electro

Kal, we have conversed several times over the past 10 years. I’m using the AR MP1 (following your advice) I also have a Parasound P7 (now used elsewhere) which I previously used. The MP1 is connected to a pair of JC1’s and an A31. I am having problems though. Loud crack through speakers when switching inputs, muting or using the adjustments to change channel gain. Hiss audible from 12 feet away. Through ML CLX Arts and especially through the surround channels. All amps connected with balanced cables. the MP1 is currently with Absolute Sounds (UK importer) who tell me it measures to spec! Frankly I haven’t heard such a poor S/N from an amp in 35 years! Can you tell me what the AR guys did to lower the noise floor? Was it to lower the gain? Does it effect the sound quality? I would like to get the modification made in the UK if possible. I have tried emailing AR but have been ignored. My Multichannel sources are. Oppo 205. Exasound e28. Sony SCD9000ES.

Ah but if you follow this thread, SA-CD.net - Forum you will see that the AVR's downsample the DSD to 44Khz PCM internally. So overall it's much better to output SACD in the analogue domain. AVR's suck. I haven't heard one yet I'd describe as HiFi, at any price. Alternatively, rip your SACD's using a PS3 and output DSD through the USB from your computer where the Benchmark converts the full resolution DSD to Analogue without PCM conversion. Which is surely the whole point of buying this device? Fantastic! I cant wait to try one. I recently sold my DAC1 USB for £700 on ebay! I've tried the DSD files from computer and so far the Chord QBD76 HD DSD is the best DAC I have heard but it's £5K.

Ted is this the Sonore DAC http://sonore.us/index2.html That you compared to the Myteck?

I had two hours listening to the QuteHD DSD DAC today, comparing it to my M2 Young, with DSD original recordings (from Telarc SACD rips) and PCM derived material. It is very impressive, natural sounding on DSD - clearly better with DSD recordings than when converted to PCM at 176Khz. A clear step above the M2 Young in terms of realism - bass guitar sounded distinct and full bodied, voices were more natural with less vocal sibilance. (M2Y was converting to PCM at 352Khz.) The Chord QBD76HD which is in the larger case - similar to the previous generation DAC64 was also used for comparison. This was not the DSD version - so I had to convert DSF files to PCM on the fly. Despite this it was again a step up from the Qute (you'd hope so at over 4X the price!). Keeping the natural sound of the Qute but with more transparency and polish, the mix became more 3D with clearer separation between instruments. However I think at £1k the Qute is a steal - I hope that Chord (a small British company) can get the production high enough, as I suspect this will be a best seller! I'm eagerly awaiting the QBD76HD DSD I used MacBookPro with Audirvana and the Chord software.

Am I missing something. Yes - these are not DSD recordings!