doggiehowser
Responses from doggiehowser
| Ayre MXRs/Thiel 3.7s The Ayon CD5S has an AMP Direct mode and a Normal mode (which assumes it would be used with a separate preamp or integrated) like their own preamps. I think Absolute Sound did a full Ayon (CDP/Pre/Power) combo review before. | |
| MacBook Pro or PC soundcard It is better than what you are suggesting though (an internal soundcard).I've found that a Mac with Audirvana Plus and a decent USB interface is now very close to a disc spinner. | |
| Possible Desktop Speakers? For the money, I find it hard to argue with active powered speakers.Dynaudio Xeo 3 or better yet the Focus 110A. They also have a range of studio active speakers BM series? I thinkThe Focal Solo6Be (similar to the 1008Be but cheaper by a fair bit ... | |
| Ayre MXRs/Thiel 3.7s If you like the Thiel sound, I'd say keep it. And the MXR. As I mentioned, have a friend who uses that combo and it is pretty excellent. Trading down to an Arion HS500 with a tube buffer seems illogical.If you want a more "tubey" sound, I can thin... | |
| Best music player for MAC I too find INTEGER/Direct mode on Audirvana to make a difference provided your DAC supports it. If you like the W4S, they have an upgrade path for the DAC2, to convert it to support DSD and has a new async USB interface that is INT mode compatible... | |
| MacBook Pro or PC soundcard USB may have started off clumsily but that's the thing with PC audio. It keeps getting better. The async USB interface from Gordon Rankin and Nugent were big strides in getting to a good quality connection from PC to DAC. Most PCs are full of EMI ... | |
| Computer audio, I am not convinced yet ...... Shame, Cerrot. Having the sound card in the computer just means it is susceptible to the EMI/RF noise that is in the computer. USB provides a form of isolation from that noise. Other options include what say Aurender has done which compartmentaliz... | |
| Preamp for Bel Canto DAC3.5 With my old Bel Canto DAC3.5VB, I found that adding the Pre3 added a sense of space and depth to the soundstage. But when I upgraded to the VB MkII, I thought the Pre3 seemed to detract a bit from the increased detail.I have used the VB MkII with ... | |
| Moving from PC to Mac I use iTunes to manage my music library that I use for music server functions as well as syncing with my iOS devicesSo conversion is needed.If I am not running headless (ie when using a notebook with keyboard/mouse rather than a Mac Mini), I tend ... | |
| Moving from PC to Mac I use XLD also because it has an EAC-type ripper for CD ripping. | |
| Focus 160 w/2 JL f113s vs. Focus 380 or C2 II My personal preference is never to run another crossover in front of the main speakers and prefer to run them in full range.The S1 works by telling the sub integrator where the main speakers fall off. What frequency does the speaker drop off in re... | |
| Focus 160 w/2 JL f113s vs. Focus 380 or C2 II I've always maintained that subs are just incredibly fiddly to integrate with the mains. There's never a Goldilocks level: too hot or too cold, depending on the track I am listening to.That is until I used Thiel's S1 Integrator and their Smartsub ... | |
| Moving from PC to Mac You can a. use XLD (free software) to convert all your FLAC to AIFF or Apple LosslessBoth would retain the meta data of the FLAC files. XLD has a setting to "automatically add converted files to iTunes).b. use something like Pure Music or Audirvan... | |
| MacBook Pro or PC soundcard Internal soundcards are susceptible to a lot of noise.A USB DAC is a bit like a soundcard. It's just that the components usually benefit from better isolation from the insides of a PC, and usually have better power supplies as well. | |
| MacBook Pro or PC soundcard USB-DAC with a good asynchronous USB Audio Class 2.0 implementation (not just USB 2.0).Use BitPerfect if you use iTunes for your music library and enable Cache/Memory Play.Better yet, use Audirvana Plus.Use SSD and load up the RAM to as much as yo... |