Any Digital Impressions of the Caiman yet?

[steveinspain]

Ha - No, but there is no postal delivery out here - at best I can ask a local bar to accept a parcel, but we have had many items not get delivered here. I once had a cartridge that was sent by courier, needed to be signed for and insured for £2000 left with some bloke I had never met in a bar, and he passed it on to a friend who then got to to me...
If you can send one out here with insurance in case it fails to arrive, then fine by me - I'll place my order right now !

[DaveK]

Ha - No, but there is no postal delivery out here - at best I can ask a local bar to accept a parcel, but we have had many items not get delivered here.
If you can send one out here with insurance in case it fails to arrive, then fine by me - I'll place my order right now !

Hi Steve,
With tongue firmly stuck in cheek, can I ask if you are one of those Brits we keep hearing about, living a life of comfort on the proceeds of their life of crime in the UK in a hideaway on the Costa del Crime, or in your case, the Sierra del Crime? .
Don't the POs in the nearest big towns do a PO Box service where you can call in periodically and collect all your post - if it's like mine it's mainly bills, so perhaps you've got the best situation as you are .
Cheers,

[steveinspain]

The local one does do that, but its more a case of not wanting to be paying for something that fails to arrive - to be fair, over the last couple of years things have improved, and now it is mainly things we post that fail to arrive - birthday cards to the parents, presents to friends in the UK etc. If stan can post with some insurance then fine - I was thinking that as I expect to be over in the UK late October/early November I would do it then, but lets see what Stan-the-Caiman says !
As for me living off my ill-gotten gains - if I am, then it is yet another thing I have failed miserably at.
Since we moved out here 8 years ago, I have commuted to the UK working 12 hours a day for 20-22 days stints then with 4-5 days at home - paying my tax and NI stuff as I am still a UK resident. Over the last couple of years I had to stop work due to my ankle collapsing, so I couldn't walk or work (need a builder in a wheelchair anyone ?) so Kate now does the commute as I am now able to drive again, and am just awaiting an op on my other foot...
My crime activities ended when about 9, as I got caught stealing sweets from a shop and was made to pay for them and return them 0 my father was a tough one, but I learnt !
Life of comfort my a**e !!

[DaveK]

Hi Steve,
Sorry to hear about your problem ankle etc. - vacancies for wheelchair-bound builders must be few and far between - hope they pick up soon.
I have a similar early crime record to you but I was 'brought to book' by the Headmaster of my primary school parading me in front of the rest of the school with a brief description of my crime - nicking an apple from the display outside the local fruiterer en route to school. Another lesson well learned!! Managed to stay clean (almost ) ever since.
Cheers,

[Labarum]

Everyone should read this review of the Caiman (and read the whole thread) on the Squeezebox forum.

Themis is a knowledgeable and well respected member of that forum

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showth...223#post462223

[StanleyB]

Thanks for that link Brian. And good to see that your internet connection in your new place is up and running.

[Covenant]

Stan, did that 2132 op-amp I sent you arrive?

[StanleyB]

Hi Jerry, it has. I have it plugged into the prototype of the Beresford headphone amp at the moment. My hifi is disconnected right now whilst I try to complete the assembly of the first part of my new audio rack.
Then I'll try it out with the Caiman psu versus the TC-7520 psu.

[NRG]

Thanks for the link Brian, I think that is a very accurate review, the bit that strikes a cord with me is the total lack of fatigue when listening & that it has no coffee maker facility The Caiman is a very very good DAC and a shockingly good bargain. Thanks Stan.

I have taken to a bit of opamp rolling recently, OP275, OPA2132 and OPA2604...one area where I would like a bit of added emphasis is in the upper bass...I find compared to my TDA1541, male vocals especially, are lacking a bit of weight and depth...there a slight lack of emotional involvement, you would probably never notice in isolation but in comparison its apparent.

So I tried the above opamps to see what effect they had....I ended up going back to the factory fitted LM4562!

The worst was the 2132, over thick sounding, slightly ploddy in the bass and a noticeable drop in HF clarity...a very Naim sound IMHO...not surprising as my CD5 also uses them in the o/p stage

The 275 wasn't too bad but is lacked a bit of 'interest' what makes the Caiman so good to listen too was missing with this opamp....

The 2604 came closest to what I was looking for, better weight to vocals and a little more oomph in the upper bass....but again there was just too much loss in clarity at the top end and so out it came...

I'll try the resistor 36K mod at some point to see if that works....

[Labarum]

Thanks for that link Brian. And good to see that your internet connection in your new place is up and running.

It takes a while. The chaos is reducing.

My big floorstanders and Quad 405 are in the garage, boxed and ready for shipping to Cyprus.

Our son is back with us at the moment - his house purchase having collapsed. In the lounge we have his Media PC, Marantz AV amp. B and W 684s (and another 3 speakers).

The 684s are remarkable at the price, but . . .

In super direct stereo mode (all DSP off, shortest signal path) I can listen to the output from my Squeezebox - TOSLINK into Marantz amp which is using 4 X 100W to drive the 684s bi-amped; but the Squeezebox is also connected to the Caiman by coax S/PDIF, and the Caiman's fixed analogue out feeds an analogue input on the AV amp. I can hear no difference between the Marantz DAC and the Caiman when listening on the speakers or with my Sony F1 Headphones driven from the AV amp.

But if I compare the Marantz headphone socket to the Caiman socket then it is very clear the Caiman is the better way.

Conclusion: the Marantz electronics and the B and W 684s do not have the resolution to show the Caiman's strengths. If I had the energy, I could unpack the Quad 405 and give the 684 speakers a fair comparison, but I don't think that is high on my agenda.