audioengr
Responses from audioengr
| Have You Heard the Northstar CD Combo? Clio09 wtre:Steve - are you still doing North Star mods, but just not on the Extremo DAC?Yes, I'm still modding the Northstar 192.steve N. | |
| Benchmark to amp direct question? Bob_reynolds - I dont believe that the impedance mismatch and the resulting reflections directly affects the audio band. This is a secondary or indirect effect of some sort. May not happen with tube outputs. | |
| Have You Heard the Northstar CD Combo? Anthony also has a $600 I2S cable that is really killer. I've tried the Northstar and the RA cables, which are both excellent. The filtered Northstar cable is probably best for really revealing or top-heavy systems. My favorite is the $600 one fro... | |
| PC-Based Set Up/Process - Comments? Dancetracks - you should try Foobar or Jriver and unmap the USB device. Then the computer does not even know it has an audio output device. Really clean and bit-perfect. Here are instructions:http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/index.php?topic=4006... | |
| Have You Heard the Northstar CD Combo? There are those that dont believe in I2S, but this is what makes this combo so good. Unfortunately, there is a lot of filtering on the I2S interface in order to get it to pass FCC/CISPR emissions testing, so this adds quit a bit of jitter. This is... | |
| Benchmark to amp direct question? Bob_reynolds - when I first started modding DAC's I put no additional resistance on the outputs. What I found was that with high-Q or low-loss cables connected, this evidently caused transmission-line type reflections on the cable which could take... | |
| Benchmark to amp direct question? Cmk - the DAC-1 converts single-ended to balanced at the output drivers. I would not call this a balanced DAC, but I suppose there are other interpretations.Steve N. | |
| Benchmark to amp direct question? Bob_reynolds - this high RCA output impedance is only in the older versions, more than three years old. The new cisrcuit board has new buffers and does the voltage divider between buffers rather than at the output pins. The new RCA output impedanc... | |
| Benchmark to amp direct question? Bob_reynolds - the output impedance of the balanced outs depends enitrely on the jumper settings. The place that I set them makes the impedance 30 ohms, just right.steve N.Empirical Audio | |
| "Mini" to Optical for Airport Express The analog outs on the AE are junk, trust me.Use the Toslink out with an adapter and a glass cable such as:http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/category.cgi?category=220&item=SP-TOC-99HQ&type=storeThe jitter from the AE is quite ... | |
| Benchmark to amp direct question? Depends on the preamp. Most separate preamps are much better than the stock unit. With volume control mods however, it can be quite marvelous. It trounces my fully modded Mark Levinson #38, which I thought was quite transparent. Have to keep getti... | |
| PC-Based Set Up/Process - Comments? USB, at least with an Off-Ramp converter, has lower jitter and 24/96 capability. However, with a Pace-Car reclocker, the SB3 passes it up. Only a simple mod needed to the SB3.Steve N.Empirical Audio | |
| PC-Based Set Up/Process - Comments? Fishbone222 - kmixer is avoided for PC when using ANY networked server, such as AE, SB3, Sonos or Olive etc...kmixer is only a problem for USB streaming audio, and only for certain devices and firmware. It is not a problem for my Off-Ramp and Free... | |
| Benchmark Dac1 - next step recommendations please Streetdaddy - I have them and use them all, Squeezebox, Sonos, Off-Ramp USB converters. I like the Sonos myself. The output is very jittery stock however, so I highly recommend a Pace-Car reclocker. The first Zone player of Sonos needs a network d... | |
| PC-Based Set Up/Process - Comments? You can connect the AE directly to the Toslink input on a DAC, but the jitter is really awful. Requires a reclocker to clean it up, or at least a really good clock and S/PDIF digital output mod.Jitter is not bad on a Squeezebox, even stock. Slaved... |