TECK13

Scot asked a question regarding MIT Z Super Outlets. I do NOT have experience with the MIT outlets but when I had my dedicated lines installed I DID spec hospital grade duplex outlets - two in the main listening room (each with it's own dedicated line) and one duplex in the master bedroom. Not sure of the brand but these duplex outlets held the power cables plugged into them like vise grips. I am sure there was a better and more solid connection than I would have gotten with standard duplex outlets. My heavy PS Audio power cables didn't pull out of those babies. My stand alone power conditioners then handled the filtering and surge protection. A little additional context: As well as experience with MIT Z Series Power Conditioners I have tried MIT speaker cables and found them to be extremely well engineered and built. They did not sound right in my system but I respected them. Richard Marsh was a early pioneer of AUDIOPHILE grade AC power components and clearly one heck of an electrical engineer. I know Monster lured him to their company about 10 years ago and now he has his own company: Marsh Sound Design. My take is that MIT has continued forward, refining his designs and adding new ones based on sound science. I would be surprised if the MIT Duplex Super (with built-in filtering and surge/ spike protection) does not offer noticeable improvement. I know PS Audio also offers similar in wall conditioning duplex products. It may seem counter intuitive but my experience is that some of the less expensive, less complicated power conditioners sound better than the expensive ones. And if cost is an issue, again, I recommend the Monster HTS 2000 (or smaller HTS 1000). I think Richard originally designed it. Regardless, for $150-$200 bucks it is shockingly (ok wrong word), surprisingly, good.

I have messed around with Power for some years now. In my he-man rig I use MIT Z-Series products which I am not sure have ever been bettered but I am pretty sure they are now very hard to find. I continue to be very pleased with their performance. I expected the background to be a bit quieter and it is but the improved smoothness in the sound is a bonus. I have also had excellent results with the PS Audio Power Centers and a Brickwall Product. And, don't laugh, a very noticeable and super cost effective improvement from a Monster HTS 1000 Power Center. I have also experimented with power cables. I use some PS Audio power cables that are as thick as my arm (OK, an exaggeration) and they might help a little but any improvement is subtle. They do no harm for sure and the shielding no doubt rejects EMI radiation and noise better than stock cables. I have several MIT power cables and they seem quite good too. All and all, I sleep a little better when my valuable equipment is hooked up to power conditioners/surge protectors. But, by far the biggest improvement I have heard regarding power is when I installed dedicated lines in my last home. Holly. Much more improvement than swapping cables and interconnects. Very noticeable improvements in the bass and soundstage especially. I was pleasantly surprised by the extent of the improvement. I can not recommend highly enough this upgrade.

This was a frustrating process, trying different software and no answers on the net. EZToo Software looked promising but avoid it at all costs. They will take your money and you'll discover that "there is no one behind the curtain" when the software doesn't do what it claims to do. Their refund offer is as bogus as the company itself. Cinematize is slick and works but it is a two step process since it will not rip protected DVD's. Mac the Ripper (or other similar software) has to be used first. Finally, I discovered a utility software program called; Shine DVD to MP3 Converter.app. It was relatively inexpensive and it WORKS. They even respond to customer support questions sent via email. Imagine that. The software's name is misleading, you can adjust the settings for maximum quality and decode by chapter so you get each SEPARATE track at full DVD (48 kHz/1536 kb/s) resolution. You have to enter all the track info/names manually but the music is all there. I trust this posting helps those with the same issue I had.

This thread offers some advice for converting the audio portion of "regular" DVD's to iTunes compatible files for the PC but does anyone have any tips for Mac users? I own many music DVDs like the Eagles hell freezes over or Dave Brubeck Live in '64 & 66. I'd like to be able to play the stereo audio tracks, in their original full resolution, through iTunes. Like most things computer and audio it seems this should be simple but it is not. On my several years old work MacBook running OS X 10.4.11 I was able to use Mac the Ripper to convert the music to .PCM files. However, the choice seems to be either to rip one gigantic PCM file of the whole disc (using "mode" and “title only”+demux) or painfully rip every chapter individually. Both approaches blow. The more insurmountable problem is that the utility program "AIFF from PCM" absolutely refuses to work on my one year old MacBook Pro running OS X 10.5.6. My work computer goes away in two weeks so just using it is not an option. I've tried other software combinations to accomplish this but to no avail. Switch, RipIt, HandBrake, isky-dvd-ripper, etc Can anyone suggest a straightforward way to convert the individual tracks of my “music” DVD’s to AIFF tracks playable in iTunes? One final note, I am not opposed to buying reasonably priced software to accomplish this task – with the obvious stipulation that it actually does the job. Help and advice is greatly appreciated.

Music lovers would not be cruisin’ this site if they thought physical CDs had a whole lot of life left in them. So it was clear I needed a DAC to run from my MacBook Pro. If I had 5 large lying around I would pick up a Berkeley or the new PS Audio Perfect Wave but not in this economy.<br /> <br /> So it came down to the new Cambridge DacMagic or the recently price reduced PS Audio Digital Link III. I had no easy way to listen to either so like many, I scoured the Internet and read the reviews and what has been written about both. Both companies have well justified reputations for providing outstanding value. I came away from this “review of all the reviews” sensing that the DLIII had a slight edge. I downloaded the November 2008 issue of Hi-Fi+ and that was especially informative. It had separate reviews of both units. Both extremely positive. Unfortunately they did not compare them back-to-back or even by the same reviewer. My overall take-away was that the DacMagic is remarkable for the price and a no-brainer upgrade for a cheap CD player or to improve the digital sound of a gaming console. The PS Audio came across as more of a serious audiophile piece of kit (as the Brits would say).<br /> <br /> Next, I applied my crazy but not completely irrational tiebreaker criteria. Which piece weighed more? I know this “TECK rule” doesn’t always apply but usually the heavier unit is built better. Even if it is only the box, that weighs more, a sturdy enclosure tends to resonate less and stands up better to repeated handling. The heavier unit usually has a bigger and better power supply – totally true in this case. And often the heavier piece uses higher quality parts and components instead of cheap op-amps and the such. So I ordered, and received, a PS Audio DLIII from the good guys at musicdirect. <br /> <br /> It’s a long and winding story but my “real” sound system, with B&W 801s, McIntosh pre-amp and Antique Sound Lab Hurricane amps is all in storage. So I am listening to a super inexpensive “temporary” system. B&W’s least expensive small speakers (300 series at $300/pair), a several year old $130 Onkyo Stereo Receiver, and a cheapo Sony HDMI DVD player ... Ouch. But here’s the thing, even with this incredibly compromised set-up the difference between the DLIII and the Sony DVD player is jaw dropping. I was not sure this “make-shift” system would be able to resolve any differences. But holy. I put Jackson Brown’s Solo Acoustic Vol. 1 in the DVD player and simultaneously feed it through the new DAC. Granted a $100 Sony DVD player is just about the worst possible sounding CD source but switching from the DAC to the Sony was like going from the venue itself to listening to the same music on a Bose system a room or two away. The music just collapsed. I have rarely heard a difference this dramatic. It was like comparing speakers with a 25X price difference. The simpletons who think digital is digital should have a listen to this difference. <br /> <br /> The notes sound about the same but the difference in the soundstage and sense of space is startling. It’s been said 1000 times before, but the DLIII sounds like music and the DVD player sounds harsh, small, artificial, constricted and well, digital. With the Sony I want to turn the volume down, with the DLIII I want to turn it up.<br /> <br /> On a final note, I slightly prefer the 192 kHz upsampling to the 96 kHz but the difference is subtle. I cannot wait to hear the DLIII in my “real” system.