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KJ741N
Sep 27, 2017
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Normally use HD600's, but the AKG's are also excellent (especially for the price!).

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Sep 27, 2017
bmezy
12
Oct 14, 2017
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KJ741NHow do you like those TEACs?
Oct 14, 2017
KJ741N
Oct 17, 2017
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bmezyLove 'em. I really like the way the Japanese go about designing audio gear. Crystal clear, precise, beautifully balanced sound, and absolutely no noise whatsoever. The amp has plenty of power for 600 Ohm phones. It's not "boutique", so it doesn't get much attention, but I'd rather have professionally-designed equipment like this. Plus, I like the look - it looks like audio gear, not a piece of abstract table art! Yeah I know.. old school. :)
Oct 17, 2017
rastus
1391
Oct 17, 2017
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KJ741NWhen you see the quality components going in, you know the attention to detail is there; they truly listen to what they make. That you see MUSES, https://www.njr.com/MUSES/index.html , components it is a sure bell-weather that things will sound very nice. Yes, in the old school we look at the chain of components... the (not so) little things like op-amps...
How do you find using the selectable damping factor in the 501?
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Oct 17, 2017
KJ741N
Oct 17, 2017
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rastusI only own 2 sets of phones, so I don't use the damping setting very much. I just use the chart they provide and leave it at that.
The whole package just speaks to professional design engineers who know what they're doing - accurately reproduce the performance and leave the "color" to the composers and the musicians where it belongs!
"If I were a rich man".. I'd have Accuphase on the shelf.
Oct 17, 2017
rastus
1391
Oct 18, 2017
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KJ741NSpeaking of leaving the "color" to the artists, where I also believe it belongs, have you played native DSD 2.8 or 5.6 files through the 301/501?
Oct 18, 2017
KJ741N
Oct 18, 2017
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rastusYes I have, though I don't actively acquire (purchase) music in those formats. But the samples I do have play perfectly. The format and rate is set automatically. The sound is as close to live in the concert hall as I've heard, which is the goal for me. I use very neutral phones for listening - the HD600 for example.
The only trouble I've had is with the USB connection. TEAC says it's USB 2.0, but I had to plug it into the USB 3.0 port on my PC to get it to work. Now it may have something more to do with my motherboard than with the DAC, I don't know. But since doing that, the system has worked perfectly every time I turn it on (I've had it for about 1 year now).
By the way, one other nice thing is the 301 will act as a simple pre-amp. So I use it to control the volume on my speaker amps, or the output to the 501, depending on which one is used. Eliminates the need for an additional "master" volume control of some sort.
Oct 18, 2017
rastus
1391
Oct 18, 2017
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KJ741N USB 2.0 @ 480 Mbit/s is more than enough for audio data streaming, today, and likely for a while. 3.0 will work, backwards compatible so the specs say. The concern is with the streaming / Isochronous part, it is exactly that, all the losses & corruption are yours... no correction, no re-takes, garbage out = garbage played, pretty much. You see soooo much talk about the data being digital ones & zeros, doesn't matter, snake-oil, yaddi-yadda, yes just kill me - you feel reading on and on about it. Yes, I thought the same, for a while, then thought again... so I tested it, done, simple. What really happens in the chip processing world of DAC's? It is really that you get bad data, oh well, the show must go on, we play what works, tone it down or just effectively mute it; here it is from a horses mouth (Cirrus that I use as an example): "The CS4398 can detect errors in the DSD data that do not comply to the SACD specification. The STATIC_DSD and INVALID_DSD bits (Reg. 09h) allow the CS4398 to alter the incoming invalid DSD data. Depending on the error, the data may either be attenuated or replaced with a muted DSD signal (the MUTEC pins would set according to the DAMUTE bit (Reg. 04h)). " https://d3uzseaevmutz1.cloudfront.net/pubs/proDatasheet/CS4398_F2.pdf Yes, I'm a DSD listener, so I'm stuck with USB until we get something better for audio... The clicks & pops folks talk about, that is catastrophic level data loss/corruption. The pragmatic solution is get a decent, well-shielded USB cable, https://www.amazon.com/Pangea-Audio-cable-solid-silver/dp/B005AUH8SM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1508344791&sr=8-&keywords=pangea+silver+USB . This is something we can correct, poor signal paths within the DAC, well get a good DAC... you do have one. In addition the 5V quality from any PC likely sucks for USB powered DAC's. I feed my 5V from a truly split USB, not power from two connectors, into my USB powered Korg 100 DAC. I got a used ebay, new is overpriced, Gemini, an alternative is: https://www.amazon.com/Pangea-Audio-Premier-Cable-Meter/dp/B06XQFW494
Your 301 is AC powered, so just clean AC is fine. I simplify [cheat] here with a good UPS, pragmatism again, for both AC (PC & amp) and the USB 5V I use a CyberPower CP1350PFCLCD pure sine wave, protects and cleans;) A good solution to many noise issues, but how this works so well at less than a $1,000.00 is an audiophile mystery...
Oct 18, 2017
KJ741N
Oct 18, 2017
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rastusBefore I got the UD-301 , I used a Focusrite firewire interface. To be honest, that thing was astounding. Never a glitch or problem and crystal-clear audio. For all of $100 it played pretty much the same as $1000 gear. For audio, USB is a poor substitute for 1394 firewire. Sometimes I feel like setting that thing back up.
Oct 18, 2017
rastus
1391
Oct 19, 2017
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KJ741NThe final solution is optical. The TOSLINK stuff we have now is just a self-handicapped antique, a circa '1983' Toshiba "invention". It is nothing more than a LED photo-coupler first designed for max 6 Mb/s. By today's standards @ 10/25/40/100Gbps, it is equivalent to lighting bonfires on mountain-tops as repeaters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6LGJ7evrAg .
DSD native studio masters over a new optical link engineered specifically for today and the future, DSD 1024?, is what we need. Not some hand-me-down or half-baked “crossover” stuff from the telephony folks either. Make it for high fidelity audio and someone else can “adopt” it,
if they wish. The market is big enough in pure audio to sustain it's own optical standard. Hell,, make it dual frequency, one dedicated for the music stream and the other for data exchange, stop the compromising. The fiber is not the issue, but glass should be the standard, no more plastic,, please..., it is the laser and the transceivers that are key. Today' performance fiber lasers are VCSEL's and the transceiver tech has come a long, long way since the 80's. Yes, we could go back to an all-in-one platform and take away the interconnect problem, then we will stifle competition and innovation,, again... no thanks... just take away the interconnect issue.
Note: Always did wonder when I would get to use the firewire port on my old Dell laptop, never did yet, but then never owned a laserDisc player either. No, not a fan of USB, another committee-kluge...
Then we are done until they start recording with optical microphones;)
Oct 19, 2017
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