Justin & Jerry's Hifi Blog

[User211]

Arrived yesterday smokin' hot from HK. For some reason the Bluetooth streamer says "Litter Singer" on it.

[jandl100]

So ..... tried it yet? - waddya think?

[brian2957]

What is it Justin ( for the hard of thinking , like me )

[jandl100]

Argh.
Gar.
Buggery.

A plug was a bit loose this morning so I pushed it in - KLUNK - everything turned off, must have tripped a safety doo-hickey.
Everything powered up OK -- but the Behringer no longer locks on to any digital input.
I need that to downsample my 96KHz streaming to the 48KHz that the vintage Melior DAC tops out at.
Ordered a pro re-sampler on eBay, should be here next week.

In the meantime, a revised lash-up ....



The return of the Audiolab 8200CD that pre-Melior I had been using as my main system DAC.
Actually, it's very good. It weirdly just kind of hits the spot for me, very listenable. Vastly better imo than an MDAC, which I can't bear to listen to in my main system (strangely it's OK in my lesser 2nd system).
Not as good as the Melior, though.
Drat.

[User211]

So ..... tried it yet? - waddya think?

For the money I think it is outstanding so far. I plugged it in with the stock valves in it, thinking "bound to be shit" but no, it isn't, at least not on this unit. The solid state output might be a tinsy bit cleaner, but it loses the spatiality the valve output has at very little cost, really.

To be flat out honest about it, for my preferences, it poo poos the Frenchie by a mile. The output level is also super healthy about the same as the Lampi. The battery Frenchie's output is definitely too low, I think, and that hampers it.

I think I need to get this DAC to Tom at some stage to see what he thinks. I think it poo poos the Schitt Modi, too.

Needs more playing with and I wonder what effect the Western Electric and Sylvania Gold Brand valves will have on it.

Let me figure it out more over the coming days as it is new and it is time that really sorts opinions out with these things. About a week, really, to really get a solid idea.

[jandl100]

Excellent - I'm not surprised - I kept it as my main DAC for 18 months or so and it saw off well-reviewed competition up to the £2k rrp level imho.
I loved it.

[struth]

For the money I think it is outstanding so far. I plugged it in with the stock valves in it, thinking "bound to be shit" but no, it isn't, at least not on this unit. The solid state output might be a tinsy bit cleaner, but it loses the spatiality the valve output has at very little cost, really.

To be flat out honest about it, for my preferences, it poo poos the Frenchie by a mile. The output level is also super healthy about the same as the Lampi. The battery Frenchie's output is definitely too low, I think, and that hampers it.

I think I need to get this DAC to Tom at some stage to see what he thinks. I think it poo poos the Schitt Modi, too.

Needs more playing with and I wonder what effect the Western Electric and Sylvania Gold Brand valves will have on it.

Let me figure it out more over the coming days as it is new and it is time that really sorts opinions out with these things. About a week, really, to really get a solid idea.

Is that the Chinese dac Justin

[jandl100]

Yes, it's a current version of the XiangSheng DAC-01A.

[brian2957]

Which seller did you both use ?

[struth]

still very happy with my one.