michaelalan

Responses from michaelalan

Matrix Audio Element S In the House
I purchased one thru Apos and returned it last week. Setting up i2s to the Denafrips was easy enough. Tidal Connect was buggier than my budget streamer, but seemed good enough. Except the most recent firmware upgrade made the opening few seconds ... 
Pass Labs 1st Watt Rundown
It's not the direct answer you're looking for, but on the first watt home page, they list all the reviews. I found 6moons reviews go into quite a bit of depth on each model. That gives you a feel for the different sound characteristics, as well as... 
Streamer Selection - Thoughts Requested Please!
I'm in the same boat as OP, looking at same models. I'm leaning away from Lumin since more people seem unhappy with the app, while both Auralic and Aurender have their fans and conflicting info on which app is better. Another wildcard is the Mat... 
Affordable SS that sound like Tubes
Not quite your question, but I recently acquired the Heaven 11 Billie MKII integrated, which is a tube preamp combined with class D amp. I've been tube rolling the last few weeks, switching preamp tubes makes quite a change. Just throwing out the ... 
2nd system for office, all-in-one integrated suggestions
The Naim Unity Atom crossed my mind, partly because it’s been around so long with many positive reviews, but no phono stage. NAD M10V2 is more recent, but been around for awhile. You could go for the Rega P1 "Plus" that includes a phono stage, so... 
Does a DDC make SQ of all basic streamer roughly equal?
@soix thanks for the link! Excellent points and I'm curious to try  
Does a DDC make SQ of all basic streamer roughly equal?
Thanks @soix. I agree. My question was a bit theoretical, but I've had negative experiences with some streamers (quality of the app, needing to regularly reboot it). Most R&D in entry level streamers is SW rather than focusing on the sound q... 
Streamer suggestions with both wireless and wired connections
buy best of class then Streamer ~= DAC ~= Preamp ~= amp. Over time for me again and again my end system after an upgrade ends there. Greatly appreciated @ghdprentice, I expected DAC ~= Preamp, but didn't expect Streamer to be equal. Didn't mea... 
Streamer suggestions with both wireless and wired connections
@ghdprentice In each case absolutely worth the increased sound quality supplied by that level of investment / performance assuming you have a system.. DAC, Preamp, Amp and speakers to support that level of performance. With your experience, ca... 
anybody upgrade from Dynaudio Special 40 to Heritage Special?
`Mark On HiFi` is a youtuber who has spent a lot of time with three Dynaudios, the C1, Heritage Special, and the Special 40. He has videos comparing them. The C1 were were long term speakers, he tried the 40s, and ended up Heritage Special. I enj... 
Innuos PULSE Mini?
iiWi just posted his Innuos Pulse Mini review on YouTube. The summary is he liked the device and thought if you were going to use the internal DAC, he preferred it over the new (hard to get) EverSolo streamer. If you were going to use it purely a...