mjw21a
Super Member
Ok, so I'm looking at the Xiang Sheng DAC-01A (aka Grant Fidelity DAC-09 & Maverick Audio Tube Magic DAC) as a relatively affordable solution for my secondary sound system.
I currently have a Oldchen SEP amp which has only a single input. Unfortunately I need to run my phono stage, TV and Marantz Cd63se Mk2 into this as well. I had been using a cheap RCA switch box to select the input though I've found the switch box introduces a harshness into the sound.
Now the cheap TV I have there has no RCA output so I've been running the headphone out for this which sounds rubbish. It does have Toslink optical out though.I kind of need to run the TV though my sound system as the gym area is shared with the man cave and the telly sound is so bad its actually hard to understand whats being said at times.... Heck, this is still true running from the headphone jack, though not quite as bad.
I'm thinking that the Xiang Sheng DAC-01A could be used as a preamp (internally there's a swith to use it as a preamp) running coax from the CDP to it, fibre from the TV and RCA from my phono stage. I'm thinking this could be a nice inexpensive upgrade for everything (except for vinyl playback). Particularly since the Opamps are socketed which will make for easy changes. I can source a Russian 6N3P-E cheaply which should make quite a difference.
I will probably replace the Apple TV with something like a small footprint Intel Atom PC at some point so the USB interface could prove useful.
Opinions?
I currently have a Oldchen SEP amp which has only a single input. Unfortunately I need to run my phono stage, TV and Marantz Cd63se Mk2 into this as well. I had been using a cheap RCA switch box to select the input though I've found the switch box introduces a harshness into the sound.
Now the cheap TV I have there has no RCA output so I've been running the headphone out for this which sounds rubbish. It does have Toslink optical out though.I kind of need to run the TV though my sound system as the gym area is shared with the man cave and the telly sound is so bad its actually hard to understand whats being said at times.... Heck, this is still true running from the headphone jack, though not quite as bad.
I'm thinking that the Xiang Sheng DAC-01A could be used as a preamp (internally there's a swith to use it as a preamp) running coax from the CDP to it, fibre from the TV and RCA from my phono stage. I'm thinking this could be a nice inexpensive upgrade for everything (except for vinyl playback). Particularly since the Opamps are socketed which will make for easy changes. I can source a Russian 6N3P-E cheaply which should make quite a difference.
I will probably replace the Apple TV with something like a small footprint Intel Atom PC at some point so the USB interface could prove useful.
Opinions?
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