kairosman
Responses from kairosman
| Built-in vs. Standalone DACs Diablo 300 owner here, when I auditioned the amp it had the DAC module and I really liked the sound/synergy, awesome scale and dynamics, like it was on steroids. But I ultimately didn't get the module and spent the $5K on a Terminator II, not beca... | |
| Denafrips 12 anniversary Yes now that we have a Gustard R26 for $1600 that sounds as good or better than my Terminator II, will Denafrips be forced to up its game in the lower price bracket gear war to stay competitive, or does it go upscale and try to compete with Chord ... | |
| My first tube integrated: which one to get? Stretch to $5.5K and get the new AR I/50, wonderful amp I heard at my AR dealer in town, its 50 watts at 8 ohms drove a pair of Dynaudio Heritage Specials with only 85dB sensitivity easily, although it was a smallish room. Also buying AR ensures g... | |
| Help recommend a good tube preamp | |
| New MOFI speaker (Andrew Jones) Jay is a human being and thus of course has flaws, but IMHO at least he does not seem disingenuous. His systems, while not to everyone's tastes, certainly contain state of the art components. He has more direct experience with uber high end gear i... | |
| Gustard R26 @sgreg1 have 200+ hours on mine now and it is the best DAC I have had in my system so far by some margin. FYI my digital front end is as follows: Linksys router powered by a LHY 25 LPS -> Audioquest Vodka ethernet cable -> Melco S100 switch... | |
| Where should I go from here with my digital front end? As others have mentioned, get a switch with its own clock, an LPS for your U2, experiment with the fiber optic route or an ENO filter, better cables, and of course a better DAC eventually. IME every step in the digital chain counts, and ignore the... | |
| Amp & Pre or Integrated for Dynaudio Heritage Special +1 for the CODA CSIB and the HS, I have the V2 driving the HS, but I suspect the V1 is slightly sweeter with more Class A bias. To the OP, the CSIB is a very smooth sounding SS integrated with more current than you’ll ever need (70+ amps!), and re... | |
| DAC’s @lpretiring so after 4 days so only maybe 20+ hours I can say with total confidence the R26 is the very best under $5K DAC I've had in my system so far including the Terminator II I sold recently to fund my purchase of the Lampi. System: Audioqu... | |
| Looking at best option for 20-25k for DAC Streamer combo @gelfdaddy how would you characterize the main differences between the X1 and the MSB? I am considering MSB as well and currently have the Lumin P1... | |
| Aurender N20 Roon’s SQ seemed meh when I was using it, and although Roon is said to be working hard on improving the SQ it is apparently still not yet at the level of the Lumin/Innuos/Aurender/Grimm/Taiko apps, something to do with how demanding it is of syste... | |
| DAC’s @lpretiring will get the R26 Monday but burn-in will take a week, I will let you know in this thread when ready to comment. BTW I had and sold a 2020 Terminator II so I have had an R2R before but sold it to get the Lampi and now I don't want to sp... | |
| DAC’s Also like my P1 the T3 has a USB out so it functions as a VERY good transport as well - I often use my P1 out via USB or BNC to a Lampizator Baltic 3 for a different sort of presentation, so in a sense you are getting 2 for 1 with the T3 - indeed,... | |
| DAC’s The MA3 is a streamer/DAC but the streamer section is not as good as the DAC, and if it necessitates the use of Roon to stream then as others point out you will need a Roon Core to feed it. As well, Roon software has a great UI, but is not the bes... | |
| Takedown of pricey servers, streamers OCD HiFi guy Don't see the point in @rman9 or anyone else taking personal potshots at Mike when the guy was just trying to shed light on a rather complex topic like computer/server/streamer/digital audio. You don't have to 100% agree with the guy but at least ... |