And while I practice my little cabala, I'm listening to the latest masterpiece album by John Mellencamp, "Life, Death, Love and Freedom", and trust me... I tried to make it sound good with the OPA211AID, LME49710NA/HA, etc... but with the LT1028 it always sounds best, full of life and expression, thanks to this chip's unrivalled combination of intellectual transparency, emotive musicality, and physical energy. 
Hmm, well The AD1852 would pair well with the LT1677... and it would be a nice change from my CS4398 routine... Or it would also go well with the LME49723...
I like the voltage out DACs because they allow for the simplest output stage. And AD1852 and CS4398 are very good sounding chips, no wonder they're so popular.
On the other hand, that PCM1796 DAC from Poppulse really tempts me too... and could use a couple of LT1028ACN8...
I like the voltage out DACs because they allow for the simplest output stage. And AD1852 and CS4398 are very good sounding chips, no wonder they're so popular.
On the other hand, that PCM1796 DAC from Poppulse really tempts me too... and could use a couple of LT1028ACN8...
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ADA4627-1BRZ is $12 a pop and I need four + browndogs..that won't be a cheap experiment.
the SS leaves me speechless on the AD797B...totally eye popping! it kills everything else I've heard by a LONG shot...and I happen to be a SS wh*re, I've never heard my cd1k so 360º'ish
I only have 5 of them, and TI has become very upset w/ my samples requests...the other day, one of their reps called me and became intrusive...and anyway I got a nocebo against BB chips.You might as well try! Also 6x OPA1611, for that matter
yeah, I told about that NG94 to a friend who got bored of the agressive sound of his Asus STX...and he loooves it(he's got zillions headphones)! Burson just made me a great offer on their HA-160 headphones amp, it's hard to say "NO"...need to make up my mind! fed w/ the AK4396>4*AD797B, this could sound nicer than my $0.5 NJM4580V(which is currently what is driving my headphones)
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The NG98 looks great to me, too. I like the 24V external power supply, divided into a few different regulated power lines internally.
That supply voltage BTW would allow me to use opamps which don't get to +/- 15V, like the AD8022 or AD8021, etc.
And that thing of being free to change DAC chip from CS4398 to AD1852 is especially intriguing...no? It gives you more freedom to "shape" the sound to meet you personal requirements...
OK, I'm starting to persuade myself
That supply voltage BTW would allow me to use opamps which don't get to +/- 15V, like the AD8022 or AD8021, etc.
And that thing of being free to change DAC chip from CS4398 to AD1852 is especially intriguing...no? It gives you more freedom to "shape" the sound to meet you personal requirements...
OK, I'm starting to persuade myself
Hey! I finally got a Poppulse PCM1796.I wonder how the Poppulse would sound with two ADA4627-1 in place of that LM4562...
That or two LT1028ACN8...
It's a nice little DAC, already sounding quite good with default opamps :
2*NE5532N as i/v, and 1*LM4562NA as filter/buffer
I (painfully) removed the 2 NE5532 to put some sockets instead.
Then I played with 2*LT1028ACN8, 2*LM4562NA and 4*LT1363CN8
Best setup for me was 4*LT1363CN8 as i/v, and 2*LT1028ACN8 as buffer.
Sound is now solid, full of bass, low distortion, clean trebles, so much air around the instruments... Pure joy!
I had my good old cd player to compare with (~400/500 $ micromega minium cd3, discrete output stage, a great reference for its price)
Micromega minium cd3
Without mods, the poppulse was behind. He's now even better (less noise/distortion with same musical enjoyment)!
I don't use earphones, I'm listening to big floorstanders, so 360° soundscape madness is not something crucial too me.
You should go for it, Andrea!
At this price, it's really a good piece of hardware.
yeah well, if there was an optional AK4396 we might talk
and these are headphones amp only I think? I thought you were using speakers?
ah well, someone else has given me great feedback on the HA-160 burson headphones amp...gonna pull the trigger I think
You're really crazy about that chip are you
No no, the NG98 has a normal line out too, it's just not through two RCA's but a minijack. I have a few 'audiophile mini-RCA cables', which have been left new and unused too long... but yeah, I'd still prefer something with RCA's after all.
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Thank you, I was sure it would be good. Great choice of opamps, BTW.
Can you please tell if the substitution of the NE5532's with the four LT1363 brought a big improvement alone, aside from the output opamp (as certainly the LT1028ACN8 are better than the LM4562)? I ask because I don't know if I'm willing to 'risk' replacing them - it might also steer me from the Poppulse in favor of the HA INFO NG94.
Of course I always have the option to just stay with my two DACs (maybe improve the SVDAC05 one last bit) and save up for new speakers
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I learned my lessons here
Yes, indeed. I tried without removing ne5532 first, differences were small (bass was stronger, but imaging, transparency, echoes were still behind my cd player).
4*LT1363 unleashed the dac. (2*LM4562 were already better, but still not enough revealing)
Sure, speakers and amplifier are even more important than any source optimization! (as soon as the source is decent sounding)Of course I always have the option to just stay with my two DACs (maybe improve the SVDAC05 one last bit) and save up for new speakers
yeah well, if there was an optional AK4396 we might talk
Well apparently they prefer the AD and the CS, because that's what they chose among the voltage-output chips...while they chose BB's current-output flagship chip for their supposedly better DAC (NG94). If that AK4396 was superior, we'd see it in all kinds of quality commercial players and DACs, but it doesn't seem to be the case. So far I've only seen it being used in two different Stello DACs.
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Thanks.
I don't mind my speakers at all, but I've seen a couple new bookshelves that look tempting... the MS Aviano 1 and the Wharfedale Diamond 10.1, plus the Italian (and maybe the best?) Indiana Line Musa 105.
Anyhow... my two tweaked (or should I use "modified"
) DACs sound great, and I don't know if another $200 DAC could bring me anything "more" - I'm only looking for something different (both my DACs have CS4398 + LT1028, an awesome duo BTW). I guess I've become addicted to the DAC part of the chain just for the way they let me play with all my countless opamp samples
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Anyway, if I buy a new DAC (most probably the NG94 or the Poppulse) I'll compare with what I have, and get a better measure of the value of the CS4398 that I've always found to be a chip that sounds extremely good.
The AD1852 sounded really good to me as well, but I doubt it has the potential of the CS4398. Nevertheless, should I go for the NG98, I'd take the one with the AD1852, so as to use different opamps from what I've found so far to have a synergy with the CS4398..
The AD1852 sounded really good to me as well, but I doubt it has the potential of the CS4398. Nevertheless, should I go for the NG98, I'd take the one with the AD1852, so as to use different opamps from what I've found so far to have a synergy with the CS4398..
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What the populse brings me more is the ability to be fed with up to 24bit/192MHz PCM via optical or coax.Anyhow... my two tweaked (or should I use "modified"
With my mediaplayer (Popcorn Hour C200), my backed up Cds to flac, my HD movies with lossless audio (bluray+pcm or mkv+flac) sounded less enjoyable than my cd player.
I'm happy now
do they do 128X oversampling by default at all fs? anyway, DAC's have far less influence about the end resulting sound than op-amps.
there's many DAC w/ the AK4396 AFAIK, even some uber pricey ones..there's a list on head-fi actually.
BTW, I was advised to try LM6172, would be a nice change over the AD797...but humm??
Does that detail really matter for sound quality? I'd look at the THD at the various sample rates instead.
Hmmmmm.....
The LM6172 eh? Try it if you will
My cd player features the AD1852 and it sounds great, so I guess this one has good potential too
The X-Meridian 7.1 Thread [Text View] - Page 7 - AVS Forum
yeah, the LM6172 looks smokey
well, the higher the oversampling, the better IMHO: Upsampling vs. Oversampling for Digital Audio — Reviews and News from Audioholics
yeah, the LM6172 looks smokey