The audiophile thread

[Heavy Viper]

For those of you who have used high quality headphones with a computer using its built in sound hardware for a large amount of time and then switched to an external DAC, how much of an difference is there between the two? I imagine that the quality of the on board DAC in computers varies a great deal.
This is a hobby that could easily get out of hand, just look at the head-fi forum.

Main things I've noticed on a few of my favourite albums are better definition in the high-end, and less distortion/crackling on stuff that's mixed loud. Busy tracks seem to stay clear even when there's a lot going on, too - less "muddiness" is how most put it, I believe.

[Ed Oscuro]

At least one thing's for sure; the average built-in Realtek module found in most laptops and mobos is absolute crap, with messed-up levels, crackling buzzing whatever flaws added for our pleasure.

That's the problem, nobody has an "average" module, but a specific one in a specific environment.

Some people have "value" Realtek chips like the "over 100db SnR playback" ALC861 value chip, while others have higher-end chips (my Asus motherboard has a ALC898, which claims 110db SnR playback DAC. The first chip is just barely within the limits for SnR of a good modern headphone, while the second is beyond.

And still there's reports of people getting completely different results from the same audio chips in different motherboards, so implementation matters too.

Just a couple links to give an idea:
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=373698
http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index. ... pic=107377 (esp. the bit about coupling cap choice)

Of course, at the prices we're talking about, a good cheap Xonar (the $30-ish PCI-E one) certainly will do anything you need including some level of amplification, so if I didn't get an amp for free I'd go that route instead, most likely. But unless I was doing work recording to PC, I don't see the use of spending money on audio, certainly not more than $30 USD.

[EllertMichael]

Here's my current turntable setup:



U-turn Orbit Plus turntable
Audioengine A5+ speakers
Cambridge Audio 640p Phono Preamp (with AK's HypnoToad Mods)

Whole set up came in less than a grand. Really happy with the look and sound
Speakers are still breaking in, but sounding better with every spin.

Also, finally set up a Discogs account: EllertMichael

[jandrogo]

the new Onkyo n765 looks great! Everything in a limited space.. Dsd, flac, 192/24 Pcm, High-end DAC, Headphone amp for 600 ohm headphones, etc

[jasoncslaughter]

Here's my current turntable setup:

Nice! The A5's sound miles better than any other speaker that size.

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Saw this setup in one of my customers house. It looked so crazy I couldn't help but take a picture of it. What the hell kind of turntable is that? Why does it have a gigantic slab of clear rubber on it? The turntable had some kind of twine that moved it. His speakers looked crazy too. The speakers looked pretty much exactly like the obelisk from 2001.

[Domino]

Saw this setup in one of my customers house. It looked so crazy I couldn't help but take a picture of it. What the hell kind of turntable is that? Why does it have a gigantic slab of clear rubber on it? The turntable had some kind of twine that moved it. His speakers looked crazy too. The speakers looked pretty much exactly like the obelisk from 2001.

Appears to be a VPI turntable but I could be wrong (I owned their $1800 VPI Scott TT in the pass). Clear slab of rubber on the TT? Because in the audiophile world using a belt-driven turntable will make less vibration than a direct drive table (the goal is to reduce any vibration on the record itself when moving).

[EllertMichael]

Here's my current turntable setup:

Nice! The A5's sound miles better than any other speaker that size.

Thanks! They're breaking in nicely and have more than enough power for my relatively small listening area.

[Xyga]

Today I removed the dust from my WM-D6C, dug up some tapes I've recorded sometime in the 90's... and it's till blowing me away.
Dat power, dat dynamic, dat separation, dat stage.

So yeah there's background noise now, those are really old tapes after all, but how come it still sounds so awesome ?

[brokenhalo]

Stumbled upon a really interesting device that I'm sure at least a few "old men" here might appreciate: the Brennan B2.

What is it? It's a cd player, with a hard-drive and a raspberry pi all in a small, approximately Wii-U sized case. You put a cd in, it plays it. You push a button, it rips the cd to the internal hard-drive in .wav format. Then in it's downtime, it converts it to FLAC for storage. Or you can load music files via usb port, in the case of downloaded music. It has wi-fi capabilities via a USB dongle, so you can scan through your music library on your cellphone or tablet. It's also very user friendly.

If you're someone like me, who has a large cd collection that mostly gathers dust and/or is in boxes in storage because there is so damn much of it, this thing is worth every penny of it's price tag. I've got about a hundred albums loaded onto it so far, and I'm listening to things that I haven't listened to in years just because it's so darn convenient. And most people would say, "just set up a computer, laptop, etc", but it's just different. I pull out my cellphone, turn on my receiver, and i have everything at my fingertips on the couch.

It's not without it's quirks. There is no power switch on the unit, so you have to physically unplug the unit to turn it off. It uses FreeDB (i think) to pull up album info, so I've got a small stack of cd's that it can't figure out so far. Most of these are discs with miniscule print-runs, but some are albums by well-known artists. If it can't find the cd in the database, it refuses to play it altogether, which seems like a bug. So I'll have to rip them on my laptop, then transfer them over. Other than that, it's an awesome little device.

[Ji-L87]

Interesting. I stumbled over this...thing...yesterday and at first I thought it was what you talked about The Brennman seems like a nicer product to actually get some use out of, especially more than once. However, I'm content with ripping CDs through foobar so neither is for me I guess...

[Stevens]

I'm late to the party- Jason and Ellert those set ups are amazing.

My brother and his husband have close to 1,500 records, they could use a clean set up though.

I would like to invest in a good pair of headphones around the holidays since they have become something I use quite often now.

What is a solid entry pair that can be had for around $100 - $150?

[brokenhalo]

Interesting. I stumbled over this...thing...yesterday and at first I thought it was what you talked about The Brennman seems like a nicer product to actually get some use out of, especially more than once. However, I'm content with ripping CDs through foobar so neither is for me I guess...

Pretty odd unit. The idea of bulk-ripping is nice, but I've already run into a bunch of discs that come up with multiple database matches, and you have to manually select the right album for it to rip it with the right info. Could be a problem. Also seems like something that might work better as a "rental" unit. Rip all your stuff in a few days, then what do you do with it?

I would like to invest in a good pair of headphones around the holidays since they have become something I use quite often now.

What is a solid entry pair that can be had for around $100 - $150?

For around the house, or do you need something portable? If for around the house, I can highly recommend the Sennheiser Hd280Pro. Portable, I'm out of the loop on.

[Stevens]

Home use only. Thanks for the suggestion BH, I'm going to look into them.

[scrilla4rella]

surprised this thread didn't get started sooner. I'm currently using a Pro-Ject 1Xpression turntable with an acrylic platter pre-mounted with a Sumiko Oyster cartridge (shit). I'm running it through the Bellari VP-130 tube pre-amp (decent for the price but defiantly has a slight tube hum) and using my old Pioneer hdj-1000 headphones (also shit). The cartridge and headphones are the weak links here but I want to get more use out of them before splurging on upgrades.

I'll never forget the first time I heard the 1Xpression after using sub-par turntables for so long. Listing to records I'd heard dozens of times suddenly became a new and exciting experience where I could hear details and elements in the mix for the first time.

I guess digital lossless files can in theory offer a higher sound quality but that would require another large investment DACs, players and the like. For now, I'm good with this

[Stevens]

I passed on Black Friday/Cyber Monday since I was hoping the 280's would drop a bit more than they did. My patience was rewarded though - wound up picking up the 579's for $58.

Thanks again BH for pointing me in that direction.

[brokenhalo]

I passed on Black Friday/Cyber Monday since I was hoping the 280's would drop a bit more than they did. My patience was rewarded though - wound up picking up the 579's for $58.

Thanks again BH for pointing me in that direction.

Killer deal. Let us know what you think of them when you get them.

[Stevens]

For my first pair of real headphones I am quite happy with them.

Looking forward to giving them a try on my brothers amp.