melm

Responses from melm

First Turntable - Direct drive or Belt drive?
@lewm The OP says he wants an LP system that "provides a music experience that excels what my current ARC CD-7 tube CD player could offer."I don't know anything about the OP's DAC except that it costs about $9000.  [I also know that the correlatio... 
First Turntable - Direct drive or Belt drive?
This may not be the answer you want.I am a vinyl lover who has a first rate set-up, I think, and a large record collection.  I also think I'm a critical listener.After many years of being disappointed in digital play-back, I have discovered, in th... 
Confused About Relative Sonic Impact of DAC VS. Transport
The best transport is no transport.  Rip your disks and let your DAC play at its best. 
Sorry to ask this SACD question, but
Jim,The final answer is that you cannot do what you want to do with the units you have.The license from Sony for SACD prohibits a digital output (as for into an external DAC) except for digital output through an HDMI cable to a device (like the Br... 
Considering a new SACD Player
@yyzsantabarbara If you're not familiar with ripping SACDs, do a search.  There's a lot of information out there.  Google is your friend.  To answer directly the needed software is from Sonore and is free.  But you need to know more than that. 
Considering a new SACD Player
As for state of the art SACD, I would not argue in favor of the 20+ year old Sony, impressive as that unit was.State of the art today is probably ripping SACD files and playing them through a modern DAC that will accept the .dsf files.  Limited th... 
At what point is an external D/A converter warranted or beneficial
I think all this talk about AC power and better wires is beside the point.I think I was in a similar situation.  I listen mostly to classical music and had a hard time getting a digital system to sound anywhere close to as good as my analog.  Clas... 
UPGRADE FROM VPI SCOUTMASTER
In its basics it may not be.The base of the Scoutmaster is much heavier than the Prime.  It has the 300 rpm motor, same as the Prime.  It comes with an acrylic platter.  Some, but not all, prefer the acrylic platter to the aluminum one on the Prim... 
Is a CD Transport the Best Digital Source?
I found that ripped CDs played from a hard disk or NAS through a laptop to a stand alone DAC sounded better than CDs played through an Oppo 105 to the same DAC. But YMMV. It’s always system synergy. And, of course, there's always the joy of ripped... 
belt ? or Dental Floss for turntable
Or a silk thread.Or a silk thread sprayed with adhesive. 
Oppo 105, Oppo 205, or Legacy SACD (Esoteric, Cary CD 306, etc)
You might look into an Oppo, either 105 or 103, and rip your SACDs and then use any number of programs to convert to DoP, a lossless conversion to a PCM file that your DAC may be able to use.  JRiver, for example, does that seamlessly. 
Cambridge 851C vs Oppo 205
Nothing particularly newsworthy here.  The Oppos have usually not been considered high performing units, though they are the Swiss Army knives of digital audio; they do a lot of different things.Proving that is the industry of audio mods which as ... 
DSD vs PCM .. Truth or Myth
@mzkmxcvYou continue to display what you don’t know. In addition to the original DSD recordings currently being made available, hundreds of analog titles have been released as AAD SACDs from companies like RCA, Mercury and EMI. All of their editin... 
DSD vs PCM .. Truth or Myth
Most SACDs are SQ compromised IMO because they are converted from PCM originals, or PCM intermediate stages even if they are originally recorded in DSD. That is because mastering is a practical impossibility in DSD.So the best sounding SACDs are o... 
Have New L.K.S. HM-DA9038 with Oppo95 won't play SACD's, HDMI input on DAC is for 12S data
The most complete info on this DAC and possible mods is here:https://www.head-fi.org/threads/l-k-s-audio-mh-da004-dual-es9038pro-dac-van-dammes-double-impact.840...All 1856 posts.  Happy reading.Posts about the LKS 004 DAC actually began at the LK...