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CortlandApple13

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  1. As a budding computer audiophile, I welcome an opportunity to report my progress. Beginning early last year with my iMac Retina running Spotify connected to an Emotiva Stealth DC-1 DAC and Emotiva Airmotiv 6S speakers, I followed many threads in Computer Audiophile searching for meaningful upgrades. I hoped to find dramatic improvements in SQ at a reasonable cost. First, I upgraded my Emotiva Airmotiv 6S speakers to larger Emotiva Stealth 8 powered studio monitors. That was a dramatic improvement, especially at higher volumes. Next, I tested an exaSound e22 Mark II v 1.5. It was slightly better than my Emotiva Stealth DC-1 DAC, which is an extraordinary value, but was not a dramatic difference. On a lark, I then ordered the Schiit Yggdrasil. It is magnificent! The sound stage is full, instruments are separated and clear, and vocals sound like the singer is singing "live", right in front of me. I already had an amber Regen, which greatly improved my original Emotiva Stealth DC-1 DAC, but the Yggy is so good that the Regen's effect was minimal. As part of my experimentation, I had purchased an Intona, so I am using that with the Yggy and I like it, but if you removed it and didn't tell me, I might not notice for a while. Other changes I have made include replacing Spotify with TIDAL and adding an SVS subwoofer. Both were worth doing, but nothing compares to installing a Yggy. Listening to it makes me feel that I am hearing the source material as originally intended. It will be very interesting to see if any of the highly-anticipated 2016 products from Uptone Audio and other companies can improve SQ any more. It will be especially interesting to see what Schiit delivers this year.
  2. Hah! That's very funny. She listened only because I asked her to listen and because she is a polite person. Although she loves music, is a talented musician, runs a community chorus, and often attends live musical performance, she has ZERO interest in the subtlety of 44kHz versus 96kHz versus 192kHz recordings. My wife did not hear any difference. I heard a difference only on the Linn composition called "2L-087_192kHz_Quiet Winter Night". At the :17 second point, the piano notes had a more "tinkly" real sound. I listened over again about 5 times and the difference is noticeable, but far too subtle to be worth paying a price premium. I was a little disappointed in the test results, because I was hoping that SQ from 24bit/96kHz recording would be a significant step up from CD quality. Right now I am incredibly happy with the sound quality from my TIDAL to Intona to Schist Yggdrasil DAC to Emotiva Stealth 8 setup, but I am always looking to get closer to the sound of live music. In any case, this hobby is so rewarding because almost every technical advance makes the music sound better. Best, Victor
  3. Hi John, Thanks for your detailed reply. In order to come to a conclusion about subscribing to Qobuz, I just performed a test with my wife. I downloaded 44kHz and 192kHz files from the Linn Music Hi-Res site at 2L High Resolution Music .:. free TEST BENCH We listened to 3 performances at both resolutions and we were unable to hear any difference worth paying extra for hi-res files. This makes me happy to stick with TIDAL and not worry that I am missing any significant sonic experience. Thanks again, Victor
  4. I have been using Amarra for TIDAL for many months, but I recently gave up on struggling with the never-ending problems and the bad user interface of AFT and now use TIDAL directly. With the improvements in SQ of the most recent TIDAL release, I don't feel like I am missing anything major by giving up Amarra. Aha! I thought that Sublime INCLUDED streaming in hi res. I didn't realize that you have to purchase each individual hi-res album. So, I will ask a slightly different question: What do you think about the SQ of albums you have purchased through your Sublime subscription? Thanks, Victor
  5. Qobuz finally appears to be available in the United States. If you have recently subscribed, please describe how Qobuz compares to our common streaming services such as TIDAL. And, if you are using Qobuz Sublime, please let us know your opinion about the SQ. Thanks, Victor
  6. Hi Amara_Support, Do you have an anticipated release date for Amarra for TIDAL 2.0? Thanks, Victor
  7. John, thanks for your detailed answer. Considering that nothing about this subject appears to black-and-white, it is surprising to me that the "bits-are-bits" proponents are so sure of themselves. I will look forward to reading Mark Waldrep's test results this afternoon and then reading the comments sure to follow. Victor
  8. Jud, I agree with you about the fleeting nature of auditory memory. I have tried to do an A/B test with and without my Regen, but the time required for unplugging and plugging was too long to maintain an accurate auditory memory. What do you think the second half of about Mark Waldrep's test where he will perform a "reverse polarity" test? I’m going to capture the output of the Mac with and without the REGEN and do a polarity reverse in one file. I’m going to see if they null each other. If they do, it will show that the digital data coming from the REGEN and straight from the computer are identical. For me, that’s proof enough that the DAC will produce the exact same analog output signal. We’ll see. Thanks, Victor
  9. Hello Superdad, This is my first substantial post on CA. I have become fascinated with improving the streaming sound on my iMac Retina for the past 6 months. As a major part of my audiophile education, I read the New Posts on CA every day. Along with new speakers and a new DAC, I purchased a Regen and am happy with the SQ improvement. I want to understand more about why “bits are bits” or why “bits are not bits” so I can make wise purchasing decisions. In my audiophile browsing I discovered Mark Waldrep at Real HD-Audio | Information about the world of high quality audio He plans to test a Regen today and wrote yesterday: Tomorrow Russ brings his friend's REGEN box, his Benchmark DAC2 and a few other cables and such. I've invited a few LA and OC Audio Society friends to come and participate in the evaluation of the device. I should say right out front that there is nothing scientific or publishable about what we're going to do tomorrow. This is meant to be a casual check of several basic things. For those that have been writing saying that the test is meaningless, think what you want. Here's how I see things going. We'll have a single Mac Laptop playing one of my high-resolution 96 kHz/24-bit tunes in stereo… The USB outputs from the Mac will be sent via a couple of good USB cables to the two Benchmark DAC2s for decoding. We'll do it first without the REGEN box in between the Mac and the Benchmark. The analog outputs will be sent to the A|X Box that Russ has and then to a Butler Amplifier into two of my B&W 801 Matrix III speakers. These are the speakers that I've owned for years. I would prefer to use HRA speakers but I can't afford to purchase 5 of the JBL M2s. We'll listen to this setup and compare the sound. As you would expect, there shouldn't be any differences. We'll carefully level match the two devices (I have an SPL meter and I believe there is CAL setting on the Benchmarks). Then we'll put the REGEN box in between one of the two setups. And do some additional listening. There's no time pressure...the people here will have plenty of time to make there choices. I'm going to capture the output of the Mac with and without the REGEN and do a polarity reverse in one file. I'm going to see if they null each other. If they do, it will show that the digital data coming from the REGEN and straight from the computer are identical. For me, that's proof enough that the DAC will produce the exact same analog output signal. We'll see. Alex, have you been in communication with Mark about his test? Do you agree that his test conditions are appropriate? If you do not agree, how would you change the test conditions? Thanks, Victor Siegle
  10. Hi Paul R, I have a 27” iMac (non-Retina) running Yosemite with a 3.4 GHz Core i7 processor, 768 GB solid state Flash storage, 32GB of RAM, new (in box and unused) keyboard, and new (in box and unused) Magic Mouse. The iMac is covered by AppleCare until January 18, 2016. I am a newbie and do not know if it is appropriate to mention prices in this context, so I will omit the price, but I think it is very fair. If you are interested, please reply and let me know how to contact you directly. Thanks, CortlandApple13 (Victor Siegle)
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