peanutbutterjam

Hi, someone at my area is selling his Theta DS-Pro Gen III DAC for $600, and the Wadia 12 DAC for $520. Any opinions on these 2 DACs? How would they compare with modern pieces of the that price? Thanks! Would love to hear some thoughts.

That was really one of the best reviews I've seen, and it has this air of sincerity that is so lacking mostly.

That's exactly what I thought too, but according to stereophile's Benchmark article, Stereophile: Benchmark DAC1 USB D/A processor & headphone amplifier What USB -> optical/coax SPDIF supports this (other than the empirical audio one)? I'm using a laptop which doesn't have any digital audio outs, so bascially USB is my only option.

Just curious, what is the technical aspects of this? Also how is it that most USB interfaces do not support any more than 16bit/48khz, but some few claim (e.g. Benchmark, BelCanto) claim that they can do 24bit/96kHz?

I guess it would make sense if Ray intended the user to put the PSU at the right of the amp. But that contradicts his efforts in making them stackable.

Hi guzziguy, I had exactly the same issue before with TOSLINK, though that was between my DAC and computer. My original cable had refused to lock in. I have since found another cable that works, and trying out some other cables from friends I can only conclude that there was some problem with the orginal cable, and thankfully not the jack on the DAC or com. Apparently the locking nub on the jack was too small. Hope yours turn out well too.

Is there any technical reason why it supposedly sounds better than foobar? From that site: There's a reason why foobar has a modular structure. I'm no programmer, but I doubt that guy is either. But heck its free to try.

I'm not too clear on this, but I read somewhere that the upsampling chip typically just adds in 8 extra bits of random data (for 16bit -> 24bit). Assuming this is true, this is why I thought it would be no different from using the DSP. I guess Wadia has some better algorithm than random?

Unfortunately that website only shows the 96kHz to 44.1kHz downsampling, is there anyway to make it show other rates? Does this plugin used in conjunction with a soundcard that supports the output sampling rate serve the same function as a upsampling chip/function?

About Vintage DACs, anyone heard of the Forte F50? I saw some ppl saying its good, but it practically didn't exist on the net.

Ok my bad I got it wrong then. Sorry for the confusion OP.

Um while this is definitely correct, I think that the term more describes the burson and audio-gd products. The term op-amp and discrete are quite an oxymoron, because opamp refers to the chip, and you can't have a discrete chip. So when ppl use the term "discrete opamp", I guess there are really saying "discrete replacement for an opamp chip", i.e. the burson and audio-gd products. Hope this helps.

Hey bro, let me put it this way. I don't believe in bashing ppl, even if their post sound extremely silly. I am just disappointed. I think the PS Digital Link DAC is very promising, heck that's why I asked about it. Ryan was then nice enough to come along and posted a link for that promotion. Of course I'm excited. And any review that comes out about it would command my attention. I don't place any bias on ppl, so I was prepared to read it even if its by you. Then you came along and posted that thing. Now I'm forced to take positive comments from your review with a pinch of salt, while giving greater weight the negetive ones. In short, instead of looking forward to a nice review by you which I can pretend to be balanced, I am now given a review that only allows me to decide whether the PS DL3 sucks or not, and NOT whether its good or not. Nothing against you, just disappointed.

How did you come to this conclusion? Which $5k DAC are you talking about? No offense here but what is the point of your post? This doesn't seem to lend your future impressions any weight at all. Maybe I'm the one who is reading this wrongly and talking too much. If this is so, may the mods kindly delete this. Regards.

Hi, I've been looking for some speakers for a while. And these popped out. However, my main 2 concerns are: 1. Lifespan. Apparently from what I've read, these speakers don't last long, with the delamination and whatsoever other issues. Frankly I don't know anything about them, but I was just concerned after reading through all the searches that popped out regarding issues with old planars. So how bad is it really? As in, does it really spoil so easily, and require high maintainance? And if so, is it easily repairable? 2. Performance. Now I know this is touchy, but while I've seen some great raving reviews about them, apparently there are some serious haters too. While I'm not surprised, since for everything there are their fan clubs and hate clubs, these ppl have pointed out flabby bass and what's not, but just REFUSE to give a comparison (i.e. bloated compared to what?). So in the more neutral opinion of ppl here, how does the maggies compare to other speakers of the price range? The seller is asking for $435 neg, which from a quick search seem to be quite an ok price (pls do let me know your experienced opinion though), but the condition is not great. The seller claims that its sonically fine, but says it "needs a glue job", whatever that means. I'll have to call him later, but assuming that this glue job is purely cosmetic, should I grab 'em? Thanks!