Elysian

I was wondering if someone could help me with a question regarding powering headphones from a DAC (which is capable of functioning as a preamp). My girlfriend and I want to listen to headphones from the same source, but all the components of my setup only allow for a single active output with the exception of the Alpha DAC (has both balanced and unbalanced outputs, which I assume are both simultaneously active/enabled). The Alpha DAC also functions as a preamp, which is why I was hoping this might be a possibility. I'm interested in going directly from the Alpha to headphones via the RCA-outs. The Alpha manual says: "Unbalanced Analog Output Level 3.25 Vrms maximum into ? 5k? load 1.6 Vrms or lower recommended" The headphones are Grado SR225i, which have an impedance of 38ohms. If I use the ART HeadTAP in between the Alpha and Grados, will the Alpha be safe from any potential damage? The HeadTAP is ordinarily used to connect a speaker power amp to headphones, but I'm thinking I could use it to also protect a preamp. Thanks for any insight. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/HeadTap Passive Headphone Amplifier with Input for PA or Monitor Amplifier and Output for Connecting Headphones ... The HeadTAP is a passive device with an input to connect the PA or monitor amplifier and an output to connect the headphones. A volume control regulates the headphone level and internal resistors keep the unit’s impedance high enough to protect the headphones. It also protects the amplifier from encountering too low a load impedance while powering tap units, the speaker system or several tap units by themselves. A good tap will also work with a stereo headphone amplifier for use in recording situations when you want to add headphones for additional performers.

Does MSB have a demo room? I'm not in the market for a new source, but currently have a MSB Platinum DAC IV on my list when I want to upgrade from my BADA.

I compiled about a few dozen Firefox tabs of reviews from somewhere between 6-8 audio sites, then compiled a separate list of professional reviews and Amazon/consumer/auction site reviews, and then finally categorized many recent correspondences I had with audio engineers and dealers in the audiophile product industry. From there, I prioritized the reviews and impressions based upon my familiarity with the person (and general agreement with their prior reviews), and an (admittedly very subjective) peer ranking also based on that person's prior posts and statements. Last but not least, there were some phone conversations with industry people, which also got filed into various buckets. It's not very scientific, but it follows a general, structured methodology I've developed for myself while assessing products (both for fun and professionally). The key trend I picked up on, though, was that the vast majority of these (even from some of the engineers and designers) was that the assessments were qualitatively, not quantitatively made. Afaik, none of the the async USB code is open sourced, either, so we can't even do that analysis. At least with amps, it's easy to pop the case open, trace the circuit, and look at the components. Another trend was that the base assumptions (particularly regarding points of weakness) varied drastically. Anyway, my reason for posting this is that I went a bit deeper than just glancing at a handful of reviews on forums, and think to myself 'well, it seems like 2 people didn't like this device for this reason. I better buy something more expensive'.

Schiit's on the record saying that they feel the S/PDIF input is superior to the async USB on the Bifrost, so that could be an interesting candidate to try different converter implementations on. We've already got one data point on degraded sound using a V-Link, presumably Mk1, as opposed to feeding directly from a MBP. It'd be interesting to try some other converters with the Bifrost, particularly with someone who knows the Bifrost's sound quality very well. http://schiit.com/schiit-faq/about-bifrost/ Wait. Are you saying USB is crap? We’re saying we put a ton of time into our USB implementation, but, to our ears, USB still doesn’t quite offer the performance of SPDIF. And we can even get into shades of gray on SPDIF too: consider Mike Moffat’s AT&T ST-optical interfaces and Sumo’s Axiom/Theorem transport and D/A, which had a separate low-jitter master clock connection from the transport.

I meant with native async USB, which was an interesting observation I've heard. On one hand, the 'fewer boxes in between you and your speakers/headphones' makes sense, but on the other, I've read people propose that one should do everything they can to deliver the lowest jitter signal possible to the D/A, even if it means putting another box in front. I personally have not done the A/B test, but from my conversations with people who have (and whose observations line up with mine more often than not), I've heard and read a decent amount of criticism about the V-Link Mk1, as well as the stock hiFace and Halide Bridge. Fwiw, the cheapest device which seems to have a majority of positive feedback is the Audiophilleo. After that, it gets hazy as there are not many impressions and reviews of the WaveLink, and even fewer of the Off-Ramp 3/4, Jkeny Mk3, INT202, and Alpha USB. Consequently, it becomes an on faith purchase for most, with the exception of the Audiophilleo. Audiophilleo's return policy probably also has a role to play in this. I don't mean to speak badly of gear, but after hearing and reading many people reporting degraded sound through converters (this criticism extends right up to the $2k devices), it seems particularly important to sort out what is and isn't working.

I would love to see more comparisons, even subjective, comparing converters like the WaveLink, Off-Ramp 4, Audiophilleo 2, Alpha USB, INT202, etc. I've been reading a lot of people say that the use of one of those devices improves the fidelity of new DACs (with native async USB) from good developers. I admit to being a skeptic when some people discussed their experiences pairing a good converter with the BADA, but after my experience with the WaveLink, I'm now a believer. I had a few friends listen and they were all taken aback by the difference. I'm not sure if it's okay to post reviews from other forums, but Amir posted a review on the Alpha USB on 9/30 on What's Best Forum: http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?4160-Review-Berkeley-Audio-Alpha-USB The impressions generally match the descriptions I've read from people who put their used Alpha USBs up for sale on Audiogon shortly after purchase. An improvement, but not a night-and-day one. There seem to be definite tierings among the converters, but I haven't read anyone who has heard enough converters to speak definitively, and take a first stab at settling the score.

I'm a bit slow to the party but wanted to report my findings, as the BADA still seems to be a very popular DAC. Thanks to a CA forum member, I recently acquired a WaveLink HS. The difference it's made in my system (previously using coax BNC, and Toslink before that) is staggering. I've tried a number of DACs between the $300 to $5000 mark, including DIY models such as the Buffalo II and gamma2. I reached my 'significantly diminishing returns' point around the level of the Buffalo II, the better ESS9018 implementations, etc. I thought the BADA had the slight edge, but it wasn't night-or-day. I read a number of people here say that the BADA needs to be fed a low jitter source to get the most out of it. After being subject to a lot of audiophile snake oil, I was pretty skeptical, so the bridge was a fairly low priority on my buy list. I was offered a WaveLink at a nice price from someone who didn't need it anymore, so due to Gordon's reputation, opted for it over the stock Off-Ramp 4 and Audiophilleo 2. Wow, what a difference! I'm actually now hearing what the superlative reviews about the BADA were talking about. Before, the BADA always sounded musical and clean to me, but post-WaveLink, the veil (which I didn't really realize was there) is now gone. It's as though the sound has been brought into focus. I'm hearing the most impact in vocals and the bass. Vocals have this really nice natural shimmering/reverb effect to them, and the presentation has gotten very 'in your face', as though the singer is standing right in front of you. Definite improvement in instrument separation, too. The only downside is that the Foobar spectrum visualization (WASAPI) is now really laggy. FPS seems to have dropped by about 90% for the visualization. The weird thing is that the visualization fps shoots right back to 30 in DirectSound. Tweaking buffer sizes in the Thesycon control panel and Foobar hasn't helped. Anyone getting a BADA should consider a competent, low jitter bridge as mandatory. I have no idea if other legacy DACs benefit as much as the BADA, but I wonder how many people who were only somewhat impressed with the BADA would change their mind if they heard it through a proper bridge.

If you don't mind a DIY design, I've had an AMB gamma2 for over a year and it's an amazing performer for the price. You can commission a build for $300 if you don't want to build it yourself, and, to my ears, it's outperformed $600+ DACs which I've demoed in stores. If you run a Google search, you'll find many, many happy users of the gamma2. There are a lot of options in that $300-500 price range now but I can't give a recommendation since I'm not familiar with the gear (Cambridge is coming out with an upgrade to the Dacmagic, Schiit DAC (which seems partially responsible for pushing Cambridge), etc.). The $800-1500 category is amazingly crowded now. Tbh, my experience is that diminishing returns with sources kick in pretty early unless you have remarkably sensitive ears.

Thanks for your comments on the DX-USB! Part of me is hoping that I can find a few people say that it outperforms the other comparably priced USB converter options out there, but I think the only way I can find out is to just make place an order with Sonore. It seems odd that there's so little commentary on SotM gear. The most I could find for references was a few mentions of specs on Australian gear sites. Anyway, sorry for derailing thread for a bit. I rarely run across SotM discussions and the manufacturer has interested me.

Hi lasker, Could you share any comments on the DX-USB HD? I've been searching for weeks now on any impressions on the quality of the converter but have had no luck. If you have any experience comparing the DX-USB HD versus any other USB-S/PDIF converters, even better! Thank you.

Just wondering if anyone has any experience or hunches on the Weiss INT202 vs Alpha USB. I've pushed those two to the top of my list, unless one of the following is just as competitive: - SotM dx-USB-HD - Audiophilleo 2 - Jkenny Hiface MK3 - Wavelength Wavelink

One of the most renowned D/A developers (this person's company has been discussed many times on this forum) recommended the SotM USB PCI card for USB noise reduction to me. I don't know if we can make a corollary to SotM's other devices, but they know how to do USB noise isolation very well. I would not discount hardware just because the English documentation is minimal.

I'm locked into Windows 7 64-bit, so I guess I'll have to keep looking. I'm still on the fence about the Alpha USB, and have unsuccessfully been trying to find impressions on the SotM dX-USB-HD. I've heard good things about SotM's USB PCI card from industry folks, so I'm wondering if their interface does just as good a job at noise isolation. http://sonore.us/SOtM.html It still seems uncertain whether the Alpha DAC benefits from reclocking, but the consensus seems pretty unanimous that the Alpha DAC does benefit from noise reduction/isolation.

Hi Alan, Thanks for your thoughts on the DCD-8! Just out of curiosity, have you tried any interfaces beyond the M2Tech HiFace? That's unfortunate to hear about the drivers, though... I use Win7 64-bit as my music server, which is why I had to pass on the Metric Halo as my DAC. I've read negative comments on Brainstorm's responsiveness. Basically, a lot of folks said they don't respond to emails. If there's poor Win7 64-bit compatibility, I'll have to pass on this one. The Apogee Big Ben and Antelope Isochrone DA seem like two other promising options. I've seen a few Alpha USBs go up for sale these last few weeks, and people said it did improve playback but not by enough of a margin, so I've started looking at other interfaces again.

Thanks for the functional response--that was exactly what I was looking for. It sounds like I'll get marginal returns from a better transport at this time without a better amp to power my monitors, then. I definitely want more focus with the sound, particularly around drums, bass guitar, and string instruments. It sounds like a better transport will help with the 'clearness' I hear from the Alpha DAC, but my amp just isn't providing enough expansiveness for the sound for me to notice the changes beyond micro-details. I'll be upgrading from Toslink (finally) to a nice Mogami 75ohm coax cable in a few days, so I'm hoping there will be a slight increase in SQ, but I don't have high expectations since the transport is still suboptimal. I think, bang for buck then, I'm better off waiting for a better amp before getting a top-tier transport like the Alpha USB. The nice thing about the Alpha USB is that the async USB implementation in most DACs isn't that great, so I could see the Alpha USB remaining relevant, even when hooked up to a Reimyo or Meitner.