erik_squires
Responses from erik_squires
| "Vintage" high end gear vs new and upgrade path? I think the capacitors in the vintage gear has, for the most part, really been improved upon. Not sure about the circuits. At the very least, replacing coupling caps in tube preamps is usually a big deal. If I had a Sonic Frontiers 2 or 3 with upg... | |
| Advice on best upgrade path for a Mac Mini setup @ghosthouse YES! Why are you against computer based playback, exactly? I mean every single streamer is a computer. For around $600 you could build a very nice Linux based music server with Android and iPhone app support and 2 TB of storage. Best,E... | |
| DSD vs. PCM vs. MQA - Group listening experiment @gdhal I've read much of that before elsewhere. It seems pretty consistent. :) I wonder sometimes if some sorts of noise actually make things sound better for us. Like the way dither increases dynamic range. Like I said, I like DSD, but I'm not su... | |
| Advice on best upgrade path for a Mac Mini setup Well, you could always cobble together a motorcycle battery and DC to AC inverter to power your Mini off-grid. I think it would probably last at least half an hour. :) However since most inverters buzz mechanically while working.... maybe not. :) ... | |
| Volume Controls - Can they affect Dynamic Range? "These amplifiers go to eleven...." The answer is complicated. It depends on gain, noise, overload and resolution. Your ears are your best guide when things get complicated. For digital to digital, I leave everything at max, and let my preamp deal... | |
| Advice on best upgrade path for a Mac Mini setup @dbtom2 Whoops! My bad. I was thinking "macbook air"Wrong advice. If running in the same room, I'd put it on a separate surge protector, or separate bank of protectors if available. Best,Erik | |
| Advice on best upgrade path for a Mac Mini setup Schiit has some of the best understanding of reclocking and regenerating of a signal on the market. To follow up on @dbtom2 's idea, You might also try the PS Audio LAN Rover.A quick test to see if you could benefit from power isolation is to run ... | |
| Digital media server/players for a Skeptic? MM does a very nice job with iPods. :) It also lets' you select what music to synch and which not to. I try to avoid synching classical to my car iPod for instance. :) Best,Erik | |
| Need Help From The Resident Experts Parasound P7 then, or the JC 2 BPI can attest that the P7 is pretty neutral and quiet, with an excellent remote and useful bass management. Kal Rubinson I think at Stereophile really likes it and uses it when his ARC multichannel pre is out. The v... | |
| Ramones mixed with BW 801 at Abbey Road.. I haven’t heard EVERY B&W Nautilus, but I did hear the first Nautilus. Unengaging is how I would put them. Some speakers make me reach for the OFF switch. The Nautilus did not, they also wouldn’t make me reach for my pocket book, even when dri... | |
| Need Help From The Resident Experts Prima Luna preamps are designed specifically with low gain for just that reason. :) And quite easy to mod the caps with....hehehheNot sure about remotes. Best,Erik | |
| DSD vs. PCM vs. MQA - Group listening experiment @jon2020 Yeah, but we never want that. :) Well, almost never. Most recordings we hear are from multi-track masters with quite a bit of post-recording work. At the very least you want some control over the dynamic range of the performance. This ma... | |
| DSD vs. PCM vs. MQA - Group listening experiment It is nearly impossible to do pure DSD without either analog tools or PCM in the loop. However, I like what I've heard from the boutique providers such as Blue Coast.And yes, I understand DSD still has noise issues compared to PCM.Best,Erik | |
| DSD vs. PCM vs. MQA - Group listening experiment @gdhal You are right, but I personally seem to slightly like DSD better so far. No idea why. not sure I'd pay for the extra hard disk space for it yet. What I do know is that I've never heard a difference between PCM and MQA encoded PCM. | |
| Two optical inputs + remote <500, <1,000 DAC recommendation Minidsp may have something like this |