Personal Loaner: ECP Walnut X.3 DAC (US only)

Discussion in 'Closed Loaners' started by Erroneous, Oct 2, 2021.

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  1. Erroneous

    Erroneous Friend

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    *****Tour is now full. Thanks everyone for signing up!*****

    Hey all,
    I have this nice Walnut X.3 DAC that I very much enjoy, and I'd like to offer it out for a loaner tour.
    This little DAC is a sleeper. There's not a lot of talk about it because hardly anyone has heard one. I think if people heard this, it would be a much more popular DAC.
    It destroyed both Gungnirs (in my system, to my ears, etc) and is really a great move at its price point.

    This X.3 (the .3 designation denotes the Lundahl amorphous transformers instead of regular Lundahl) won the Walnut shootout we briefly did at my place recently. X.1 vs X.3 and .3 was more tonally rich and satisfying overall. Not giant differences, but audible ones.

    Normal keep it for 5 days, UPS or FedEx only (NO USPS AT ALL), insured for $990, and please post in the impressions thread.
    Treat it kindly, don't mess it up, only use the power supply it comes with.

    Just trying to get the word out on this DAC. I recently went through probably 25 different DACs trying to find my next DAC and while this one was easily bested by the May, this is my #2 from that big search.

    I should note that this is USB-only input. But the input is asynchronous. I have noticed no USB nasties feeding this from a Pi4.

    If we need to change something along the way to accommodate someone going out of town etc, lemme know and we'll do it.

    @Erroneous tour
    1) @Phantaminum
    2) @Hands
    3) @Clemmaster
    4) @futbutts
    5) @loadexfa
    6) @dubharmonic
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    @dasman66 East Coast tour
    1) @YMO
    2) @jaker782
    3) @Aman_91
    4) @Vtory
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    6) @Ksorota
    7) @atomicbob

    A few days before you're due to mail it off to the next person, please PM them to get their mailing address so we can avoid unnecessary delays. Thank y'all for signing up, and I'm looking forward to hearing impressions!

    Impressions thread created:
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/ecp-walnut-x-3-impressions-thread.11526/

    When you ship the DAC to the next person, please do me a solid and PM me the tracking, just so I can make sure we keep this train on the tracks and I'll know roughly where in the country the Walnut is. Please post impressions in the thread linked above, and thank you all for participating!
     
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    Last edited: Oct 16, 2021
  2. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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  3. E_Schaaf

    E_Schaaf MOT: E.T.A Headphones

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    Me! Can use with DSHA1.

    Staten island NY
     
  4. loadexfa

    loadexfa MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    Please! SF Bay Area.
     
  5. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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  6. Aman_91

    Aman_91 New

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    Excited for this one! Mercer county, New Jersey
     
  7. Clemmaster

    Clemmaster Friend

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    That's a generous offer!
    I would love to pair it with my T4 ;)

    Los Angeles, CA
     
  8. Vtory

    Vtory Audiophile™

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    I was very curious, too. Please count me in. Thanks much, Erroneous!

    Philadelphia, PA.
     
  9. Phantaminum

    Phantaminum Friend

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    Sign me up as well please.

    Dallas, TX
     
  10. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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  11. Erroneous

    Erroneous Friend

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    We've got room for one more person. We can always add @Marvey even if it fills up, if he wants in. Since @Phantaminum is in Dallas, he'll likely be first. 2nd if Marv joins.
     
  12. Erroneous

    Erroneous Friend

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    @loadexfa If you're able to get your local team to put ears on this while it's at your place, I would appreciate that. If not, totally cool. The whole idea behind this loaner tour is to get as many people to hear it as possible during the duration of the loaner.

    If any of you also have local squads, the same applies. The more the merrier as far as people hearing this. I think what Tom and Doug have done here is very nice, and it's a shame that not many people have heard it. Let's fix that.
     
  13. jaker782

    jaker782 Friend

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    I'd be very curious to hear a TOTL DAC such as this, so I'm in if there is still room.

    Maryland
     
  14. Erroneous

    Erroneous Friend

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    @jaker782 I was just about to tag you to see if you wanted to be the 10th person on the tour.

    Looks like we have our 10 people. If anyone else wants to be put on a list in case somebody backs out, feel free to still comment. I'll let everybody know when I'm ready to ship out to the first person.
     
  15. loadexfa

    loadexfa MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    I’ll pester local friends to do a meetup when I have the loaner.
     
  16. Erroneous

    Erroneous Friend

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    @jaker782 TOTL is Wavedream or May from what I've been able to put my ears on. This isn't at their level, but if you're not in the market to drop that kind of cheese on a DAC this is a very good option IMO.
     
  17. jaker782

    jaker782 Friend

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    Gotcha... this is close enough to TOTL in my book. Will be nice to hear a DAC not made by Schiit that sounds better.
     
  18. dasman66

    dasman66 Self proclaimed lazy ass - friend

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    It's a great dac... I'm enjoying it immensely so far. Tonality is spot on with great depth of stage/layering. IMO not as slamming as my BF2, but otherwise I prefer the walnut. I need to get it to the office to compare to the SFD-1mkii... and I need to figure out the best way for it to feed my 3F.

    Once I get some more listening time then I'll probably be ready to add impressions once the impressions thread is created.
     
  19. StageOne

    StageOne Friend

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    I missed this thread, but if anyone drops out, I’d like to request a spot if possible. I’m a big ECP fan as I have had a T4 for almost two years and on the look out for a 3F. A DAC upgrade is next on my list as I think it’s the limiting component in my chain.
     
  20. Erroneous

    Erroneous Friend

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    What state are you in? We'll happily include you if someone drops out.
     
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