loudog

theres plenty of tube amps that have XLR BUT theres almost none that are 300B and XLR. what you could do it get a 300B then add a Decware ZBIT.

i just bought an RS130 and they havent fixed the issues you mention. too many features and several of them just dont work well enough to be useful.

It’s the jpl-2800 drive.

Why the Schiit hate? They actually used a good mechanism, not a craptastic computer slot loaded drive! It’s not a perfect product but no need for hate given no one here has heard it.

WTB: Chord Ensemble Stand for DAVE View Classified looking to purchase a used Chord Ensemble Stand in silver for a DAVE. thank you. Seller loudog Date 01/17/22 Price Category Accessories  

thanks for the advice! but, damn those transparent cables are pricey. i'm a little financially hamstrung at the moment and still trying to decide which direction to take. considering a power supply upgrade for the Nucleus+ and getting new speakers or getting rid of everything but the QX5/20 and mostly starting over. i just cant stomach spending mega bucks on cables at the moment. i wonder if my money would be better spent on room treatments or just a speaker change. my sense is that system synergy is poor and my room is a bit on the small size. also, i live in an audiophile deadspace and cant readily audition gear (literally not a single audio shop here) - so i'm a bit frustrated to have as much as i have invested and not in love with the sound. if i switch amps i'm considering Parasound JC5+. speaker-wise i'm considering the new Perlisten S5m or some JBL Synthesis monitors, but again, nothing local that i can demo.

The QX5/20 has option of coming with an installed network bridge. The mConnect app is what operates the bridge. It connects to Tidal + Qobuz and allows the QX5/20 to be a one box solution for streaming and DAC. other apps can work in place of the mconnect app. But none, including mconnect, are that great. Roon has far better user interface. I haven’t tried all the options out there though.

Yes I considered that and last weekend unplugged the nucleus and switched to Ethernet from router but using mconnect app. Didn’t notice any improvement.

I don’t want to come off as disparaging the qx5/20. I do find it fatiguing with certain recordings and at higher volumes. I also fully get what’s great about it, it’s fast, articulate and has exceptional soundstage. But it’s also fairly often that I find it a bit ruthless. I’ve read every QX5/20 review out there and my experience is not shared by most. I really want it to work for me, but I’m ambivalent about spending more. Here’s my set up: Roon Nucleus + being fed via Ethernet from a netgear orbi router node i have both Ethernet and usb to the QX5/20, with usb I use Cardas Clear; Ethernet is BlueJeans cat6 QX5/20 is connected to AX5/20 via Cardas Clear balanced cable AX5/20 is feeding Harbeth Super HL5+ Anniversary with Cardas Clear speaker cable Using a Cardas Nautilus power strip ive tried myrtle blocks as well as isoacoustic oreas underneath and felt the oreas made a positive difference. ive spent about an hour messing around with a high shelf filter in Roon DSP but although it’s somewhat helpful in some ways it definitely hurts the overall sound. I’m still trying speaker placement and I didn’t feel like reducing toe-in made any substantive improvement. I think the qx20/5 is clearly a well executed product and at times I’m in awe of how good it sounds but there’s a lot of music where I feel like it’s a bit too “in my face.” I do think at low listening levels it’s superlative. I haven’t given up on it but it tires me at times, enough so that I need to find some tweak to help or i need to move on. I feel like it now has adequate burn in. open to any thoughts/suggestions.

i had a chord hugott before this and wasnt fatiguing at all. ive had the qx5/20 in there about 6 weeks and it has at least 500h of burn in. with some stuff its truly magical, and with most stuff at lower volumes it sounds good but when i start to get over 60db i'm finding it fatiguing. i have switched it from measure to music and i've swapped out some cables. i think with the cardas clear cabling (power cord, balanced cable and ethernet) its a little mellower but still not enough. i'll check out the SOtM. open to other suggestions. if anyone has advice for using any roon dsp or eq please chime in.

Yeah it’s counter intuitive. But I’m wanting to tame the highs a bit and just wanting to try anything that doesn’t involve spending more money. The audible hiss with dsd conversion is pretty pronounced and definitely due to settings within Roon. Is there a specific dig to dig converter you can recommend?

Anyone using a Roon Nucleus+ with the QX5/20? I’m looking to soften the sound a bit and thought I’d try covert from pcm to dsd via nucleus+ DSP settings. bad result with significant hiss that sounds just like old school tape hiss. If I change back to pcm the hiss resolves. I tried a few other settings that didn’t seem to do much. Any advice on getting rid of hiss with dsd conversion?

i'm still breaking in the new DAC. my initial impression is that its a bit forward at higher volumes, at least compared to the Chord HugoTT. i don't have a reference for how it sounds compared to the previous USB implementation. soundstage and vocals on the QX5/20 are to my ears superior to the Chord. i'm hoping that the touch of ruthlessness it has mellows out with a little burn in. as far as i know they still use DoP. i'm not of the mind that DoP is inferior to native DSD. DoP is really just a packaging issue and its how many other highly regarded DACs function. i've only compared the USB v. ethernet input and to my ears they dont sound very different, though i have not done a ruthless AB comparison. i use a nucleus+ and much prefer Roon to mConnect so i haven't really been using the ethernet input.

seems like there hasnt been any major updates to DACs in general for the last few years. Chord hasnt updated the DAVE which was the other DAC i was considering. not sure any of the flavor of the months have some new advanced design or chips or whatever. the PS audio DACs have new software but not new hardware. the denafrips aren't really new ideas. schiit hasnt done anything different with the Yggdrasil.

yes!