed extra methods but I may not go the extra mile with safe-mode, unplugging other USB devices and the ADSL modem if the original is not really of any outstanding recording quality in the first place. I will with the really good ones though, it's worth it to me and for others. Until definitive reasons are found and measured as to why these methods work (for some) I'm happy with just the end result.
  15. Hi Jon, I downloaded your files for a listening test. Taking a leaf out SandyK's book, I converted the files to .wav first also using Foobar. I first listened on my cheapy USB headphone amp, even on that (a 16 bit unit) the 24/44 sounded more fleshed out and better toned than the 16/44. I only heard a marginal going up to the 24/48. However, once plugged into my better set up the differences were far better etched, with the 24/48 clearly sounding more vibrant and with a richer tone.
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