Justin & Jerry's Hifi Blog

[jandl100]

New toy !!



A room correction / DAC / pre-amp thingamejig.
- one of these http://www.tnt-audio.com/accessories...timode2_e.html

It's a DAC and pre-amp, but its main purpose is room correction in the bass.

It's a goodun. I think it has supplanted my MDAC as DAC and pre-amp de jour. It doesn't have the MDACs slight grain in the mids and slight top end emphasis, but seems just as resolved. Dynamics might be slightly curtailed compared to the very forthright Audiolab. But overall it seems more 'musical' to me.

(I think I'll try the MDAC with the Crown ballbuster DC300A amp and Maggies in my 2nd system, the Crown being a tad laidback it may work well).

Whoa - the room correction thing works well. There was a 50Hz peak that the box'o'tricks vanquishes. Bass is a bit better controlled but the main improvement, strangely, is a significant improvement in the imaging. Yum.

[howlindawg]

Fancied trying one of these back when I had the Luxman SQ38u but never got around to it.

Now that the big Lux is gone I don't think there's any way I could integrate it with the Devialet so will wait patiently until Devialet release their own active room correction.

[Macca]

Was it easy to set up, Jerry?

[jandl100]

Was it easy to set up, Jerry?

Yup, absolutely easy-peasy.

Instructions are good and there is very little to do anyway.

[User211]

Ha. You have succumbed to measurebation at last. Next up will be streaming services. You will succumb. Resistance is futile. Just a question of time.

[jandl100]

Well, point me to a streamer that is as easy to set up and use as the Dual Core thingy and I might just give it a go.

[User211]

What's wrong with a Wi-Fi enabled laptop and a USB lead? Then use TIDAL's web interface via Chrome. U just navigate to www.tidal.com/gb and use it. What could be simpler? Free trial u could do it now.

There's no hi-fi SQ available if you don't use Chrome.

Bandwidth might be an issue there though Jerry. How many Mbps does your ISP manage to get to you?

[TheMooN]

Most interesting.
For my part, I just could not get on with the Dual Core Anti Mode in my system/room, I bought the unit purely for room correction and In that regard the unit was most effective in smoothing out a couple of base nodes that were present in my room, However, and unexpectedly, I found the unit to impart an unwanted audio effect upon the audio band *above *the frequency cut off point that I had set, in that I felt the unit 'sat' on the essence and verve of the music, as though the life had been sucked out of fundimentals and harmonics in the mid-band!
I did not utilize the DAC facility during my time with the unit, and am therefore unable to offer any informed considerations in that regard.

[jandl100]

Interesting comment, Roger. I read one review that said the same about dynamic constriction from the Dual Mode - I can't say I notice anything untoward as yet. Other reviews seem to regard it as a mostly transparent device. I have to say I am impressed with the whole package so far.

[jandl100]

What's wrong with a Wi-Fi enabled laptop and a USB lead? Then use TIDAL's web interface via Chrome. U just navigate to www.tidal.com/gb and use it. What could be simpler? Free trial u could do it now.

There's no hi-fi SQ available if you don't use Chrome.

Bandwidth might be an issue there though Jerry. How many Mbps does your ISP manage to get to you?

I've just now hooked up the PC to the Dual Mode DAC via its USB port and am listening to my Amazon Music purchases. Probably low sample rate, but still sounds good.
Next step Tidal?