Jump to content

Bullitt5094

  • Posts

    91
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Country

    United States

Retained

  • Member Title
    Freshman Member

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

  1. I disagree with the latter part of this statement. I agree with speakers being a priority, but IF you have high quality speakers, what you feed them with will be reflected in their output. That's what makes them good, right? And to put a point on it... upgrading the weakest part of the signal chain, speakers, amp, dac whatever, will generally give the largest improvement in sound. The most difficult thing to do in the chain is a "transducer" that changes the type of energy. Mechanical to electrical i.e. a turntable cartridge. Or a speaker, electrical to mechanical. That conversion is the most difficult to "pull off" correctly. But the other processing hardware is also important. Look for the weak link.
  2. Apparently the Galv has also damaged my SOtM card and my Motherboard. Folks, I wouldn't risk putting this device in your system. That's my recommendation. I really like the USB, but the Galv can apparently be dangerous. This is turning out to be a very expensive experiment for me.
  3. I know of at least one person that experimented with the 2400 external and thought it was a step backward in sound. But I guess it depends a lot on the speakers. He had similar high efficiency speakers as I do. Mine are 99dB, so very high. His were 96 if I remember correctly. I guess if you aren't pushing the 2170 to start with, it's better not to add anything you don't need to the signal path. At least that's always been my way of thinking. I would think the 3400 would be a cleaner solution if you require additional head-room vs the 2170.
  4. Those are all great suggestions, and I certainly appreciate all the input from the community. But I've decided to return all things iFI through Amazon and experiment with non-iFI products. Happy listening folks!
  5. If all you're going to do is shuffle me into the system, I'm just going to return everything through Amazon and look for something else. That's going to be easier for me. You'll be getting your USB cable back too. But thanks anyway.
  6. The iFI USB and the Galvanic are both out of the system currently. The Galvanic because it scares me to death right now, and the USB because it doesn't work after the Galvanic incident. I am directly connected between my SOtM USBexp card in the Music Server PC and the Lyngdorf. Which still sounds pretty good. SOtM makes some good stuff. That's why I remain surprised the 200 Ultra didn't make the grade.
  7. Not a laptop. It's a PC I built that includes all SSD drives, a linear PS and Audiophile Optomizer. I'm reasonably sure the Lyngdorf doesn't like the broken chain. And the Lyngdorf isn't going to get replaced for any reason, unless I upgrade to the new 3400. Think "cold dead hands". And I'm one of these weird people that read the instruction. I know there are multiple positions/modes on the iFI Galv. But the only thing it adds vs the iFI USB to my signal chain is the Galvanic Isolation. At least as far as I can tell. So defeating that defeats any reason to have it in-line. I'm generally a simpler is better kind of guy anyway. Plus, I'm not going to put it back in-line and risk anything else stupid happening at this point. I'm still waiting for iFI's reaction to my situation. I realize they can't test vs every piece of hardware/driver out there, but this is a really bad failure mode. I'm not a happy camper right now. I'm really glad it didn't damage the amp. Anxious moments yesterday, for sure.
  8. The Iso Regen may have come in second if not for compatibility problems. It sounded very good when it worked in the full ISO mode. But I had the same problem with it I just had with the iFI Galvanic. It would only work for a short period of time in ISO mode before crashing the stream. But when it crashed it never went into max white noise mode. It would either go into a weird low level distortion or just stop the stream. I worked with Alex on a work-around for this problem "stick a wire into the output USB connector and ground it to the receptacle in the wall". But that made no change. I wasn't going to live with that anyway. And in the non-iso mode it didn't sound much better than a direct connection to the Lyngdorf. But if your DAC will let it stay in ISO mode, it could sound very good. The Mutec was just flat missing high end extension and clarity across the board. The wife described it as distorted vs even a direct feed from the server. It couldn't even keep up with the CD input from my Oppo, which sounds pretty good in it's own right. I tried different things with it, but the shortcomings were obvious from square one. In fact the only time it sounded good was when I put the iFI USB in front of it. For some reason it helped the Mutec produce some of the missing range. Even then the stream sounded better with just the iFI. But AGAIN, don't take my results as what you'll hear. Try them!
  9. First, let me state that I realize my findings go totally against the grain of the majority of the Audiophile community. Especially on the SOtM 200ultra and the Mutec devices. I stated I have some audiophile friends that are enamored with the 200. Even the guy that produces AO thinks the Mutec is the best thing since sliced bread. So don't sell those short. They all have return policies that will cost you minimal investments to run them through your system as I did. I encourage you to do so. I am totally surprised at the results of my testing. But I went through the same process with the Lyngdorf vs amps from LTA and Odyssey. I was actually rooting for the LTA because those are just absolute works of art and the company was awesome to deal with. And they did sound very, very good. But the Lyngdorf was noticeably better. So I'm "stuck" with an integrated amp in my rack. Bummer... lol. OK, what we heard is clarity top to bottom. Especially the high-highs. The run-out of the cymbal sounds. The resolution of the strings. The natural sound of the piano. The SOtM did a pretty good job in comparison, but the Mutec seem to have the very high end MIA altogether. Please note... I have Tekton Ulfberhts. They include 15 tweeter elements! Their high end extension is pretty darn good. Plus the Lyngdorf resolves high end very well against very dark noise floor. That was the most striking difference. But the imaging was better with the iFI. Certainly more depth to the stage. A 3D effect. This is a result of good mid range in my book. And also on the low end. The Bass in Diana Krall type Jazz is much tighter and more defined. Some of this I attribute to the better mid/highs though. There is high end resolution even in the rattle of a plucked bass. But the speed of the kick drum on Bleacher/Chain Smoker albums was noticeably better too. Almost startling. Again, the Tektons have two 12" woofers in each tower and a 99dB efficiency. So thing like this are pretty up-front with them. So there are all the usual flowery adjectives. I find it really hard to describe sound. I highly recommend listening in your own system, in your own room and not being tainted by the crowd. Internet sales have opened the door to in-home auditions. Something that didn't happen too often even a few years ago. I encourage everyone to take advantage of it. I use to feel guilty sending things back, but I realize now, the lack of cost of brick/mortar stores or sub distribution are a cost savings for manufactures. That certainly offsets the cost of their return policy. So take advantage of it.
  10. So my feedback on the Galv isn't what you're going to want to hear. It arrived today and I installed it prior to the USB3 as instructed. I left the switch in the center. It played 3-4 songs and suddenly put out a blast of what I would call white noise at, what I'm sure was max level. I shut everything down as quickly as possible and pulled the Galv out. But the outburst seems to have damaged the USB3. My PC will not see my Lyngdorf amp through the USB3. I've had the USB3 less than 30 days purchased through Amazon, but not from your Amazon store iFI. What should I do @AMR/iFi audio ?
  11. So much for reading comprehension. I was already curious about the Gemini anyway. So I don't regret ordering it. I know a lot of people like the Plush cable too.
  12. I'll have my Gemini sample on Thursday. Hope it's an improvement. Always chasing the dragon. Why do you call the Audiocadabra the "curious cable"? I'm just curious.
  13. And, a brief correction/clarification... Alex at Uptone Audio sent me an email stating I need to clarify his device is less expensive by $100. My money saving statement was mean't to relate to where I was going with the SOtM 200 system. Not the Uptone product. So that's all clear now.
  14. Wow. So you have purchased and A/B these two cables on your system? Is that correct? If so, I look forward to that comparison on mine. I assume you have the iFI cable only on the last segment of you chain between the iFI product and the DAC element of your system. Is that also correct? If so, I'll have to either sample the 2.0 or file down the 3.0 plug to fit into the Lyngdorf 2.0 plug. :-)
×
×
  • Create New...