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Thread: Outstanding digital components

  1. #141
    Join Date: Apr 2008

    Location: Warrington

    Posts: 3,451
    I'm Neil.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gazjam View Post
    Pioneer DVD 575-A dvd player.
    Plays DVD-Audio and SACD.

    Plugged it into my Caiman Dac....sublime.

    Hate the inconvenience of CD's, but I still have a few so this is great.
    Yes, some Pioneer DVD players spank some high end transports! Pioneer stable platter players, Philips swingarm are nice too, but some awesome DVD players out there.

  2. #142
    Join Date: Aug 2008

    Location: London

    Posts: 2,411
    I'm Nat-andthat'swhyIdrink.

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    Certainly for pleasure of use like the Pioneer PD-91, I'd nominate the Sony 555esd (probably 557esd is the same).

    Silky smooth and silent laser sled and instant track search, heavy build etc etc. The 555 might need a small mod for s/pdif out but 557 is ok.

    Have to also recommend the Tascam CD701 with RC601 wired remote.



    Or if you fancy stringing 4 CD players together, you can get the RC701 remote:



    You can pick up the units for £150 - £250 and the remote I found for £40 on eBay.

    They use the same cast metal VRDS mech as in the Wadia 2000 and Esoteric P2/P2S (in fact it is what they are both based on) - not the cheap flimsy sheet metal pretend VRDS in the Teac T1 for example!

    Then if you can find a BU-1 memory card, you have a 30 second memory buffer built in too!

  3. #143
    Join Date: Apr 2008

    Location: Warrington

    Posts: 3,451
    I'm Neil.

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    I would like to nominate the Audial Model S DAC. It is quite simply the DAC that gave me what I was missing from vinyl, and removed what I didn't like about it. Dynamics, silence and bass control with digital, but with the more faithful timbre, non-fatiguing and analogue sound of vinyl.

    As it is available direct from Audial who are based in Belgrade it isn't easy to get a demo, so I bought blind with a reassured feeling about it. Some of you DIYers may know of Pedja Rogic who used to provide a lot of valuable and interesting discussion and designs into the community.

    You can pick your outputs - RCA / XLR, direct, caps, transformer etc. - I went for transformer-coupled RCA and XLR outputs, which use Jensen JT-11-BMCF transformers (sorry for poor photos!).





    Some power supply blurb from Audial:

    "First, the Model S comprises isolating mains transformer feeding the main power transformer by two bifilarly wound half-voltage secondaries. [...] Audio circuits of the Model S are fed by nine secondary windings [...] (There is also tenth winding that feeds the input switching relay.)"

    - http://www.audialonline.com/html/model-s/

    Everything is zero feedback from the independent discrete regulators to the output stage. The DAC is a non-oversampled TDA1541A with a DEM clocking scheme. Quite simply an ultimate statement that should be considered if you are thinking about something from Audio Note, Zanden, AMR etc. If you are in the Warrington area welcome for a listen. I think this should be on your radar Marco would be interesting to compare with the Sony DAS-R1!
    Mana Acoustics Racks / Bright Star IsoNodes Decoupling >> Allo DigiOne Player >> Pedja Rogic's Audial Model S DAC + Pioneer PL-71 turntable / Vista Audio phono-1 mk II / Denon PCL-5 headshell / Reson Reca >> LFD DLS >> LFD PA2M (SE) >> Royd RR3s.

  4. #144
    Join Date: Mar 2008

    Location: Galashiels

    Posts: 13,664
    I'm inthescottishmafia.

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    Looks interesting. How much?

  5. #145
    Join Date: Apr 2008

    Location: Warrington

    Posts: 3,451
    I'm Neil.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ali Tait View Post
    Looks interesting. How much?
    £2,100 approx including VAT & duty. Way too low in my opinion (compared to how much more competitors charge for less), but then we don't have to worry about distributor and dealer markups here.
    Mana Acoustics Racks / Bright Star IsoNodes Decoupling >> Allo DigiOne Player >> Pedja Rogic's Audial Model S DAC + Pioneer PL-71 turntable / Vista Audio phono-1 mk II / Denon PCL-5 headshell / Reson Reca >> LFD DLS >> LFD PA2M (SE) >> Royd RR3s.

  6. #146
    Join Date: Mar 2008

    Location: Galashiels

    Posts: 13,664
    I'm inthescottishmafia.

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    Ok, ta.

  7. #147
    Join Date: Feb 2012

    Location: Falun, Sweden

    Posts: 2,245
    I'm Mike.

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    Bladelius Embla is my nominee for "Outstanding Digital Components"

    It is a digital front end with preamp capabilites. Built solidly with or without a CD drive, depending on which version you choose.
    I chose the Embla DL with Classic DAC where DL stands for DiskLess...
    So i will have to use a computer for ripping my CD's with Exact Audio Copy or similar. These files are then transfered to my NAS and/or an external USB drive which connects to the Embla. (My music collection is already digitized on to the NAS)

    The DL version sports a full preamp with two single ended analog inputs along with one balanced. Of course you also have access to four digital inputs in the shape of USB (device mode, for attaching a computer), AES/EBU balanced digital, TOSLink and of course one electrical SPDIF.

    The unit is controlled with the supplied remote control called Mjölner, a very classy looking alu device. However the buttons are small and the text likewise so it is not a comfy use for us old gitters' with limited vision...
    The response though, is excellent and you access all functions in a flash. Feedback from the large display is also very clear and informative and the interface as a whole is functional and well though out. (OK, this not iOS, so some functions require a quick whirl through the manual)

    Included in the purchase is also the iPad app, which you receive as a gift from the supplier. (normal price $199)
    The App mimics the display on the unit, but with bigger cover art and also source selection, volume control and some further items. The App is very responsive and lets you select music from your network or the attached USB device very quickly and effective. When a track is selected for play, the whole album is placed in the play queue and you cab set the iPad aside and use the physical remote for directly selecting individual songs from the album. Excellent IMO, as the iPad can be a distraction if you have to fiddle with it constantly...

    With the Classic DAC comes the opportunity to select between three digital "filters". Filter A mimics the sound from Bladelius reference disc player the Gondul M (A quite xpensive item at around £12K) and you can chose to resample to any given frequency between 44.1Khz and 192Khz. This filter uses Burr Brown DSD1792 DAC's. The sound with this setting is quite engaging and lively, but still with a positively "analog" signature, upsampling to 96/192 smoothes the audio further than without upsampling.
    Filter B actually uses a Wolfson DAC, but i do not know which one... This filter sounds a little less engaging IMO, but i haven't really got to know this one yet.
    Filter C is claimed to eliminate pre-ringing by some clever algorithms and uses the BB DSD1792 DAC's. This is the most "full bodied" filter with a very analog sound, excellent dynamics and detail retrieval but not obtrusive in any way.

    I tend to select between non upsampled Filter A, upsampled to 192Khz Filter A and mostly Filter C (preset to "optimized upsampling" by default)

    When used as an UPnP Media Renderer this unit sounds absolutely marvellous, and also when playing files from an external USB unit. The digital inputs sounds equally magnificent when fed with good quality LPCM.
    I have not tried the USB input as of yet, but i remain sceptical to USB based audio streams until proven wrong!

    The preamp part is also based on Bladelius reference components and is a mighty powerful unit delivering output into a set of balanced connections as well as two sets of RCA. The RCA's have different output levels for matching various poweramps. The volume control is digitally managed but performed in the analog domain. The gain is on the verge of too much and i haven't been above the 30% mark as of yet!
    It seems to be a very clean sounding preamp with lots of dynamics and not much coloration. It betters my previous Marantz SC-11S1 in my system and opinion! I feed analog signal from my Tom Evans MicroGroove into this and am mucho pleased with the results. I have the opportunity to tap into this signal and AD convert it for recording purposes. There are several options to do this and various digital outputs on the rear.

    As you can probably hear (?) i am very pleased with this unit and can recommend it to anyone wanting a one-box digital/analog front end/preamp!

    Regards Mike
    Ps will try and add some pics

  8. #148
    Join Date: Jun 2012

    Location: glasgow

    Posts: 1,508
    I'm scott.

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    playing with my new Mytek stereo 192 dac recently, Superb unit for £1000
    every input & output , Se & XLR , remote , handles all formats including DSD

    DSD / Usb / Firewire with a cracking headphone stage & Pre amp built in as well
    small enough for desktop with active monitors or main system driving power amps directly

    Myteks first domestic product , last 20years they only made Pro gear for studios

    http://mytekdigital.com/hifi

    some info on DSD downloads

    http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue60/dsd.htm

  9. #149
    MartinT Guest

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    Sabre DAC in the Mytek. Every time I've heard a Sabre I've been impressed.

  10. #150
    Join Date: Jun 2012

    Location: glasgow

    Posts: 1,508
    I'm scott.

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    Sony music studios used Mytek for Sacd mastering and at a few shows recently in the usa for sacd/dsd demos

    DSD downloads are getting much more common , Mytek also working with channel classics and many other labels

    http://www.channelclassics.com/aboutdsd

    134 on channel classics site martin

    http://www.channelclassics.com/dsd.html

    http://music.e-onkyo.com/artist/m101210_R.asp
    Last edited by daytona600; 17-11-2012 at 14:45.

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