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Post by macca on Feb 19, 2021 20:27:33 GMT
Macca, does the hum move channels when you switch rca input into the back panel of the and. If it does its the pre, if it doesn't its the and. I'll try it and see. But all the power amps work fine with my other pre-amps and with the Soncoz direct into them. Three of the six amps would all have to have developed the same fault. Okay - knowing my luck that's not impossible, but it's still highly unlikely.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2021 5:34:31 GMT
There is a RME for sale on the Wam. The latest model.
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Post by macca on Feb 20, 2021 8:50:28 GMT
Aye but Jerry's put me off that a bit now.
Going to have another play around in a bit, there's still some combinations I've not tried. The sound is almost perfect, just that last 1 percent to get.
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Post by macca on Feb 21, 2021 12:45:12 GMT
Noticed a small amount of hum from the speakers - just not acceptable so switched to using the NAD as an integrated with the DAC on full output - no hum at all, absolutely dead silent - what's that all about? Actually sounds even better now, although I can barely get the volume pot off zero.
I wonder if this amp could be uprated with some 'judicious mods?' The basic circuit seems good, it's certainly clean and sweet and very pleasant to listen too. The beauty of the sound comes through, but 'rez' is not quite up there with the top tier.
Better caps, better potentiometer, better speaker cable binding posts etc?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2021 14:49:40 GMT
Id definitely go for a new potetiometer next. A blue one would be best. Then a new cap. Definitely a red one. If you need any more help after that I'm always here.
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Post by macca on Feb 21, 2021 15:29:39 GMT
Agree about the red cap, what do you think about putting a feather in it? Overkill?
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Post by macca on Feb 21, 2021 15:32:18 GMT
Made an offer on a DAC, waiting to see if it is accepted. It should be, it's a lot less than he's asking but he's asking way too much and my offer is still way too much so I'm hopeful.
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Feb 21, 2021 15:50:22 GMT
Made an offer on a DAC, waiting to see if it is accepted. It should be, it's a lot less than he's asking but he's asking way too much and my offer is still way too much so I'm hopeful. What DAC? Anything we know?
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Post by macca on Feb 21, 2021 17:11:02 GMT
TEAC DT1 from 1996.
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Post by macca on Feb 21, 2021 17:13:45 GMT
Didn't accept so raised it a bit but that's it. No way it will sell for more than that.
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Feb 21, 2021 17:15:09 GMT
Didn't accept so raised it a bit but that's it. No way it will sell for more than that. That looks interesting! I'll have a read up
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Post by macca on Feb 21, 2021 19:01:55 GMT
I couldn't find much about it, except the year and it weighs 7.2 kilo. Pretty heavy for a DAC which is a good sign.
Offered £200 for it and he's turned it down so that's that. No way a 16/44.1 DAC that is over 20 years old is going to fetch more than that. Maybe if it was a high end mark, but TEAC? Dream on.
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Feb 21, 2021 19:19:31 GMT
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Post by macca on Feb 21, 2021 20:30:55 GMT
Very tasty, and 22 kilos! WTF is inside it?
Thick end of three grand though plus VAT and duty. Although I read they are working on a trade deal with the Japs so that sort of stuff might get a bit cheaper to import.
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Feb 21, 2021 21:56:06 GMT
Very tasty, and 22 kilos! WTF is inside it? Thick end of three grand though plus VAT and duty. Although I read they are working on a trade deal with the Japs so that sort of stuff might get a bit cheaper to import. Now this is tasty: DC-950 The DC-950 is a digital-to-analogue converter, called by the manufacturer the Precision MDSD Digital Processor. It features eight digital inputs, including 2 optical, 3 RCAs, AES/EBU, USB and HS-LINK. The sampling frequency of the decoded signal and its bit rate are presented on the orange LED display. The second display presents the output signal level in dB—the converter features an adjustable output level ranging from -80dB. This adjustment is performed in the digital domain and in an optimal configuration the device should work with an external preamplifier. The key components are two, eight channel DAC chips—ESS Technology ES9038PRO, one per channel. Eight internal converters are connected in parallel at the output, for a lower distortion. The same system is used also to decode DSD. This technique, called by Accuphase the MDSD (Multiple Double Speed DSD), allows for direct conversion of the DSD signal to analog. First, the signal is upsampled from 2.8224 MHz/1-bit to 5.6448 MHz/1-bit form, and then delayed using special sequence inside programmable, ultra fast FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), and finally decoded in the D/A Converters.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2021 0:47:44 GMT
It hasn't even got a tonearm. What a joke. Tell him to shove it ! He obviously knows nothing about hi fidelity equipment. 🙄
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Post by macca on Feb 22, 2021 9:25:38 GMT
Part of the reason I got out of vinyl was the cost but vinyl starts to look like a cheap pursuit compared to where you can go with digital.
Oh well I can't afford this sort of stuff anymore so I'm back to pressing my nose against the shop window and dreaming.
On the plus side the £103 NAD amp continues to impress. Spent hours yesterday playing music, generally I only manage a couple of albums then get the urge to do something else.
I never usually use this word to describe the sound of equipment as I think it's really lame, but the NAD is 'Musical'. I think I might get another so I have a spare and one to do some mods on.
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Post by brian2957 on Feb 22, 2021 9:55:14 GMT
Which NAD amp is it Martin?
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Feb 22, 2021 9:59:56 GMT
It hasn't even got a tonearm. What a joke. Tell him to shove it ! He obviously knows nothing about hi fidelity equipment. 🙄 Ha! Never Change matey.
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Post by brian2957 on Feb 22, 2021 10:07:43 GMT
NAD has arrived, can you believe on an amp from 2003 that it only accepts bare wire speaker connection?
Martin, a lot of amps had plastic plugs put into the speaker chassis plug. I'm not sure about yours, but with a small screwdriver, and a little bit of effort those plugs can maybe be removed to allow you to use banana plug. Worth a try.
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Feb 22, 2021 10:09:07 GMT
Part of the reason I got out of vinyl was the cost but vinyl starts to look like a cheap pursuit compared to where you can go with digital. Oh well I can't afford this sort of stuff anymore so I'm back to pressing my nose against the shop window and dreaming. On the plus side the £103 NAD amp continues to impress. Spent hours yesterday playing music, generally I only manage a couple of albums then get the urge to do something else. I never usually use this word to describe the sound of equipment as I think it's really lame, but the NAD is 'Musical'. I think I might get another so I have a spare and one to do some mods on. I wrote about this a little while back. Digital isn't the cheap way to Audio Nirvana that it's been touted as. Yes, you can get to a decent level, but to really start to rival everything the vinyl gives you, it isn't cheap....but neither is the vinyl. This is a stupid hobby Yeah, i am a fan of the NAD amps i have heard. They don't put a foot wrong and make some really enjoyable sound. For £100 they are stupidly good value. I paid £34 for a 312 when i got back into vinyl. Proper bargain.
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Post by macca on Feb 22, 2021 11:19:46 GMT
Which NAD amp is it Martin? C320BEE - total plastic-fantastic tat, there's zero snob value or bragging rights - not that us jaded enthusiasts care about that stuff of course - and no-one is going to take me seriously with this I know. But you know how many amps I own and have owned in the past and this NAD, it's right up there. I said it's not the last word in rez but it's still good enough that when I put on some Tull yesterday, first song, the multi-tracking on Anderson's vocals was obvious, Right there, no need to listen out for it or concentrate. You hear it whether you want to or not, even if you are doing something else while listening. The only other amp I own that does that to similar extent is the Krell KSA50S which I'm pretty comfortable in saying is the best power amp I've ever heard and would probably cost about ten grand if they still made them. Okay the NAD not quite as good as it in other areas but it's not hugely worse, just a couple of percent worse. Which I wouldn't forgive if it didn't have the qualities of sweetness and sonority, but it does.
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Post by macca on Feb 22, 2021 11:25:25 GMT
NAD has arrived, can you believe on an amp from 2003 that it only accepts bare wire speaker connection? Martin, a lot of amps had plastic plugs put into the speaker chassis plug. I'm not sure about yours, but with a small screwdriver, and a little bit of effort those plugs can maybe be removed to allow you to use banana plug. Worth a try. I know what you mean but not sure that will work in this case.
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Post by macca on Feb 22, 2021 11:26:22 GMT
Part of the reason I got out of vinyl was the cost but vinyl starts to look like a cheap pursuit compared to where you can go with digital. Oh well I can't afford this sort of stuff anymore so I'm back to pressing my nose against the shop window and dreaming. On the plus side the £103 NAD amp continues to impress. Spent hours yesterday playing music, generally I only manage a couple of albums then get the urge to do something else. I never usually use this word to describe the sound of equipment as I think it's really lame, but the NAD is 'Musical'. I think I might get another so I have a spare and one to do some mods on. I wrote about this a little while back. Digital isn't the cheap way to Audio Nirvana that it's been touted as. Yes, you can get to a decent level, but to really start to rival everything the vinyl gives you, it isn't cheap....but neither is the vinyl. This is a stupid hobby Yeah, i am a fan of the NAD amps i have heard. They don't put a foot wrong and make some really enjoyable sound. For £100 they are stupidly good value. I paid £34 for a 312 when i got back into vinyl. Proper bargain.
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Post by macca on Feb 22, 2021 11:38:44 GMT
Well I don't know about that, vinyl does a lot of things wrong that can't be compensated for no matter how much money you chuck at it. The turntable and phono stage set up has to be very good indeed before I can turn a blind eye to that and just enjoy the music and forget the equipment or the medium. for that reason I just don't buy the idea that you have to spend a fortune on digital in order to 'rival vinyl'. There's nothing to 'rival' IMO.
On the flip-side digital seems to have attracted a massive amount of snake-oil crap to it that I think confuses the layman into thinking there's 'more to be had', when really they just need to get better loudspeakers and maybe better amplifier instead.
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Feb 22, 2021 12:00:34 GMT
Well I don't know about that, vinyl does a lot of things wrong that can't be compensated for no matter how much money you chuck at it. The turntable and phono stage set up has to be very good indeed before I can turn a blind eye to that and just enjoy the music and forget the equipment or the medium. for that reason I just don't buy the idea that you have to spend a fortune on digital in order to 'rival vinyl'. There's nothing to 'rival' IMO. On the flip-side digital seems to have attracted a massive amount of snake-oil crap to it that I think confuses the layman into thinking there's 'more to be had', when really they just need to get better loudspeakers and maybe better amplifier instead. Yes, thats true and like i say, anyone starting HiFi as a hobby would and probably should avoid going the analogue route. Yet listening to this yesterday: www.vinyltap.co.uk/dvorak-cello-concerto-in-b-minor-0411777 The Vinyl devoured the digital version of the very same album. The Grandeur and scale of the vinyl was simply epic and the sheer power this LP generated seemed to make the Digital version sound totally compressed and flat. I know this is likely to be the matering, but when you have performances like that from vinyl that are unobtainable from the digital file of the same album, it just makes me more determined to keep pushing the analogue.
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Post by macca on Feb 22, 2021 12:43:46 GMT
It's true that the mastering can trump everything else.
There's a lot of places our musical tastes cross over but a lot of ground where they don't. I never listen to classical music for example, or that superbly well recorded but dirge-like stuff from breathy female vocalists with the bloke hitting the block of wood with a stick.
I mean I've got AC-DC on right now...I find with this sort of much-harder-to-reproduce-well full on rock music, digital just has no competition from vinyl. You can hear the snare being reflected from the studio wall and its obvious. You just don't get that on vinyl with this sort of music, there's just too much intrinsic noise.
Not everyone care about that sort of thing I know. Different priorities lead to different choices.
I had a mate round - another musician mate, drummer this time - and we were listening to The Doors, 'L A Woman'. He asked if it was a re-master because he said it sounded so crisp and clear compared to his original vinyl. He said it sounded like a 'modern' recording.
Well it is a re-master but that's not the only reason. He'd put the muddy sound of his LP down to it being an old recording.
Okay so he does not have some state of the art vinyl set up, but even so, that's the difference, you can get to hear the actual recording with digital.
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Post by antonio on Feb 22, 2021 12:58:57 GMT
"you can get to hear the actual recording with digital." You're stirring up a hornets nest there Macca, I like it.
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Post by macca on Feb 22, 2021 15:05:13 GMT
no, I hope not. I don't mean to. The whole digital/analogue thing bores me silly really. I mean what's the point? Go for the one you enjoy most, or both.
If there's one thing that gets me it's the assumption that vinyl is the benchmark for sound quality. Even before digital it was never the benchmark! It was always the poor cousin to reel to reel.
That was what all the serious enthusiasts had as their premier source back in the 1970s and early 1980s. The reason you used to be able to pick up top shag RTR decks for next to nothing back in the 1990s was because they all moved to digital.
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Post by antonio on Feb 23, 2021 1:06:06 GMT
^^^^^^^ Spoilsport
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