thermalbat

Has anyone heard both?

I'm thinking of the Schiit Bitfrost 2 to be specific

So, just curious, is anyone else out there still using the original Valab Dac? I'm still using mine with the moded coupling caps(sonicap and v-cap). It's feeding into a pair of AVI DM10's. I'm wondering if any one has upgraded to any other dac and the comparisons.

I'm sorry, but that's just plain rude..

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2012/02/neil-young-apple-was-working-on-higher-quality-music-downloads.ars Other CA threads on this topic: http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Apple-presses-pause-high-def-music http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Go-Neil - Editor

Hi Kay, I used this cable http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=103&cp_id=10303&cs_id=1030304&p_id=5431&seq=1&format=2- according to Johns site, with this setup the cable quality doesn't matter much. I recommend that you check out the attenuators that John mentions on his site-I went with a 10db on the DAC(valab), and a 6db on the hiface end- they made a large difference. Make sure you allow a few hundred hours of burn in before you judge. I have about 200 hours on mine and it's still improving. I think that you'll be very pleased. Rich W

Just curious, has anyone out there tried a HiFace with the AVI aDM9.1's(using the optional spdif RCA input on the AVI's) Anybody think this would improve the AVI's at all?

Once again I emerge from a long period of lurking(and learning) to post an observation. For the past year and a half I've been switching between my Valab DAC and the internal DAC in my AVI ADM9.1's. My first DAC, the Cayin iDAC, has been sitting unused on my desk. About a month ago, I decided to give the Cayin another listen and...aaah!..the sweet sound of tubes! Seems to be a good match with the AVI's, which some say are too cold. But something just didn't sound right, so I decided to upgrade the USB cable that came with the Cayin with a Kimber USB cable. Now, to be honest, I really didn't expect to hear a big change. WOW was a I wrong! This cable made a major improvement in the sound of the Cayin. I've got to say that for the first time, with the combination of the Cayin and the XXhighend software, I am REALLY satisfied with what I'm listening to. Any doubts I had about a USB cable making a difference have been blown out of the water! I shall now retire to my lurking. Rich W

Anyone who is a fan of xxhighend player or anyone who's never heard it should check out the latest version- http://www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=934.0 This version is a huge improvement over previous versions(not that they sounded bad!). Really...check it out! Rich W

The Priests - Epic Records 2008

You might want to check Audiogon for used speakers. I picked up a pair of AVI ADM9.1's for a thousand bucks and I am VERY happy with them. You could also check out the Valab DACs on Ebay. I'm currently using one of those with the ADM9's and it sounds superb!

Heartless Bastards - The Mountain

Wow Liquid3D, to say that you're passionate about these speakers might be the understatement of the year! But, believe me, I understand. Anyway, that first post I made after listening to the speakers was after a LONG day at work and I was pretty tired-also the Valab DAC was not warmed up for very long. I'm listening to that combination now and it is sounding VERY good indeed. As far as the toslink goes, I did a little hunting online and found this: http://www.audiotrak.net/products/prodigyhd2/. It cost about $95.00 and does have a toslink out(24/96) connection. I don't know if this is an ideal solution, but at least it will get me started. The main reason I want to do the toslink is to listen to the 24/96 files that I have. The way the valab is sounding right now I could definitely live with that for the rest of my 16/44.1 files. Just a thanks to dib for mentioning the Behringer USA202. It looks interesting, but I already ordered the Audiotrak sound card.

Having done a little research it appears that getting a toslink connection for my PC might be a lot more difficult than I thought, or didn't think-maybe I should have considered this BEFORE I bought the ADM9.1's :-) Has anybody heard the M-Audio Transit? I see that it has toslink out, which is what I need. Rich W

Just want to thank everyone for their advice! I ordered a used pair of ADM 9.1's and they just arrived last night. Sorry to say that my first impression was, well, disappointing. I hooked up the Valab Dac which had sounded so good with the Audioengine A2's and gave a listen to some familiar tunes. Hmm, where's all that detail I heard about? Sure, there was more detail than the A2's, but not THAT much more. So, out comes the Toslink cable I purchased. Only to realize that my HP 1070 PC does not have an optical out. Wait! The trusty Cayin iDAC has a optical out, so it's USB to the Cayin, then optical to the ADM9.1's. NOW I'm hearing something! What an improvement. Now these speakers sound seriously good. But I'm guessing that the USB to Cayin to optical may not be the best way to go. I'm getting dropouts which I would bet are from the USB. Now I must find a way to get optical out from my PC. Any suggestions? Rich W