Stuff Jones

My speaker setup is neutral DAC and speaker with a tube amp in the middle to dial in the right amount of warmth.

I'm more 2). front of chain more revealing, tune to your liking downstream.

The best option is to listen to whatever you think is the best way forward. Preference + synergy reigns surpreme. Unfortunately this means lots of auditioning

i can imagine the comments, “While lacking in bass, Brood X has overwhelming treble presence and off-putting timbre.’

I'm leaving it on DAC mode. It does charge in DAC mode, but I'm not sure what it does when it's fully charged.

Why would a manufacturer offer USB DAC mode if its bad for the battery?

Again, it depends on the design. Some manufacturers throw shit into their feature set expecting most people won’t use it that way or will only use it rarely, therefore it’s a non issue if a few people have some batteries die prematurely. If the manufacturer is worth its salt however and designed it properly, it will be designed to be reliable in all modes of operation.

ZX300 has a battery saver 80% mode. If your DAP does, it's prolly ok. But if it always charges to 100%, not so good for the battery.

Shorter means a lower probability for interference, right?

They're not amazingly shielded and the power and signal cables are snuggling up real close, so the power gets dirtier the longer the cable even before you add other nearby cables.

The audio signal doesn't degrade like analog though, since it's a digital packet with built-in error correction - when that fails the packet is invalid and gets dropped. It either works or it doesn't.

Provided the cables is short enough the packet gets there in good shape - per spec as AtomicBob says this is 5m though more is possible in theory - you could provide clean power with a split cable and an ifi Ipower or lps, but at that point just use a Pi.

The presence region is right where human hearing is most sensitive so elevations there (e.g. HD600, ER2XR) bring a real sense of in-your-face-ness that could lend a sense of, well, presence to sonic images. Of course, *because* hearing is far more sensitive there the listening experience can tend to be a bit tiring over time.

I've been pretty "fatigued" by many live performances, although not always by the sound. And not always music.

Production values can kill or elevate music. Add a FR that is too spikey in certain a certain region or regions and you can end up with Sony head-aches or DT48 "what the fuck?" Either way we can all write multiple page essays about this phenomenon here...

I got one from my in-laws, sounds pretty good when you raise it to be a bit more on axis. Hands down the best battery bank I have listened to.

I'm going to use it for travel. Throw it in a sock in your suitcase and you're good to go.

Confirmed that it's the AC power source (so far). Pops went away when unplugged.

It's a laptop? It's easy to say, because I use an under-desk anyway, but I'd be disinclined to use a laptop for serious audiophiliousness. Partly because of those power supplies. No audiophoolery, I think it is accepted that they can and do put audio-affecting noise into the system. But if it's good on battery, you have a solution. As long as the battery lasts.

Except... Noise when moving the mouse is another classic DPC Latency symptom. Not necessarily because of the mouse, but because of the video: the system prioritises the display of that moving mouse.

But shouldn't that make video impossible to watch? Good point: I don't know.

Latin: cornu = horn (there's always one smartarse :P)

In the most ancient mythologies it is actually a solitary cob of corn on the head.

I have amperex and mullard tubes, as well. I'd take the amp over the mullards, but the rest of the chain matters (Pi2AES > Modi 3 > SW51+ > HD6XX (stock) / Elex). The (Blackburn) Mullards I have are bright-ish (seems there's some variance with this tube as there may be diff versions). Tungsram reminds me of the stock tube, but better.

@FlySweep - before I order, can you confirm that these are the ones you got?

http://www.nostubestore.com/2016/05/tungsram-ef1846ej7.html

yep.. looks identical to mine. Let 'em marinate for a while when you get 'em. I love the build quality in tungsram tubes too.. rugged af.

The source material is king. Everything down from there just needs to inflict the least damage to it. The speaker and room make the sound radiation system and should be always viewed as a whole, unless in very specific cases.

I was actually thinking more of headphones but wanted to be inclusive and cool and use @purr1n's preferred lingo. Headphones are transducers too, no?

Headphones are wildly inaccurate.

Interesting...I'd ask to define the term "absolute". I do think that the changes make the quality more apparent as the brain does adjust to the level of "quality" it's been listening to so we appreciate certain jumps in quality more.

What I mean is that after about a month of listening to new gear, we stop listening to SQ and just listen to music. We only listen to SQ again after gear changes, or when forced to compare with past gear. Or at least that's the case with me. This suggests that outside those comparison periods, our enjoyment of music remains the same regardless of SQ (except a major SQ downgrade that forces us to compare for longer).

So if I understand you, you're referring to the evaluation "period " as opposed to hen we settle in & enjoy. I think I do enjoy the listening to SQ to an extent but yes it is different than when everything is dialed in the way I want. I personally wouldn't say my enjoyment stays the same given other variables, but I get your point and agree.

Something is exciting you. New Campfires? ;)

Whoa that was weird. I wanted to post a period, because I had posted a link which might be construed as political and wanted to replace it.

Well, if you've tried all your own suggestions, and it's still not working...

Wonder if reloading firmware could possibly help. @Bina?

@DigMe Not sure if that would have any effect.

We have been going over this with StuffJones over emails for a few days. At this time it's hard to say if it's some issue on side of Q1 or just something on the PC side, as it was tested on only one computer.

We are working with our US dealer on some way how to fix it for him.

Best HOLE SIZE!
Best THICHNESS OF SILICON!

It depends. Heavy Metal files can be balanced out by Light Easy Listening files.

Surely compressed music weighs more than music with a high dynamic range? One only has to look at the wave form.

Would assume 24... what I use with my Gungnir Multibit and seems to work well.

16 bit audio signal can be delivered losslessly in a 24 bit container, so go for the higher number.