onthebeach

Hi Bill. I'm not sure how much better the SE is over my ARC REF5 but I love the sound I get from it being fed by my Killer dac. When I lent it to alcarp I was amazed at how much more I was enjoying the experience. But it is a coloured sound imo but its a colour I have come to appreciate and enjoy over the years. Its not to everyones taste but for me for ARC ref 5 and the Kdac are a match made in audio heaven. Also my ARC REF 110 power amp helps with the whole ARC presentation. It was interesting at the Sydney hifi show a couple of years back when I walked into the ARC room it sounded like I was back home to a degree. It was a nice feeling though after the cold clinical harshness of many of the other rooms. It really gave me a sense that I enjoyed that ARC sound which is coloured but for me at least its a very pleasing colour.

Nice one Bill. I've got some ideas about why I'm getting the results I am getting which contradict the general findings here on CA but they would be off topic here so I'll leave my musing for another thread more related to CD vs CA comparisons.

Hi Bill My Wadia 3200 isnt hotted up too much at all really. Not yet anyway. For memory Steven said he upgraded a couple of things including resistors but its pretty much stock apart from that. In a couple of months Rawl99 will put in the next gen Zen clock and upgrade the power supply. I'm also about to directly connect the Wadia to the Kdac via I2S which from what I'm hearing will improve things again by somewhere between 10 and 25%. Why it is sounding so much better than my Berkeley must have something to do with the synergy between the Kdac and the Wadia as you suggest. Although to my ears the Wadia also bests the Berkeley USB when feeding my Bryston BDA1 DAC as well but admittedly the difference is much closer. The Wadia provides more weight and substance than using my computer set up with the Berkeley USB when fed into the Kdac. Its not really even close. The Berkeley sounds really nice...until comparison with the Wadia starts and then it falls short pretty quickly. Weight, body, beauty and life. I grow pretty tired of CA after a short amount of time but the Wadia provides a more realistic and unfatiguing performance. I know this flies in the face of Elberoths findings here as well as the general leanings of this site but I can only state what I'm experiencing in my system. Maybe it cant be the case on paper but my ears don't seem to care too much about that sort of thing. We can write and argue all week long about why something should sound better than something else but at the end of the day its all about how it sounds in your own system to your own ears. I would really love my CA set up with the Berkeley to be the reference in my system but its just not the case. Not yet anyway. cheers Nathan

Wonderful thread. Well done Elberoth. Most enjoyable and informing as well which is a great combination in this wonderful and fascinating hobby /obsession of ours. I owned both the Berkeley USB and the Offramp 4 at the same time for a while so I had a good chance to compare them head to head in my system. I was using audirvana plus on my mac mini with core audio and the OR4 was better. That is until Damien released the beta version of audirvana with direct mode which changed the playing field entirely. The OR4 using M2Tech internals wont accept direct and or integer mode where the BADA does. In this comparison the Berkeley was clearly better and became my converter of choice. I'm still finding though my Wadia 3200 CD transport feeding my dac to be clearly superior in SQ to my CA/BADA set up. My CA set up is handy for certain listening times but for any quality, critical or dedicated listening sessions for me in my system the CD still wins out with more weight and engagement. There could be many reasons for this and I'm not very technically minded but for me right now that's how it is. If the disc is well recorded with a minimum of production and a quality transfer the difference becomes much more profound. My CA consists of an Oyen HDD with AIFF files ripped by dBpoweramp in secure mode, Revelation Audio Labs for USB, coax and analogue cables, Berkeley USB converter, Killer (or occasionally a Bryston) DAC, ARC REF 5 tube preamp and REF 110 tube poweramp & VAF I93 mk2 speakers. Once again Adam great thread and thanks very much for taking the time & effort. Nathan

I'm answering my own question here. Empirical offramp uses M2tech which doesn't support integer or direct mode and they have no imediate plan to change that. http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f11-software/m2tech-hiface-mac-driver-and-integer-mode-12365/ Post 16 sums it up well.

Ive been feeding my Berkeley USB converter interface with A+ with direct and integer enabled with stunning results. I'm still unsure why my Empirical Offramp4 wont play when fed with direct mode enabled (integer unchecked). Does anyone here know if the device needs to be integer capable to be able to support direct mode?

My Berkeley USB interface converter plays with 'direct' enabled but my Offramp 4 wont. It just loads the track, shows album art but wont play. Plays fine with 'direct' unchecked. I realize the Offramp hasn't got integer capability and that box is unchecked but I thought it should still be able to play 'direct' mode. If anyone has a solution to playing the Offramp in direct mode I would appreciate any advice. thanks Nathan

There are no dumb posts. We are all dumb about stuff until we learn. I havent got a W4S dac but I get the same thing occasionally with 1.3.9.7 when it happens i untick the 4 boxes around the direct box shut down itunes and A+ and occasionally the computer and restart. after restart I open itunes and A+ again and it usually plays ok. then I retick the 4 boxes including direct, load another track/album and it seems to play again...until it doesnt. Or something like that anyway. good luck. Keep at it its well worth the effort.

Downloaded Mountain Lion and 1.3.9.7 this morning. Just stunning in direct mode. I'm amazed at the huge step up in SQ. Just awesome. A few glitches as expected in beta but one interesting one that I'm keen to find out if its from the A+ beta or something I can configure on ML. My Arcam 888 video processor is connected to my mac mini via HDMI as I use my TV (which is also connected to the Arcam processor) as my monitor for A+. If I change the input selection or power down the processor, 1.3.9.7 stops and unloads. This was not the case with my regular licensed A+. I'm interested to find out if this is a glitch of A+ beta that will be ironed out or is it something to do with ML? Thanks for providing such wonderful magic Damien. Most appreciated. Nathan

Spot on. Thanks Ted. Sometimes the simple things in life are the most difficult to see. Nathan

When I click the link in the email for the subscribed thread it takes me to the beginning of the thread. What do I need to change so it takes me to the post in the link. I'm sure it used to do this but for some reason it doesnt anymore and its a hassle scrolling down trying to work out which part of the thread I'm up to. I'm sure its something small right in front of me I'm missing.

Funny I ended up getting my Berkeley Alpha USB from my local retailer here in Coffs Harbour. He sourced it from the importer and distributer in Sydney. After getting my friendly local discount it ended up being about on par with how much it would have cost picking it up in Indonesia and a few hundred dollars LESS than if I bought it in Thailand. So in my case as it ended up I would have been more ripped off buying it O/S plus I get all the benefits of warranty and purchasing locally.

I'm very new to the world of computer audio and much of the technical side of things written around here I barely understand so what I'm saying should certainly be taken with a grain of salt. I recently introduced the Alpha USB into my system and I am quite astonished at the improvement of SQ I am hearing. Up until this time my benchmark for digital had been my faithful Bryston CD player, the BCD1. I was actually very happy with the results I was getting from it and I didn't really think much improvement was to be had from computer audio. I thought the data base and ease of smart lists etc was the big plus to be had with computer audio over the silver disc - not sound quality. So yes I spent the first night listening to my system with the addition of the Alpha USB shaking my head in astonishment with a big stupid smile on my face. Its like a dirty window which I didn't even know was dirty has been cleaned to show the fantastic view so much better. As I said I am new to this game so this is the first USB interface I have had in my system so naturally the computer audio side of things is vastly improved. Its the improvement the Alpha USB has give over my CD player, which is no slouch, that has amazed me. So to get that along with the accessibility of all my digital music has really changed the way I listen now. I'm converted

I was very pleasantly surprised at the improvement in sound quality I heard in the previous upgrade to 0.31. I've just downloaded 0.32 and its a step up again no doubt. It has opened things up quite a lot and narrowed the margin again to what I hear when listening to a CD with my Bryston CD player as the source. This is very satisfying for a computer audio newbie like me. It just keeps getting better

Thanks Gregor. My wife thinks so too FWIW I also enjoyed reading your input on the Wavelength gear as well. Many experiences help create a balanced perspective. cheers Nathan