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losingmyreligion

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  1. http://sbooth.org/Decibel/ Try Decibel for an inexpensive player ($33) that plays FLAC files. It's my favorite of the non-iTunes based OSX music players. For a great sounding DAC, that also has a great built-in headphone amp, try to audition the Wavelength Proton. It's portable (i.e. does not require AC power), and comes with a Wireworld USB cable. apparently the headphone amp mates well with AKGs, but IMO it's worth its price as just a DAC, which makes the headphone amp a bonus. It also has a built-in analog volume control which responds to your Mac's digital volume control. enjoy
  2. "I must once again reiterate my skepticism that the effect even exists." Agreed. "All I'm trying to suggest is that non-ludicrous questions can be asked on this subject." Understood. It's hard for me to imagine anything other than a simple, logical explanation (such as the type I proposed re the differences heard by Cookie). I don't think the answer is due to changes in the file itself that somehow manage not to change the checksum.
  3. "Different offsets result in non-identical files with different checksums." ah yes, of course they would. so, just about anything I can think of that might cause sonic differences would also cause different checksums, e.g. files with differing "endian-ness", .wav files with differing metadata, etc.
  4. "...in the default way a saved file might be written to disk from a zip container vs. without that container?" I've often suspected that the reason Cookie Marenco (sp?) claims a sonic difference between files that were "handled" (i.e. zipped, emailed, etc.) differently was due to their possibly being written to a different default location (on a different disk, perhaps). clay
  5. "I could even imagine two nominally identical files producing different collateral noise damage if they were both placed on the same highly fragmented disc. Why not?" Yes, indeedy, why not. But, digital-to-digital transfer of files (i.e. to a different digital media) seem likely to eliminate this as a possible cause, as in the examples Alex offers of emailing files to others, who then store them on their own digital device. The only other possible "cause" I've heard proposed was by Steve Nugent of Empirical Audio - specifically, that different offsets (at the beginning on a digital file) somehow had different sonic impacts beyond the first few missing / extra samples. thoughts? clay
  6. "...not the signal path of the USB" The signal path of the USB also provides a path for "dirty" power. If reports of eliminating bus power (when possible) or providing needed power separately from the computer are true, then the power leg on the USB cable would seem to be a potential issue.
  7. "Do you know why? Was it because audio (or DACs) just didn't come into the issue at all when the USB spec was agreed?" The oft repeated explanation is that USB was originally designed for connecting mice and printers to computers. Only later was it co-opted to support audio. Note, Firewire spec allows for bus power, but also specifies isolation, which USB does not unless I've misunderstood what others have reported here. clay
  8. "Could we please keep remembering the difference?" Here's a difference worth remembering: By design, digital USB cables intentionally provide the computer's "dirty" power it's own direct path to the DAC.
  9. "The next step is to try to validate that the tool will show an audible difference of the sort we are interested in. Its pretty important to verify that it does detect significant differences. Sometimes the simple difference will not be sensitive to something we may hear." Agreed. How audible do you think that the small signal differences (that comprise the reported differences) between players, cables, etc. are, relative to using something like Audio Diffmaker as a test apparatus? I'll reach out to you offline if you don't mind, I have some questions about possibly testing using my LIO-8. clay
  10. "And as long as anyone / the legions that are jumping by ("Oh my God! The truth! It is revealed!") is trying to install these findings as valid truth for really everybody..." I believe this test performed a valid function for the forum, in that it serves as a marker for those people who would take a single data point and as you say "install these findings as valid truth for really everybody". Seen in that light, it's grand entertainment.
  11. There's also a 6pin version and a few other things that might interest those experimenting with Firewire cable's power leg. http://www.usbfirewire.com/fadapters.html Beats the heck out of paying several hundred dollars for handmade USB cables that then charge an arm AND a leg for cables with separate legs. good luck in your search.
  12. They don't show up in a search on Rakuten, which is where I purchased before they appeared for sale in US. Neither are they still listed on the Oyaide site. If you do find one, there's no need to perform cable surgery to remove the power leg, use one of there instead. http://www.usbfirewire.com/Parts/rr-cfbe-9901-np.html
  13. Nice work. "What do we do now? You took all the fun out of this." The fun might only be beginning. Any chance you'll compare JPlay to Jriver?
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