motberg

Agree 100% from my experience, Windows, Server, Euphony, Volumio, etc.

This is an interesting result - what was the amperage rating for the LT3045's... maybe not enough overhead ?

iiuc, UPL is .wav files playback only ? So if possible, a comparison of flac via U192ETL general quality vs. the UPL/.wav general quality would be extremely enlightening..

Thanks! I did not notice a mention of the remote at the SZAudio site.....

Montrose - Space Station #5 Near the end, just before getting to the strong standard swirl-around-your-head phase effect, there is a wave that travels back and forth behind the listeners neck.. Pretty much that entire album is a true rock classic... For more natural stuff, +1 on the Chesky CD's A high priority for my preferences is a large deep sound-stage, so I built some columns to help inter-aural crosstalk cancellation by delaying some of the opposite side speaker arrival. I think this helps stabilize my system's performance for this attribute - and when I make some changes, Space Station #5 provides a good reference.

If you could be so kind as to share photo of the front panel and navigation, that would be appreciated 😊

Thanks for the review! Is this your first experience using i2s?

If you like studio prog rock, rock, jazz, pop, I think an r2r DAC should be considered as an option, to me r2r offers a more natural, lifelike, dynamic presentation for these genres vs. my limited experience with AK and ESS. I also get the impression a competent r2r offers better "drive" for a tube preamp. I think it was someone at Schiit who refers to "plankton" - pretty good description in what I noticed missing in my 2 AK4497 DAC's and a few ESS models. Lots of options, but I am looking at this or the flagship Audio-GD stuff... or maybe something used.... maybe next month will be able to pull the trigger...

One other thing is that, (from my direct experience not directly related to audio), maybe the factory engineers offer a considerable contribution to the design and production engineering. So I would not be surprised if many of the noticed shared characteristics actually originated from the factories' capabilities.

Maybe we think of our music more like a David Copperfield performance.. 😉

I suggest you also try Euphony Stylus vs. Roon - free to try for a month and very easy to setup... I never used Roon, but recent comments iiuc are it is going downhill for audio quality.. I personally would try software (and any possible room/speaker/chair adjustments) before a new DAC or preamp test...

My Love Over Gold is a SACD rip a friend did for me a long time ago. Sounds fantastic, one of my favorites... I hate to mention this, but somewhere in one of these groups a few months ago I posted my impressions of the D50, and 2 comments I included were something like; acoustic guitars had a slight plastic sheen (first noticed on "The Clap" by Yes) and most bass guitar elements sounded like they were recorded by a cheap DI direct to the mixing board. So it could be your separation issue is partially DAC based, but should not be a severe as what you are mentioning. Standing by itself the D50 I thought was fine, much better than most other DAC's I have heard in that price range, and these attributes were only noticeable in comparison to my reference DAC at the time which was over 2000 USD and used 8 x PCM1704UK chips in NOS mode. More likely room treatments, chair/speaker location, or the file quality will fix this. Love Over Gold is recorded and mixed so well, I would not think a professionally done master would do so much damage, but may be some other type of file problem. Looking forward to your impressions when you try another source for Love Over Gold.

The way I understand things, -25 db should be audibly acceptable given a competent software volume control implementation (whether inside the DAC or written into the control software) ....but I think this could actually be a bit more complex.. To me, that means that for most DAC's you should be able to run direct as you have been and attenuate in software without audible degradation. Maybe someone with a more technical background could comment additionally. Some cool info in this thread (pros and cons of preamps) if you have not yet seen it...

Opposing viewpoint on the idea to learning recording methodology. I would think the artist usually wants the listener to experience their work as a finished piece, not dissect it into its parts. The absolute worst thing I did in my life's audiophile endeavors was to start a DAW based project studio after I left my last band and work up some original songs. After a few years of that, every time I listen now I am considering the process as much as - or more than - experiencing the artists' solicited emotional response. I guess a little understanding of the recording environment (year, players, culture, etc.) is OK, but personally I would not recommend to learn the process to the point where you are wondering what the mixing engineer screwed-up that resulted in the piece not being well layered.

Gustard A20H - if you can get an audition with return capability. This is smooth, detailed, modern and sufficiently dynamic. To my ears, more analog in presentation and more natural in tone than the D50. But I think your speakers deserve something exceptional in a DAC, If you are using USB, from what I have read the Schiit Bifrost 2 may be a good match to the KEF's. Also imho this DAC represents some really impressive technology, being multi-bit and user up-gradeable. Possible end-game for many audiophiles, but there are some limitations such as no DSD input. I guess you are using digital volume control currently. Are you using Roon volume control (I hear that is pretty good), or the D50s volume control? How much attenuation are you applying? ( the DAC or software may say something like -18 db..) . This info may help the more qualified folks here make some suggestions. Tubes preamps are nice, but truly can be an expensive rabbit hole, and it still is nice to have a solid state option available also, such as the Schiit Freya + offers. That way, you do not really need to have the perfect set of tubes, as you always have a good SS section to fall back on. I have been looking at tube preamps for the past few years also, and it seems most pure tube pre's neutral enough to be a "daily driver" are around/over 2000 USD. I have a D50 also (with LT3045 regulated LPS). In my system, the D50 was really nice (almost tubey) in the vocals, but low-mids kind of artificial, and highs not as refined as the A20H. If you haven't yet, you can try a battery power supply with the D50, I think in your system you may hear a change. I have a nice tube buffer (Black Ice by Jolida - Foz SS-X), but do not think it would be a good match with a D50. It does not have a bypass or volume control, but is amazingly clear and open with a vintage RCA clear top (very good with the stock new Tung-Sol tube also). The Foz with a clean passive preamp offers a tube sound much more to my preferences than a few other economy tube preamps I have had in my system recently.