LH Labs Pulse X Infinity technical measurements - DAC only

Discussion in 'Source Measurements' started by atomicbob, Oct 12, 2015.

  1. CaseyH

    CaseyH New

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    Pulse DAC Xfi: This is Pulse DAC X on steroids. Remember that optional dual femto clock upgrade? This is where you get it. It also has upgraded passive components (capacitors and resistors) as well as upgraded active components (opamps and controllers).
     
  2. Judeus

    Judeus Facebook Friend

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    Wait so what is the X infinity theb
     
  3. CaseyH

    CaseyH New

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    Upgrade AQ2M DAC chip, THD and Naked Resistors
     
  4. Judeus

    Judeus Facebook Friend

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    And the retail for that is only 100 more then xfi?
     
  5. miceblue

    miceblue Friend

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    Hi all,

    Thank you atomicbob for getting the X Infinity measured; it was quite an interesting session! If we had more time, I would be curious to see how the imaging test differs between the minimum phase and linear digital filter modes, as well as the THD since the linear filter apparently measures better.

    Seeing how the base Pulse model measures would definitely be interesting to see too since that one doesn't have all the fancy schmancy upgrades on the inside. I wonder how the jitter measurements will compare without the femto clocks, or the channel balance without hand-matched components, for example. The measurements would be comparable too since the X Infinity data was obtained from the single-ended RCA outputs.




    Just for clarification's sake, the X Infinity is:
    Geek Pulse
    • + X - balanced analogue outputs with a dual-mono configuration on the inside
    • + f - dual femto clocks
    • + i - internal amplifier upgrade
    • + n - naked resistors in the I/V conversion section
    • + t - THD/hand-match components
    Hence the name X Infinity came from the abbreviations for the different upgrades: Xfint. Apparently all X Infinity units also have the new 2015 ESS SABRE 9018AQ2M DAC chip in them.

    My particular Linear Power Supply 4 unit had some modifications done to it (as compared to a stock unit) since I sent it back to the Tech Support team to fix a buzzing issue I was having:
    • Fixed buzzing issues.
    • Fixed USB B grounding.
    • Fixed competitions dac's syncing at power up. [has to do with the USB handshake]
    I'm also curious to know what kind of measurable differences there are with this LPS compared to the stock switching power supply wall wart, or even just a different linear power supply.


    To get an idea of what I paid for this:
    • $199 USD - Pulse
    • $140 - X upgrade
    • $119 - Femto clock upgrade
    • $88 - Passive component upgrade [internal amplifier upgrade]
    • $129 - Naked resistors
    • $168 - THD upgrade
    • $22 - AQ2M DAC chip upgrade
    $865 for the X Infinity

    • $299 - Linear Power Supply
    • $130 - LPS4 upgrade
    $429 for the LPS4


    $1294 grand total for the X Infinity and LPS4 with the Indiegogo pricing. The last time I heard, the X Infinity wasn't going to be sold outside of the Indiegogo campaign, but I could be wrong. Their Indiegogo page right now says the X Infinity has a $3100 MSRP.
     
  6. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

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    OUCH. I backed not so early and based on the MSRP. I cannot get mine to sell for 849 (infinity) and LPS 1 for 250.

    Thinking it was an investment I totally lost money. I spent 1400 for the infinity and got the LPS from someone off of headfi for 270.

    While I am interested in how the sound is from the DAC as a stand alone. I really do not like the sound from the Headphone out balanced. Its lean, glared, and hollow in the midrange.
     
  7. uncola

    uncola Friend

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    gbeast that's too bad.. but people seem to really like the dac output with an external headphone amp. I guess larry's main thing is the dac design and that's the highlight. I really like my gov2 balanced headphone out though
     
  8. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    I hope it sells soon, G. It hurts to see you getting killed on the sale.
     
  9. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

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    Thanks... And thanks for the great at deal on the lps.
    At 750 now maybe it will. Admittedly it does perform better than 750 bucks.

    When my LC gets in who knows it could be game over.
     
  10. Asgeir101

    Asgeir101 New

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    I am actually a quite happy owner of two Geek Pulse Xfi+s. I use one at home together with a Liquid Crimson and the pairing is really good, the other one is at work. The sound is very clean, detailed and slightly sweet (probably the Liquid Crimson). While I agree that the Xfi headphone out isn´t anything special i find it listenable using something a bit darker like Alpha Dogs or Audeze Lcd-2.

    I am however curious how the geek pulse xfi stacks up against a Gungnir Multibit. Maybee @atomicbob can answear that
     
  11. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

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    ^Can you compare the xfi headphone out to the lc... Just so I know what to expect. I may pull it down from the fs add
     
  12. uncola

    uncola Friend

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    gbeast he has a liquid crimson not a liquid carbon it's a bigger more expensive amp, just making sure you noticed :)
     
  13. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

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    Ha nope i speed read too much.
    Woops
     
  14. atomicbob

    atomicbob dScope Yoda

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    While I did measure the geek pulse x infinity for a fellow headphone geek, we didn't have much time left over for listening. I will say that to my ears the GuMB + Liquid Crimson is a combination that hits very high on the immersion experience. When listening to that combination I never find myself wanting to make changes, only to keep digging into the library to be delighted by more CDs that haven't been heard in years.
     
    Last edited: Dec 14, 2015
  15. logscool

    logscool Friend

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    I agree that the headphone out of the geek pulse x infinity isn't great the balanced out is a big step up though and actually reasonably good. I currently have the pulse hooked up to both my project ember and my liquid carbon, I have to say for the moment I am not totally enthralled by the liquid carbons single ended output to my HD600s and HE-400s and actually prefer the project ember with those two. However running balanced into my alpha primes it works great and sounds very nice.
     
  16. uncola

    uncola Friend

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    logscool balanced out meaning the balanced headphone out or the xlr out on the back? :p
     
  17. logscool

    logscool Friend

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    Meaning the balanced headphone out. I haven't tried comparing the DAC outputs on the same amp.
     
  18. Asgeir101

    Asgeir101 New

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    I would say the liquid Crimson makes the Xfi headphone out (balanced) sound vailed and flat by comparison. There is much more immersion (to borrow a term from atomicbob) detail and speed using the combo. It's worth noting I am using Ethers as my prime headphone.
     
  19. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

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    Not liking the balanced out at all. It's a bit flat, hollow, thin and lacks weight.
     
  20. rayfalkner

    rayfalkner Not to be confused with Roy Fokker - Friend

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    Darn what a slowpoke I am. So there's a discussion for this device in here.
    Geek Pulse is one that really caught my interest on the last meets. The model presented on the demo table is a lower tiered model I guess since it got only a single ended output on the front, but it seriously sounds nice with the paired stock HD650.
     

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