The All Purpose Advice Thread

yeah, already been there. Pretty familiar with most audiophiles in Seattle and all the groups and societies. Do kinda know most of the gear. Would like a non noob opinion on things. Thanks

 

Was thinking about the spring dac. will check it out when Tim brings it to the bottlehead meet. But if the Yggdrasil and the spring dac are the onty things out there at that price point..... Very disappointed.

 

I think Holo, Metrum, Chord are all worth spending some time with. Also, does @soundsgoodtome still have the Denafrips? He had it at Bottlehead last year, but I don't know which one, and didn't get back to that table.

 

@BIG POPPA Metrum Onyx/Jade

 

@BIG POPPA The correct place for gear advice is in this thread:
https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/the-all-purpose-advice-thread.19/

 

I believe what you'll want is the elusive BLACK Yggdrasil. Then seek out cables made from conductive purple unicorn hair. That should do it.

 

Me, to myself, "Nothing to see here, move along."

 

Hey, and welcome!

I'm not going to say these are necessarily sonic-rivals to the Yggdrasil, particularly in it's current form, and their inclusion here is not necessarily any endorsement on sonic grounds (I've not heard all of them) but based on your desire to have something to fiddle around with and tweak to get to what you want, they may be useful starting points:

Musical Paradise MP-D2

It's built to be fiddled with. Either with factory-built DAC modules, capacitor options, and tube options, or by leveraging those built-in points of configuration to "do your own thing".

Soekris dac1541

Or some of the DIY boards that they make available. Out of the gate the easiest changes are going to be to the software/filters in use, but other tweaks are certainly possible.

MHDT Labs

I know you're already familiar with most of these, but am including them in case others are interested.

Metrum Acoustic's

Probably the Onyx or the Amethyst are the best bets here, though a used L1 Pavane is also a possibility. Not sure exactly how tweakable these are overall, but their "no output stage/buffer" design might make for interesting possibilities that require more major surgery on other DACs (e.g. the sort of thing @purr1n did with Gungnir MB and Freya).

...

The "vintage" Sonic Frontiers and Theta DACs might also be interesting starting places. They'll be somewhat easier to fiddle with than, say, any of the latest all-surface-mount designs, along with having some extra space-in-the-case.

 

I am using Emotiva DC1 balanced out to two Nuforce HP-200 (class A). The pots on both Nuforce amps got very scratchy.
I can set the volume so it is quiet, but that would be different volume level for each channel. The only volume levels when they are both quiet is very low or maximum. Is it good for components, and SQ, to operate two amplifiers at max, or it is better to set them for low volume? the noise is only with sensitive cans, not with HEK2.

 

Solid base and lots of possibilities for tweaking and tinkering:

http://www.dddac.com/dddac1794.html

 

Hello, SBAF!

My Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 has been flaking out lately so I'm looking for a new low to mid price balanced DAC. Maybe $500 maximum if I think it's justified. Most DACs sound pretty much the same to me though, so I'm more interested in features, specs, and build quality.

I need balanced outputs since there's about a 25' run between my PC and my SRM-T1S and it picks up noise and introduces a nasty ground loop otherwise.

Poking around B&H's site for more pro audio interfaces, the Scarlett 2i2 2nd gen still seems like the best option in that category. It's inexpensive, my 1st gen lasted me almost 5 years, I never had a problem with its sound, and I do occasionally use the mic inputs for measurements.

Audiophile DACs move so fast now that I have no idea where to start. The only thing I remember being in my price range before I dropped off the forums, and that's still in production, is the DACMagic Plus. The headphone out on it is pretty useless with its ~50 ohm output impedance, but the measured performance on its DAC is quite good and it has more input and output options than the Scarlett.

I went back to Schiit's site to check the current lineup, but the Gungnir is still their cheapest balanced DAC and that's more than I want to spend.

What's new in the world of audiophile DACs?

 

How about a used Gungnir, and then you have an upgradable DAC for the future.

 

Ross Martin Audio seems to have the cheapest balanced DACs around. If you are just looking at specs it uses PCM1794 chips which have some of the best numbers I've seen even from TI. He puts a minimal amount of effort into his webpage but it seems to translate in lower prices for his equipment.

Here's a review by Torq

http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...sil-watering-the-ash.4036/page-21#post-137380

 

Emotiva dc1 maybe? Have to find it used probably, as I think it might be discontinued.

 

That's the one Torq reviewed, right?

He seemed to like it well enough, iirc they have no usb input, so that's probably part of the cost saving - gen 5 upgrade boards aren't cheap for example.

 

If you check the webpage he actually does have an additional USB upgrade for not that much money.

Edit:

Optical + RCA is $217
Optical + RCA + USB is $241

Pretty damn cheap. Although it seems like a $24 USB module might be pretty limited. But if you want something that works it'll do. Then if he wants to go nuts he can get an Eitr.

 

That Ross Martin looks interesting. I'll do some digging on it.

 

Ok advice. Im looking at buying the Lyr 3. I currently have a Magni 3 and a Modi Multibit.

I either want to combine the Modi Multibit with a Eitr and run that or find a nice used Bifrost Multibit with Gen 5 USB. Is there a significant sound quality difference between the Modi Multibit/eitr combo vs the gen 5 Bifrost Multibit to make it worth trying to find a Bifrost Multibit?

 

Any opinions on Yggdrasil A2 vs Gungnir Multibit for somebody who usually listens to less than perfectly recorded/mastered music? Reading up on the topic patiently these days but any direct advice for me would be nice!

What I may be concerned about shall I go with Yggdrasil A2:

• Too bright or sharp
• Too shouty or sibilant
• Too dynamically lively, fatiguing

What I may be concerned about shall I go with Gungnir Multibit:

• What if... (I bought Yggdrasil A2)
• What if... (I rather waited until upgraded analog board is announced for Gungnir Multibit)
• What if... (I end up not seeing Gungnir Multibit as a significant step up from Modi Multibit)

Yggdrasil A2 looks like the ultimate endgame... but what if the ideal endgame for me personally would be something a bit more easygoing aka Gungnir Multibit?

Yeah, I know, best would be to just hear both and decide for myself afterwards.