mikenyc

I have owned the Proton for over a year and have been thrilled with it. I listen on a stax omega headphone rig which is very revealing. It just sounds very natural to me. My only issues have been with the computer side of things on my Macbook with Amarra. If you use the search function, you will find a few other very happy users in addition to Chris' original review. I have not been able to compare this directly with other DACs though, so cannot give you those comparisons. I would highly recommend checking this one out.

After trying the trial version I just purchased Audirvana +. Very easy purchase process and licence load. No issues. Very happy with the performance. The issues that surfaced with Amarra Mini on upgrading to Lion are not occurring with Audirvana +. I can actually use my MBP without constant sonic degradation. Looking forward to iTunes integration as loading the playlist is a little hard. Just enjoying music again and have delayed my purchase of a stand alone music server (at least for now!).

The sound quality is fantastic with the latest Mini release and a few of the original problems have gone away. I am also getting the problem documented in Paul's movie when trying to use playlist follows itunes. It keeps repeating the last few seconds of a track over and over. I guess I will go back to the Amarra playlist for now. Listened for many hours last night though and very happy with the sound. Hopefully they get this worked out.

I am using the Wireworld Starlight (2M). It seemed like an improvement over the cable that came with my Proton. Might be a placebo, but even so was worth it for me.

Yes flatmap, the headphones are the only way I can enjoy music these days. I also know about the BG burn-in. I modded my portable amp with BGs and can definitely attest to the very long burn-in period. I really like the speed of BGs. Too bad they are out of production. I am no where near burning in the Proton as I started listening to it with my well burned in Eddie Current and love the synergy. Will have to start listening through the Proton headphone out more to start making a dent in the burn-in. All the same, I have heard enough to be very impressed with the Proton.

I would add to the nominations for the Wavelength Proton. I have been thrilled with the sound of this product. I am new to computer audio but have a long history in other gear. I was a little skeptical of the proton but bought it anyway. It finally got my head phone rig pretty close to my former two channel rig (sold off - not enough space in NYC with 3 kids).

I grew up in the 70s with one of these in my house. We loved sitting in that thing listening to music from my dad's system. He actually had a pretty nice audio set up. Brings back a lot of memories. It took moving half way across the country for my mom to finally separate my dad from that big white egg chair (she had some other adjectives that she used there). I did notice that the new version looks a little smaller though and the seating position is different. The original was actually very comfortable to sit in. Not so sure about that new one. The reporter's head almost hit the top.

I upgraded to Pandora One a few months ago. I probably listen once per week. The difference in sound quality versus the free version is really significant. I personally found the free version just barely listenable. Pandora One is not up to par with loseless files, but as someone else said, it is very listenable. I also listen to Pandora One when I travel. My iTunes library is one my iMac at home. Pandora One is a nice option for listening and most hotels have decent high speed connections these days. I think that the biggest benefit is that I listen to new music (new in terms of not in my library as opposed to just released). It is really easy to get in a rut where you listen to the same things all of the time. Pandora One has helped me find some new things that I really like. It is well worth the price just for this alone. A few other things I have like about Pandora One include the desktop app which is quite nice, but with a few unclear things in the interface. I also think that the engine for determining what to play is more sophisticated than the iTunes genius function. The draw back here is that when you just start using it, the algo seems very sensitive to the first few things you give a thumbs up to. It took a little while for the variety to build again. PS. First post here. Have been reading for a while and thought I should offer feedback on this since I recently considered the same thing. Take care.