The All Purpose Advice Thread - Part 2

Discussion in 'Advice Threads' started by shotgunshane, Mar 27, 2022.

  1. JK47

    JK47 Friend

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    -Gotham GAC-4/1
    -Canare L-4E6S
    -Mogami 2549


    Cinemag CMLI-15 Do-It-Yourself magic box (same transformers as in the EC Aficionado) ... aaaaaand I'm using it because most of the music I listen to is uncompressed pre-loudness wars 80's music, sometimnes the SW51+ runs out of steam with certain tracks, and the hot balanced signal helps boost it. I greatly prefer the sound through the DIY XLR/SE box than the SE out of the Modius E, and XLR to RCA cheater cables don't sound anywhere as good to me either.

    The SW51+ does not accept balanced inputs, and I tried the Modius E balanced to a Lokius converting to SE/EQ bypassed and thought it sounded like shit in a wool sock.
     
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    Last edited: Mar 20, 2023
  2. Wilewarer

    Wilewarer Almost "Made"

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  3. EagleWings

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    This would put too much weight and stress on the female jack in the amp.
     
  4. ColdsnapBry

    ColdsnapBry Almost "Made"

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    I know there's a few people here who have had Modius -> SW51+. Just curious if adding something like a pi2aes to run AES into the Modius adds a bit of blackground. My PC source is pretty noisy, I can actually hear noise in the background at listening levels. I don't have much complaints in this setup from stepping down from a gugnir and bifrost 2 - other than a bit of blackground missing.
     
  5. JK47

    JK47 Friend

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    I haven't tried a USB computer source with my SW51+, with either the MM2 or Modius E, but both are pitch black when it comes to back ground noise fed via coax-->MM2 and AES-->Modius E. My DIY Cinemag XLR/SE converter did introduce some noise that was mitigated by rewiring the converter and almost completely eliminated by using a small Bluetti portable power supply to feed the amp.
     
    Last edited: Mar 23, 2023
  6. ColdsnapBry

    ColdsnapBry Almost "Made"

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    Cool, just trying to replicate that music jumping out at you from a pitch blackground that the Bifrost 2 seems to do. I know Bifrost has some things going on in the transients to make this happen, but also having the galvanic isolated USB has to do something for blackness of background. Hoping getting Modius on a good source will help with this.
     
  7. zottel

    zottel Friend

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    TIL that Pro-Ject is a company from Austria and sells much more than only the turntables I had heard about before.

    What do you think about their other gear, especially DACs and headamps? Seems quite reasonably priced, but is it good, too?
     
  8. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    Based on my very fuzzy memory on a store demo years ago listening to a dac/headamp combo, it was just "ok", but that's literally the extent of my memory. I didn't hate it, but wasn't impressed enough to remember anything. Also very likely the units that I heard are on longer in production and they've moved onto the next generation(s).
     
  9. Climber

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    Agree with that. I played with a couple briefly at a CanJam a few years back and if I were just starting out and could pick up for cheap, I could be pretty satisfied on features and competent performance. But knowing what I know now ... eh, these are not the droids you're looking for.
     
  10. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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    Want to upgrade my old Sony BluRay player as it has tempermental problems with locking up and not playing some DVD's. Was looking at an older Oppo BDP-93.

    Note, I don't have many DVD-A's or SACD's, although I do have a few. I would be mainly looking at as a DVD/BluRay player for my 1080p TV.

    Any other suggestions that has a good picture quality of DVD's on an HDTV and with a good processing chip? Or different Oppo model that might be cheaper.
     
  11. caute

    caute Lana Del Gayer than you

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    Looking for a big boy OTL amp. What are the differences between the ZD, ZDS, and ZDSE (not looking for a ZDT, so can leave that one out)?

    Edit: ZD I've read is a little warmer than the more neutral ZDS, is this true? And what about the ZDSE?
     
    Last edited: Apr 3, 2023
  12. BioniclePhile

    BioniclePhile The Terminal Man - Friend

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    Alright I cave, been looking around for a new closed back headphone to do main music duty and eventually settled on the Dan Clark Aeon RT because of large quantity of good reviews all over but then looking here seems like people think they're pretty meh. Now I'm not sure where to look cause I don't see many closed back planars not in megabuck zone.
    Thinking about the T50rp mk. III now cause it's like semi-closed back, but wondering if anyone else has any experience with closed or semi closed backs that hit hard in the bass, sound fun, and are less than $600.
     
  13. M3NTAL

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    The ETA Mini C (Closed) might be another option that has some pretty positives reviews around here. I enjoy my Mini S (Semi-Open) quite a bit.
     
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  14. artur9

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    Looking for a stereo or pair of mono block amps to run a pair of Velodyne SC-8. Their original amp, the SC-1250, could put out 1000W and is impossible to find. Also, too big for my space.

    Small, fanless, under $1500. Is Buckeye Amps the best bet here? Those seem to top out at 500W.
     
  15. Pocomo

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  16. Armaegis

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    There are a few pro amps that will get you into kilowatt territory, but if you can't spare the space for a 2U rack size amp then yeah, something with an Ncore or Icepower or other newfangled ClassD amp in a chassis is what you're looking for though hitting that magical 1kW mark might be a stretch. I haven't heard of Buckeye specifically, but it looks like a fairly standard Hypex-in-a-box scenario so those should be fine.

    If you are willing to go with a 1U rack sized amp, then Powersoft would be my recommendation.
     
  17. artur9

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    Any Lab Gruppen? There's one on Sweetwater that looks nice, the PD3000.

    Also, not very knowledgeable in this space, can I just ignore what it says about 70V installation for this use?
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2023
  18. Armaegis

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    I only mentioned Powersoft before because you said you were limited for space and they have a few 1U sized amps that reach your desired power. That Lab Gruppen should be fine. That's also a 2U rack size amp. If you're willing to go up to that size, then there are multiple options available for cheaper. Crown, QSC, even Peavey are all fine in this area (just avoid Behringer). If you don't want class D, then you can probably find something like an older Yamaha P7000 on the used market which is a class G/H which will still get you into the kilowatt range.

    I don't see anything about the PD3000 being specifically for 70V distribution vs regular PA use, so don't worry about it. There are some amps that are meant only for 70V distribution which is *slightly* different from how regular amps work (mainly in cases where you have very long runs of wiring to multiple speakers), but as a general rule if you see regular speakon or binding post outputs then you're fine.
     
  19. phillip

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    Hi, it's been years since I browsed the audio catalogue. So now I'm back to look for a HD800s pairing amp and dac. I'd appreciate some advice from y'all.

    1. I don't have much desk space. Budget is not "exactly" a problem but would prefer to spend less if it's not necessary.
    2. Preferably the amp & dac can be used with Technics TZ700 iem.

    I've tried so far (some with HD800s in store, some with TZ700):
    1. DACS: X-SABRE 3, RME adi 2 dac, Chord Qutest - I can't tell one from the other because I didn't try them side by side, but when I tried switching RME adi 2 to a budget topping dac, the difference is apparent (caveat - not a blind test).
    2. Amps: tried Cayin HA-3A with TZ700. It was beautiful, much better than the iFi Gryphon that I recently bought. Butta, not sure if I want tube because of limited desk space. Tried Violectric amp - it turned my TZ700 to a murky sounding thing. Not really liking it.

    Not really liking any DAP (so far) because desktop amps somehow can push the boundary of TZ700 to have wider soundstage and lush sound. So that's something which I really appreciate.

    Thanks!
     
  20. EagleWings

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    Will this chain be focussed more on maximising the performance of the 800 or a more convenient setup that will work with the IEM too? I wouldn't recommend any of those 3 DACs for the 800, unless you listen to orchestral pieces and you prefer a more diffused presentation, in which case the Sabre 3 and Qutest might not be bad. If you are okay with trying esoteric stuff, then I'd recommend the Abbas DAC as it fixes 90% of the fatal flaws of the 800 but you also lose out a little on the separation, imaging and stage width. Abbas will still stomp on most DS DACs in depth. More mainstream options include the Schiit Yggdrasil LIM, Audial S5 as the 800 pairs quite well with multibit DACs.

    On the amp side, it will come down to how much you are willing to spend. The DNA family of amps are known to synergize really well with the 800. Then there is the Eddie Current Studio B and the Schiit Folkvangr. Some folks liked the Euforia and Elise from Feliks Audio for the 800, but those represent poor value in terms of what you get. I'd say the same applies to 90% of the tube headphone amps.
     

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