Here is some of the view on the OPA HDAM by the creator, audio-gd.
http://www.audio-gd.com/enweb/pro/diy/OPA.htm
Review
----------
OPA-EARTH
First impression I must say very long lasting. I have found the sound that I miss. The earth sounds so natural and crisp clear. The separation is very good when I play the chinese high impact drums. The vocal is so natural and the singer sibilance (like the Sssst, Ssssh) is gone. This is what I am looking for. It is so much better than the OPA 627, way much better.
good job. next I will test OPA Sun.
OPA-SUN
This is initial impression on OPA Sun.
Just spend some time listening to the OPA Sun. Initial impression again is wide soundstage offer by this discrete opamp.
Actuall to tell the difference between Sun and Earth is minor. It is more dynamic, slightly deeper bass and controlled mid mid bass. Instrument accuracy is good and imaging is accurate. On gypsy high rhtymic songs, the complex passage is handled with good resolution. OPA Sun detailing of instrument is impressive, yet polish at the edges of vocal.
OPA Moon
First off, I need to say that if I don't take my Senn 650s off my head while I'm writing this it will take an awful long time to write! With OPA Moon in my amp -KHA- I am constantly drawn into the music, so hard as it is ....... ok, I had to wait until Sara K had finished.
Some time ago in my distant past, maybe some twenty seven/eight years ago, I had the first real shock in my musical evolution. I had just co-created the Hawkes Bay Audio Club with a couple of friends, wanting to expand our musical universe. The head salesman for Perreax Audio at the time brought along an Aura turntable, a magnificent and weighty gold beast, topped with a Dynavector 505 arm and a Koetsu Onyx moving coil cartridge, the sound was so stunning it was a revelation that has stuck with me ever since. Even on the Sex Pistols' God Save the Queen, the sheer physical presence of that sound opened me up to a whole new world of audio.
Some years later I was to have that arm and cartridge living in my lounge mounted on an Oracle turntable for a month or two.
There have been other quantum leaps in my audio evolution like that and another one came my way yesterday in the form of OPA Moon.
It's come as such a surprise that I will guard a tendency to gush over it, which would not be hard!
Firstly, I need to put it into some form of context, because I am using the OPA Moon in my amp, KHA, and not in the Zero's DAC, which has OPA Earth installed. The two are intimately related because what I am now hearing through the Sennheiser 650s is telling me I wasn't previously getting the best from the DAC with OPA Earth.
Somehow there is a far greater synergy in KHA with the Moon module installed, than there was with OPA Earth in there. I am putting it down to the single ended circuit of Moon being rather different than that of the more complex circuit of Earth as a distinct possibility. So far.
Although the Moon could hardly be described as run-in, of all the three HDAM modules, it has taken by far the shortest time to warm to the task. After a couple of hours warm up, I moved it from my Yamaha CD player to the Mac iBook and it has done nothing but sing it's heart out since. I basically listened to music for hours until 1:30 AM and even then it was a tough call to switch off the kit.
There is a mellifulous and effortless flow to the music that just pours into the Senns, with all styles of music that I have played so far. Classical, jazz, rock and pop and Loreena McKennitt, who has a style all of her own.
The word that really comes to mind for me is LYRICAL. No CD is untouched by it's presence. Actually, I'm not sure audio-gd do it any great favours in describing the way they have; as 'tube like and sentimental'. If you think of that description as soft and warm, it's not accurate. In my system at present, it's that very lyrical nature that is so tube-like. What has surprised me in that are the dynamics! From drums to cymbals there is a realism that just sounds so right that I'm having some difficulty finding the language to describe it. Some of the midrange dynamics just awed me, not in the hi-fi sense of great speed and pushing the emphasis forward, far from it, more in the lines of changing from a 50W amp to 200W, it becomes effortless. Rhythmically it's superb, wonderful timing, yes that's true. In saying that though, it's the small details, dynamic accents, subtle inflections in the way an instrument is played that abound here in a way that Earth didn't do in KHA, as great as it sounded there. It's now as if I can actually here the Zero properly, which shows how terrific the Earth HDAM is in the DACs output.
I don't see it at all as the Moon colouring the sound of the DAC, quite the opposite. For those in the Zero Owners Club who like their midrange pushed forward, you may find the Moon not to your liking, it's a little more laid back here, though do NOT claim that to mean it's warm and lacking in detail. You would be missing out big time. Conversely, those of you with slightly bright and/or forward headphones that might like some midrange solidity and dimension in their music may come to really appreciate what the Moon has to offer.
I'm going to go out on a bit of a limb here and say OPA Moon is tube-like in the best sense, open, clean, flowing, lyrical, integrated from top to bottom. I like this better than with my own Trevor Lees pre-amp in circuit, though it shares many attributes. OPA Moon in KHA connects me emotionally to the music, it communicates in a ways that are truly exciting. There is a greater sense of humanity, easily heard in songs that are duets. With most CDs it's as if I've never really heard them before.
All I can say is, go try it, see if it works for you. I'm buying more next week!
Kingwa, you're a legend!
S-Man
http://www.audio-gd.com/enweb/pro/diy/OPA.htm
Review
----------
OPA-EARTH
First impression I must say very long lasting. I have found the sound that I miss. The earth sounds so natural and crisp clear. The separation is very good when I play the chinese high impact drums. The vocal is so natural and the singer sibilance (like the Sssst, Ssssh) is gone. This is what I am looking for. It is so much better than the OPA 627, way much better.
good job. next I will test OPA Sun.
OPA-SUN
This is initial impression on OPA Sun.
Just spend some time listening to the OPA Sun. Initial impression again is wide soundstage offer by this discrete opamp.
Actuall to tell the difference between Sun and Earth is minor. It is more dynamic, slightly deeper bass and controlled mid mid bass. Instrument accuracy is good and imaging is accurate. On gypsy high rhtymic songs, the complex passage is handled with good resolution. OPA Sun detailing of instrument is impressive, yet polish at the edges of vocal.
OPA Moon
First off, I need to say that if I don't take my Senn 650s off my head while I'm writing this it will take an awful long time to write! With OPA Moon in my amp -KHA- I am constantly drawn into the music, so hard as it is ....... ok, I had to wait until Sara K had finished.
Some time ago in my distant past, maybe some twenty seven/eight years ago, I had the first real shock in my musical evolution. I had just co-created the Hawkes Bay Audio Club with a couple of friends, wanting to expand our musical universe. The head salesman for Perreax Audio at the time brought along an Aura turntable, a magnificent and weighty gold beast, topped with a Dynavector 505 arm and a Koetsu Onyx moving coil cartridge, the sound was so stunning it was a revelation that has stuck with me ever since. Even on the Sex Pistols' God Save the Queen, the sheer physical presence of that sound opened me up to a whole new world of audio.
Some years later I was to have that arm and cartridge living in my lounge mounted on an Oracle turntable for a month or two.
There have been other quantum leaps in my audio evolution like that and another one came my way yesterday in the form of OPA Moon.
It's come as such a surprise that I will guard a tendency to gush over it, which would not be hard!
Firstly, I need to put it into some form of context, because I am using the OPA Moon in my amp, KHA, and not in the Zero's DAC, which has OPA Earth installed. The two are intimately related because what I am now hearing through the Sennheiser 650s is telling me I wasn't previously getting the best from the DAC with OPA Earth.
Somehow there is a far greater synergy in KHA with the Moon module installed, than there was with OPA Earth in there. I am putting it down to the single ended circuit of Moon being rather different than that of the more complex circuit of Earth as a distinct possibility. So far.
Although the Moon could hardly be described as run-in, of all the three HDAM modules, it has taken by far the shortest time to warm to the task. After a couple of hours warm up, I moved it from my Yamaha CD player to the Mac iBook and it has done nothing but sing it's heart out since. I basically listened to music for hours until 1:30 AM and even then it was a tough call to switch off the kit.
There is a mellifulous and effortless flow to the music that just pours into the Senns, with all styles of music that I have played so far. Classical, jazz, rock and pop and Loreena McKennitt, who has a style all of her own.
The word that really comes to mind for me is LYRICAL. No CD is untouched by it's presence. Actually, I'm not sure audio-gd do it any great favours in describing the way they have; as 'tube like and sentimental'. If you think of that description as soft and warm, it's not accurate. In my system at present, it's that very lyrical nature that is so tube-like. What has surprised me in that are the dynamics! From drums to cymbals there is a realism that just sounds so right that I'm having some difficulty finding the language to describe it. Some of the midrange dynamics just awed me, not in the hi-fi sense of great speed and pushing the emphasis forward, far from it, more in the lines of changing from a 50W amp to 200W, it becomes effortless. Rhythmically it's superb, wonderful timing, yes that's true. In saying that though, it's the small details, dynamic accents, subtle inflections in the way an instrument is played that abound here in a way that Earth didn't do in KHA, as great as it sounded there. It's now as if I can actually here the Zero properly, which shows how terrific the Earth HDAM is in the DACs output.
I don't see it at all as the Moon colouring the sound of the DAC, quite the opposite. For those in the Zero Owners Club who like their midrange pushed forward, you may find the Moon not to your liking, it's a little more laid back here, though do NOT claim that to mean it's warm and lacking in detail. You would be missing out big time. Conversely, those of you with slightly bright and/or forward headphones that might like some midrange solidity and dimension in their music may come to really appreciate what the Moon has to offer.
I'm going to go out on a bit of a limb here and say OPA Moon is tube-like in the best sense, open, clean, flowing, lyrical, integrated from top to bottom. I like this better than with my own Trevor Lees pre-amp in circuit, though it shares many attributes. OPA Moon in KHA connects me emotionally to the music, it communicates in a ways that are truly exciting. There is a greater sense of humanity, easily heard in songs that are duets. With most CDs it's as if I've never really heard them before.
All I can say is, go try it, see if it works for you. I'm buying more next week!
Kingwa, you're a legend!
S-Man
Hello everybody,
i´m using PD products for a long time now and really like them.
GainClone premium, spdif and usb dac aswell as the shigai
clone are runnig at my home .
Right now i want to upgrade my system with an superb
usb cable. Has anyone favourits? Which ones are high
quality?
Greetings Ulf
i´m using PD products for a long time now and really like them.
GainClone premium, spdif and usb dac aswell as the shigai
clone are runnig at my home .
Right now i want to upgrade my system with an superb
usb cable. Has anyone favourits? Which ones are high
quality?
Greetings Ulf
I don't have experience with USB cables, although some of the people that are using my (USB) DACs mentioned Kimber.
As to SPDIF cable, the best choice is Belkin Synapse, not manufactured any more, but I still have some old stock, if someone is interested.
It is way better than anything else I tried so far.
As to SPDIF cable, the best choice is Belkin Synapse, not manufactured any more, but I still have some old stock, if someone is interested.
It is way better than anything else I tried so far.
For those who are using USB DACs, I recently came across an interesting manual on "The Art of building Computer Transports":
http://imageevent.com/cics/v03theartofbuildingcomputertrnsp
http://imageevent.com/cics/v03theartofbuildingcomputertrnsp
Looks like it may be the way to go. For those who haven't come across it yet, there's a lot more on the subject on the Computer Audiophile site.
I think Peter may be onto something significant by fitting his DAC into his integrated Gainclone. Things are getting interesting.
I think Peter may be onto something significant by fitting his DAC into his integrated Gainclone. Things are getting interesting.
Thought I'd share a pic of one of Peters premium DACs. The case is just a copy of his, but the thing is really nice, very solid and the sound is indeed sublime. i may have to review the other DACs I have and look to disposing of one or 2 of them!
I wouldn't hesitate in recommending one of them. Indeed I would be interested in trying the USB one too.
Fran
I wouldn't hesitate in recommending one of them. Indeed I would be interested in trying the USB one too.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Fran
USB add-on
Peter,
I was wanting to add the USB front end to my DAC - you quote $30 for the board - does that include all components and connectors? And what would the shipping costs be to the UK?
I recently changed my output cables on my DAC from what I thought were good cables to some of Grover's - the change was significant - I am enjoying your DAC even more now - to think I had been limiting its potential.
I am thinking about finally trying to use a computer at the front end (currently using a Squeezebox) - do you have any recommendations for outputs etc from the computer.
I have started to look at the web-sites / articles quoted above - it looks like my weekend will be filled with that!
Regards
Alan
Peter,
I was wanting to add the USB front end to my DAC - you quote $30 for the board - does that include all components and connectors? And what would the shipping costs be to the UK?
I recently changed my output cables on my DAC from what I thought were good cables to some of Grover's - the change was significant - I am enjoying your DAC even more now - to think I had been limiting its potential.
I am thinking about finally trying to use a computer at the front end (currently using a Squeezebox) - do you have any recommendations for outputs etc from the computer.
I have started to look at the web-sites / articles quoted above - it looks like my weekend will be filled with that!
Regards
Alan
As mentioned previously, the Premium USB DAC kit is $250, transformer and Cardas RCAs are extra.
If you need just the front end section, it would be the kit less 8 rectifiers and 2 x BG STD 1000/25, everything else stays the same, you do have separate inputs and separate outputs, the PS is common for both DACs.
If you need just the front end section, it would be the kit less 8 rectifiers and 2 x BG STD 1000/25, everything else stays the same, you do have separate inputs and separate outputs, the PS is common for both DACs.
I also found that lowering the gain on amps can make the sound smoother.
I think there are two reasons for this ( assuming the amps are stable ):
1. distortion should be less
2. power supply rejection ratio should be better
I guess it's down to how much gain you need and what sound you prefer.
mike
I think there are two reasons for this ( assuming the amps are stable ):
1. distortion should be less
2. power supply rejection ratio should be better
I guess it's down to how much gain you need and what sound you prefer.
mike
I guess I will have to play with the rest of everything else that affects imaging. If that does not improve it hmm there is a lot more bloom of all the stuff per say... It sounds more well real. However if I can not get some control, which seems to be put on the speakers now in large part. That and my CD player needs work.
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