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My $50 DAC

I'll be doing an a/b against my Adcom 600

I'll be doing an a/b against my Adcom 600
hpsenicka said:
I've been itching to do the same comparison... am eager to hear your findings!
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Keep in mind it needs a 30 "day" break-in and I've only had it less than a week.

Out of the box: Bright!! High treble and mids, but not crystal clear. Bottom end OK, but definitely top heavy. Odd depth perception. Just a quick first impression. Wasn't expecting 100% performance first day.

Ran it 24 hrs straight on a CDP, then maybe 12 hrs more off/on: Basic tune selections, Doors, Cowboy Junkies, Dylan, Wille N., stuff with moderate highs and lows, (have no idea if that makes a diff in break in), plus Mike's 10.5 tape from tape swap. Bottom end seems to be coming up, or is it my imagination?

Last night: DIRECT COMPARED to Vinyl. Brought out big dogs; Chick C. Return to Forever, the YES album, Jimi Hendrix Experience, etc. again no idea if tune selection helps advance break-in period or if just "keeping it hot" does.
Now the top end seems distorted. For some reason instead of turning it down to accomodate, I turned it UP. Guess what, it got better. Weird. Wife goes to other end of house, shuts doors.

So far it doesn't have the full body of the Adcom GDA 600 I'm A/B'ing it with but it's less than a week old. Every confidence it'll get there. Maybe better, who knows.

But it's the most fun I've had for $44.95 in a while. The footprint on this thing is crazy. Just 6"x3"x4" (or so).

Anyone know if varying the music selection does anything for the break in of a DAC or is it just time of play?
 
I switch back & forth from Vinyl (to use as a baseline) to the same album on CD to see what the DAC lacks. Both run at the same time.
 
Ahhh... of course.

If you want to get a more direct comparison of the sound of the CD... both with and without the external DAC, you might try leaving the analog outputs of the CD player connected to your amp, and connect the analog outputs from the DAC to an alternate pair of line inputs (perhaps a tape input?). This would allow you to play a CD, and use your amp/preamp to select between onboard and outboard DACs.
 
originall posted by hpsenika
try leaving the analog outputs of the CD player connected to your amp, and connect the analog outputs from the DAC to an alternate pair of line inputs (perhaps a tape input?). This would allow you to play a CD, and use your amp/preamp to select between onboard and outboard DACs.
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Kick-ars idea. I wonder if I've got enough inputs to do that and flip between the two DAC's at the same time. Have a spare sony SB 300 tape monitor switch laying around.
 
You may have to make adjustments to one or the other for loudness/volume, too. I used an SPL meter in my tests.

I have had it for a while in my second system and I like it a lot for vocal oriented music.
 
meggy said:
Anyone know if varying the music selection does anything for the break in of a DAC or is it just time of play?
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Small. I had a specialized break-in disc from someone, and it made a quick improvement in approx. an hour. "Normal" music (which is fine, by the way) will just take longer, but as long as it's full frequency (it's the top and bottom octaves which are most important), it will break everything in eventually.
 
Eventful Day

Dear Diary:
Had a very eventful day!
...
Oh, but i did give in to temptation on that audio addiction. got confirmation from that Audio place that they are sending a 60 dollar DAC. Waiting to see if they pass the polygraph on their claim I "gave" them a PayPal payment....
 
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Just got mine today. The dc plug doesn't wanna stay plugged in so I am thinging these may be seconds. Not a biggie though as I plan on adding some kind of adtl power supply. On initial impressions - sounds as good or better than my lightly modded toshy 3960,pannie f87, or psx and it's not broke in yet. So I gotta say it's a good deal for the price. Can't wait to find a better pwr supply and hookitup with some blue jeans cables.
 
Got mine hooked up today.:banana: I'm using the optical output on my PD-M59. Listened to three different cd's ; Diana Krall "Live in Paris" ; Beastie Boys "Licensed to Ill" ; Michael Jackson "Thriller". Who cares about the "break-in" period? My simple mind is already telling me it's the best investment I ever made. :music:
 
I went ahead and sent my money for two DACs today. I had to, since I'm using the same model of DVD player as AlleyKat for my main digital source. I'm going to break the first one in and see how I like it with the DVD and then with my computer, using a Chaintech AV-710 soundcard. If I like it on the PC, I'll crack open the box on the second one and run two. If I don't, I expect the hype on this piece to increase resale value once the remaindered ones disappear. If you don't believe me, try bidding on one of those RatShack portable cd players that got so much hype a few years ago...
 
EasyRiderNYC said:
is a digital coax cable really just a high end rca cable?
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What makes it special is that is designed to a specific specification. It is generally made of shielded coax, and should have an impedance of 75 Ohms.

Not all RCA cables meet this requirement.
 
EasyRiderNYC said:
will these not play through the coax output?
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No, at least not the DSD/SACD signal in its normal form - at least with some players, you will get the CD layer of dual discs or perhaps a converted s/pdif signal. Manufacturers have chosen not to make the SACD signal available to consumers in digital form, at least for the most part.
 
EasyRiderNYC, do a Google search, there are plenty of forums out there, like the AVS Forum, where people have discussed that Oppo almost to death! It seems like a good performing piece, with maybe iffy build quality. Just a sampling of what I've read though.
 
winters860 said:
I went ahead and sent my money for two DACs today. I had to, since I'm using the same model of DVD player as AlleyKat for my main digital source. I'm going to break the first one in and see how I like it with the DVD and then with my computer, using a Chaintech AV-710 soundcard. If I like it on the PC, I'll crack open the box on the second one and run two. If I don't, I expect the hype on this piece to increase resale value once the remaindered ones disappear. If you don't believe me, try bidding on one of those RatShack portable cd players that got so much hype a few years ago...
Click to expand...

Hey let me know how this goes I have the exact same soundcard, and would like to know how this DAC works with MP3/wav files using the soundcard s/pdif out?

.
 
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