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Author Topic: Purrin's DAC Chart of Awesomeness.  (Read 55399 times)

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zerodeefex

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Re: Purrin's DAC Chart of Awesomeness.
« Reply #130 on: June 23, 2015, 05:53:35 AM »
the femtos help, but the cost increase is high. I think the big upgrade is power supply.

Honestly, I think the campaign led down the path of boutique parts and exotic solutions. Audiophiles are idiots and the best gains for me for the pulse line is with better power.

With the XFi, I found the $160 Jay's LPS to be pretty darn good even compared to the regular LPS. Heck, even a dinky 12V bench linear power supply I use is an improvement over the crappy brick.
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Anaxilus

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Re: Purrin's DAC Chart of Awesomeness.
« Reply #131 on: June 23, 2015, 06:28:23 AM »
^ x2! Power matters most with the Pulse's IME. That, and setting them up right.
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kothganesh

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Re: Purrin's DAC Chart of Awesomeness.
« Reply #132 on: June 23, 2015, 07:39:06 AM »
I have the LPS and always use that with the Xfi. I received the LPS first. Honestly, I've never even bothered to listen to the latter without the brick.
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FlySweep

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Re: Purrin's DAC Chart of Awesomeness.
« Reply #133 on: June 23, 2015, 08:38:55 AM »
Re: the XFI .. yes, I agree that the LPS (or another good PS) is a must.. also, when using the built-in amp, I feel high gain (at least via XLR) is where it sounds best.  Low & mid gain sounded noticeably flatter (dimensionally) and dynamically compressed (comparatively speaking) in comparison.  I'm looking forward to where you guys rate this on Merv's big bad DAC board.  I haven't had a chance to use it just as a DAC.. but it's definitely one of the better, if not best, SABRE implementations I've heard.. though it is still SABRE.  Larry did a nice job getting rid of the glare.. there's a welcome tinge of warmth without masking resolution).. but it still sounds a touch more clinical than I'd prefer.. I can deal though, cause the resolution is fantastic.  Hope this will sound good with the Carbon (Ravi.. thoughts on this combo would be welcome, too.. here or on another thread)
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ButtUglyJeff

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Re: Purrin's DAC Chart of Awesomeness.
« Reply #134 on: June 23, 2015, 11:56:09 AM »
@purr1n

Are you auditioning anything currently to add to this chart?

Maybe anything from Wyred 4 Sound?
« Last Edit: June 23, 2015, 03:06:53 PM by ButtUglyJeff »
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kothganesh

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Re: Purrin's DAC Chart of Awesomeness.
« Reply #135 on: June 23, 2015, 02:54:15 PM »
A very different question (maybe belongs in the Yggy thread).... Over the weekend I was going back and forth between my MBA --> Xfi --> LCD-X on one hand and the MBA -->Yggy--> Mojo --> LCD-X. After using the Xfi, when I went to the Yggy, there was no sound output (and more importantly) the bit rate lights were not lighting up. The first time, I shut down and restarted the MBA and everything was fine with the Yggy. The second time, the same procedure did not work. I shut down the Yggy for like 5 seconds and turned it back on. Everything was fine again...I'm using Amarra 3.0.3 on the MBA. Any thoughts would be helpful and apologies if this does not belong here...
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ButtUglyJeff

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Re: Purrin's DAC Chart of Awesomeness.
« Reply #136 on: June 23, 2015, 03:12:14 PM »
^^^ 2 thoughts.

Macs have always been picky about how you disconnect external devices.  Do DACs need to be ejected before disconnecting or powering down?

Also, is the USB implementation similar enough between the Xfi and Yggy to confuse the Mac into thinking they are the same DAC?  Do you have a 3rd DAC to test that theory with?
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kothganesh

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Re: Purrin's DAC Chart of Awesomeness.
« Reply #137 on: June 23, 2015, 03:34:56 PM »
Jeff,

I am suspecting the Mac interface but I don't think you need to "eject" a DAC. When you go to the Sound icon in the System Preferences, the Mac correctly identifies either the Xfi or the Yggy as the case may be.

I will check this phenomenon with the Bifrost, thanks for that suggestion.
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zerodeefex

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Re: Purrin's DAC Chart of Awesomeness.
« Reply #138 on: June 23, 2015, 03:43:28 PM »
Quote from: kothganesh on June 23, 2015, 03:34:56 PM
Jeff,

I am suspecting the Mac interface but I don't think you need to "eject" a DAC. When you go to the Sound icon in the System Preferences, the Mac correctly identifies either the Xfi or the Yggy as the case may be.

I will check this phenomenon with the Bifrost, thanks for that suggestion.

Go into the Amarra preferences. At least with Audirvana I have to manually select a new DAC when I plug it in.
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JK47

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Re: Purrin's DAC Chart of Awesomeness.
« Reply #139 on: June 23, 2015, 03:46:16 PM »
My MBA can be finicky with disconnecting  usb devices too. Sometime it wont recognize it, if it was plugged into the same port it was pulled from. I have to plug it into the other on board usb port for it to be recognized, or reboot the MBA to use the original port again.

It has happened on occasion with the Schiit Fulla, Schiit Modi 2 Uber, and the JDS C5D..
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