Anamorphix
01-05-2011, 12:16
Hello from noisy (but audiophile) Athens!
I've been web-hunting and reading the posts over here for the past month trying to find a good DAC/Headphone amp combo and after a lot of research, me and my wallet were down to either the Maverick Audio - TubeMagic D1 DAC or the Gatorized Caiman+.
Guess which one won!
I already have a Squeezebox Touch hooked up to a Marantz M-CR502 through the analogue 2xRCA output but I wanted to upgrade that to a "fuller" sound via the SPDIF output. Enter the Gatorized Caiman+!
The Marantz feeds (bi-wired) a pair of Wharfedale Diamonds 9.2 and a Yamaha YST-RSW300. Due to the square shaped room (of sadly small dimensions!) I spend a full month last summer building basstraps from scratch (call me mr. Rockwool!) trying to kill those annoying standing waves that live in my corners rent-free! :steam:
I have everything tuned the best the topology and dimensions of my space will allow, but I came to realize that no matter what I do I'll never get it as good as the separation and soundstage a good pair of cans can :)
So I decided to invest in a pair of AKG K-702s and a Gatorized Caiman+
I've also got a MacBook Pro 17" that could easily toss some tunes to my system through my toslink (1st Toslink on the Caiman+) and a WD TV Live that can send my movie stereo out (2nd Toslink on the Caiman+) for an extra kick from my Yamaha sub. (The Caiman's preamp feeding my M-CR502)
Both the Squeezebox Touch and my MBP17 access about a TB of flacs amd mp3s from a Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 2 Plus with WD drives (everything hardwired via 100 Ethernet of course)
My collection ranges from old rock (Deep Purple, Supertramp, Rainbow etc) to the alternative and progressive 90's and 00's (Radiohead, Archive, etc) but with a wide space that fits everything from Tom Petty and Norah Jones to Nightwish and Arcade Fire ! My absolute fav though... Mike Oldfield.
Although I work as a Digital Cinematographer, my Electronic Engineer background kicks in ever now and then so messing around with circuitry to get the most out of a "small magic box" is my vise ; thats why I've settled on the Caiman+ (lots of room to play there!)
See ya around the net :cool:
I've been web-hunting and reading the posts over here for the past month trying to find a good DAC/Headphone amp combo and after a lot of research, me and my wallet were down to either the Maverick Audio - TubeMagic D1 DAC or the Gatorized Caiman+.
Guess which one won!
I already have a Squeezebox Touch hooked up to a Marantz M-CR502 through the analogue 2xRCA output but I wanted to upgrade that to a "fuller" sound via the SPDIF output. Enter the Gatorized Caiman+!
The Marantz feeds (bi-wired) a pair of Wharfedale Diamonds 9.2 and a Yamaha YST-RSW300. Due to the square shaped room (of sadly small dimensions!) I spend a full month last summer building basstraps from scratch (call me mr. Rockwool!) trying to kill those annoying standing waves that live in my corners rent-free! :steam:
I have everything tuned the best the topology and dimensions of my space will allow, but I came to realize that no matter what I do I'll never get it as good as the separation and soundstage a good pair of cans can :)
So I decided to invest in a pair of AKG K-702s and a Gatorized Caiman+
I've also got a MacBook Pro 17" that could easily toss some tunes to my system through my toslink (1st Toslink on the Caiman+) and a WD TV Live that can send my movie stereo out (2nd Toslink on the Caiman+) for an extra kick from my Yamaha sub. (The Caiman's preamp feeding my M-CR502)
Both the Squeezebox Touch and my MBP17 access about a TB of flacs amd mp3s from a Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 2 Plus with WD drives (everything hardwired via 100 Ethernet of course)
My collection ranges from old rock (Deep Purple, Supertramp, Rainbow etc) to the alternative and progressive 90's and 00's (Radiohead, Archive, etc) but with a wide space that fits everything from Tom Petty and Norah Jones to Nightwish and Arcade Fire ! My absolute fav though... Mike Oldfield.
Although I work as a Digital Cinematographer, my Electronic Engineer background kicks in ever now and then so messing around with circuitry to get the most out of a "small magic box" is my vise ; thats why I've settled on the Caiman+ (lots of room to play there!)
See ya around the net :cool: