crimsondonkey

The 40th Anniversary mixes sound extremely clean and dynamic to me. The speed issues on the debut have been sorted and it does sound better than other versions I've heard - on a par if not slightly better than the vinyl MFSL copy I previously thought could not be beat.

I like 'Loveless' but I've not been impressed by 'mbv'. Good think I wasn't waiting 20 years for this then!

Oh, err, oops... Hifi to Car - 3:1 House to hifi - 12:1

Yes, so from the original masters but the actual audible 'improvements' vary wildly. For example the treatment of the Pixies material is absolutely superb (the original digital transfer to CD was bloody awful), whereas the Ziggy MFSL (vinyl) just emphasised the bright and thin quality of the original. Its certainly not a stamp of quality, more one of potential.

Its only personal experience so nothing more than that. DSD is not part of my assessment and likely won't be for a good while yet. I'm firmly in the well recorded trumps format camp.

Nice blurb, focuses on a bunch of technical details. Problem is when listening for yourself these might quickly become irrelevant. I used to own the QBD76 and whilst it does sound immediately nice and fluid, it does rather throw the music at you rather too much for my tastes. I've also had the QB9 in my set up, it sounded a more even and balanced presentation than the Chord, very nicely layered and quite smooth - very un-digital sounding. Year system, room, ears may differ etc

Shame there are no user reviews as yet. I get the concept, I agree with paying attention to power supplies but I am cautious about building until there's some thing to base my decision on. Some idea of audible differences between v2 and v3 would be helpful?

If you don't like the price then don't pay it and move on, simple.

Looks like everyone's too busy building versus listening?

1. AQ Dragonfly DAC

Early days I know, but now all 4 v3 designs have been released it would be good to get some idea of relative SQ, between V2 and v3; and between v3 designs (particularly Zuma and the others). This would be most helpful in addition to the specs to help people decide which one is best for them. Chris you've obviously got a head start on most of us so your thoughts would be extremely welcome in addition to those who have already built theirs.

Anyone compared the Modi with the Dragonfly yet?

Thank you Chris, most helpful. What are you using to evaluate requirement '1. Absolutely silent'? And how do CAPS and MA compare in quantitative terms?

Chris, it would be interesting to know which CAPS requirements that a Mac Air doesn't, and more usefully, does, meet. Have you compared SQ between them by chance?

Richard, I note that you have a MacBook Air in addition to your now modded Mac Mini. Have you compared the sonic output of each, especially with the Air running off battery?