Thanks Fplanner2010, I would like to hear this unit. Perhaps i will get a chance to do just that one day. |
Very interesting Argyro. I would love to hear a Medea one day. I don't wish to keep ragging on the Minerva as I'm sure people who have followed this thread know my opinion on it's sound :). I appreciate
your comments. |
Jim the auditioning is done in a relatively small room with hardwood floors (18ft by 15ft with 9ft ceilings) near field as to eliminate as much of the room as possible. I mentioned the connections used above (starting thread) as I will with the other dacs when they arrive. When I can used the same type of connection I will and with the same cable.
Components other than the dacs are my own design. Solid state amps 100 watts/channel and 2 way stand mount speakers. My larger sys consists of an active system which uses 6 channels of amplification and for this, I simply wanted to get at the soul of the device under test...very direct on level playing ground. The system I am using is very neutral...not thin, not cool, not warm... neutral.
I do now want this to go into gear-fest, it is specifically to see for myself (and I am sharing for those interested) a real consumers (i.e. non dealer, non pro reviewer... non silent investor) point of view on a lot of newly hyped gear. Hope this helps :)
I will tell you that I recently got rid of a Wadia 851, a Bat Rex and various other better known pieces. I sold my Manley Labs Neo 300's but I think I am going to buy that particular amp again, I used it on the tweets in my active system (with Princess Mesh plates...very NICE). I do prefer active systems over passive ANY DAY OF THE WEEK :) but the test system is all passive. |
Pardon my lack of proof-reading, I wrote:
"I do now want this to go into gear-fest, it is specifically to see for myself (and I am sharing for those interested) a real consumers (i.e. non dealer, non pro reviewer... non silent investor) point of view on a lot of newly hyped gear. Hope this helps :)"
I meant to say "I do NOT want this to go into gear-fest"
Thanks. |
Hi guys, I have not tried the PS Audio get as yet but it is coming :) I do have Amarra :) and yea I would say you need it with the Weiss. It helps the Weiss tremendosly, I dare say it is a necessity. I wanted to evaluate the units nakedly ie nothing but iTunes. Please don't get me wrong, I certainly am not ragging on the Weiss, just trying to see if I can get it to sound musical :) |
Fplanner2010: I have heard of the APL gear but not ever actually heard or seen it. I will look it up on the web. Forgive my typos from earlier please, I posted my previous response from my iPhone as I was running out of the house on the way to the office :) |
Fplanner2010: I can honestly tell you at this point I am only interested in the dacs I mentioned, i.e. MSB / Playback Designs / PS Audio. Oh yeah, I will have access to the very latest and greatest AMR 77 so I will be comparing all 3 the Weiss and the Bidat and AMR together in the same system this weekend if the weather is ok.
My Bidat is resident of course and isn't going anywhere.
The MSB Power Dac (I have heard that it is very very similar to the Plat Dac 3 but with less features and it is not truly balanced) is due to ship to me on Monday. I am testing all the units using the RCA outs.
I have read on here and other forums some things concerning APL that would cause me pause if I were interested in the products. |
We used exclusively the AMR 777 as the transport and as I stated above I completely forgot to bring my resident FIM Gold Coax or my glass TOS. The audition was performed the afternoon of Super Bowl Sunday. I did not take or use my Mac Mini which is my source of choice for ALL my music. Though I may be getting into a turntable for the fun of it :) I did take photos on my iPhone just in case someone needed proof that all these units were in the same room at the same time :) |
Thanks Bmckenney: that is my exact goal, to tell the WHOLE story behind a piece of gear, something we don't seem to be able to get from the reviewers. As you stated, with most reviews...everything they listen to sounds good :)
Best regards |
I did buy the HiFace with the BNC connector. I use bnc/rca adapters. I will await your modified hiface review before opting for this option. As a user of the batter powered Power Dac I can attest to little if any difference when operated on battery vs AC power. Not saying there won't be a difference but as one who has designed power supplies, the differences in my opinion can be nill. If good quiet regulators are used the battery option should make very little difference. If they are noisy, it may add a noticeable benefit to the sound. |
Mattzack2: I feel your pain :)The Weiss is not staying, Ive just been comparing it to my Bidat (with the Plus Mod) and the Weiss was DESTROYED and I mean shamefully so. I am careful with my reviews and I don't post a greta deal becasue for one thing I know what I like and I don't need the approval of other sot justify my gear purchases, but I thought this thread might be of help to others :) The Weiss is not IMHO worth the praise it has been getting. I just ordered a M2Tech Hiface yesterday so that I will be able to get 24/192 out of my Mac, I will report on that when it arrives. So thus far the order is Bidat = King of Dacs / DCC-1 = better than Weiss / Weiss = trialing the pack and exit papers are imminent. |
Ok, so today I took my Bidat (Plus) and the Weiss to my buddies place to compare the 3 to the latest version of the AMR 77 (I also listened to the AMR 777 little brother player). I only took the Weiss so my friend could hear if for himself, I knew it would not stand a chance.
His sys consists of Karan amp and preamp, I can't remember the name of the speakers but I will post here again after I speak to him.
Thirty seconds into the comparison of the Weiss to the Bidat, he said we could just take it out and place it on the sideline (it didn't go back in). He was a bit shocked at how digital the Weiss sounded.
THe latest AMR 77.... let me tell you, that thing makes MUSIC!!! I preferred most of the songs (over a 4 disc combination) on the AMR over the Bidat with the exception of Diana Krall. I think it could be as simple as the tube choice in the AMR. I felt her vocal were rendered better through the Bidat. My buddy did hear what I was referring to and acknowledged it.
The smaller AMR cd player was also VERY VERY GOOD!!! It wasn't quite up there with the 77 but man, for $4500 it is an awesome unit.
I will have the MSB Power Dac in probably late this week, that will be my next comparison.
At this point I would say that the AMR 77 is probably the best one box player I have ever heard (I think it has displaced the Dynavox Dynastation 2 in that category).
Will I buy one? I still have to hear the Music Playback Design, so I don't know as yet. |
This is an addendum to my last post. I want to be sure that I emphasize that the differences between the Bidat and the AMR 77 are not major. They are very close in sonics, but I do believe (at least on the majority of the recordings) that a bit of "tube-magic" was at work and to the beneft of the AMR.
Either way, at this point these are amongst the finest digital pieces I have come across.
Regards |
One thing I forgot about in my test of the Bidat vs the AMR is the use of the digital cable. I used my buddies which I'm unfamiliar with. The two best digital cables I have ever used and which I own are the FIM gold coax digital and the Monarchy glass Tos. They sound nearly identical and the Monarhcy is the ONLY digital cable I have heard that is as good or better than the FIM. I will have to go back with my digital cable as I can not believe I let this major detail/component slip my mind when packing my gear to head over to my friends place.... Stay tuned.
Also the MSB is scheduled to be here on Wednesday:) |
As I stated, for me musicality is realism (rarely do I concern myself with what others claim regarding musicality and what is capable in the area of reproduced music).
Since I have owned Tube Research Labs gear (amps/preamp).., Bidat...etc. I have not been able to claim anything as being nearly twice as good. I knew when I was getting to the top and I have not had a revelatory minute in digital repro or amps in over 10 years. I have heard different but it is my experience that if a amp can match or come close to TRL or a dac can match or come close to a Bidat you are indeed in rarefied territory. The AMR 77 is in the a upper echelon of the best digital I have been exposed to. I can't wait to hear the MSB and Musical Playback gear :)
I also have walked into a room on multiple occasions as have others I am acquainted with thinking we were going to find a live ensemble only to find a very musical and realistic system converting the sinusoidal signals :)
I would however be interested in where you heard an AMR 777 and what the ancillary gear was. The disparity between the 777 and the Minerva was so great I was truly perplexed at your assessment of the 777. |
Tbg: Mileage does vary so to speak. I did as mentioned use a Firewire (Entreq) connector and my beloved glass TOS and the sound was nearly identical and I was not moved at all by either. To me as stated above the sound was crystal clear but totally DEVOID of any type of musicality (I know that is a loaded word but I think experienced audiophiles know exactly to what I am referring)...it is kinda like the famous quote from a U.S. Judge..."I may not be able to define pornography but I know it when I see it:)
I had at my disposal the Karan preamplifier and it certainly was not over-driven although I did not check the Minerva for the updates that allow you to adjust the output voltage.
I do not agree that "All of this once again, suggests that component's sound depends on what is in the system and what ones tastes are." ... I agree with the second half (you wrote) "and what ones tastes are."
I do not like using other devices as tone controls and it was interesting to me that when the dealer found that I did not like the Minerva at all he asked me (mind you without my claiming it was sterile) if i had tubes in my system anywhere (my answer was no). His reply was that's why i could not handle the sterility of the Minerva...he has tubes in his system.
The AMR 777 I heard while not as good as the Bidat (Plus mods) or the AMR77 certainly made no bones of putting the Minerva to rest. The Bidat and the EMM Labs gear do not sound the same, so I would not consider hearing the EMM Dacs (not saying you do) a basis for imagining what the Bidat is capable of :)
I have owned my Mac Mini since 2007 and perhaps it is because of where I live but I have not found it to be over critical of power at all, but then I do live across the street from a Mains Power Transformer... I know this because it blew up one night after being hit by lightning. Far as vibration control I use a NAS which has my own home brew of vibrational control employed thus my macs internal HDD is not typically spinning when I am playing my music.
The net net is: The AMR 777 sounded very very very good, the Bidat and AMR 77 sounded Fantastic and even my DCC-1 acquitted itself quite nicely...the Minerva is just not for me and is going back in the morning.
But I am fully aware that some of us listen for different things. |
Tbg: I want to clarify and agree that system changes can obviously make a difference in the sound of a product. What I meant to convey was that all items used in the comparison were identical....PC's/ interconnect /digital cables...etc, thus the only variable was the DAC itself :) Working with a very neutral sounding system and with ONE variable being interchanged I was very clearly able to determine what the dacs were doing.
When I go and listen to Patricia Barber or Keb Mo...etc, live (at a venue) it does in fact sound musical to me. So I do in fact equate realism with musicality. I have been in the hobby since 1997 (this sickness was imparted to me by my uncle) and I can tell you, if it aint musical I aint listening :)
Regards |
I have never understood audiophiles claiming not to listen for musicality but rather realism...I have always been of the school of thought that music should sound musical (hence real)... Anything else sounds like an oxymoron (or a lot of bad noise), at least to me.
If live events didn't move me emotionally (something I ABSOLUTELY equate with musicality) I would never go to another live event.
I think we both agree that different people listen for different things. To my ears the Minerva is HiFi-ish to the nth degree and this is why it is a great thing for all of us that we have sooooooo many choices. |
Levy03: Thanks for appreciating what I am doing for what it is; my opinion on sundry digital gear. Also I am glad you realize that I do not expect my opinion to be chiseled in stone :) Like I said this is about fun and enjoyment, but I also want to truthfully report what I hear in an unbiased and truthful way...which I know will not please everyone. |
Im glad you like the Weiss, mine is going back in the morning.
Still wondering where you heard the 777 and with what equipment.
Far as walking in a room and having it sound live...I have even read so called golden eared magazine reviewers claim to have thought a quartet was playing at a show only to find gear making the music. Granted this was a while ago and no, I could not for the life of me recall the magazine article, but the fact is I have been fortunate enough to hear systems that good. I believe you when you say you're perplexed by this. |
Are you referring to a prototype of the Dac202 or the 777 against the Minerva? |
Heymikey: Thanks for the post. I do count myself fortunate and yes this fun. The dac I have coming is not a Platinum at the moment, with the whole Plat Dac IV coming out that plan is delayed a bit. I have a MSB Power DAC coming which from what I understand sound very very very similar (this from MSB) if used single ended which is the way I have been testing everything thus far.
I am glad you find the thread interesting.
I will say that the Moon 300D is turning out to be a bit of a surprise. Can't say too much yet, but I will say that cold out of the box I immediately found it (to my ears) superior to the Minerva in overall presentation. Will elaborate further in the coming days. |
Hatari: No harm no foul:) Sorry about your' HDD that's a bad feeling. The RS4 is a HOT car!!! |
Hatari: This whole thing started out as my quest for (as mentioned above) to find a 24/192 dac that could at LEAST match the sound of my Bidat. This has been friendly (in my opinion) and as the one who started the thread I have to say telling me that I have a 'bias' because I found the Minerva sterile and a-musical is not in keeping with the spirit of the thread. This was to share my quest with others as I knew I would have a lot of gear in my home to test side by side. You seam tp like the DAC 2, I am glad. I OWN the Bidat and the DCC-1, I am shopping for the others. The fact that AMR 77 sounded as fantastic as it did made me think that maybe 24/192 should not be my immediate goal.
As I stated many times before I still have to test the MSB which I should have tomorrow and I will be getting a Playback Design to test at a later date... so I do not understand your entry to this thread.
I do think the Bidat is one of the best dacs extant and so do a great number of people which is why you rarely see them for sale some 10 years after their introduction and then I believe the ones you do see are mostly a result of hard financial times forcing the sale.
As I said earlier I have taken photos of all the gear I have tested in the same rack with the same gear... i.e. I know of what I speak.
I am not selling anything and I work for no-one except my own software company.
Lets keep this fun. I am not saying the Minerva is not amazing for you, I am saying it can not remain in my system.
Please re-read your statement. I am a Porsche fan and owner, I am not super fond of Ferrari's but what if I made a statement that anyone who says that Porsches are not "Fantastic" has a bias....perhaps they don't like Porsches :)
This post is for those interested in my ongoing real-world non-biased (non stock holding status in any of these companies) opinion. And I am going to buy the one that sounds the best to my ears while being honest about what I hear from the others regardless of what the magazine reviewers may have to say ...
Keep'n real |
Tbg: I don't disagree with what you have just laid out... Which is exactly why I thought it would be cool to do this since I will have all this equipment at my disposal and NO overhead whatsoever. Thus there is no incentive to be anything less than completely open as to what I am experiencing. Heck, if I ever change my mind on some of this gear...guess who may have to pay full retail and then maybe even a surcharge on top of that :)
I know of a reviewer who received an integrated amp from a very famous American manufacturer and he did exactly what you stated. After listening to it, he offered it back to the company and told them I don't think you want me to review this product as it is.
To me, that is a disservice, BUT.., I understand commerce and these situations exist (right or wrong).
This is why I love reading intelligently laid (not referring to my own though I have attempted to be fair and rigorous) reviews on this forum and a few others.
I do believe what you have written has merit. |
Unfortunately the MSB did not show up tonight, but I did receive a Sim Audio Moon 300D dac today. Cold out of the box (sat in my car all day while I was at work) it sounds promising... I am not going to make any real judgments until at least 2 days so as to allow it to come to equilibrium.
It is promising and it was ice-cold. Stand by :) |
I wont have it before the end of April. I can say that my MSB Power DAC is sounding better, it may be that this thing just needs MEGA breakin... |
I've already been pondering either this unit or the Cambridge Azure 650BD for my Blu-Ray movie watching needs. I rarely spin a disc for music any longer. I buy a disc and immediately rip it to the HDD (soon to be SSDD:).
If I go with the MSB, I will have their proprietary XPORT upgrade added to the deck of choice for SACD/Blu Ray playback through the dac. |
Heymikey: It sounds like you have a nice setup. I met Steve and started dealing with him over 10 years ago when he started GNSC. I was a beta tester for one of his first in-house products...a isolation transformer house in a very attractive sort of on end standing housing. He does great work.
I have wanted to try one of the Wireworld Supernova glass TOS cables, perhaps I will order one. |
I'm glad you are enjoying the thread :) I am familiar with Morray James. I bought a pair of his interconnects circa 1999 when he was just getting started and yes they are good. I have not had any of his newer offerings since that time. I might try some of his interconnects.
The MSB is still cooking. I like it...but I want to reserve final judgement for a while (yes I did purchase the unit). Sometimes I think I love it and others I am indifferent or put-off. I have owned other gear that did that good/bad thing while breaking in, but this thing is taking it to another level.
I still have to get the Play Back Design in to listen to. I think I may end up foregoing the PS Audio, ONLY because I am not at all interested in spinning discs and it is designed to work optimally with the PWT, so... I see no point.
I do love the 24/96 through the MSB, I downloaded an album (is it still really an album :) from HDTracks by an artist named Christy Baron. I just kinda happened upon her and I really like her quite a bit. I used to listen to Patty Barber but honestly I got tired of listening to her singing to women...kinda messed up the flow of the music for me so I have been looking for other interesting female vocalists. Suggestions are welcome.
I will follow up with other observations hopefully soon. |
Ok, some thoughts on the Sim Audio 300D... NICE!!! It is acquitting itself very nicely against the DCC-1 at this point. The presentation is not as languid as the Dcc-1 and it doesn't quite have the weight, but I could imagine this dac being teamed with a BAT or Joule pre (had a REX and a Joule Electra LA100 formerly) and sounding awfully awfully good.
I say that because with no tubes at all it is not sterile at all, it is musical and I think that in 1997 or '98 this kind of sound would have been upwards or 5-7k. The minor faults I find are purely by omission and not commission.
Another thing, it has made a believer out of me that USB may be a viable format. Every other USB dac I've heard failed to impress (I'm being nice) though admittedly I have not heard a great deal of USB dacs. This sounds really nice with a cheap over the counter (Best Buy) USB that I picked up tonight on the way home. So... the cable is nothing special, not burned in and it still sounds very good.
I actually found myself wondering what system I might be able to squeeze this unit into, but I have the Bidat for the bedroom, the DCC-1 for the office and the main 2 systems will probably get the AMR/Playback or MSB... GOTTA stop somewhere ;)
I am going to say that anyone who is looking for really good sound for under 2k should at least audition this unit, you may be surprised as I was.... Honestly I didn't really want to be bothered with bringing this one home, as I had so much on my plate what with taking notes on the others and connecting disconnecting...etc.., we've all been there.
More tomorrow, the MSB came, but I wasn't here so I will pick it up tomorrow from the P.O. :(
Regards |
Thanks Heymiker, I may call the guys at GCAudio.com. |
I picked the MSB up this morning. It is charging and I will give it a whirl this evening. Stay tuned... "same bat channel same bat time" .... Ok, if you not in your mid 30's or up that probably means nothing to you LOL!!! |
Mattzack2: Well.....lets just say I can't refute your' buyers impression. So far EVERYONE that has heard it on my end of the world has had a really really adverse reaction to it. The MSB unit has been burning in for about a day now and it is good. It is (i think) better than the DCC-1 but it cant compete with the Bidat.
I do however like the unit very much and I am now the new owner, it will take up residence in my bedroom, with the DCC-1 going to the office and the Bidat going to the living room.
I think at this point Im going to try to hear a Music Playback Design gear and then I am finished. I know I LOVED the sound of the AMR 77, but I need to hear the MPD-5.
The MSB is hard to categorize..., but it is detailed like nothing I have heard before. At 3 mintues (3 min exactly) on Renee Maries soung Bolero/Suzanne there is something going on deep deep deep deep in the background I never heard before and the MSB brought it to the forefront (thought still very very hidden).
More to come as I continue listening...
PS>Again, though I am not purchasing the unit the Moon 300D... really really good! |
Two things, I mutilated the word 'song' in the earlier post...to early to be typing I guess :) Second, I just fired up the MSB today and I have to say I now know what I heard that caused me to purchase it. Seldom have I heard a product change its strips so much in a 24 hour period.., guess my suspicions about the unit are proven... It is very very very good!!!
I still think the presentation is different from the Bidat and AMR which are very very similar to each other. |
Vhiner: I have not considered the Berkley, based on friends whose ears I trust implicitly, I was told that if I didn't like the Weiss the Berkly would not do it for me. If I get a chance to audition the Berkley I will of course report on my thoughts, but I have no desire to seek it out. |
Glrtrgi:
The moon, is a nice sounding unit. It is relatively musical and presents the spectra of music top to bottom very well. I do think it sounds a bit 'lite' in the mid range (vocal regions), but not sterile or steely. I would suggest you use a warm sounding pair of interconnects with the unit. It has a sound I characterize with dacs in it's price range. I have noticed you don't really seem to get the weight in the sound (at least to my ears) until you cross the 4.5k to 5k barrier dollar amount.... of course mileage may vary and there are many great dacs out there. I personally would like to try one of the Audio Note kits.
As I have stated before and stand by it 100% the Moon bested the Weiss Minerva, so for $1600.00 retail (I think that is the MSRP) you will have a very very good sounding unit that with some massaging (i.e. correct interconnects, sympathetic preamp) will make beautiful music. |
Thanks so much for the info concerning the Audio Note Dac. Which Audio Note? AN-Japan or AN-England? |
Thanks Oxia, that made for good reading. I think I will forego the venture into the world of AN after reading that and Vhiners' posts :) |
Yes, I have abandoned regular CD playback altogether. I have never heard either the 781 or the 9 series. I did have a 581 (NOT the SE) which I could not stand. My uncle had the 781 and the 931/922 system. He really liked the 9 series, I am not positive concerning his views on the 781.
I used to own the Wadia 7 from way back in the day...one of my favorite transports of all time...especially with a Bidat...Now that was some great Redbook playback :))
I can't be of much help to you here because I haven't heard the systems you mentioned with my own ears.
I can honestly say I have never heard USB go strait into a dac and liked it. Now with a usb to spdif converter like the HiFace... it is much much improved.
My PowerDac (MSB) has the USB option and the Toslink (real glass cable) beats it like a red-headed step child...
red-headed step child is a fictional character and any resemblance to a real person is purely coincidental (my attempt to be funny...I need coffee :) |
I am getting close on the MSB, here is the what I am finding. The unit is very refined and I know I keep saying that like a broken record. The reason is that I am not happy with the amount of treble energy. I find that the vocal region seems to be (almost spotlighted) more prominent than the energy in the treble region. I remembered reading something like this and so I googled MSB review Platinum and found the old Stereophile review of the original Platinum dac which I believe contained the 1st generation of there in-house designed R2R ladder dac. Now granted the power dac has the 2nd Generation dacs and a much more powerful digital filter, but man... the reviewer described exactly what I was hearing in the treble. It is not bad by any stretch of the imagination so don't get me wrong. It is simply a presentation I am not comfortable with.
To be fair I spoke to one of there engineers and Vince (a great guy by the way) who suggested I order new batteries. I did so ,but they won't arrive until Wed or Thursday of this week (which is why this review was delayed and even now I am doing so with pause). I did open the unit last evening and measured the voltages on all 5 batteries (without the unit being connected to the charger which could give a false read) and they were all at spec, so next I made sure all the connection were tight and that the voltage at the terminals was the voltage sent to the circuit board. All was good. I did note that the treble seemed to improve after placing the unit back in the system.
Now comes the other bad thing... :) I had been listening to the DCC-1 (Museatex) on input 3 only. Well whilst comparing the MSB and DCC-1 I decided to try it on input 1 (1 and 3 are both TOS). OK....I can hear it coming, but I am telling you there was a huge difference. The number 1 input was much fuller than the number 3 input. I tired number 2 but it sounded identical to 3. So perhaps the receiver for the num 1 input is further from the mains or some EMI/RFI interference...I don't know but I know what my ears told me.
So, now the one advantage that I thought the MSB had over the DCC-1 (fuller, weightier more refined) is nill. I am now listening to the DCC-1.
I will of course reserve final judgment until the new batteries arrive and are installed and (thought they come pre-charged) have charged for at least an hour to make sure they are topped-off.
One other thing, one of the guys at MSB (when I described what I was hearing) stated that it was something in my system. When I informed him that I owned 5 dacs and had many others in for eval with ONLY the MSB displaying this behavior that argument went out the window.
I am having fun though :) |
Vhiner: The finest power cord I have ever used (on everything: pre/amp/Bidat...etc) is the FIM Gold (the original, I know nothing about the sound of the CRL but I was told by one of the original owners of FIM that when it changed over the CRL the formula for the cables changed a bit. The FIM cords, though stiff and a ROYAL PAIN!!! to work with are the REAL DEAL and make a massive difference :) |
OK, FINALLY... my M2Tech HiFace is going to be delivered today. I can't wait to try it out and report its capabilities. I will keep you posted. |
Well, I have the Hiface (BNC version) and while I hear great promise, mine unfortunately has the clicking/popping issue which I thought this latest batch was supposed to address. I do hear a great deal of promise with the unit, I have contacted Mike Garner at Tweek Geek and he is all over it, getting back to me last evening after 10pm EST within 15 minutes of my email....NOW THAT'S SERVICE!!!
I will keep you all posted. |
Ok, it appears that for some reason unbeknown-st to the makers of the Hiface (their words)some macs still have the clicking and popping problem. They are working on a new driver.
New things, I have finally given up on Amarra, it simply destroys very fine detail that iTunes easily renders. I have lived with it for about 6 months now and I have decided to move on. I did love the fact that it could switch my midi sampling rate on the fly and bypass iTunes SRC mechanism...but the sound trumps those features... BUT!!!!
I found Pure Vinyl and it seems nearly perfect. It bypasses iTunes and switches the midi settings, is only $229.00 has a 64 bit core, allows one to record and has built in 64 bit RIAA processing for archiving vinyl. Finally, it sounds better than Amarra to these ears. The low level information I mentioned earlier (and at the very start of this thread when speaking of my Amarra trials) is present once again.
It can also be used as a memory player, which I think sounds best and sort of negates the need for expensive SSD drives. It will buffer your music (in my case, from my 1TB NAS over wifi) to the internal memory of my mac mini and then play it from there. Sometimes there is a slight delay, but in Hybrid mode, it launches another thread and starts to preload the next track so it is nearly seamless.
The ONKY thing I have found that Amarra does better is related to 'remote' on my iPhone/touch. The realtime file playback timing information is veryv ery smooth when using iTunes alone or when using iTunes with Amarra. Not so with Pure Vinyl, first you have to turn it on in the preferences and then it is jumpy and can make the music skip a bit. They need to address this, but it is a minor annoyance and I leave it off for now.
So there you have it, between the Hiface and Pure Vinyl (about $410.00 (Pure Vinyl is slated to go up to $299.00 with the next full release) I can play ALL my files all the way up to 24/192khz... The Hiface will pass 32 bit information should you have any.
Oh, one last thing I love about the Pure Vinyl, it reads your midi setting upon start up and uses that number to base up sampling on (should you turn upsampling on, I prefer it off but it is very good, just not as good as no upsampling to me) for instance: say most of your' files are 44.1 I think it would be smart to pick 88.2khz as the midi setting. Now with upsampling on, PV will upsample everything below 88.2 (which will probably be mostly 44.1 stuff) to 88.2 (even order math) anything 88.2 or greater will be player as NATIVE S.R. with no upsampling involved. So if you are a fan of upsampling this is the golden ticket...or egg ... or goose or whatever it is thats golden and good :) |
Clarification: I wrote:
Sometimes there is a slight delay, (concerning the use of Pure Vinyl in memory mode)....
I was referring to the time between the start of the next song, NOT during song playback which would be totally unacceptable :) |
Further use of the HiFace unit has proven insightful. While I think they have a potentially great product on their hands and I am glad it exists, it is simply not ready for the mac as yet...at least in MY case. While the popping has stopped for some reason...I have no idea, it is still not able to pass a bit perfect stream which may be why the built-in optical with a glass Tos still outperforms it :(
The Hiface sounds very very good until you goto the glass/Tos then you realize it is not as full sounding and ambient room information is not coming through with the same presence: this it where it appears to be faltering.
Now I realize I have to use two differing types of digital cable, but I can tell you that I have done comparative tests (exhaustive tests) between my FIM coax digital and my glass Tos using my standby shop queen modified Cambridge D500SE as a transport and the cables sound nearly indistinguishable.
For now I will let Pure Vinyl downsample my HRx recordings to 88.2 and use the built in output. I will continue to play with the Hiface but they really need to address the lack of its ability to pass a bit perfect signal in the mac world. |
Thanks for the heads up. I was looking into the various versions just yesterday. If you are not archiving vinyl this would be the better (read) cheaper way to go. :) |
Earflappin: Thanks for your post, I find what you have written interesting. It could simply be poor implementation of the USB/DAC interface. My MSB PowerDac for instance stores the data into an internal ram buffer and then clocks it out using its own precision 2.5ppm clock completely discarding the clock signal from the computer. BUT..., it still sounds inferior to the coax or Tos SPDIF signal.
Perhaps one day direct USB will get it done, but I haven't experienced it as yet.
I love my HiFace, as it breaks in it has become EXTREMELY good. Interesting what you said concerning the Lynx card as I have no experience with that device (I have a mac mini) but I was thinking of getting a Power Mac for the living room and the Lynx crossed my mind. I will say however that the HiFace has been so effective that I started giving that plan a second thought, I think I am just going to purchase another Mac Mini and a second HiFace... that device is awesome. |
Rei_iii I have all the filters in a playlist in itunes called "Custom Filters" and I can change them at will. I have worked with all of them extensively :) At the end of the day, I think it sound overall best with the default filter (probably why they made it the default :). |
