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bridger

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  1. Thanks for the great suggestion Matias. I have not come across this one - seems great value for money and German no less. I am researching further now.
  2. Hi I am currently using a Benchmark DAC2 HGC and while I am happy with the sound, I hate the interface and remote and am looking to replace it with something at least as good sonically but with simpler usability and cleaner looks. So far all I have been able to find as a suitable replacement is the Bel Canto Dac 2.7. I have previously used the Bel Canto Dac 2.5 and was happy with that. I would appreciate thoughts on how the Bel Canto Dac 2.7 compares with Benchmark DAC2 HGC sonically as well as the usability of the Bel Canto Dac 2.7 in general. I would also appreciate suggestions of other DACs to consider. My criteria are: Black Pre-amp Balanced outputs Quality headphone amp (nice to have) Many thanks for reading.
  3. Thank you everyone for your thoughts. As Racerxnet assumed, I do use the DAC’s volume control straight to the Bryston with no pre-amp and it works well. I expected Bryston would have been the suggested amp. My only reluctance of removing the Yammie from the equation is that I will miss those beautiful hypnotic UV meters!! 😊
  4. Hi I am seeking advice from those with much better technical knowledge that myself. I am currently using a Yamaha A-S2100 amp (as integrated) with a Benchmark DAC (DAC2 HGC) and a pair of T+A Criterion Criterion TR 400 bookshelf speakers. I have moved from Sydney Australia to London England and am looking to move a pair of floor standing T+A Criterion TS 200 speakers over to the UK, which I have in storage. My question is this, will the Yamaha A-S2100 be able to adequacy power the T+A Criterion TS 200 speakers? My alternative is to also bring over a Bryston 4B SST2 power amplifier, which I have also in storage and have previously and successfully used with these speakers. I would appreciate any (technical) opinions of how the Yamaha may compare against the Bryston. Thanks in advance for your advice. For reference, here are the specs for the equipment in discussion. A-S2100 • Maximum Power (4 ohms, 1kHz, 0.7% THD, for Europe) 160 W + 160 W • High Dynamic Power/Channel (8/6/4/2 ohms) 105/135/190/220 W • Damping Factor 250 • Frequency Response 5 Hz-100 kHz (+0 dB/-3 dB) • RIAA Equalization Deviation 20 Hz-20 kHz +/-0.5 dB • Total Harmonic Distortion (CD to Sp Out, 20 Hz-20 kHz) 0.025% • Signal-to-Noise Ratio (CD) 103 dB (S: 200 mV) • Input Sensitivity (CD) 200mV/47k ohms • Weight 23.4 kg; 51.6 lbs. Bryston 4B SST2 Stereo Power Amplifier • Design: Two-Channel Solid State Power Amplifier • Power Output: 300 Watts RMS x 2 into 8 Ohms/500 Watts per channel into 4 Ohms • MFR: 1 Hz – 100 kHz • Inputs: RCA Unbalanced, XLR Balanced • Input Impedance: 50 kOhms Unbalanced, 20 kOhms Balanced • THD+N: 0.003% • Dimensions: 5.25″ H x 17.25″ W x 19″ D • Weight: 50 Pounds Criterion TR400 • rated power 90 watts • Maximum power 120 watts • Impedance 4 ohms • Frequency response 35-45000 Hz • Sensitivity 1 W / 1 m 86 dB • Low-frequency equipment 1 x 150 mm • Equipped with tweeter 1 x 35 mm • crossover frequency 2200 Hz • Dimensions H x W x D 37 x 21 x 32 cm • Weight 10 kg CRITERION TS 200 • Nominal power handling 180 Watts • Music power handling 240 Watts • Impedance 4 Ohm • Frequency range 28 – 45000 Hz • Sensitivity 1 W / 1 m 87 dB • Drive units (bass) 2 x 220 mm • Drive units (mid-range) 1 x 170 mm • Drive units (high-frequency) 1 x 35 mm • Crossover frequencies 200 Hz, 2200 Hz • Dimensions H x W x D 120 x 26 x 39 cm • Weight 40 kg
  5. Thanks for all your suggestions - I will research some of these options further. Yes, perhaps I am a bit old school just wanting to use a normal remote control. I don't have a smart phone or a tablet, but perhaps I will need to look into that. I have a separate Bel Canto DAC that I'm using, so the solution doesn't need a DAC. I also don't use a computer as part of my playback set up. Thanks and cheers
  6. Hi all Thanks for your quick replies. I don't really have a budget - I suppose I would spend up to 1K if it did everything I wanted. I am not really interested in building anything custom. The Squeezebox does everything I'm really after (tho a slightly bigger screen would be preferable). I really struggle with why these devices are not more readily available - is there really no demand for such functionality?
  7. I'm sorry if this topic is in the wrong area or has been covered by other posts (I did search). I am after a replacement on my Squeezebox touch. Mandatory requirements: - Flac support - Digital out - Wifi - NAS networking suport - 24-bit/96kHz min - Built in screen that can be viewed from a few meters away - Remote control - Fast and user friendly interface Nice to have: - Internet radio - USB Many thanks for your responses. Kind regards
  8. Thanks Chris for a great review. I was hoping your advice or from other members regarding an upcoming DAC purchase. I am looking for a DAC that I can also use as a pre-amp to go with a Bryston 4BSST² 300 Watt Power Amplifier. I will mainly be listening to FLAC CD rips via S/P-DIF. I am considering either the T+A DAC 8 or the Benchmark DAC2 HGC, both of which have balanced analogue outputs. I am swapping out the current Bel Canto 2.5 (to be used for the 2nd stereo), and am hoping for a step up in performance. Thanks in advance
  9. Thanks Audio_ELF, you're not alone with the sonic differences of bit perfect audio - because in my experience they do sound different?? I am probably in denial about having to convert my FLAC and APE files to a different format, I was hoping someone in this forum would provide me a silver plugin bullet
  10. Thanks Eloise, I appreciate such ideas. To confess, I was under the opinion that one of the only reasons people preferred Macs over PCs was bit perfect streaming via iTunes? I should explore these other programs, however I'm a little (ignorantly) confused as to why these programs should sound any different than iTunes if it's supposed to pass the digital stream unadulterated through to my DAC. I repeat that I'm not well versed in hi-tec so if software does indeed manipulate the source file, I'm sorry about my judgements. Thanks again Eloise. Cheers
  11. Hi This is my first post – so sorry if I have made any protocol errors. I have recently just started playing around with computer audio. I have a DAC that I have been using with my PC laptop via USB, and while I finally got it sounding very good using J River, I found my USB port was unstable and harsh static would appear now and again. Anyhoo, my sister recently gave me her old MacBook (late 2007 Macbook 3,1) so I’ve been trying to see if I can get a better result with a Mac. So far the results have been mixed. I have connected through the USB as I believe the specs on this MacBook only do 16/44 through the Optical out, and my DAC supports 24/92 through the USB. I have (I haven’t used a Mac in 10 years) changed the Audio settings to output to my DAC and I’ve been using iTunes – however I have a couple of questions. 1) The sound doesn’t impress me anywhere near my PC, is there other things I need to do to configure the Mac? 2) I downloaded the Fluke plug-in to play FLAC files. While this worked when I first installed it, it hasn’t worked since and seems rather flaky. I have almost 1,000 FLAC albums (many of which are APE) and really do not want to convert them into another format to support a Mac. Is there other iTunes plug-ins to support Mac, or alternates to iTunes worth considering? 3) Perhaps, I should go back to PC where I have found a good software driver mix. Any suggestions of how I can fix the USB static problem ie would going to a desktop provide more power to the USB ports – if that’s the issue? Thanks for your help, and sorry if I have asked some naïve questions. Cheers
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