eddnog

Responses from eddnog

Anybody Using a Portable Audio Player (DAP) As a Streamer?
It’s been a while since I started this thread. I recently gave in and made the transition from Apple Music to Qobuz (by way of Soundiiz playlist transfer) and that opened up my options for streamers. I ended up going with the WiiM Ultra, which all... 
Topping B100 Brief Impressions
If I had to rank the effect each component in the chain had on stereo imaging, I’d rank speakers way first, then DAC, then preamp, and then power amps last. That being said, again, these B100s are more revealing of what’s upstream of them. If you ... 
Topping B100 Brief Impressions
I believe the best way to describe the B100 versus the Fosi amps is that if you haven’t listened to Topping’s amps yet, you’ll believe the Fosis are extremely transparent, which they are, but then once you listen to the B100s, you realize that the... 
My Brief Impressions of FiiO’s New K11 R2R DAC & Headphone Amplifier
@soix to be honest with you, I found the NOS setting on the Draco to sound very similar to the NOS setting on the Ares II. OS mode on the Draco sits somewhere in the middle of OS Slow and OS Fast on Ares II, where OS Slow on Ares II has the most a... 
Could Class D really be that good?
My V3 Monos came in, I immediately rolled them with a pair of Sparkos SS3602 op-amps per unit. Sound wonderful, and a small, but noticeable improvement over the pair of ZA3s I was running previously. -Ed  
Morrow Audio Speaker Cables
The SP3 speaker cables came in the other day. Didn't notice an immediate change/improvement, but still burning them in. The MA3 interconnects came in today, and I DID notice an immediate improvement with them. They're not even broken in yet, they'... 
Linlai E 6sn7 tubes
@tksteingraber Thanks! I’ve been trying to avoid going down the rabbit hole of discovering a NOS tube that’s older than I am (I’m 42) and falling in love with it only to never be able to buy more down the line, especially with an amp that needs at... 
Linlai E 6sn7 tubes
I have been running quad matched Psvane CV181-T MkII tubes in my Freya+ for a couple of months now, but having heard great things about the Linlai E-6SN7 tubes ordered a quad matched set of them as well to roll and compare. Well they came in yeste... 
Morrow Audio Speaker Cables
I put in a couple of orders last week. One pair of 1 meter long SP3 speaker cables with their 40% discount code, and then two pairs of MA3 interconnects (all XLRs, one pair 0.5 meter length to go between my DAC and my preamp, and one pair 1 meter ... 
Anyone having shipping issues with Viva Tubes
No issues at all with my order of quad matched Psvane CV181-T MkIIs. -Ed  
Coaxial - USB from DAC
Why do you need to use a coax splitter for your DAC? I am having a hard time finding the cause for this in the original post (sorry if my comprehension is failing us). The USB output from PCs are generally poor to begin with. The long USB cable r... 
Great network streamers with only USB outputs
In my chain, I use USB from the source to feed a Gustard U18 DDC, which then feeds my DAC (Musician Draco) via I2S. The results have been phenomenal, definitely an improvement over going directly to the DAC via USB, and also better than going stra... 
Streamers under $1500
I have two questions for you: 1) As others have asked, what DAC are you running? 2) How much do you value listening to music on the go?   If you have a decent external DAC (and even better, a separate DDC feeding said DAC), and you’re interest... 
Could Class D really be that good?
@lanx0003 well…guess I should be glad that I went with the dual 48V/5A option, then! Granted, I always believed that in the spirit of actually running separate monoblocs, it would imply powering them with actually separate power supplies as well. ... 
Connectivity for Gustard U18?
@whitestix Yes! I am using I2S at this time and it sounds fantastic. Which connection methods have you experimented with so far? Did you find a clear preference? -Ed