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pitbull

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  1. Greetings, I currently have a Weiss DAC202 on my office desk, fed by a MacPro (via FireWire) using either iTunes or Audivarna Plus v3 as audio source player, and the DAC is feeding a pair of Event Opal monitors (via balanced XLR) or Hifiman Edition X V2 headphones (via 1/4” TRS). I’ve also got a Windows PC connected to the DAC (via USB) for PC gaming. The headphones are a new addition - I recently replaced a very old and uncomfortable pair of Beyerdynamik DT880s with these after also auditioning Sennheiser HD-800s, Focal Elear and LCD-X. When I was doing the audition, I was using my iPhone 6 as source into a Chord Mojo - the Hifiman sounded very clear, very dynamic, and very realistic and “meaty”. However now I’m back home and have had the headphones a few weeks, I’m finding that through the Weiss DAC (using either the Mac Pro or indeed my iPhone) the sound is just lacking a bit versus what I heard in the shop when doing the audition. The clarity is not quite what it was, and neither is the feeling of realism nor the "meatiness". Now I’ve had the Weiss DAC from new in 2011 - it was modified in 2015 to add the USB input - I do remember when it first came out that it was massively praised as a DAC, but there were a few commends that the amp section was perhaps not quite as strong. So the question now is does this sound quality deficit result from a lesser/weaker amp section vs the Mojo ? or a lesser DAC (given the passage of time, you might expect much improved DACs after 6 years) ? or a combination of the two ? And further more, what recommendations can people make in terms of a replacement with a cost of up to USD 2.5K (the Weiss was over USD 5K - I don’t really want to spend so much this time). Requirements for the replacement are: Minimum 2x USB (or 1x USB, 1x FireWire) inputs for MacPro + Windows PC (this may be the hardest requirement to satisfy). Balanced XLR outputs for feeding desktop monitors. Unbalanced 1/4” TRS or balanced 3- or 4-pin XLR output for feeding headphones Proper desktop rather than a portable model - and mains- not battery-powered. No bigger than the Weiss - preferably smaller (Wiess at 12”/30cm is a bit too deep). MacOS Sierra and Windows 10 compatible Many thanks for your suggestions...
  2. Lots to choose from, and lots of sites giving you advice which to choose. I've done quite a lot of experimenting with some of the main ones - finally settled on Private Internet Access (PIA) as primary choice, but with Tunnel Bear and Private Tunnel as backups - this for both Mac and for IOS (iPhone/iPad). Some things to consider: - Depending on time of day and your actual location you will get different and varying performance vs what some of the testing sites (bestvpn etc) or the VPNs themselves quote - trying to find the single best consistent performer is a futile exercise so decide what is "good enough" and look at what other criteria are important to you. - VPNs aren't good for ping times - deal with it, and if necessary turn off the VPN for gaming. Other factors to consider: - No log retention by the VPN ? Mandatory for me. There are many VPNs that claim they don't keep any logs, but as far as I am aware only PIA has proven this via a court case. - VPN company based in 5/9/14 eyes countries ? This may or may not be relevant to you also depending on above comment about log retention. - Kill switch ? Guards against leakage due to unexpected loss of VPN connection - mandatory for me. - Task bar or menu bar app, or both, or don't care ? I prefer menu bar only. - Choice of encryption/security standards ? Some VPNs will have a minimum bar of SHA1/AES128/RSA2028, but you should at least try to avoid SHA1 as it is definitely now broken. I'm using SHA2/AES256/RSA2028 - but beware that every increased step in these impacts performance to some degree (due to the extra calculating needed). - Free vs Paid VPN ? Free VPNs should be avoided if you are really serious about security - but a time- or throughput-limited free trial is fine and actually a good thing to see.
  3. V-Moda CrossFade M-100 - quite portable and fold well (for over-the-ear), good sound, good isolation (I have the XL earpads) and there are within your budget. I use this myself also with an iPhone 6 and enjoy them a lot.
  4. On the subject of Yes - Relayer - I recently bought the Definitive Edition (CD + BluRay). The BluRay contains a 24/192 version of the original album mix - however using DAE on both Mac and Windows I'm only getting this showing as 24/48 :-( Anybody else seen this, and/or have a potential solution ? Regards. PitBull.
  5. Sad to say but I informed Daniel in July that my DAC202 wasn't working on my early 2008 MacPro with the Yosemite Beta - system could see the DAC on the FireWire bus fine, but the DAC wasn't showing up in the sounds preferences. Daniel replied it was likely just a Yosemite Beta issue - rather annoying that they've seemingly done nothing since then and only now are looking to fix it.
  6. Hi Mike - Not a beta tester - upgraded from 1.x yesterday - but I can confirm it works both above ways with my QNAP NAS.
  7. Actually there's also the option to upgrade all Weiss DACs such as DAC202 with the INT204 card to allow conversion of DSD files. I was quoted CHF 1560 + tax for upgrading a DAC202 (original firewire model) - may be different for other DACs. I'll be going this route in due course.
  8. Greetings, Problem now solved :-) Turns out I missed (due to small output window and personal multi-tasking carelessness that MakeMKV was showing a bunch of failed hash checks when backing up the disk - likely the disk has some minor glitches. However I was still able to navigate into the disk itself and copy out the relevant .m2ts files, then convert them to .m4a with DAE in all their 24/96 glory. Happy days ! Regards. PitBull
  9. Greetings, I'm using an early-2008 Mac Pro, 16GB RAM, 4x HDD, latest ML 10.8.4 O/S, external LG Blu-Ray drive from OWC. Having some time ago finished ripping all my CDs to Apple Lossless (ALAC .m4a) format, I recently went through my Music DVDs and Blu-Rays. All successful - except one - Marillion "Live From Cadogan Hall" Blu-Ray :-( In addition to the actual concert and a bunch of video extras this also contains their "Less Is More" studio acoustic album in 24/96 LPCM format, and this is where I am having the issue... I've been using MakeMKV (currently on v1.8.4) plus Handbrake (currently on v0.9.9) for video+audio extracts (saved to MPEG4 .m4v format), and MakeMKV (where needed) plus DAE (DVD Audio Extractor - currently on v7.1.2) for audio only extracts (again to ALAC .m4a format). Having done a backup of this Blu-Ray with MakeMKV, then DAE using "Folder - open DVD files from file folder" for most of ALAC, WAV, AIFF or FLAC I am able to select Sample Rate as "Same As Input" (which should equate to 96000) and "Bits Per Sample" as 24-bit, but for all of them I only get the option Mono for "Channels" rather than the Stereo I expect and know is present. I alternatively tried in DAE to use Direct Stream Demux and got a bunch of PCM files, but then using "AIFF from PCM" only 4 of these were actually convertible and all came out as static with all possible combinations of Byte Order and Byte Swapping applied. If I play the Blu-Ray directly, the 24/96 audio plays fine in nice 24/96 stereo. Any thoughts whether this is likely a disc issue or a bug in DAE (with either the mono/stereo channels part and/or the PCM saves) ? Regards. PitBull.
  10. Greetings, Just an update: CalDigit supplied a new driver today and my issues with Fidelia are now solved. Don't know what the cause was though - they didn't say. Anyway I'm a happy Fidelia user again :-) Regards. PitBull.
  11. I have a similar problem with Fidelia (fully paid version). I have a MacPro 2008 with a CalDigit USB3 PCIe card - got a couple of Western Digital 2TB Caviar Black HDDs attached via IcyBox enclosures. I also have all my iTunes library on my QNAP NAS - connected via giganit ethernet. Since the upgrade to Mac OS/X 10.6.7, as soon as I start Fidelia (which is configured to access my iTunes library) I get a kernel panic. Doesn't happen with iTunes, Decibel (paid) or Audirvana. Prior to the upgrade to 10.6.7 I was getting occasional glitches with Fidelia - it was stop sound output mid track for example - but when it's working it's probably the best of the alternate players that I have tried. Regards. PitBull.
  12. IE 9 - so that's W7 ? Sigh :-( I remember when MS first introduced the registry - was supposed to solve so many issues, but in reality created a whole lot more and a new industry of "Registry Cleaners". For private use I gave up after XP (having gone through 98SE, 2000) - went Mac OS/X and never looked back. However at work we're in the process of migrating from XP to W7 (I was part of the rearguard action that prevented a global Vista rollout !) and I was rather hoping that the registry was ancient history. Oh well :-( Regards. PitBull.
  13. Greetings, Regardless of whether there's a DAC for it currently or not - just want to inform you that USB 3.0 is already possible on certain Macs: CalDigit do a PCIe card for MacPro and a ExpressCard/34 for MBP laptops. I currently have the PCI card sitting in my early 2009 MacPro and it works quite happily with IcyBox HDD docks and external HD enclosures. So whilst I agree a USB 3.0 DAC is not a necessity for audiophilia, bring it on anyway and let's see how it goes... Regards. PitBull.
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