Mark,
I am afraid I use Windows 8.1 for hi-rez audio and will not be able to compare what you hope for. Also, I would need Amarra and A+ for the experiment.
I appreciate your resolve in getting past the Mac Mini's "screw vaults", so to speak. Well, I am a mite meeker when it comes to this sort of thing although I would do it on an old discarded piece just to exercise my hands and fingers. Looks like coincidentally, you may be a microsurgeon too, with your surgical loupes, precision and attention to detail with regard to the screw types.
Cheers! |
Agh... Did not realize that replacing a drive in MacMini was this exciting... I appreciate your lack of enthusiasm with the idea of repeating the thrillsome experience G. |
Perhaps Guido,
The specs of the 850 vs Agility 3 SSD are similar, yet there are advantages to the 850 Pro for sure.
The thing is, the 2010 Mac Mini has the drive buried in the back of the unit. They recommend that only expert technicians attempt to switch out drives....I am not that guy. Nevertheless, following an instructional you tube video I found, I gave it a go. Almost every component in the MM had to be removed. I needed my pair of surgical loupes to see half the screws I removed and of the 32, most had varying ISO standards....so they each had to be labeled to get the right ones back in the right place. 4-5 hours later I was holding my breath when I booted up the MM....all was fine.
Exhausting enough of a task, I won't be trying to tackle that again. When I eventually upgrade my Mac Mini this may be a viable option, as Apple received complaints about the aforementioned design and I understand the process of swapping drives is much easier based on its location in the enclosure.
I am sure the extent some of go to in the pursuit of the best SQ, seems ridiculous to many. Lol
Thanks for sharing.
Mark |
Thank you Mark, while my nostalgic inclinations made me hope invane that K-03 remained superior as an all-in-one over its partial use with a computer front end, your findings do not surprise me. I wonder if applying the new blazingly fast and superliable Samsung 850 Pro SSd would give your MacMini an edge over the K-03 transport. See this detailed review of the device:
http://www.anandtech.com/print/8216/samsung-ssd-850-pro-128gb-256gb-1tb-review-enter-the-3d-era
I conjecture that the Samsung 850 Pros series blazing speed might reduce jitter even further.
G. |
Yeah....have given that some thought. Just concerned after hearing several people that upgraded their OS to Maverick, which resulted in problems with Amarra and A+ integration.
If your willing, you can download a free trial version of each to compare to the Esoteric HRA Player. If you have the time, I would love to hear your comparative opinion. Maybe that will push me over the edge to upgrade my OS.
Mark |
Guido,
Looks like Mark has answered most of your questions. For me, I will continue to play redbook CD's in the transport and listen only to hi-rez via the HRA player.
Comparing hi-rez via HRA to redbook CD's in the transport, hi-rez is at a whole new level altogether.
Mark, one day you may decide to upgrade your Mac OS to Maverick and be able to take advantage of the HRA player. |
I would have to agree with Guido on the possible challenges above. No matter what tweaks I made, I always preferred the timbre, grain free sound, depth of soundstage, etc. playing RB CD's in the K-03 Transport vs music files played using the K-03 USB input.
The next move was to replace the HD in my 2010 Mac Mini with an Agility 3 SSD. In addition, I added the Bel Canto Reflink to the mix via BNC/SPDIF (Transparent Reference Digital Cable) to K-03 Coaxial input.
I kept the Audioquest Carbon USB Cable to direct USB Input to perform an A/B comparison and could now evaluate all three options. The differences for me now between spinning disks and listening to the like Redbook CD file(s) are indiscernible, I can hear no difference. Seems the SSD and USB Converter reduced the noise inherent in computers while reducing jitter.
Mark |
Jon... Fascinating!
What could account for the K-01 transport advantage? ...
* Inherent jitter of the hard drive? ... Perhaps try a new Samsung 850 Pro SSD?
* Jitter introduced by the connection to K-01?
* Stray noise originating in the computer?
* other?
Guido |
The transport (VMK-3.5-20S) and the clock (0.5 ppm vcxo part) appear to be the same between k-01 and the new x model. so do the power supply and the 8 dac/per channel configuration. which is a relief for me as a k-01 owner not willing to immediately upgrade.
the difference is the new akm dac chip, usb receiver and possibly the digital pre-amp section.
looking forward to hearing impressions but reminds me of the x-01 to d2 upgrade which i also skipped and was later awarded with the k series upgrade which was revolutionary |
Guido and all,
I have compared the redbook version of the same album to the CD spinning in the transport. I am delighted to say that it is no contest with sound from the transport way ahead by quite a mile. I am happy because the substantial investment in the VRDS Neo transport for redbook material remains sound and has not been rendered obsolete by the HRA player. :) |
Guido,
+1 Mark's comments above. Yes, it would be interesting to compare redbook files via the HRA player to CD's spinning in the transport. I shall evaluate this and revert.
Mark,
The HRA player does not do native dsd for the K-01/03. While I did not download dsd files in the past, I can do so now to evaluate the DoP protocol. Would be interesting to compare dsd over pcm to hirez pcm for some music albums. |
That is fascinating Mark... I wonder if there will be always a sonic advantage in playing redbooks from the K-01X spinner, or there will exist some setup from a PC/Mac such that playback of redbook files from computer will be superior.
G. |
Guido,
Yes, it supports RedBook CD playback as mentioned below:
Supported file formats:
Simple screen design reduces CPU load and contributes to higher sound quality.
By using a simple screen design, the CPU load is reduced, and this contributes to higher sound quality. For listeners that desire even better audio quality, the RAM buffer playback loads the data temporarily into the computer's memory before playback to enable playback with even higher audio quality.
Other features
> Playlists can be created, saved and loaded
> Repeat playback function for playlists and single tracks
> Shuffle playback function for playlists
> DSF (.dsf ) DSDIFF (.dff ) PCM (.wav) FLAC (.flac) MP3 (.mp3) 2.8/5.6 MHz
2.8/5.6 MHz
> 44.1 kHz  384 kHz,16 bit  32 bit 44.1 kHz  384 kHz,16 bit  32 bit 32 kbps  320 kbps
Mark |
Hi John, is the HR Audio Player able to play redbook material, or only High Resolution files?
Guido |
"I have not heard about this in the USA. Can the DAC be upgraded in the K-03. I like my CD collection and have no plans for streaming or downloading music".
The Esoteric Rep indicated they do not plan to upgrade the DAC or provide any additional upgrades offered via the K-01x/K-03x other than the USB input capability extended.
Follow this link (Scroll to bottom of page) and it specifies their intentions at this point. Perhaps they will offer additional K-01/K-03 beyond the USB interface when the time comes, however; the Rep said do not count on it.
http://www.bm.rs/Esoteric/esoteric%20k01x%20&%20k03x%20broshure%20english.pdf
Unfortunately, as far as the Esoteric HR Audio Player goes, it is not compatible with my version 2010 Mac Mini (10.6.8) unless I upgrade my OS to Maverick. Fortunately, I am pleased with Amarra 3.0.2 and Audirvana +, though I would certainly be interested in hearing and comparing SQ if I could. |
Hi Phillyb,
I hope to persuade you to try out HRA with your K-03 in which you have invested a substantial sum. I am not a dealer but just another hobbyist who has simply discovered and experienced the joys of HRA.
As the cost of the K-03 comes with the usb input and hirez DAC, you would be missing out on a lot of its other capabilities, esp with HRA.
This little experiment will come at very little additional cost. First, get an audiophile grade usb cable-the Audioquest Pearl usb cable is a rather affordable point to start with. Then download the free HRA player, install it and then, go to the HD Tracks website to download their free samples of hirez files.
I am quite confident you will like what you hear compared to CD.
Cheers! |
Many thanks as usual, Guido.
I just downloaded the HRA player to my K-01 and the installation was a breeze. Upon installation, the upsampling option defaults to ORG (no upsampling) while the digital filter option defaults to OFF.
The improvement in sonics over my previous coax connection via the iFi iLink usb-spdif converter is significant in every parameter.
When I compared the default ORG and OFF to the other options, there was some degradation in SQ. So I went back to the default as Esoteric meant it to be for optimal SQ.
If one has a very high-end usb-spdif converter compared to my pedestrian iLink, your mileage would of course vary between the coax and usb connections. I have to qualify here that my usb connection from the pc is via the iFi iPower and double-headed Gemini cable which separates the usb power from the audio signal. I did compare with and without the iPower again after installation of the HRA Player and came away much happier with the iPower in the chain.
All K-01/03 owners who are into computer audio owe it to themselves to try out this free download.
Happy listening! |
I have not heard about this in the USA. Can the DAC be upgraded in the K-03. I like my CD collection and have no plans for streaming or downloading music. |
Information on its even heftier K-01X single box
brother is at:
http://www.esoteric.jp/products/esoteric/k01x/indexe.html
Furthermore, Esoteric has a free HR Audio Player that can be downloaded at:
http://www.esoteric.jp/products/esoteric/hr_audio/indexe.html |
