mike_in_nc
Responses from mike_in_nc
| Oregon Audiophiles... This is, again, to invite any and all Oregon audiophiles to check out the Portland Audio Club, an all-volunteer club with emphasis on all kinds of audio gear and all kinds of music.We meet monthly, with varied programs. | |
| Music server questions Another route could be putting something like the Mutec MC-3+USB between your laptop and DAC. That particular unit reclocks, has galvanic isolation, and has SPDIF coax (though not optical) outputs. | |
| 2000-2500 USD budget for an integrated amplifier. Do amplifiers sound the same? :) Not knowing your gear, I’d like to make a few general remarks that may (or may not) be helpful.First, I think that Ethan W. overstates his case. Amplifiers do affect the sound, to my ears. Still, I hear far more important differences among speaker... | |
| Anthem STR Int or Benchmark AHB2 + Preamp I have the STR preamp and think it's excellent. As @audiotroy suggested, you might consider that, rather than the integrated. You could mate it with a Benchmark amp or Anthem's matching STR amp or, really, any amp that pairs well with your speaker... | |
| Anthem AVM 60 vs Classe SSP 800 I have a 2.2 system. I recently replaced a Classé CP-800 with an Anthem STR preamp, and I like it a lot. The automated DSP is far quicker to set up than the Classé's manual PEQ. Although it is slightly less flexible, it is more powerful, and to my... | |
| Total cost of ownership - how to reduce it No tubes. Solid-state only.No vinyl. Buy only from companies with records of standing behind their products.Have a belt of scotch before you listen. It will keep you from focusing on those little niggles that lead to new purchases. | |
| Dealers and exaggerated treble @kenjit : Your story of the out-of-phase demo reminded me that I once had that experience, too. It's hard to understand, because the system was set up with care and sounded great once we fixed that.I suppose the explanation is, we're all human. Ma... | |
| Does a DAC completely bypass the computer soundcard If you take USB output from the laptop, you will be bypassing the computer’s sound card completely. If you are using a reasonable audio player program on the laptop, what comes out the USB port (and into your DAC) should be bit-perfect.You mention... | |
| Dealers and exaggerated treble Erik,I haven’t had that particular experience, though I’ve heard plenty of bad sound at dealerships. I suppose in your cases, the harshness could have been exacerbated by the upstream components or lack of acoustic treatment.As you well know, many... | |
| DAC + Preamp + Room Correction, NAD C658 / MiniDSP SHD / ? @canibefrank: In your consideration of MQA, I suggest you review the history of another lossy, proprietary codec that once was the darling of the audio magazines: HDCD. Today, it's lost in the dustbin of audio history; yet when new, purple prose... | |
| Difference between Bluesound Node 2i and Cambridge CXN v2 @wgosma: Opinions vary on the efficacy of aftermarket power cords. My advice to anyone who asks is to investigate them only after you are satisfied with every other part of your system, with emphasis on the speakers, room acoustics, and electronics. | |
| Hardware/Software To Manage Multi-format, File-Based Audio Playback I'll throw my agreement in for either JRiver or Roon. Either could do the job; both are strong entries; and each differs from the other.Roon provides the metadata for you, in case you haven't done a great job tagging all those files. It also integ... | |
| DAC + Preamp + Room Correction, NAD C658 / MiniDSP SHD / ? Oddly enough, few if any of the alternatives have a streaming (Ethernet) input. Maybe the Classe Delta Pre at a cool $10k and as yet unavailable.Of the two you listed, I chose the SHD. As it’s in our TV system, I can’t comment on absolute sound qu... | |
| Older Electronics - When to cut bait? Your thoughts? Solid state equipment should last a long time. However, maybe 15-20 yrs *is* a long time for audio gear. In my opinion, the path forward is to is borrow a pre and power amp you are interested in, and see if while listening you say "wow" or "why bo... | |
| Caster Wheels vs. Spikes I'm in the "no big deal" camp. I dislike spikes and do not use them under my speakers. |