Where are these DACs now? Have they been delivered to Scott?
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Where are these DACs now? Have they been delivered to Scott?
Any feedback on location & impressions of the DACs??
I still have them, will post as soon as I get a chance.
I will post my impressions when I get time, I'm very busy at the moment and working long hours.
OK, just needed to hear what was happening.
I PMed you Scott's address -was Scott at your get together on Saturday & I need to give you another address?
No Scott was not there, otherwise I'd have given him the dacs, and you sent the address too late for me to drop them off on the way home. Are they to go somewhere else now, or still to Scott?
Ah, OK, So they are still going to Scott if he is interested. I somehow thought he lived near you?
Well he lives about 40 miles away, but I work away from home.
Ali,
How did you guys get on with dac showdown.....ah just gotta know!!!!
Ok, my impressions. We tried these dacs in Gary's system, which consists of Rega Brio R, Dac and RS3 speakers. Source is Gary's self built server. Both dacs were tried with several tracks. The Sabre was found to possibly have more detail, but was also thought to be a little more up front and forward than the 32, which was preferred by us all overall as being the more musical to listen to.
Both were thought to be very good, however my Nick Gorham designed valve dac was deemed the best dac on the day ( yet again!) with a more open and relaxed presentation and better sound staging.
The JK dacs are very good VFM I reckon, and I'd certainly have one over the likes of an MF or similar.
Spot on......the 32 must be very good then. you're DAC is something rather special by all accounts....the mf may well be going to the wee fella to replace his dac magic.
how did it fare against the rega?
Ok here goes . Sorry for the late reply to your request for feedback from Saturday John , I'm afraid work keeps getting in the way of me doing the things I really enjoy - music and hifi.
It was nice to meet up again with some friends ,Gary ( Gazjam ) and Ali Tait , and meet a few new ones , David (Snapper ) and Stuart from the Wigwam.
Also thanks to Gary for providing the venue , the system and the grub :cool:
These comparisons were done using an all Rega system which comprised of Rega DAC , Rega Brio R and Rega RS3 speakers. We tried a few interconnects , Rega couple and TQ black . Speaker cable was TQ black. So system changes ( i.e your system ) may result in a different outcome .
Before I go any further let me say that these are my opinions on what I heard that day , others there may disagree ,and I'm sure they'll be along to give their slant on things when they have the time . Also if I've forgotten something I'm sure one of those present on the day will fill in the blanks.
First off was the JKDAC which was plugged in using a Furutech Formula 2 USB cable . We played various pieces of music and my overall impression of the DAC was that there was plenty of detail but the presentation was on the bright / dry side . I found it difficult to connect to the music the way I can listening to the Rega DAC / BrioR combination . I don't know if the V- Link which Gary uses contributes to this . I was unable to tell since the JK DACS are USB only so the V-Link had to be taken out of the system.
We then installed the JK DAC 32 , which I believe can play 32/192 files.
The DAC32 is IMO a totally different beast altogether . For me the music snapped into focus and the presentation was altogether more refined .The soundstage was also much bigger .Most importantly for me I could hear the emotion in Lou Reeds ' Perfect Day ' and was able to connect to the music much more readily . It just sounded more 'real 'to me . Out of the two the JK DCA32 is the one I would have gone for on the day ( played through the all - Rega system. )
We then put Ali's valve DAC into the system . I've heard this DAC a couple of times and IMO this is the one to beat . I don't know exactly how much has been invested in this DAC , but I'm fairly sure that it is more than the cost of the two JK DACs. This is evident in the fact that Ali' s Dac was the best of the day . More refined more detailed with a bigger soundstage again .
The emotion of the singers shining through.
All in all a very enjoyable and informative day . Both the JK DACs proved to be very good indeed and represent good value for money .
They have different attributes which will work well with different systems .I can only give my opinion of them within the context of Gary's Rega system .I'm sure you'll agree with me when I say that the only way to assess these DACs properly is to try them in your own system .
great synopsis brian....alis dac is maybe so far up the league that to compare it with mainstream production dacs aint fair....the jkeny dacs seem to have held theyre head up against exulted company...the 32 does appeal to me.Quote:
Originally Posted by brian2957
might have to take him up on the free trial period.
I would mate , well worth a listen , particularly the 32 , I really liked its presentation . Point taken about Ali's DAC . The interesting thing is that it's a work in progress so probably get even better.
my mf/v link and co ax combo is about £600....the 32 would cut out the v link and the co ax.......500 euro seems pretty reasonable for the performance you guys have attested to.look forward to trying one in my system.
try the Vlink 192 Tony... whoa.
Only had a few hours on it and sounded gash out the box, but already its a lot better than the standard one I had, the Mk 2 I brought to Ali's.
My system wasn't singing with the Vlink initially, warmed up as the afternoon went on and sounded fantastic with Ali's valve Dac.
One thing though about the JK Dacs, the 32 was the best out the two, but a couple of the guys see-sawed back, missing a bit of the zing of the sabre that was on before If I remember right.
how did it fair against the rega in you're rig....i am concious you are in a happy place rega wise?Quote:
Originally Posted by Gazjam
The 32 is 400 euros I believe.
mmmm...schitt dac money...
That's one I'd like to hear too.
Couldn't really tell Tony, didn't do a direct comparison.Quote:
Originally Posted by wee tee cee
The rega was plying through a rough sounding (about 10 hours on it) Vlink 192 and wasn't sounding particularly fantastic tbh.
It sounded a lot better with the old Vlink which which tells you something.
(There is a significant step up from the std to the 192)
Teh JK dacs were direct USB connection so the Vlink was out of circuit, albeit warming up as the afternoon went on.
This is like waiting at a bus stop ...... they all come at once :)
First thing - Ali, Scott is no longer interested, I've sent you the next address.
Thanks for the impressions, guys!
Yes, you have identified sonic differences between the two DACs. One thing I would suggest to all potential auditioners (running on PCs) is to download & try the demo version of the playback software, Jplay (Jplay.eu/download) - this is a revealtion & equivalent to changing to a new, revealing system.
One other difference between the DACs - the Sabre based JKDAC will drive most headphones straight out of the RCA outs, the DAC32 will not.
Also, the JKDAC is €400 while the DAC32 is €500.
Yep, it was Jriver we were using.
Jriver with JPLAY is ok.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ali Tait
Jriver on it's own is nowhere near as good.
IME JPLAYmini on its own is best (easily).
If you have the time (only takes a minute to set-up) try Jplay - download, install it & reboot. Start Jplaymini & copy (CTRL-C in explorer) a file(s) into the Jplay program - press space bar to play it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ali Tait
Yes, Clive says it all but were you using JRiver+Jplay or JRiver on it's own?
JRiver on its own I believe . Sounded pretty good to me.
Yea but you haven't compared it to Jplay :)Quote:
Originally Posted by brian2957
It's one of the recommendations for best sound in my user guide!
I'm not the expert here John , my guess is I'll be hearing about how it sounds in the very near future. Thanks for the tip. :)
Hi John, Clive.
I tried Jplay myself with Jriver 17 and to be honest I didn't really like what it did to the sound.
I understand (kinda!) what it tried to do, but I find Fidelizer ran with Jriver does a better job of the same thing.
Just my opinion of course, could be a system dependant thing.
Also I wasn't sure about being unable to use the computer for anything else whilst listening to music?
I'm maybe different from the typical Jplay user in that I like exploring the net finding out about the artists etc whilst the music is playing.
Haven't tried that other one you mentioned Clive, always prefer to hear these things for myself, so can you download the software...or?
Gary,
JplayMini is the standalone program that comes with Jplay. So no front-end JRiver or Foobar (or iTunes) needed. It is the best sounding of the Jplay options. Just follow my quick instructions in post 124 to get it working. Use a buffer of 1 sample (DirectLink) if you can!
Surfing while playing/listening to music is allowed :) Nothing stopping in you doing this unless you use Hibernate mode in Jplay which isn't strictly needed.
Cheers John,I'll give it a whirl.
will j play only improve my i tunes music library on the lap top or will it improve playback from spotify premium......this stuff bamboozles me........
Jplay won't play MP3 files & AFAIK won't deal with streamed music but if you want your PC audio sounding better than your CD player then this is the first & important step!
Jplay mini is my preferred choice of media playback, best in extreme hibernation but not enough ram on my laptop to allow this, but full hibernation mode is very good.
When at friends I often shown them the difference of what JPlay does compaired to Itunes, Itunes Jplay, mini and full hibernation. I find full hibernation very close to analogue and now have the the view that source playback has the biggest influnce on sound, even more so than the DAC
Sounds like a fun night and Ali DAC sounds pretty special
Just so, especially considering it's cheap and humble origin before getting treated to hot bottles...;)Quote:
Originally Posted by John
Yep, £20 quid for the dac board from the bay.
Hi
Ali, i also have that DIY KIT from ebay. Im very interested what kind of outputstage u use for yours. Do you have an schematic?:cool:
Regards
Roger
Here you go -
http://imageshack.us/a/img21/431/esdacoutput.gif
Hi
Thank you. This look interesting. Have u done any mods on the board. Caps Regulators etc...?
Regards
Roger
It might be good to do this in the DIY section guys
Before this thread gets enmeshed in the details of Nicks mods to a Chinese DAC, can I suggest a new thread is started for that discussion?
Comments complementary or otherwise vs the JK DACs on tour is what this thread is about, common courtesy to JK would be to take detailed discussions about the design of other DACs to a fresh thread.
Yes ofcourse. Sry guys!
I'm in two minds whether I should put this in here or dig out the linux thread. On some other forums people have linked to an unofficial linux driver, which after some fiddling I now have working on Ubuntu. :)
This should also work for hiface 1 and young dac.
https://github.com/panicking/snd-usb-asyncaudio
Thanks, Rob,Quote:
Originally Posted by Maximum
I knew about this initiative & haven't had a chance yet to try it. I was also aware that it was in early beta release so I thought I would hear reports from people about it's operation - you are the first :)
You have a stock Hiface working on Ubuntu then? Any issues? Any report on sound Vs PC operation?
I'm using a DAC32, I was just pointing out it should work for most other m2tech usb convertors.
There are a couple of quirks, but mainly due to linux rather than driver problems, like having to start them everytime after reboot.
Sound quality sounds promising but I'm not jumping to any conclusions just yet.
Cool !Quote:
Originally Posted by Maximum
InterestingQuote:
There are a couple of quirks, but mainly due to linux rather than driver problems, like having to start them everytime after reboot.
Sound quality sounds promising but I'm not jumping to any conclusions just yet.
Anyway, now that Ali has posted the DACs, the AOS tour is over - no more members interested!
John,
I would be very interested. I currently run a MF m1/Vlink mk1 combo. I split my listening between cans and speakers. My pre/head amp is the MF hfa in conjunction with HD 650s. My speaker system is two valve mono blocks in conjunction with quad 63s. I dont have any fancy digital files, just my lossless cd collection via i tunes and spotify premium.
John , if you think your dacs will give my current set up an upgrade I would be delighted to give them a go.......if it suits you ,let me know how to go about it.
Regards Tony
Ok, Tony, PM me your name & address.Quote:
Originally Posted by wee tee cee
This isn't directed at anyone in particular but can I reiterate some things I already posted, I think:
- Can auditioners use the playback software Jplaymini if using a PC. The program is contained in the demo download from here jplay.eu/download
- Please move this on in a week which is plenty of time to get to know the sound of it. It's not fair to others to hold it for longer. If you are not able to audition it in this time period then please don't take it.
- Can you send it onwards by registered post & post a tracking number when done!
john,
i just use a lap top with i tunes...i dont want to bugger about with software, just enjoy using spotify premium....without software alterations do yo feel it aint worth the effort....
Tony,
I'm sure my DACs would give your system an upgrade but they are designed to deliver top quality sound. I have recommended Jplay as a first step towards this goal & to make at least one variable common across all auditions. It takes 5 mins to download & install. Note that it won't play MP3 files as it also is designed for best sound.
It doesn't make sense to audition the DACs otherwise - you are not hearing them as intended!.