Hi Erik! Mundorf MKP capacitors replacing the rectangular pink caps on the Parts Express YuanJing 2 x 68w LM3886 and NE5532 board makes a big difference. Better yet, run you audio into the second cap and skip the NE5532 stage completely.
DIY forever!
After reading (AudioXpress July 2020) about the new amp module (1ET400A) from Purifi Audio in Denmark (by the same fellows that built the nCore amps), I bought their EVAL1 package made for evaluation by potential purchasers (like NAD and others) consisting of two Class D amp modules (400 wpc @ 4 ohms, very low noise & distortion, unmeasurably low output impedance) and a front end with protection circuitry, extra gain, and input & output jacks. You have to build a suitable power supply to use it. Got it right on the second try. The amp is getting sensational reviews and I must say it's the best I've heard. Great specs and performance! You can own it for about $1000 with the power supply (you must build). Extremely good.
Linkwitz LX521-4 speakers, DAC upgrades (SMSL cute little red rectangle), lots of music, speaker builds & mods, ukulele groups, performing, and being grateful for a wonderful wife and church involvement fill the rest of my life. Keep smiling!
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Holy crap slaw that musta cost a small fortune! Guess it must still be the best around after all.
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@skyscraper
Though I do not own a 507MkII, my close friend does. A power cord can and does make a very hearable difference. We demo’d an older Pangea 9, Nordost Blue Heaven, and Nordost Heimdall 2. It got better as you moved up the line. I’d say the Pangea was not worth the money though because there was little improvement and the sound was still grainy. The Blue Heaven makes a nice difference at $330 but the Heimdall 2 was much better. If you can swing it, or something comparable, that’d be the one to go with. Another power cord that is even better for nearly similar money to the Heimdall is the Isotek Optimum. The Isotek is better value for money to me. |
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Parted ways with my legacy B&W + Rotel setup of 15 years to enter the world of seperates with a Schiit Saga+ and Vidar combo.
I know it's sacrilegious around here, but I took a chance on a no-name phono preamp made in China with incredible results. In fact, after some tweaks, my vinyl setup officially sounds better than my digital setup.
My last project for the rest of the year is to find new ways to enjoy my current setup without new tweaks or purchases. |
There are plenty of extant power cord discussions on Audiogon. I would like to encourage those who want to engage that topic to start a new one or look for an old one so we can stay more broadly focused here. Thank you.
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...the only power cords noted here should be spelled 'chords'....;)
"Good times, bad times, I know I've had my share...." *humming into the netherspace...* |
Like lots of others I rekindled one of my oldest but dormant loves this year:
--got a cheap turntable (shout out to my buddy, Chris, for pushing me): this began it all in January
--realized my AVA dynamo pas III pre-amp phono stage was gone, got AVA vision Q, February (thank you, Frank)
--got a PS Audio P3 and a Monarchy 22B DAC from by brother (thank you, Eric!), February
--put in dedicated circuit, line, and PS Audio plug (myself), March
--Isoacoustic Gaias under my Abbys, March
--cones and carbon fiber pucks under everything else, except Isoacoutics under sources, March
--My old stereo 70 blew (still figuring out if I can fix and upgrade it); researched/stressed out about a new amp, picked a trade-in LTA ZOTL 10 (so happy! Mark was terrific), April
--made some isolation plinths out of marble and out of solid mahogany (that I found in the house when I moved in 20 years ago), May
--replaced AUs with 1961 Amperex 6085s (Brent Jesse) and ATs with 1962 Amperex 7062s (Andy at Vintage Audio): again much research/stress, but worth it, June
--Full HFT/FEQ treatment (thank you, Peter from Cable Co!), July
--replaced 30 year-old cables with SR Foundation (ditto, Peter), July
--ordered Audiokinesis Swarm (learned lots from Duke on this forum)
--ordered Townsend super tweeters
Everything mentioned made a very noticeable improvement in SQ. Everyone was super generous with their knowledge and very helpful along the way. Except for Van Alstine, others turned me on to everything above, many on this forum.
Thank you (still plenty to do).
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I am playing with multichannel + Roon.
Erik, can a Pi endpoint do multichannel USB output? |
Hoping to turn a pile of cherry wood planks of 1/2" and 1/4" that I milled and joined into something resembling quadratic diffusers before 2021. It’s only taken 6 months (as my eyes roll at how much work it was that I wasn’t prepared for)!
Got inside my amplifier after blowing bad money on "budget pre amplifier solutions" to attach my sub - costly and wasteful mistakes. I know now, do it right or just don’t.
Finally got my sub attached, using an interconnect geometry from an Audiogon user (sorry I can’t recall his name) who posted a page on helical ground coil spiraling round twisted pair interconnects. Anyway it worked a treat inside my amp. Purchased a Jensen summing transformer and connected my single double opposed firing sub - and smugly thought this is great.
Only to have Adiogon users espousing the superior merits of a DBA bass array, so yeah guys - thanks for the extra work I’m going to have to do (heheheh) to implement one, because I can’t just ignore you all. (seriously thanks for sharing).
Thanks Agon - I do appreciate the sharing, and entertainment.
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Erik, can a Pi endpoint do multichannel USB output? @mktmktI have no idea, suggest you find the Roku forums and ask there. |
Hi Erik!
Nice of you to mention the things we can do ourselves! Eagerly waiting for 4 Auricap capacitors. Their designated spot in life will be coupling the EL 34 power tubes to the splitting/driver section of my Copland CTA 401. My system is not finished yet, but when all is said and done the system will be very much a DIY effort. The last action worthy of note was rebuilding a phono cable to a semi balanced layout. The screen completely removed form all signal. It works quite well. Of late I started to appreciate the SQ by using a SR Blue fuse. And, with the use of a lot of strong words (which can be typed freely in our hemisphere) I was slowly very much convinced of an unexpected improvement!
Kind Regards, StefV
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mr_m, better late than never. For me it's been a long ongoing process. |
Figured it was finally time to stop saying that I would learn how to play guitar someday and picked up some gear. Slow going, but having fun with it. |
This year with both of us working at home full time, I got a beyerdynamic A20 and DT770 headphones. So she can watch her TV in the family room while I bliss out in the living room.
I swapped out my speaker cables and most of my old interconnects from Monster for Marrow SP4 and MA4. (Only the long interconnects from pre to amp remain. Saving $$$ to replace those eventually)
When I installed the new cables I took everything out of the cabinet the system lives in and added isolation feet under all the components and rerouted all the cables to get the AC away from the interconnects.
Updated my cartridge from a Denon DL103R to a Hana EL. Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!
When I installed the new cartridge I retuned my Linn LP12 Valhalla and M&K/Rabco tonearm. That thing is a bear to get just right but when you do it's delightful. (Reminds me: I need a new battery)
And as always, I spent the entire year that I have a wife who loves the music (if not all the gear) as much as I do!
Cheers...
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I’ve gone a bit in the opposite direction perhaps, somewhat counterintuitively I’ve found myself working more and with less free time in COVID times so I’ve gone the “time is money” route and invested in some expensive upgrades (speakers, amp, preamp, cables - only the DAC has survived) to get closer to “happily ever after” and not have to tweak and fuss so much. I have to say the plan has been a success and the system is sounding really wonderful. It was a lot of money but I’m happy with the returns. |
(I did also get another rPi as a Roon endpoint but that was all of half an hour assembling and setting up. Pretty happy with how close to plug and play it is nowadays with Ropieee etc.)
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I built a pair of Linkwitz LXMinis and made them completely voice-controlled.
Chain is Alexa/Amazon Music HD > DTS Play-Fi skill > Paradigm PW Link preamp > MiniDSP 2x4 HD > two stereo power amps > biamped LXMinis.
All equipment is plugged into an Amazon Smart Plug so turning it all on is voice-controlled with the command "Alexa, turn on stereo."
Can also stream wirelessly from PC using DTS Play-Fi.
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Built a Pass Pearl phono preamp. I was mostly curious to see how much more is in my LPs, and it turns out there is indeed more in those grooves. I thought my Rogue Sphinx Phono stage was pretty darn good, and it is, but there’s just more through the Pearl. It also has more gain, 55 dB, than the Rogue and was being overloaded occasionally by my 5.5mV MM cart. So I switched to a LO Grado Timbre Opus3 (1mV) And very happy with the combo.
now adding LPs off Discogs.
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I was finally able to get a low-angle jack and a block Veritas planes from Lee Valley in Canada and have mostly smoothed out some glued up white oak and cherry. I'm about to stain them black and aqua before I apply finish and attach some legs. The audio stand should be a stunner. And I'm shedding old Sonos amps and getting new Sonos amps. I just added a Frank Zappa station to my playlist.
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Gone or going:Sim Audio MoonNeo 220i integratedCambridge Audio CXR 200 HT receiverOppo BDP 83New arrivals:Denafrips Aries II dacBonn N8 ethernet switchMusical Fidelity M6si integratedAnthem MRX 520 HT receiverNRG Power cables
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Oh boy. Covid hit my retired lifestyle hard leading me to seek refuge in exercise and music to stay semi-sane
Biggest change was upgrading my Primaluna Prologue Six monos to Dialogue Premium after eight or so years. Other "work" was done to my Uptone JS-2 powered Roon Nucleus+ streaming setup. USB out via Cerious Link to an Uptone ISORegen to Synergistic Reference USB to aJS-2 powered Matrix X SPDIF 2 to Audioquest Mocha HDMI I2S into my PS Audio DirectStream DAC.
Upstream of that I added a Sonore opticalModule powered by an HDPlex LPS via fiber to my EtherREGEN powered by an Sbooster LPS then via Synergistic Reference CAT6 to the Nucleus+
A couple of Synergistic Atmosphere power cords and all Blue Fuses replaced by SR Orange.
Happy boy... |
DIYing
Upgraded the caps , recitiers , some resistors ,
speaker posts and RCA connectors on a McCormack DNA-250 amp .
Am now working on Thiel CS2.7 speakers ,
experimenting with the wiring , then changing out the resistors
and electrolytic caps .
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Constrained Lagrange optimization software for quantum computers...
oh wait...
had my genius Roger Modjeski RM-9 rebuilt and an octet of Hyper precision matched EL-34 installed and broken in - Phat!
conducted extensive listening evaluations between AEA and Royer vocal ribbons for recording studio project. Finished results = released album :-) sponsor the arts!!!
wading thru Rettinger - Acoustic Design and Noise Control ( Vol. 1 ) trimmed .04 off the consequential RT-60 using “ stuff “
Working a nice walnut slab into an amp stand, down selecting to constrained layer and feet. HRS selected for stand to amp interface |
Found that the 30+ year old half round vibrapods (about 2" diameter) work great as speaker cable lifters and stabilizing/anti-vibrational pucks.
Hoping to replace my speakers with near SOTA speakers that my custom room and high end equipment/cabling deserves (that I deserve, heck I'm closer to 65 and have great hearing).
A new cartridge is pending as mine is long in the tooth but not mistracking, just too many hours on it. |
Let’s see.... - No More USB cables - I2S connection instead
- Optical isolation of my Ethernet input cable
- New SMc Audio monoblocks
- Trying springs under the monoblocks
- Considering decoupling speakers from the concrete floor
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Recapping the crossovers in my Infinity Kappa 9’s, doing this myself.
Also having my Phase Linear gear gone through and upgraded. Although that’s not being done by myself. I don’t have the electronics background for such.
I do have mad soldering skills though... I can pull & replace.
Oh yea,
Working on getting my vinyl back up and spinning.
New to me the past 6 months are a Sony PS-x75 & Kenwood KP-9010.
Am dancing I never sold my vinyl... |
Not trying to hijack but...
What's a "Swarm system"?
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