The All Purpose Advice Thread

Discussion in 'Advice Threads' started by purr1n, Sep 26, 2015.

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  1. kirayamato

    kirayamato Friend

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    oh i saw the acupwr line conditioner how are you liking it in your chain?
     
  2. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

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    Working pretty good so far.

    This condo has tons of old powered window blinds - the stuff that's wood, weighs a ton and sounds like a truck of bricks unloading when you pull them up or down - that have ridiculous transients when they reach the end and shut off.

    The Acupwr blocks it. I'm not sure it stacks up to say, a psaudio 5k$ unit, but for 200 euros it does a fine job.
     
  3. Thenewerguy009

    Thenewerguy009 Friend

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    Is there any way to increase the volume past the max 100 for any music player?

    Like with JRiver or foobar?
     
  4. lm4der

    lm4der A very good sport - Friend

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    Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and...

    Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?

    Nigel Tufnel: Exactly.

    Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder?

    Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?

    Marty DiBergi: I don't know.

    Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?

    Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven.

    Nigel Tufnel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.

    Marty DiBergi: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?

    Nigel Tufnel: [pause] These go to eleven.
     
  5. kitantisune

    kitantisune Acquaintance

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    VLC will do it for you, going up to "150%", but I believe it achieves this by dynamic range compression, which is probably not what you were after.
     
  6. Thenewerguy009

    Thenewerguy009 Friend

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    Is there any Windows 10 laptops that have or can have galvanic usb 2.0 isolation or a AES direct connection to be added like you can with a PC?

    I'm thinking of buying a laptop to run my music vs. my PC. I tried a few android devices, but they didn't sound as good as connecting to my PC.

    Yet the noise from the fans, the hum from the modem & the all the general noise is all audible when I have headphones on.
     
  7. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    Electrically isolated USB coming from within a laptop? That sounds like a oxymoron to me. :) As far as AES out from a Windows PC, I'm unaware of one of these existing but maybe in the pro audio world...someone else may know.

    Regardless, my personal advice moving to a laptop from desktop is either:

    1. Get a good outboard DDC that will convert your USB to SPDIF if that's what you want. Eitr for instance will do this very well, and if you like AES, get an RCA to AES transformer to attach on the Eitr. Or spend more and get a DDC that does USB to AES out like the Singxer SU-1 (although I don't know if you'll gain much in SQ).

    2. Get a network player/renderer and feed your DAC with music over the network, which is inherintely electrically isolated from your laptop . If you want something inexpensive and small, maybe try the Allo Digione Player SPDIF, and again an RCA to AES transformer.

    Not as neat and tidy as if it was all built into the laptop i know, but don't really know if one exists, or if it would be worth it. Will you be using the laptop for purposes other than listening to music? If so, get the best laptop that meets your OTHER needs (work, gaming, etc), and add on the audio improvements separately per above.
     
    Last edited: Apr 29, 2018
  8. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

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    There's pci-e cards with AES output for pro audio of course. You can use them with a laptop if it has a thunderbolt port via a thunderbolt enclosure.

    I'm not aware of any USB cards that are isolated. That's left to the DAC, decrapifiers or usb-spdif interfaces like eitr.

    You could also use a network sound interface like a Focusrite.
     
  9. Thenewerguy009

    Thenewerguy009 Friend

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    I see a few laptops with 15 pin connectors like this
    https://www.ultrabookreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/acer-v5-591g-3.jpg

    Would a AES breakout cable work on an input like that?


    I have a Singxer SU-1, just want to get rid of using my PC for music playing. All the noise coming from it is way too loud & is distracting when I have headphones on.
    Would be nice if I can go DAC to laptop via a better cable than USB & without worrying about a DDC along with a LPS for it & a galvanic isolator with a LPS for it as well.
     
  10. Grahad2

    Grahad2 Red eyes from too much anime

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    I'll be honest I have no idea if you're trolling or what, but that's a VGA port...
     
  11. Thenewerguy009

    Thenewerguy009 Friend

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    lol haven't seen a VGA port in decades. Completely forgot what they looked like.
     
  12. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

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    How long should I give a tube before calling it a dud? I purchased these:

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/2A3-RCA-Da...351739?hash=item36300c617b:g:3SQAAOSw5zBa0oBu

    It started out making a really bad buzzing noise that slowly went higher until it faded away. I thought they were good and turned it off after about an hour to go to work. Came back in the evening and the buzzing never went away. It was obnoxious. I've run them hard for 4 hours, let them cool off for an hour and am using them again now. The noise is better, quieter crackling with some buzzing sometimes. Not sure how much more to give it, if ti will work itself out or what. It's the one on the right. I'm not sure if the blue glow is a sign or condition of fault.

    [​IMG]
     
  13. Grahad2

    Grahad2 Red eyes from too much anime

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    I think that's a sign (given the location of glow) of your vacuum tube not being a vacuum anymore.
     
  14. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

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    Hmmmm okay. I broke one of my other RCA 2A3s, which is why I bought these and decided to put the "spare" in place of this one. FR seems well matched. Not sure if there are going to be tonal differences, slightly different construction but both dark grey plates.

    [​IMG]
     
  15. ductrung3993

    ductrung3993 Facebook Friend

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    Got my Zana Deux in yesterday. There is only sound on the left side the the little light indicator above the headphone jack never turns on either. What did i do wrong here?
     
  16. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    @Skyline Didn't want to clutter the MCTH thread up any more than I already have so here's a reply I was considering posting there that I moved here:

    Certainly! It'll be PC>Bifrost Multibit G5>X amp>TH-X00EB or (incoming) Klipsch HP-3. I find that the Bifrost Multibit's (relative) lack of ultimate extension works well with my cans, much as I wish it had a bit more grup in the low end. I'm still looking for something mid-centric to maybe bring voices out voices out a hair (or bushel). A more laid-back treble is also somewhat desirable since there's an upper-treble spike on the Fostexes that bothers me, and I expect the Klipsch to share some of that.​

    Context:
    Choice between Lyr 3, Massdrop CTH, Massdrop ZDT Jr., or Monoprice Liquid Platinum for the above chain. Any other recommendations welcome, but the ~$700 of the MLP is already kinda stretching it.

    P.S.
    I won't be buying it until early next year at soonest I think, due to financial constraints, so if @purr1n or anyone else knows of any secret amps that may be released in the next few months, feel free to chime in and tell me not to spend anything just yet :))
     
  17. Ice-man

    Ice-man Friend

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    I know that you can output to two SE amps with Gungnir Multibit. Can you also output to one SE and one balanced amp, simultaneously? Or for that matter, two SE amps and one balanced amp...3 total?
     
  18. captkirk

    captkirk Khan's BFF

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    Yep. All outputs active. I’ve run my Widow, ZDS, and Jot simultaneously.
     
  19. ergopower

    ergopower Friend

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    Monoprice frequently has 20 - 25% off all purchases over $200 - 300. They just ran 25% off yesterday. Changes the calculation somewhat.
     
  20. Thenewerguy009

    Thenewerguy009 Friend

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    Did you buy it brand new or used off someone else?
     
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