mike eastman

John, can you connect more than one of the adaptors to the same plug ? Any reason you couldn't eliminate the plug and connect the wire direct to ground wire in receptacle box?

I replaced my AQ CV-8 with Mapleshade Double Helix V.2 w/plus. Less money and better SQ.

Thanks Triplefun.

First off I have to say Daphile has the best SQ of any program I've tried. Is there a way the search by song title if not any chance of adding that feature at a later date?

The cables may explain the lower level of the bass but even when I turned up the vol on my bass amps to reach the same level there was still a lot missing. Also a friend of mine tried it in his unbalanced system and had the same effect on his bass. I don't think the cables would explain the squashing of the soundstage and the smearing of the mids.

I found that Mapleshade cables to be very nice and beat out other brand of cables costing much more. You can get a 1m with their plus upgrade for $135.

I received the Itube2 the first of the month connected it to my system and as I was busy for the next week I though It could burn in for 100 hr or so, well after it hit 340 hrs I finally sat down to listen. My system is super sever to ethernet switcher to optical converter to streamer usb to Purestream DAC to modded Ncore 400 duel mono amp w/ tap X vol control to Serenity Acoustic Super 7s w/ upgraded x-over and wire. My system is very detailed with the base being tight, fast with nice impact. The first thing I notice was my great bass was gone, also I had to turn my volume up, to get the same level as with Itube2. My sound stage was wider and a little more forward. This was with buffer no gain and all setting off, that was tue and I only listen for about an hr , today I had all morning to try out all the options. The push pull sounded the best with the most presence, the - had slightly less presence and the Set even less. As I said I had lost my bass but I found if I used the 6db setting and turn up the volume on the base amps I got most of It back but it still didn’t have the impact as without the Itube2. In 3D the soundstage was wider and a little more forward but was a little smeared although there was no loss of detail, each instrument and voice just weren’t as defined. I tried the buffer with the gain and that brought the volume back to the same level as without the Itube2. My system is XLR I made up some cables and used adaptors so cabling could be some of the difference. I’m in the process of redoing my bedroom system and think the Itube2 could work there, will let you know how it does when I try it out.

Why can't you run them off batteries ? I use 30 to 50 amphr sealed batteries with a CTEK charger. The CTEK puts out 7 amps and is dead quiet so you could probably get by with a smaller battery.

Does anyone know were I can find a list of the formats that Daphile will play? Will it play WMA file or will I have to convert them?

Based on my experience if a piece of gear is properly designed you have no need for after market fixes. With my old Dac the fixes improved the SQ, but with my present Dac I tested 3 devices, 6 USB cables and 3 ethernet cables. 2 of the devices had a slight negative effect and all other had no effect at all. To quote the maker of one of the products I tested, when I told him of my results *“When gear is properly designed all of the "fixes" have very*little effect on SQ, thankfully most gear isn’t, so I’ll be in business for a long time”

Cables definitely make a difference in my system, but higher priced cables don't necessarily mean better SQ. I've replaced a more expensive, supposedly higher quality cable with one that cost half as much and the lower priced cable blow the higher priced one away.

I compared a Wired 4 Sound RUR, Uptone Regen and a IFi USB 3.0. I used two Curious cables with these devices to keep things constant and powered them all off a HDPlex LPS. The RUR and Regen had a slight effect, they both narrowed the sound stage a little and a slightly lowered of my bass impact . The IFi had no effect at all. I think these comparisons told me more about my system and how well it’s designed than about the effectiveness of these devices.

Do the grounding boxes that have more than one connector, have all the connectors connected to one copper plate or is there a separate copper plates for each connector? Also any reason not to hard wire to box instead of using connectors?

Originally I had a Mac mini running jriver to an exasound Dac, the ncore only powers my mids and tweeters. I now have a new front end that consist of a sever, streamer, and Dac. The ncores should have no problem powering your speakers, they are very clean sounding with great detail, the mods were a definite improvement in SQ in an already good sounding amp.

I have a dual mono ncore 400 that have Rich Schultz mods and they sound fantastic in my system.