The All Purpose Advice Thread

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

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  1. roshambo123

    roshambo123 Friend

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    Gungnir Multibit A1 or Bifrost 2
     
  2. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    Ok, here's a weird one: I've got a digital radio (Sangean HDT-20) that I listen to most of the day. It has both coax and toslink outputs. Is there any way to get that digital signal to act as a Roon bit-perfect/ASLA audio wireless input source? It'd be neat if I could use Roon's convolution engine on both my Pi2AES input (currently ethernet) and a wifi digital input from the radio... Thanks in advance!
     
  3. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    There are currently three Modi 3+ B-stock units for sale on Schiit’s site.
     
  4. ckhirnigs

    ckhirnigs Friend

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    @Merrick Thank you for that suggestion. I thought the same way as you and actually already got a Modi 3+ to tide me over until I have a BF2 again. It’s working well so far, and I’ll be interested to see how it compares to the BF2 when I have both in the house together.
     
  5. VonAtlas

    VonAtlas New

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    This may be a long one, but I feel the context helps add to what I'm looking for.
    I've been mostly gone for about 2 years, finishing up grad school, taking professional exams, looking for employment, etc.

    My income was practically nil, so I've been sitting on my pile of schiit (Vali 2, Magni Heresy) and THX 789 for my headphone amps. I was curious how some of the Chinese tube amps sounded, so I picked up a Loxjie P20. While it struggled to power my HD6xx properly, I did realize I liked the warmer tones with certain headphones of mine, regardless of the other shortfallings. I'd like to upgrade that part of my collection, and go from tube-hybrid to pure tube amp, specifically looking for the warmer, more classic tube sound. I'd also like to avoid another Chinese product, as I was one of the suckers involved with Blon BL-30 headphone disaster and customer service responses were... less than ideal. I'd also prefer as short a wait as possible (I was looking at the Valhalla 2, and I understand why the wait times exist, but I'd just like to avoid them, if possible)

    My budget is also significantly higher than the 99$ P20, since I just got my first "professional" job. I'd like to keep it under $1,500, if possible, but that's a malleable target depending on how much of what I'm asking for I end up getting.
     
  6. Armaegis

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  7. atomicbob

    atomicbob dScope Yoda

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    I have a very special audio issue: out of spec DTMF tones delivered by my VOIP provider.

    After multiple attempts to correct a detailed telephone issue it still remains unsolved. All service reps and local techs have been great, spent hours assisting but when advancing the issue up the chain of command it always roadblocks at the question of non-ziply fiber equipment.

    The issue: up until the beginning of May 2021 outside callers could use their touch-tone keys to traverse my PBX auto-attendant phone tree. That function has ceased to work due to ziply fiber voip no longer sending spec DTMF tones. rfc2833 specifies minimum of 40 mS DTMF tone duration but ziply fiber has shortened the delivered tone duration to 11.5 mS.
    When provided 40mS DTMF tones my Panasonic PBX works as expected. Checking DTMF decoder datasheets one can see they all have a REJECT threshold for tones less than 20 mS. Threshold for ACCEPT is typically 40 mS. No DTMF tone decoder in the world today will function properly with ziply fiber current delivered DTMF tone duration.

    Any of the wise among the forum friends have any suggestions how I might get past the chain of command roadblocks?
     
  8. 7seven

    7seven Acquaintance

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    Never heard anything about this, what happened?
     
  9. VonAtlas

    VonAtlas New

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    Blon released their first full-sized headphones. Large driver over-ear, open back headphones. I ignored the marketing material describing it as something similar to a 2-channel stereo experience because that's pretty much nonsense. But the headphones arrived and the design was just terrible. A single piece of spring steel that was bent too acutely acted as the headband, and the design of the headphones was such that the drivers in the yolks couldn't navigate far enough. Essentially, imagine the headband was designed for children-sized heads, and if one wanted to pull them apart to make space for an adult head, they'd have to stretch the headband to its extreme. However, because the drivers couldn't rotate on their axis beyond 90 degrees (assuming 90 degrees is vertically aligned with the headband) they'd basically sit on your head at a 45 degree angle when the headband was stretched that far. I had to take extreme measures to get them to fit a normal adult head.

    Edit to add: This problem was widely agreed upon by the pre-order customers, and the solutions offered by Blon were less-than-agreeable.
     
  10. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    @atomicbob can the PBX thresholds be changed?

    Or maybe you can juryrig some awful 10ms echo into the line?
     
  11. fastfwd

    fastfwd Friend

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  12. Jay

    Jay Facebook Friend

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    I decided I wanted to learn more about electricity and power supplies, specifically smps and linear wall warts, so I got a multimeter.

    I've been using the Musical Fidelity V-DAC II and the V-PSU II. Both are rated at 12v DC at 500 mA. Here's the link to the PSU. You'll see it has 3 DC outputs. https://www.musicdirect.com/equipment/musical-fidelity-v-psu-mk-ii-power-supply-upgrade

    I know that unregulated power supplies have higher voltage under no load, but smps are regulated and should have the same voltage under load and no load.

    Well, here's my question. The V-PSU is a smps, and when I tested it under no load, it's putting out 14.3 v at one output, 14.7 v, and 14.8 v at the others. How do I test if this is defective or somehow within spec? Also, if the V-DAC is designed to run on 12 v, what will feeding it nearly 15 v have done?

    Thanks in advance.
     
  13. atomicbob

    atomicbob dScope Yoda

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  14. MLegend

    MLegend Friend

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    Does the Yggdrasil (GS & A2) have a less forward and upfront presentation compared to Gungnir Multibit A2?
     
  15. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    The A2 does. Not aware of the GS. I think it’s still fairly forward compared to some other manufacturers (Schiit’s overall schtick seems to be a more forward presentation) but one of the first things I noticed going from Gungnir Multibit A2 to Yggdrasil A2 was the stage overall took a step back behind my speakers. Can’t really comment on headphones.
     
  16. ckhirnigs

    ckhirnigs Friend

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    I'm going to expose myself as the tube novice I truly am, but I have a question about one measurement listed on the box of some Upscale Audio-sourced tubes I picked up used. The measurement I'm curious about is "G2 mA" and what the number next to it signifies. It seems to vary quite a bit, though all the other measurements listed on the box are quite similar. I have 4 tubes, and the listed measurement for them are 1.8, 2.0, 2.2, and 7.0. The "7.0" seems like an outlier to me. Can someone tell me how much this matters, if at all?
     
  17. ogodei

    ogodei MOT: Austin AudioWorks

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    @ckhirnigs

    Your question doesn't provide much to go on. What type of tubes, and could you provide an image of the measurement sheet?

    My guess without more info is its a grid current measurement at some specified voltage to measure leakage, or possibly to measure gas in the tube. There's usually some amount, this is often presented as a "PASS\FAIL" thing but I suppose a value in mA could be provided. Lower would be better but any amount under some specified "PASS" would be OK.

    See https://www.essues.com/etracer/index.php/blog/61-adding-gas-test-to-etracer

    Or see pg. 26 of tubebooks.org/Books/Atwood/Tomer 1960 Getting the Most Out of Vacuum Tubes.pdf
     
    Last edited: Jun 16, 2021
  18. ckhirnigs

    ckhirnigs Friend

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    @ogodei Thanks for the helpful links. After further research, I also think it is a measurement of gas emissions. I assume you're right, it's probably a pass/fail thing. The tubes in question are EI 6BQ5 tubes being used in my Quicksilver Headphone Amp. I don't have pictures of my boxes handy, but here is a picture of Upscale Audio boxes I snagged off of eBay.
     

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  19. Beefy

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    You sure that 7.0 isn't just a hastily and lazily written 2.0?
     
  20. ckhirnigs

    ckhirnigs Friend

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    @Beefy I'm not sure. I'll reach out to Upscale Audio and see if "7.0" is even a possibility for a tube they would have sold.
     
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