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Showing 1 of 88 conversations about:
MusicIsGreat
205
May 10, 2016
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twister
39
May 10, 2016
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MusicIsGreatyou can also read my full review on head-fi: http://www.head-fi.org/products/audio-opus-opus-1/reviews/15801 since I typically trim down amazon reviews... Opus#1 is a real deal. Right now PAW Gold and Opus#1 are my go-to daps, and for the reference I have reviewed a ton of gear on head-fi including many DAPs...
MusicIsGreat
205
May 10, 2016
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twisterThanks Twister, nice review by the way. Keep the good work, that's the sort of things that helps future buyers.
rebbi
0
May 12, 2016
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twisterTwister,
First of all, thank you so much for your many informative, thorough and very well written reviews. I have a two channel home audio blog (http://stevefolberg.wordpress.com) and I have written a fair number of reviews, myself, so I know how much time and care that takes. Well done!
I noted in your review that there is some mention of the DX 80, which I do have and enjoy. But I'm wondering whether, head-to-head, you think this new unit from Opus #1 is a significant upgrade over the DX 80 (beyond obvious things like the 32 GB of internal storage).
I was also wondering if you know whether the balanced headphone output is compatible with my Hifiman RE-600 IEM's. I am currently using the non-balanced adapter that comes with those phones, but I've always been curious how much of a difference of running them in balanced mode would make. Thanks for your insights!
JayDay
88
May 12, 2016
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rebbiThose RE-600 IEMs have a 3.5 mm balanced input - and this player does have a 3.5mm output, but it is not balanced. The balanced output on this player is 2.5 mm, so you would need a 2.5mm to 3.5mm balanced adapter to connect the RE-600 IEMs to this player and get balanced playback for those IEMs.
needhelp
331
May 12, 2016
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rebbithere is no need for standardization because the balanced output is such a niche requirement. unlike the 3.5mm 6.5mm plug :D
rebbi
0
May 13, 2016
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needhelpWell, right. Plus, why have standardization when you can force people to buy your weird-a**, proprietary product, eh? And even with the higher end Hifiman DAP's, I learned that the "balanced" output isn't even really balanced UNLESS you have purchased the $300 balanced amp module to stick into your Hifiman player.
Talk about "niche!"
But we digress... ;-)
JayDay
88
May 14, 2016
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m8omanI have also wondered what the balanced output's effect on the sound is..? I have read that unless there are several connected components or very long lengths to span, as in a pro audio(stage or recording), but when there is only one, then it can actually reduce the quality of the sound because to make it balanced it has to go through more circuitry and transformers which degrades the sound quality to worse than unbalanced. Just wondering if anyone has ever actually A/Bed balanced vs unbalanced in a home system where there aren't a lot of connected components and long lengths involved?
m8oman
192
May 14, 2016
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JayDayJust an fyi, (very expensive high quality wide band small signal) transformers are only in the picture to balance an unbalanced signal; or go from a balanced dignal to unbalanced and use both +/- signal components, instead of just throwing one of them away. Not the case here. What you are reading is not apples to apples to what we have here.
Balanced is useful to negate power supply noise and spurious signals induced in the complimentary circuit, awhen that induced signal is in the same polarity. Since the output is complimentary, any signal induced in the same polarity will be negated where the two are summed, at the headphone.
Since in this case the player won't double the output voltage in balanced mode, that benefit can't be realized here. But what I just cited regarding negation of power supply noise and induced spurious signals or distortions in the same polarity, will be realized.
Balanced is useful to negate power supply noise and spurious signals induced in the complimentary circuit, awhen that induced signal is in the same polarity. Since the output is complimentary, any signal induced in the same polarity will be negated where the two are summed, at the headphone.
Since in this case the player won't double the output voltage in balanced mode, that benefit can't be realized here. But what I just cited regarding negation of power supply noise and induced spurious signals or distortions in the same polarity, will be realized.
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