mike_in_nc

Responses from mike_in_nc

Enough is Enough
It's funny, I've lived in about 6 or 8 US cities and have done business with dealers in each place, and I never had one use such tactics on me.  
Dirac without losing resolution
Yeah, it's best to minimize the number of sequential ADC and DAC steps. At least, that's what my ears tell me. On the other hand, if crossovers are done in the digital domain so there's only one conversion, a separate DAC is needed for each chann... 
Dirac without losing resolution
@jpmomo - If you do try the Trinnov, I for one would be interested in your impressions of sound quality and ease of use.  
Why does USB feature so much in discussions about DACs when the newer HDMI seems better?
The best connection is the one supported both by the streamer and by the DAC. Some manufacturers have their own connections (like Auralic’s Lightning Link) or use I2S, and many say that the sound is best if those are used. I have no experience wit... 
Why does USB feature so much in discussions about DACs when the newer HDMI seems better?
Most computers have several USB ports, so one is likely to be available for digital audio output. On the other hand, not all computers have HDMI, and the ones I have seen have only one HDMI port, intended for the monitor. All that makes USB a usef... 
Dirac without losing resolution
Dirac needs to work in the digital domain . . . that’s why it’s called DSP (digital signal processing). That kind of processing is not feasible in the analog domain. Until recently, processing typically was done at 48 kHz or 96 kHz, so 192 kHz is ... 
Analog stereo to Bluetooth Speakers?
You can buy Bluetooth transmitters from Amazon. They are relatively inexpensive. However, using Bluetooth is not likely to give you the same quality of sound as a wired connection. The signal will be converted to digital by the transmitter and th... 
Schiit Loki Max?
@firstonetallguy  It was a while ago, so I don't remember all the details. I wound up returning the knobs to DigiKey. They were more legible, but maybe not enough so, and they were sized enough differently that I didn't like them.   Mike  
Need recommendation
Right. Bose and Sony are the two most often recommended, at least in the comparative reviews I've seen.  
Need recommendation
@hifinut51 - I assume that the Sonys will connect to an iPhone just fine. What it means is that it won’t connect using LDAC, but it will connect using the best Bluetooth codec that the headphones and the iPhone have in common. Since there are so m... 
Need recommendation
Don’t overlook the Sony WH-1000XM5. Excellent noise cancelling and very good sound. I’ve had a pair of the WH-1000XM2 since those were current, and I’ve been very pleased with them. The Sonys support probably the best bluetooth codec out there, L... 
Tube Amp or Tube Pre Amp
As noted, tube amps are considerably more expensive to keep up (and in power consumption) than tube preamps. Another factor is that tube amps usually to have higher output impedance (lower damping factor), which means that system matching is more ... 
Magnepan LRS+ resistors on the tweeters… which?
I think @snapsc has the right idea. Have a range of values to swap in and out. Listen and possibly even measure to get the sound that is most pleasing to you.  
Roon isn't stable and they edit their forum to hide it
>> I've built maybe 10 different Roon servers/cores, possibly more.  Some Windows 10/11, some Ubuntu. << Understood. I've seen at least one post by a user who found many problems went away when they used ROCK on a Roon-approved NUC, i... 
Roon isn't stable and they edit their forum to hide it
Equally, when you're the one who encounters a problem, it looks like it's a terrible coding job, whereas you may be running into some kind of platform-specific edge case. Unfortunately no software is completely free of bugs. I hate running into bu...