SBAF DAC Talk II

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by Maxx134, Jul 22, 2018.

  1. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

    Pyrate Slaytanic Cliff Clavin
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    Try all with Toslink too? MacBook Toslink is pretty bad from what I remember. Just try both usb and Toslink with all if you do and be sure to bypass the macos and windows resampler with the lavry over usb by enabling exclusive mode or direct output and setting sample rate to 44.1 kHz. Lavry da11 is uac1 but has exclusive mode checked in firmware unlike most odac and diy junk so wasapi and directout possible

    Edit: just found this http://www.lavryengineering.com/wiki/index.php/USB_setup
     
    Last edited: Jan 31, 2019
  2. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    You are not insane. The Modi MB A1 is indeed more shouty, shrill, edgy, ragged, sharp, raspy, etc. and less resolving than the Modi 3. Pretty obvious to me from a YT video quality music such as the one below (I actually use less than stellar content quite a bit to assess tonality issues - I treat them as tools). I imagine with the HE-500 with its 9kHz peak, the effect is much more pronounced. The HE-500 (I was a former owner and kept it quite a long time) is really weird in how the rendering of the highs from amps and sources is accentuated.

     
  3. skem

    skem Friend

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    This is just to add another confirmation to the rant. I’m listening to Crane Song Solaris with AKM4490. And it sounds compresseda and.. yes...velvety. I actually don’t mind the lack of bite so much since it eases long-term listening and it does this without a loss of detail (though such DACs are better suited for the dining room than the listening room). But the dynamic compression makes everything sound a bit soggy. Piano is made of cardboard, and drum kit is like getting spanked with warm wet lettuce.
     
    Last edited: Feb 9, 2019
  4. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    This is just a response to this single post: You do realize that there's literally no one on the face of the planet earth that is tuning the response of a mass-produced DAC to your individual sound reproduction preferences, right?
     
  5. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

    Pyrate Slaytanic Cliff Clavin
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    No shit Sherlock. AK4490 stuff is just muted to hell. I hate it and I like lots of stuff. I just don’t like the Schiit multibits and most ESS Sabre stuff too.
     
  6. Biodegraded

    Biodegraded Friend

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    => What show are you watching now: Allo Allo, from sometime in the 1980s.

    Edit: explanation: The German Colonel and the French waitress.
    Edit 2: Correction, celery; see @skem 's post below.
     
    Last edited: Feb 9, 2019
  7. skem

    skem Friend

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    That was celery.
     
  8. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    I don't mind them when it's cheap. Modi 3 is only $99 brah.
     
  9. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    No you don't. You only like AD1822 implementations or anything that uses the slightly veiled balanced opamps used by Dangerous Music for the output stage. Any deviation from this is unacceptable to you.

    What makes you doubly full of shit is that you actually espoused the Grace M900 for a period of time because you happened to own it. That uses the AK4490. The M900 makes Slayer into Jewel.
     
    Last edited: Feb 9, 2019
  10. restrav3

    restrav3 Likes Audio-GD

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    ooh I should audition that. I'd probably love it.
     
  11. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

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    f**k off. I listen to an iPhone, a couple of cheapish interfaces, and a mediocre CD player most of the time; not even the Dangerous Source. The iPhone is the least normal sounding of those but I enjoy all of them more than most of the crap shilled here.

    The dangerous dacs I’ve heard do not have the air of some other stuff but to speak of them as veiled compared to the crap shilled here is as f'ing ridiculous as evaluating the opamps outside of their product.

    Yeah and the m900 was cool for a bit. Kicked the ass of the Assguard 2, Beefroast Multibutt, and EC Zana Deuce Pooper. I bought it to just get one thing and get outta the idiotic “headphone hobby”. I enjoyed the bass of it for a time but it became intolerable so away it went. I grew to despise it.
     
    Last edited: Feb 9, 2019
  12. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    What Dangerous DACs have you heard? Just one, the Source. Sorry, the Source is veiled compared to the Convert-2, the Solaris, the Yggdrasil A2, the Gungnir A2, the Directstream DAC, the Modi-3, the Airist RDAC, the MOS16, the Holo Spring L3, and perhaps even the Topping D30. And to that, the Convert-2 is just slightly, barely noticeably veiled compared to Gungnir A2 and Solaris from a recent direct comparison.

    And ultimately, how the f**k would you know, running headphones off the mediocre headouts from the Source without even decent amps at your disposal to compare? The fact that what you currently happen to have is "proper" or "right", whether it be the Source, Asgard 2, or M900 is a huge indicator that you do not know WTF you are talking about, and even if you were, you would be 100% useless to anyone here. Seriously, you are like a destitute version of Macedonian Hero at HF.

    You are completely full of shit, lacking any kind of real experience, with your five minute exposures to gear at meets with unfamiliar upstream and downstream components, shitty compressed low-fidelity Slayer recordings, or unknown masters at best, and parroting / triangulating impressions from elsewhere on the Internet. I've caught you several times now taking about shit with seeming authority when in fact you had zero experience with the gear. I now highly doubt you've heard any of the powered monitors that have you commented on, much less the DACs. The fact is, you have owned exactly one outboard DAC, exactly one headamp, and exactly one AIO.

    The Dangerous DACs lacking air? Guess what? That only applies to the Source with that consumer grade BB DAC chip in there. And your impressions of the Gungnir A2 being exaggerated in the low bass? Guess what? The Convert-2 is on another level of fuckton more low bass than Gungnir A2.

    And really, what makes you even so much more full of shit is that DACs matter so little compared to speakers or headphones or what can be done with the judicious use of EQ. Tonal balance, body, leanness, lack of bite, air, all these things can be corrected to a large extent with EQ or the right transducers / proper component synergy. I can make just about any DAC work with my JBL4698's as the amps used are going to make even a bigger difference.

    The fact that I understood why some of your impressions were what they were because you used the Asgard 2 or M900 early on just shows what a dumbass you were since you never seemed to have figured out that shit does sound different when you put different pieces together.

    Get f'ing lost. You are at idiot living in your mom's basement who has failed at life. Your freakshow here was enjoyable for a time, but it's now over.
     
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2019
  13. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Give it 24 hours warm-up. It gets better, but the tendency is still there.
     
  14. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

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    Source and Dbox. Lol.

    I’ve ran the source to a ton of powered monitors and some separate headamps. I don’t care what you believe. I’ve owned other stuff just not headphone- oriented stuff and I won’t be buying any more headphone stuff.

    No shit they don’t matter compared to speakers and amps but they do matter and synergy is bullshit; if they’re wrong to someone or they don’t like the sound then no amount of tweaking or component matching will make it right for them and they will just be another compulsively tweaking audiophile wasting their free time unhappy with their setup, listening to gear and not music. Wait that’s most audiophiles.

    People’s experience with headphone gear changes. People’s views change. People are people. People are apes.

    Lol. What’s next? Hitler? Aliens? Ice Road Truckers? I’ll be glad to get lost. Enjoy the interactions of Silicon Valley tech dudes who used to watch Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon, middle aged gamers, and anime fans. One thing’s for certain: cargo shorts are being worn. I’m going to go listen to metal with my real friends in real life now. Some of them wear camo cargo shorts and need to be fabreezed too. Bye!
     
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2019
  15. songmic

    songmic Gear cycler East Asia edition

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    And yet, I can't help but feel the mods here have always had a soft spot for Psalm, since they have been merciful enough to bring him back from the dead—with a unique title—after executing him time and time again, while countless other shitposters (Friends and Randos alike) have been permabanned with no chances of redemption for lesser offenses.
     
  16. famish99

    famish99 Friend

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    Sometimes you need an anti-hero...

    In an attempt to salvage this train wreck, I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks that the Velvet Sound DACs hit like a wet blanket. I've only heard lower end implementations admittedly but that's disappointing that the Solaris still sounds the same way.
     
  17. skem

    skem Friend

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    But.... I will add, for reasons to be explained later, that I think the Solaris DAC is quite special and worth buying. At the moment I am planning to get one (alongside the Convert-2). I don’t always need to have my nerves attacked by every transient in the music. Sometimes a bit of Solaris smooth is just what the doctor ordered.
     
  18. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I hated it at first, but I liked it more over time. I liked it more from a 300B amp than from the more neutral 3F, AF, THX 789, etc. The 300B amp is warmer, full bodied, maybe even a bit rolled up top which mated well with the Solaris' slight upward tilt.

    Easygoing, relaxed, and a soundstage to kill for. Good for nighttime listening before bed. It's why it mostly sat at my bedside.
     
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2019
  19. msommers

    msommers High on Epipens

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    I feel more confused on how all the FOTM pro dacs sound now compare to each other and the often referenced Schiit stuff...
     
  20. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    The keyword is sometimes. It would get old really quick if Deadpool showed up in every other scene in an X-men movie. Heck, Deadpool 2 was already tired and hackneyed.
     

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