westcoastaudiophile
Responses from westcoastaudiophile
| DAC That Punches Above Its Price Point @herman I was responding to “measurements mean zero” attitude, not specific posts. Please point me to any of sound components “certified” by audition at the end of “measurements based” production line. | |
| DAC That Punches Above Its Price Point @lemonhase: "if you are measuring the right things” agreed 100%, tests should be aligned with real sound performance metrics. "I can swap out a cap of same value in a speaker crossover”-capacitor has many electrical characteristics beyond capacita... | |
| DAC That Punches Above Its Price Point "measurements …. mean zero” ...being analog circuitry design engineer, I disagree with such attitude. if performance of audio devices cannot be measured, it cannot be designed to perform, or to be improved/manufactured as well. Good “Ole” days, “f... | |
| How to get into high end digital? (Feeding a DAC) "which cheap ones sound expensive?”I wouldn’t call any of Gustard line I looked at => X26PRO/A22/older-A20H "cheap DAC", because all of them are built to very high standards, and use first league expensive components, very nice printed circuit ... | |
| Rank the top reference DACs you've heard Gustard A22warm sounding, drives power amp easily, dual AK4499EQ "velvet sound” chips, discrete path class A outputs, fully balanced, BT and other whistles | |
| Gustardx26 pro vs RME ADI2FS @ pauly "neither has output transformers” removing transformers is good thing! good transformers in sound path will cost you a fortune, and results are still worse than avoiding them all together. | |
| Need a DAC Recommendation. “ A22 is 95% of the what the X26 does from a reviewer who has reviewed both”I wouldn’t rely on reviewer much. A22’s AK4499EQ DAC chip is: "The world's highest-performance DAC, with 140dB SNR (mono-aural mode) and -124dB THD+N”, and assuming A22 is... | |
| Need a DAC Recommendation. https://www.l7audiolab.com/f/measurements-of-gustard-x26-pro/Gustard X26-pro testvanson1, I see Gustard multitone performance is the best achievable, and that is the most important DAC perf-metric. third order is about -125dB, which is perfect. Th... | |
| Which Phono Pre? I found Teac PE-505 amazing phono-pre, rare in below 2k price range with balanced input and output. Excellent RIAA EQ accuracy. | |
| Thiel Owners jafant, please check Gustard A22 also, I think it is one of the best for audiophiles technically speaking! | |
| Upgrading Technics 1200 Tonearm under $1000 easiest tonearm upgrade would be SL1200MK4 titanium arm | |
| Choosing a MC phono preamp for my new cartridge Teac PE-505use it in balanced input mode for best exp | |
| Pontus vs Gustard? "The challenge with these types of DACs is that the output stage may not be beefy enough or have the ability to push enough current to drive the input impedance of amplifiers”lol you’ve made my day!Currently use A22 Gustard DAC (AK4499), which fro... | |
| Has anybody bought or heard a Chinese knock off amplifier? @hiendmmoe I bout one expensive, very heavy “Accuphase inspired” China class A amp, which has different China Brand name on it. I inspected components inside, tested it for distortions, output impedance etc, and I didn’t find anything wrong with t... | |
| DAC upgrade? On my opinion, Gustard A22 is much better DAC upgrade option for audiophile, vs A18. A22 has much better power supply, solid heavy enclosure, dual AK4499 DAC, and NO OP-AMPS in sound path, using discrete class A driving stage instead. It works wel... |