High End Audiophile thread

You gotta be careful though, that the search doesn't become the whole idea.
If you know what I mean....no matter what tubes, opamps..DAC/sources..etc you try, you will always think there is something better and that may or may not be true but every so often, take some time to listen to the setup you have and enjoy it or you will never be happy with what you have or ever will have.

Tumbling down the rabbit hole is right. Slippery slope.

 

Agreed, i'd rather trust my ears then equipment.

I hooked up some very old speakers to my receiver for fun, and wow they sound so good.
They've been sitting in the garage for a long while.

 

If it sounds good, it is good.

 

Gotten around to take an picture of my M-stage Dac alongside my amp and Headphones. Picture might be a tad blurry. Yes that's Duct tape on the rear part of the Gustard H10 Amp, the screws for the rear top side strip and deformed one of the hole while the other got damage. So the tape is their to hold it down at the rear, while the sides are screwed on to the mounts. I put the H10 through a lot with the large amount of op-amp rolling I did last year.

I kind of messed up the back of the cabinet I was using just from trying to get the wires to fit and not be in the way of each other.

 

Cool.

 

So i got my new JBL 5.1 set for a couple of days, i opened the sub one time, it had some kind of foam inside.

Does that make the sub sound better? or should i remove it?

 

if it was inside the actual sub box, Leave it.

 

It was, alright i'll leave it.

 

It is a common thing to use foam to produce more perceived volume in the sub container.

 

Yup, Leave it, this is normal in a sub and also in speakers

cheers,
RagDoll.

 

So true.

 

Hi Everyone, A newbie here.

I'm wanting to rip my vinyl collection and researching led me here. Seems you guys could enhance my understanding of how to end up with good results. I have about 300 LP's I want to rip and only want to do it once. If I'm going to 'stored' digital media then eventually I'll also rip my some 800 CD's.

My current set up is this:
AVR: Denon X4000, 7.2 set-up tailored to multi-channel music
Disc player: Oppo 83
Display: Panasonic P55VT30 (plasma)
TT: Dual CS5000 w/Stanton 681EEE/Jico
(The TT is currently using the Denon's internal phono preamp)
Speakers: 6 - Boston Acoustics VR-M60's
Subs: 2 - Rythmic Audio F12's

The computer in same room currently is a Dell Optiplex 960 in the USFF so really no room for an internal sound card. It's a Core2Duo E8400/3.0 GHz/6 GB ram. I do have another 960 in SFF I could swap it out for if an internal card (that would fit) is really the way to go. Media Storage: TBD - For this I'm thinking an NAS. Currently I'm thinking 'future proof' by using the QNAP 251+, thinking 8GB ram to handle all the artwork in JRiver and looks like current pricing on WD RED HD's will allow 2-3 TB mirrored. Currently the computer is connected to the Denon via it's empty DisplayPort converted to HDMI then to the Denon's front Aux HDMI input. This is to support the use of Room EQ Wizard software.

Playback will be streamed from the network. I've ripped a couple of CD's to the desktop to play w/streaming and I seem to prefer the Denon's UI to over the Oppo's...

So my current thinking is this:
JRiver for the player, Vinyl Studio for ripping vinyl, dB Power Amp for ripping CD's.

My uncertainty lies on what to use to digitally convert/send the analogue audio to the computer. It seems due to case size limitations I'll have to use an outboard device. I'd like to keep this connection under $400 or so.

The options I've found are:
1. connecting an outboard MM Phono preamp w/ an ADC to the TT - one that is outputted via USB feed to the computer
2. connecting the Denon's Zone 2 or 3 preout to an outboard ADC w/USB output feeding the computer.

Looking at the phone preamps w/USB I'm finding these models in the price range:
ADL GT 40, NAD PP4, ProJect PhonoBoxUSB, Rega Fono Mini A2D, ART USB PhonoPlus, ParaSound ZPhono, Bellari VP530, TCC/TEC 756USB and the Berhinger 202 & 222.
Questions:
Are there one or more of these preamps that will outperform the Denon's internal one, making me want to use it full-time instead?
If not, then the only use for one of these boxes will be for it's USB output. Are there a lot of performance differences in them in this respect? Some exceed 16/48. Is it important to gain more fidelaity?
I'm of the opinion I want to store everything as FLAC, 16/48, 24/48 or perhaps 24/96. I see a lot of debate on this subject but it seems to me I'll have the storage capacity for any of them. If I want to exceed 16/48 then some of these above preamps won't do it.
The next question becomes if the box is only for it's USB output then am I better using a preout on the Denon to feed a USB ADC box with line level inputs instead. I haven't yet really researched this option thoroughly for possible boxes (although I've found several). It was an article by ROBSCIX on the Beresford 7510 ADC that led me here to begin with.

I welcome any comments anyone would like to give mo on any of my thoughts while I'm still working thru the planning stage.
Thanks in advance for your input.
Robbie

 

Here is an interesting read you might be interested in, although it is an older thread. Also, there is another thread linked within this one you might want to read:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/557867/bes...rring-vinyl-recordings-to-flac-files-on-pc/15

If you just want to rip your vinyl, then store them, just use the phono pre-amp in the receiver, and pick up an analog/digital converter to connect to PC. Also, if my memory is correct (at work) use the Media output audio jacks instead of the Zone outputs. The Media output jack is fixed, similar to a tapeout. Only con is, it will only pass through analog sources connected to the analog/phono input jacks, no digital sources like HDMI/optical. The zones outputs are just like the normal pre-amp which the main volume controls. I own an X4000, and use it as an pre-amp.

I currently use CUeTools to rip my CD's to Flac. Hope some of this helps. No LP‘s here anymore. Thought about it, but remembered why I stopped. It was just a pain to play them. GL

 

I don't have pictures taken yet, but I got extremely lucky and won an contest from sonic electronix and Nuforce. I didn't even expected to win either and totally forgot about it. I came in second and won me an Nuforce Udac5 dac/amp HEM2 bundle. I just started using it and I like it so far.

 

Thank you Mexball,
I did look, you are correct, the Media Center outs would be the better ones to use. Do you have any suggestions of ADC's I should consider? I'll also look into using CUeTools, I haven't previously heard of this program.

 

Ya lucky dog, that's a nice bundle! That uDAC5 is capable of up to quad DSD (DSD256), I have the uDAC3 which is capable of only software driven DSD64 (IIRC).

 

MMMM quote didn't go right, that's weird I must of did something.

 

You forgot to close it with

Code:

[/QUOTE]

Since I posted here...

I recently look to upgrade my sound card. I've been thinking of external one, cause XonarDG audio signal seem to interfere with GPU and other hardware, which causing slight static background noise.

Any recommendation for cheap external DAC + Amplifer?
My current HD595 doesn't really need strong amp, but I am looking to upgrade to HD650 or other higher grade open headphones in future.

 

Yea it really is an good dac all the features i wanted, Just a shame that the RCA out is varible and not fixed. Realize that I just have to max out the volume when using it with my headphone amp and lower it when i using the IEM.