Nikola Krivorov

Your posts are much appreciated, if there is anything new please keep us posted. TIA

Thanks for the upadte, hope you get them soon I have a Young DAC at home and I like it a lot, it does some things exceptionally good but is very sensitive to the PSU.

Hi guys, I was wondering what happened with the expereiments-any new conclusions? This is something that is of great importance to me as I am planning to use a mac mini as a source and getting it away from the system and being able to use wired keyboard and muse will be a great advantage. TIA

Any news on the expected review? And how do you like the Young DAC?

Do you still like it as much as in the beginning? Of course a comparison of the new vs.the old one would be great, TIA.

I was racing with you on that one, if I had only sold my Exemplar 3910 first

I Hi Kamil,is part 2 still coming?

I forgot to answer the question about the Volumite, apologies.. Well, I am not sure what to say here-going straight to the power amp from the Buffalo is definitely allowing more details to be heard but sound becomes thin and shrinks considerably. It is wise to try it just to know what you are missing with the preamp so you can work on that but I personally use the pre in the chain at the moment as it is more enjoyable that way. My education is quite different than electronics so I will not try to explain why I don't find the Volumite to be the silver bullet, I have a friend who has designed ICs for Alcatel and he has his explanation about the fact that the integrated volume control is not the best solution, not just losing bits and resolution,might be something to do with the signal passing some stages inside the ESS Sabre32 chip but I won't even touch that subject as there are always people with the finger on the red button ) At 30USD it is quite cheap and easy to try, I have spent much more on my last CD. Hope that helps.

Hi guys, Well, regarding the 4 channel DAC I would ask Brian and Russ at TPA, always ready to help and do know what is best for the arrangement. I am planning to finish my box too and I am trying to make the right decisions, I was really surprised that there was quite a difference in sound between the test board and everything in the aluminum box. And the Buffalo II DAC is very microphonic-for example legs that you put under the box do make quite a difference, a piece of say wood on the clock makes a difference, not really happy about that because I am OCD about audio and that will make me crazy. But the DAC is really good, the only problem is that it is hard to get, they usually sell the batch in ours and I had to stay late at night to get one. I encourage anyone with a DIY spirit to try it and spend some time with it, it is very very good. And if I can give a piece of advice to barrows-do try the PH regs, if you don't like them I will buy them from you for my second Buffalo.They are good. Or try supplying the Buffalo with the LiFePO4 direct to board in the place of the AVCC.

Hi Barrows, I can confirm that the Buffalo II is a great little device, I am using mine with a custom made I/V stage based on tubes and transformers and results a simply amazing. I have posted on several threads that I prefer it to some very highly regarded DACs that were in the 5K range and actually I use my Exemplar 3910 as a transport at the moment, feeding the Buffalo II. While the Exemplar is more relaxed the Buffalo is so ultimately transparent that I just keep returning to it. Playing a little with arrangement of stuff around the box and optimizing PSUs will probably make it even better, the biggest step was using the Paul Hynes shunts though. If I can use your words it was not a subtle difference at all, it was immediately evident that this is a whole new level. The problem with these regs is that they are quite expensive and it takes two months to get them from Paul, worth every penny though. The Buffalo II is designed quite well, no question about it but the set that Paul sells for it is one of the best money I have spent in years and he offers money back if you don't like what you hear. I am not affiliated to him in any way, just a very very satisfied customer. Another thing that sounds worth trying are probably the A123 26650 3.3V LiFePO4 batteries that jkney uses for his Hiface mods, great little devices too. We are all waiting for the USB/I2S module from TPA, aren't we

It's funny that we always try to find a simple answer or ask simple questions - like this thread - does the Pro audio gear have something that we all didn't know about? Could it be that it is cheaper and better because Pro audio engineers know more and we have missed it? The creeping suspicion that there is something more there will get us all crazy, will it not? My experience with the mentioned Benchmark was kind of surprising-I read all the reviews, how it is jitter immune, how it is almost as good as the Mark Levinson and stuff and I really thought that this is the audio miracle - a pro audio company comes up with something so great that it will save my life and let me enjoy highest quality for less than a thousand!!! And I was sure that this was the case as I had heard it in one of the best mastering labs in the world and it was fantastic, the most stunning musical experience in my life. I brought it home and it was terrible- thin, analytical and I could not listen to it for more than an hour. So I sent it back because I didn't have another pro company that had the equivalent of the EMM source for less than a grand and I did not have a 200 sq. meter mastering lab with acoustic treatment and a separate power line to the house and some other small details of that type to make it sound the same... The truth is (I do have my simple answer of course, enlightening everybody) is that there are better DACs and Keith is right, you can't compare the Cantata to something that costs 150$, just like with cars. But what I learned in those years of equipment exchange and trying out the next silver bullet is that sometimes, if you really take your time, you can make one DAC (amplifier, source,preamp, name it) sound absolutely different in your system to what was two days ago. If the system is good enough the same DAC will be warm or analytical, detailed or muffled depending on the legs it sits on, the power cord or whatever "tweak" comes in your mind. I used to laugh at people hearing how a power distributor "sounds", not anymore. Please don't ask me to define a "good system" but I welcome anyone who does not believe me I can change the character of my DAC. And one last thing - the way we hear is so magical that you will not believe it, it's way beyond pro versus home, that is where the secret is and why some people like what others call unlistenable. Seriously.