My 7520 First Impressions.
Hi All,
Just thought that I would post my first impressions of my 7520, for 2 reasons: -
1) it will act as a diary for me to keep track of progress on any 'upgrades'
2) it will give others the opportunity to offer advice, guidance and (constructive) criticism - all opinions welcome, I'm here to learn.
Took delivery on Saturday morning - Thanks Stan. I had already received an Maplin alternative PSU and a single crystal phono interconnect to connect the 7520 to my Marantz 6010OSE KI amp. Unfortunately the left channel of this interconnect was dead - a relacement is awaited.
I first connected the 7520 with the supplied PSU and a 'bog standard' cheapo phono interconnect, using my PC as source (mp3 and FLAC) and 'bog standard, USB interconnect. My PC is capable of outputting up to 24/196 over Line, Co-Ax, Optical and USB, according to the Control Panel, Sound, Options' dialogue box and this was the option I selected (24/96 output possible using USB ?? - opinions invited).
I believe that the mp3 files sounded better than pre-7520 but couldn't discern any 'night and day' improvement in the FLAC playback, if any.
Swapping the USB interconnect for optical gave similar results and I could not tell any difference between USB and Optical. Co-Ax interconnect not yet tried.
I then tried the Maplin PSU at 12v across the same options as above and this gave an immediate change across all options - not sure about 'improvement' but everything was louder - had to turn down the volume significantly.
Upping the PSU voltage to 13.5v did not seem to make any noticeable differences to my cloth ears.
Comments invited pease - feel free !! . I am very willing to try other changes which more experienced fellow travellers may suggest.
DaveK.
My System:
Power: Belkin PF40, Custom.hifi.cables Hydra and DC PSUs.
Sources: Self built HTPC with Xonar ST sound card, NAD T585 multi disc player, Sony BDP-S350, Squeezebox Touch, Techncs SL1210 (mod'd) + Nagaoka MP30, Thomson Sky HD box.
Amps etc.: 2 x Mini-T amps, MF-X10D Valve buffer clone, StanDAC 7520/Caiman (mod'd).
Speakers: Mission 774s with added super tweeters
Cables: best I can afford and likely to change except Homar's RF attenuated co-ax's and Mark Grant USB and HDMI cables. I also like silver i/cs and speaker cable.