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Beginning of a new era : Klein & Hummel O300 + Benchmark DAC-1
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Trip-
IsraTrance Team
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Posted : Nov 20, 2007 16:21
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I wouldn't expect a huge difference between what you have now and a new D/A, unless u get something too expensive, which is too expensive anyway.  I'd stick with the ff400
  Crackling universes dive into their own neverending crackle...
AgalactiA |
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Alex Roudos
IsraTrance Junior Member
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Posted : Nov 20, 2007 20:55
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Nice to see that this post is developing to a quite informative one.
@ Get-a-fix : I suggest that you keep your ff400 and get a separate DAC. Whatever you choose from Benchmark, Lavry Mytek or Lucid will do the job. I agree with Trip but only if your monitors are not capable enough to make the difference totally audible. If you do have or buy very good monitors then any of the above DACs will make a big difference. Don't forget that the FF400 with all its bells and whistles is still considerably cheaper than any of the DACs mentioned.
@ Trip : I'm not planning on using the DAC1's headphone outputs at all. When recording i'm using the two headphone outputs of my Saffire Pro 10. If i use the DAC1's headphone outputs it would be for very critical listening(due to its quality) but i'd have to change the rear switch every time from Variable to Off(something quite dangerous if you don't have visibility when doing that). In any case the more expensive DAC1 USB automatically mutes the analog outputs when headphones are inserted to the left headphone input.
If you can get a second hand minidac for a good price then go for it. If you are serious about 2 channel ad conversion then i'd suggest wait until you can get a really pro one. In my case and as i already mentioned, my AD conversion/mic pre will be the API A2D. Considering the constant dropping in the dollar/euro rate it's going to be more than a bargain. Just check it out, it's really worth it.
@ a212121 : I got the O300s exactly because i wanted 100% freedom on choosing/upgrading my DAC. On the other hand the built in dacs on the O300D are not that good anyway for the overall price you pay, to get stuck with them.
@ PoM : You are wellcome mate. Let us know when you finally get your dac and how it sounds.
A friend told me once that the biggest mistake we make is that we believe we live, when in reality we are sleeping in the waiting room of life. |
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Tomos
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Nov 20, 2007 23:26
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Alex, I bet your system sounds minty fresh!
The whole quality of soundcard issue has been brought up in my mind again thanks to this thread!
I am upgrading to ADAM P33As, which I believe will be a masssssive step up from my current monitoring solution and should last me (hopefully) a damn long time.
However, I think my soundcard (cheap Audiophile 2496) is going to let them down. I bought it because I only need 2in/2out.. can anyone recommend a similar card in simplicity, but with sound quality I can be confident with. I've got no idea what my budget is for this.. but a few options would be nice.
FW/USB/PCI don't care..
From what I've gathered thus far from reading the last few posts, is it possible to get a fairly average priced card with digital out, then spend the majority of the money on the DAC? |
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Alex Roudos
IsraTrance Junior Member
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Posted : Nov 20, 2007 23:41
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Tomos, what i'd suggest to you at first is to try any of the dacs mentioned here with your current soundcard.
Check if you can get one from a music store where you live for a couple of days to demo it, or rent it if not possible otherwise.
If the results you get are the expected ones then you will have answered your last question in the best and probably cheapest way(skip the new soundcard- get directly the dac).
A friend told me once that the biggest mistake we make is that we believe we live, when in reality we are sleeping in the waiting room of life. |
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Tomos
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Nov 21, 2007 00:01
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Ah, unfortunately my card doesn't have digital out.
I'll have to buy a cheap card and then go the demo route. Good suggestion though.
Cheers. |
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Alex Roudos
IsraTrance Junior Member
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Posted : Nov 21, 2007 00:05
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Are you sure about not having digital out? I mean i just checked it out and it has.
Is this the one you have?
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Audiophile2496-main.html
A friend told me once that the biggest mistake we make is that we believe we live, when in reality we are sleeping in the waiting room of life. |
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Tomos
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Nov 21, 2007 00:13
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Ah! I haven't plugged in the breakout cable, I was expecting optical SPDIF on the card itself.
I see the DAC-1 has coaxial input... although from a photo, it looks like only 1x spdif coaxial input. Shouldn't there be one for L and R?
Question for the experts then.. are all digital outputs made the same? I don't see why they wouldn't be, so my card should be fine for going straight to an external DAC with no quality loss from the 2496.
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Alex Roudos
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
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Posted : Nov 21, 2007 00:33
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Digital inputs/outputs are stereo and/or multichannel and you can separate them from your DAW if you want to record in mono.
I have no idea if all the SPDIF chips that are integrated in the soundcards or other equipment vary in quality. I suppose not as the SPDIF is the Sony/Phillips coaxial digital in/out standard. Good question as well, i was thinking about it........
In any case try to demo/rent one of these dacs and then A/B the sound switching from the audiophile's digital out to the dac to analog straight from your audiophile to the speakers. One "problem" for the overall dynamic range of the sound you'll be getting is that the audiophile is unbalanced.
A friend told me once that the biggest mistake we make is that we believe we live, when in reality we are sleeping in the waiting room of life. |
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Tomos
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Nov 21, 2007 00:57
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Well, if digital outs are identical. It makes me wonder why the USB DAC-1 is quite a bit more expensive when all it appears to do is skip the soundcard and draw its digital bits straight from the application. To save money you could just buy any cheap soundcard with digital out to save the difference in price.
My audiophile unbalanced inputs are casuing havoc with my microphone recordings. The noise floor is ridiculous so I've been plugging my good mics into an M-audio microtrack portable recorder, pulling the wave files off and adjusting them in Cubase.
Don't look at me like that... it works! |
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Trip-
IsraTrance Team
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Posted : Nov 21, 2007 08:15
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I believe the usb dac1 is making it more portable... you can take it with you anywhere.
Are you sure you can find a USB soudncard with digital outputs that is cheaper?
Crackling universes dive into their own neverending crackle...
AgalactiA |
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danger
IsraTrance Junior Member
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Posted : Nov 21, 2007 10:57
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Tomos: for those ADAM's i think these would be the best options, depends on your budget: Apogee Duet, Apogee MiniMe + MiniDAC, Lynx One, L22 or Two, UA2192... Procyon Records
frenzyinducing psychedelic electronica
Beyond - http://www.myspace.com/beyondelectronica |
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Tomos
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Nov 21, 2007 11:36
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I'm still debating whether to go for the P33A's or the S2.5a's... it would be the beginning of a very long lasting new era for me, I don't want to keep upgrading, I want to just HAVE monitors I love and be done with it. But for the extra cost I can't decide if its worth it. |
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PoM
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Nov 21, 2007 14:33
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Quote:
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On 2007-11-20 20:55, Alex Roudos wrote:
@ PoM : You are wellcome mate. Let us know when you finally get your dac and how it sounds.
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soon i ll get a trial version of the lavry da10 and see how it compare to the adi 2,can t wait! |
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Trip-
IsraTrance Team
Started Topics :
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Posted : Nov 21, 2007 14:39
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PoM,
I think im going for the da10 myself 
considering I don't have a dedicated da here, this will be a noticeable leap. Crackling universes dive into their own neverending crackle...
AgalactiA |
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PoM
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Nov 21, 2007 14:54
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maybe wait a bit, i ll get the unit next week and report if it worth the price. |
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