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Cnewport

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  1. Dave, <br /> <br /> I did the same comparison, in the same store, and had the same result. I imagine we both worked with I.H. too
  2. At work I use the Denon AH-D5000 for hours on end. They sound as wide as my Grados (325's) but are infinitely more comfortable. Even though they are a closed design they do not shield as well as some others (Sennheiser HD280) - when it gets really loud I just switch to in ears (Ultimate triple fi 10). The cable is very long and is a 3.5mm with an adapter - it is also covered with a nice jacket like high end speaker cables (you can feel a small wire coiled inside that probably helps the cable stay incredibly quiet - you don't hear any of those 'scratchy' sounds when you move). Above the sound, which is amazingly open for a closed back, the comfort of these cans sets them apart from others I've tried.
  3. AJ,<br /> <br /> Both units were floor demo models that had been well used before I tried them. <br /> <br /> My first thought was a trip to Toronto could be in order and then I looked at the Wavelength dealer list - not very long right now <br /> <br />
  4. AJ,<br /> <br /> I was shopping for a system for headphone use and narrowed my choices down to the Nova and the Proton. The Proton had the price and size advantage, but the Nova had so many more features. After listening for about an hour each at my local shop I went with the Nova. It was smoother and didn't tax my ears - I found the Proton a little bright and harsh.<br /> <br /> BTW I was using Grado SR225's at the time.
  5. http://airport-radar-widget.en.softonic.com/mac Try this dashboard widget to see what channel all the wireless networks in your neighborhood are running. You'll want to change yours in the airport extreme setup to something with less traffic on it. My neighbor was having terrible trouble with wireless connectivity until I discovered there were about a dozen visible networks around his house all on channel 6. Moved him to 11 and now it works perfectly.
  6. flohmann,<br /> <br /> There is indeed plenty of room for an airport express in the back. I had mine in there until I switched to an Apple TV. I removed the smaller of the two plates on the back - then let the airport express rest on the edge of the larger plate.
  7. One definite benefit, other than the main purpose of isolation products, is that it raises the mini off the shelf. Peeling the rubber off the bottom and placing feet on it will help it cool and therefore the fan should be quieter.
  8. I'm surprised your two choices are so different in price. Instead of spending the money on a display, keyboard, etc. that you may never use - why not consider a mac mini with an SSD? That would be really quiet.
  9. The only quantitative analysis I've seen on power cables was done by DarqueKnight on the polk audio forums, here are a couple examples: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72539 http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88538 He's put a great deal of effort into these and they are interesting to read - agree or disagree.
  10. Rascal, I don't see any inputs on the back so I doubt it is possible. There are good images here: http://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-83SE/blu-ray-BDP-83SE-Image.aspx. Although there's that USB port on the front that says it plays music from 'thumb drives'... Also...saw a post above mentioning a Nova without the amp in 2010. This might be a good upgrade path for you from the Decco.
  11. Rascal, I took out the PS an listened again to be sure I was remembering correctly. After compensating for the wattage difference with the volume control, the sound was simply more detailed with the PS in place. With the Nova driving the speakers directly the bass seemed smeared together, whereas with the PS you could hear the plucks and decay of the guitar. With the Nova and a cello I simply thought "yeah a cello sounds like that" and wasn't engaged. With the PS I hear the instrument vibrate and feel the bow drawn across the strings and have to sit down and listen. For the test I used "In God's Country" from the remastered Joshua Tree and Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 (http://www.amazon.com/Bach-6-Unaccompanied-Cello-Suites/dp/B000F6YW3K).
  12. I too decided the amp was the weakest part of the Nova and added a PS Audio Trio A-100. The improvement was immediate and dramatic. Where I used to listen at 50% volume to get anything that grabbed my attention out of the Nova - I'm now at 25% and the sound is much more engaging.
  13. Craig, The drives appear just as they would if you plugged them in separately. Depending on the enclosures you have and where you keep them, two external drives will be louder than the iMac. btw...this is why firewire drives always have two connections - daisy chaining is part of the spec.
  14. A separate DAC would sound much better but they cost a lot (relative to an airport express and $25 software). One of the cheaper ones I know of is the Musical Fidelity V series (http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=MFVDAC). To connect it to the airport use a toslink cable and an adapter (http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=AQMINITO). A USB DAC will only work with a computer, it will not work with an airport express or apple tv. This is a real budget buster
  15. 1: Does the iMac have superior components to the mini, if so will it enhance audio playback? Both are made with laptop parts - that's how they fit them all inside such a small enclosure. In my experience one is not better than the other as far as audio is concerned. 2: Is the iMac quiet enough to use in my lounge near my system, the screen would be off during playback? Yes, I've had a few iMacs and the new intel ones are extremely quiet. As Craig mentioned, any fan or hard drive noise is emitted out the back. 3: If the mini is used via my Panasonic Plasma PZ85 42", will the the PZ 85 make a suitable computer monitor? Snow Leopard has added resolutions for TVs in the display settings - with Leopard you had to get software to hack the resolution. So yes this display should work fine with a mini-displayport to HDMI adapter. 4: Are all USB's equal on the iMac and mini, I read a post a while ago about a Macbook pro, and not all USB's were suitable for a USB Dac? The macbrook pro has two USB ports: one on its own bus and one shared with the keyboard and mouse. This caused problems for lots of microphones and things that needed a lot of power. I have not heard of any minis or imacs having this issue. 5: I will be using an external HDD for storage, a new one, will firewire give better playback results than USB, for audio playback, speed is not an issue for me, unless it has an impact on the audio. If using a USB DAC it would be better to have a firewire drive so the incoming and outgoing data is traveling on a different bus. 6: Can Firewire external HDD's be daisy chained, to allow one to copy the other? Yes, this works very well. I've used this setup for years with FW400 (and now 800) with three drives.
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