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rastus
1391
Apr 21, 2018
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Apr 21, 2018
Jackula
1743
Apr 22, 2018
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rastusI must admit it's the headphone causing me the most itch right now. Eagerly awaiting your review, I need my fix :)
Apr 22, 2018
rastus
1391
Apr 22, 2018
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JackulaOver on another thread from 4 AM:
Canned Gravitas Still listening, Babylon Sisters as I type, I think I can safely say none will be disappointed. I was hoping for an EH set of cans, endless hours, I think I got them. I have the HD700’s because I wanted no detail left out, yes I have read every review and still wanted everything revealed... well I was hearing it all,, but not with the depth, clarity and ease the Elex brings. Blade Runner, Rachel’s Song, Vangelis, DSD 2.8, the whispering airy notes (spacey vacuum noise;) gains detail within itself. The room seems a bit smaller, though at the same time the instruments do not fight each other, they maintain their individuality more firmly. Nora Jones, Come Away With Me, DSD 2.8 studio file, a good sibilance gauntlant test, that I feel my current setup with HD700’s passes, it got better,, as though not a recording, and that is the goal. You can push the Elex‘s and they just get better, they bloom, it all holds together and nothing gets pushed into each other. In fact, something new; left them blasting on the couch, walking away... they don’t sound like cans left running... they sound like speakers... Rig: FLAC/DSD---Audiogate (pc)>--<Korg DS-DAC-100>~<modded APPJ PA1502A. switching with HD700’s. My typical list, damn they all got better, Audiogate set @ 2.8. Steely Dan, Aja DSD 2.8 & Gaucho DSD 2.8 both for everything, depth, detail, stage Adele, Hello FLAC 24/96 for vocals Roberta Flack, Killing Me Softly FLAC 24/192 1973 remastered for vocals... she is right there... Here is the odd one, but so familiar to me for comparing "fluidity": Fleetwood Mac, Bare Trees (yes, the song track Bare Trees from the album) FLAC 24/192 1972 remastered The Elex build, look and finish show excellet craftsmanship. Comfort on the head is comfortable, the weight is there, but it feels as though they were made for you. I hope this helps until you get yours, it will be fun, getting late, later...
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-x-focal-elex-headphones/talk/2047735
Apr 22, 2018
rastus
1391
Apr 22, 2018
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Apr 22, 2018
Jackula
1743
Apr 22, 2018
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rastusYeah I saw that, looks real good! I will certainly be snatching up a pair in... a few years, although I want one right now I just spent too much money on a recent amp purchase to replace my WA6SE and I'm still enjoying my HD6XX.
Apr 22, 2018
rastus
1391
Apr 23, 2018
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JackulaIs that new amp the Heron 5 you are referring to, or did you just pickup a couple of WA234's?
I just put in a perfect pair of NOS CBS-Hytron 6V6GT's, that I was holding for when the Elex's came, into my little modded PA1502A along with a NOS USAF Tung-Sol 12AX7. Compared to the Fender (Raytheon blk) 6V6GT's & Baldwin (Raytheon blk) 12AX7,,, well it was a bit smaller stage with the Elex than I had hoped,, it just opened back up, yup, fell asleep last night with cans on trying to listen to too much...
The Nora Jones sibilance test - absolutely nothing, just her voice with her native sibilants - perfectly lucid. I think it is in part the Focal driver stiffness, not hitting resonant distortions? Would love to see super slow-mo videos of different driver surfaces at these points, ever seen? The biggest jump here for me, esp. sibilance, was going to studio files of her in DSD 2.8, and with the HD700's or the Phonon's it was pretty much erased,, I thought... now even another layer removed, moving into that virtual studio in steps...
Apr 23, 2018
Jackula
1743
Apr 23, 2018
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rastusOh stop if this continues I won't be getting rid of my tube amp :) Have you tried a pair of 12BH7 with your amp? It's a drop in replacement for 12AX7, it runs at higher voltages and if your amp can handle it, I find it better sounding than every 12AX7 I've had. Which amp do you have?
As much as I tried to love my Heron 5, it still felt short of tubes and it had a faulty power supply which I took as "wasn't meant to be".
I still intend on switching to solid state, mainly because I am consolidating my music room, my home theatre room and my headphone gears into one setup. Mainly for cost and convenience, I made the biggest mistake of my life when I used my Lampizator from my music room with my headphones, now I can't go back to my Metrum R2R.
As for speakers I'll be selling my PMC (music), Seaton Sound (movies), and replacing them with the ATC SCM150ASLT which I auditioned 2 years ago and it was the best sound I've ever heard, easily bests TOTL and much more expensive Wilson and Focal Utopias. I've got a major birthday coming up so my wife has agreed, there's some benefits to getting old after all :)
In the end I decided to get an Audio-gd HE-9 which is $2.5k delivered. It doubles up as a pre-amp for the ATCs and apparently they go really well together. A lot of people in my shoes who went from tubes to SS went back to tubes eventually, hopefully that won't be me!
Apr 23, 2018
rastus
1391
Apr 24, 2018
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JackulaI had a CBS-Hytron 12BZ7 in with the Fender 6V6's and have been liking it. Put the Baldwin back in to baseline with the CBS-Hytron 6V6's. Differences between 12BZ7 vs 12BH7 ? Well my budget amp was mentioned above, but not a model number you would catch... an APPJ PA1502A with upgraded caps, Mundorf & SILMIC II. Giving a lot of thought to the next step, need to listen to some, your take on OTL? My DAC is a KORG 100 and the amp in it, well it is a test point, to confirm the Korg works (back-up)... SS is a future buy. Having fun with tubes, entire career has been making stuff - to make SS.
Apr 24, 2018
Jackula
1743
Apr 24, 2018
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rastusNot sure what the audible difference is between 12BZ7 and 12BH7, but 12BH7 is distinctly different to 12AX7 as you would imagine. I don't have too much experience with OTL, I'm actually a kind of Transformer Coupled kind of guy, side-by-side I always prefer the OTC because they are generally faster, cleaner and on the side of neutral yet still exhibiting tube distortions on output.
I do like a neutral sounding amp, because they are more versatile, if I wanted to tweak the tonality I would buy a DAC that suits, and a colored amp can mask the capabilities of your DAC. This is why I bought an Audio-GD HE-9 because it's widely considered as "wire with gain", it's a bit hard to audition one since there are no local dealers, but I've heard very good things from ears of people I trust a lot. And I can draw some correlations based on how I feel about TOTL amps from Violectric, Schiit, Moon etc.
None of my current DACs can play DSD, I'm going to wait to see how it all pans out before I start investing in DSD, currently I don't feel a great urge to upgrade all of my PCM material. Well that's just me, I respect your opinion all the same :)
Apr 24, 2018
rastus
1391
Apr 24, 2018
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JackulaThe HE-9 looks like a headphone amp, with the Hoover Dam as backup,, let me know if you hear any clipping;)
Apr 24, 2018
Jackula
1743
Apr 24, 2018
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rastusI like your analogy :) It's a headphone amp / pre-amp, I doubt it will clip since it supplies more than 10x the required power for a HD6XX at worst case impedance. It should also sound effortless regardless of load since it's a current drive amp (as opposed to voltage drive).
Apr 24, 2018
TiffanyPoodleslide
1402
Apr 25, 2018
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JackulaYou'll be back.
oh yeah.

yes. you WILL.



lol.
Apr 25, 2018
Jackula
1743
May 28, 2018
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rastusHey, so I've been listening to my He-9 for the past few weeks and it's awesome! Tonally it's very neutral, just like my WA6SE, which I love, and it's very dynamic and the reviews didn't exaggerate - best bass response in existence. Got some digital clipping when trying to add some even order harmonics in the digital domain, it was my master plan to get a tubey distortion out of them, it works most of the time but not for the really dynamic tracks.
May 28, 2018
rastus
1391
May 29, 2018
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JackulaMechanism for adding in the distortion? Software plug-ins? https://www.kvraudio.com/product/emi-tg12413-limiter-by-abbey-road-plug-ins
May 29, 2018
Jackula
1743
May 29, 2018
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rastusYes it's essentially a software VST plugin called Convolver for Foobar that lets you select profiles from several commercial limiters. It works, but can't be bit perfect if you don't want to run into clipping issues.
May 29, 2018
rastus
1391
May 29, 2018
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JackulaWho's on First?... between the musicians/studios working to emulate the "old sounds" and us on the playback side, essentially trying the same game... who wins... maybe, sadly,, not the music, the art.
I see your intent/goal, a SS amp like the He-9 that can re-create anything you feed it, and I may be heading down the same road, after I have some more fun with tubes. Thanks for making me look, found a nice article: https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/analogue-warmth
Went to see what was going on, on the studio side with "recreation" of the old sounds... damn... https://www.uaudio.com/uad-plugins/all-plugins.html
It is great that they are capturing the essence of the old hardware, before they are no more, welcome to the sims... https://www.uaudio.com/uad-plugins/guitar-bass/fender-55-dlx.html
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May 29, 2018
rastus
1391
Jul 27, 2018
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JackulaWhat do you think of the AUDIO-GD R-28; specifically the amp side which is current driven as compared to your HE-9; but of course the balanced R-2R side as well? Interested in getting both an R-2R and a current driven SS amp; so thinking this may be great first step up.
Jul 27, 2018
Jackula
1743
Jul 27, 2018
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rastusI've never listened to the R-28 but from my experience, AGD's lower end amps tend to be more laid back and warm sounding than their flagships. Their older Delta-Sigma DACs are also considered warm and gooey, but have apparently gone to a more neutral tone with their newer R2R DACs, especially with their latest firmware released just a few weeks ago. Also AGD R2R DACs exhibit similar even order harmonic distortion seen in tube amps, but at lower amplitude, so you could be in familiar territory there :)
One thing with current driven is they work best with planars with fixed impedance response, with something like the HD6XX with wild impedance swings in the bass, it sounds a tad warm. It should work great with your Elex though. AFAIK at the Currawong's review of the Elex, he had AGD R2R7 DAC + AGD Master 9 amp as one of his main rigs. He didn't have any issues with it. Thing with all AGD DACs and amps, they're all derivatives of each other, so it should be a great pairing!
Between the two firmwares on offer, the original firmware offers a smoother sound and the latest firmware offers a sharper more aggressive tone, however it is also more sensitive to digital changes. I've recently become a believer in digital variability, Kodi and Foobar sounds different when all processing's been turned off; the SPDIF and USB inputs on my DAC sound completely different, both are galvanically isolated and both convert directly to I2S. I don't understand the mechanics behind it but the sound difference is hard to ignore.
Anyways, coincidentally I've also been looking at getting a replacement DAC after a power spike from the USB input killed my Lampi. It's currently in the shed, awaiting repairs. I don't know what's wrong with it but I'm going to start with replacing the Amanero board, if the fault is further down the line in the main PCB then I'm SOL lol, and it will be DAC shopping for me. My wife feels sorry for me, I feel sorry for me. It comes at a bad time as I was just about to cave in to peer pressure and buy an Elex.
I too am interested in a AGD R2R, but the flagships are so damn large. Other considerations are the MSB Discrete, Chord Dave and TotalDAC D1-Dual. You'll notice all these DACs are much more dearer than the AGD R2R, but given how much I like their HE-9 I think their R2R will be a real contender, I might buy myself a ticket to Foshan to audition it. I really have high hopes for AGD's R2R DACs.
Jul 27, 2018
Jackula
1743
Aug 5, 2018
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rastusHey wondering if you got your R28 yet? Hoping that I made the right recommendation by you, and would love to see a review.
Aug 5, 2018
rastus
1391
Aug 6, 2018
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JackulaReally just need to listen to an R-2R, was going to jump on a low end Soekris to try one,, but no native DSD support (my self-imposed-rule),, saw a Denafrips on eBay... made a low-ball offer, no-go... then saw the R-28 with a combined current amp, states DSD native "Fully Discrete DSD Native decoder", so still hanging, as the entry point price is high... Your analysis is perfect, thanks. Sorry to hear about your Lampizator, really. I run everything through a decent UPS for noise/protection, but looking to get a a double conversion UPS to reduce the noise further and provide better protection. Problem is they introduce fan noise, so remote it,, and/or replace fans with Noctura ones...
Aug 6, 2018
Jackula
1743
Aug 12, 2018
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rastusNo need to be sorry about my Lampi because I managed to repair it :) I had my doubts though. The other option was to salvage it for parts and I could've made $2-3k back for the next DAC. I also added an external low noise LiPo supply for the USB interface, so the power section completely cut off from my PC, I think it would work a bit better than Audio-GD's implementation. Why the self-imposed rule?
Aug 12, 2018
rastus
1391
Aug 21, 2018
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Jackula So was it the USB in your Lampi that fried? What battery/unit did you choose for USB power? Questions over; on to your question... I think that we got DSD as a gift, with first the marketing failure of SACD {DSD} coupled with the leaking of the format through the PS3 game firmware/hardware error that increased awareness & appreciation [pirate fanbois], and now by the patent finally running out... it is now for all practical purposes in the public domain... My self-imposed rule is not to invest in any hardware that will not support DSD natively; I'm all in for the reward of a really good license-free format.
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Aug 21, 2018
Jackula
1743
Aug 22, 2018
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rastusYes it was the USB interface that died, the replacement board has a header pin for an external 3.3v power supply and a LiFePo4 battery which is the same voltage. I'll still need to mod the power switch so the battery gets charged when the DAC is off, it's on my to-do list. Didn't know patent has run out for DSD, haven't been paying much attention since I don't have gear to play DSD and I'm not really interested in it either. I'm not sure R2R as a technology can do DSD natively, but a product that has R2R certainly can do it natively, guess it's how you differentiate between the two. With Audio-GD's implementation, they use a different part of the R2R-7/8 board to process DSD natively, and with something like the AMR DP-777, DSD is done on a different chip. Correct me if I'm wrong though :)
Aug 22, 2018
rastus
1391
Aug 31, 2018
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JackulaI have a small headache after going though reviews of the AMR DP-777, and find they just skipped over DSD, after I though I had missed something... From all other material I have seen, most simply try to take the easy road and convert DSD to PCM and send that off to the R-2R ladder with & without up-sampling. The ones that interest me are only Denafrips (so they state) and others that process DSD natively, or 'direct native' is a better defining term. Your Lampi should be capable of DSD, with an upgrade, but one Lampi I would like, that I can't buy...
"In April 2013 I made an enlightening exercise. Just out of curiosity I designed a DAC that converts DSD data stream (all types known) to analog and does it WITHOUT SILICON. I’ve tried various chips - all kinds - some “DSD READY” some DSD through PCM and some real DSD. As a chief designer I felt that Lampizator fame needs a DAC like no  other. I created a converter that treats the DSD in pure analog domain and produces music in it’s virgin glory. Without any manipulation, digital processing, PCM conversion, delta sigma, or anything like that. I kept DSD in its purest native form and keep the sound with phase coherence, zero colorations or compression.
The sound is the purest copy of the original DSD recording I can think of. It is a pity this type of product could not be released for sale. The process is 100% free of active solid state components. Only tube active filters are employed. At the end the signal is amplified by triodes again - in the way we always have done at LampizatOr. I don’t follow the world developments in this field and I don’t have time to read internet forums but I guess this must be one of the first such pure tube DSD DACs worldwide. In my design I used the FM radio principle for tuning into the data stream and extracting music modulation from the carrier waveform. The technology therefore is based on the grandmother’s radio with the magic green eye. "
"Four elements that came together and in perfect synergy created the best music reproduction I ever heard: DSD source files, pure analog DSD converter, tube Lampizator stage with tube power supply and Duelund Copper Cast capacitors."                                                                         Lukasz Fikus , Chief Designer and Owner
http://www.lampizator.eu/Fikus/DSD_DAC.html
Right now I'm still on my holy quest of the perfect second harmonic;) just got a used Cary CAD300-SEI with Hexfred's, Mundorfs, Grayhill switch, WBT posts and the remote cap power bank,, geeeze & damn, the bass... I put some Sylvania "bad Boys" 6SN7's and new Sophia Royal Princesses 300B's in it, then listened to the damn things transform... nice, but took until 4AM... Feeding it DSD->Korg 100 and dropped the noise floor with a double-conversion UPS. It's purpose is primarily for speakers, but still in the process of crossover & diaphragm upgrades there, so using cans with it for now. It brought about another paradigm shift in listening,,, I went into the studio, and became surrounded... you know,, "Host of Angels" stuff ;) with the right Angel recording of course...
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Aug 31, 2018
Jackula
1743
Sep 2, 2018
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rastusWow congrats on the amp purchase, hope it was a good deal. Decided not to go the Audio-GD / solid state route eh? :) I've never listened to one but looking at the internals, it's better than anything Woo has to offer, very nice! The amp would have output transformers, I would think it's quite a bit different to what you're used to? And 15wpc on speaker output is a lot! It's more powerful than my PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium. I'm using it as my power amp with my Audio-GD as pre, I think I prefer this setup (as in solid state pre and tube power) instead of other variations (tube pre, solid state power, or all tubes) although in the end I'll likely just move to a solid state amp.
So what are you getting for DAC now? Still keen on R2R with DSD? I had thought the DP-777 did DSD, I must've been dreaming when I claimed that it did or got confused with another product, oops! Obviously I'm not a big fan of DSD, I see is as a nice to have but I'm unlikely to ever use, I don't particularly feel like converting all my FLACs to DSD nor going back to optical. A problem with many DSD DACs is they upsample all inputs to DSD, whether it's PCM or DSD - PSAudio, Lampizator, Meitner all do this. Which is why I like Audio-GD's implementation where PCM stays as PCM and DSD gets processed separately via a FPGA. Something I am more interested in than DSD is MQA, but it locks me into only a handful of DACs. So I want to wait to see how this plays out before buying a new DAC.
Hey you should look into the Uptone ISO Regen, it's one of the biggest upgrades I've made recently. I was skeptical initially but was itching to try something new, so I went for it and it really did surprise me. This little guy made a huge improvement to my system and mainly in terms of jitter.
Sep 2, 2018
rastus
1391
Sep 17, 2018
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JackulaWell,, yes a bit of redirection, but not really, always in the plan was an SE amp for speakers, and saw this one at Cary used with the cap "power bank" CAD-300PB, and it made sense to me, not the price though,,, but hitting the goal, making those Sirens sing for me... The cap bank is only there to draw on when needed, it does not over-power anywhere in the spectrum, as you may think it might.
Yes, the side benefit of plugging cans into the Cary CAD-300SEI is just sooo sweet...
On the R2R front, which is now part and parcel of the Siren goal, I ordered a Denafrips Ares, it can process DSD natively through it's FIR filters,, as can your Lampi I believe;) This will tell me if R2R is my direction going forward,, Ares will be a fair test I believe.
Upgrading my old KLF-20's with Titanium in the tweeters & "squakers" (mid horns) while waiting for all the rest of the parts to rebuild the crossovers.
I have the iFi Gemini split USB cable to allow me to feed clean 5V to the Korg 100 DAC, and use a Corning optical USB as a clean 5 Gb/s USB-VCSEL-USB transceiver, a re-generator or purifier, if you will... The dedicated PC is then off by itself, stewing in it's own noise... but no fan component; fanless i7, 16GB 1600MHz RAM & 1TB SSD.
https://www.corning.com/optical-cables-by-corning/worldwide/en/products/usb-optical-cables.html
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Sep 17, 2018
Jackula
1743
Dec 23, 2018
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rastusMerry Christmas Rastus. This has become our private banter thread :) I met a fellow audiophile, who recently purchased an Audio-GD R2R8 DAC. He says it's the best DAC he's ever used in his system, which consists of a pair of Focal Utopia Grande EMs. As you know this pair of speakers is extremely transparent and he compared it against the TOTL MSB and TotalDAC! Personal preferences do play a part sure, but it still says how good the R2R8 are.
Dec 23, 2018
rastus
1391
Dec 24, 2018
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JackulaFunny you should just post, going to “test” the Audio-gd R2R 11 that I got my son for a present tonight... I will let you know what I think
Dec 24, 2018
rastus
1391
Dec 26, 2018
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JackulaHope you had a Merry Christmas! Well, did not get the quiet/quality time to spend with the Audio-gd R-2R 11 that I wanted, but with the time I had, it complemented nicely with the pair of Audeze EL-8 opens, that I got for my son, "used" but the cables were never undone, and they are custom for those cans. He will be bringing it all back so we can listen some more. The EL-8's seem to never have been well accepted by the Audeze folks, so discontinued, not the "old" look so they can't be any good.... the build quality,, that design partnership with BMW worked, fit, feel & look are exquisite. The EL-8 sound was clear & clean, went back & forth with the Elex a bit, different signatures of course, but largely on par in the resolving department. If the Airist/MD R-2R is like the R2R 11, it will do well here, liking the R-2R reality.
(Edited)
Dec 26, 2018
Jackula
1743
Dec 27, 2018
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rastusDid you try the R11 DAC by itself or use the built-in amp with it? I think Kingwa designed the amp portion just for convenience, so it can be marketed as an AIO product. But the good stuff is in the DAC. The R8 DAC has the same DA-7 modules as AGD's TOTL DACs, which is quite a bit better than the DA-8 modules he uses in other of his R2R DACs.
Dec 27, 2018
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