TC_Shadow

My ECD-1 Vout is significantly higher than 1.6V, I would say it's at least 3.2V unbalanced (matachd to 0.1dB with another source that has 3.5V output) and probably 6.4V balanced. Are there different versions of ECD-1 (I remember reading the manual and thought to myself that's a high output)?

Mine was a Veda Audio SA model....burn baby burn

In one of the SD forum threads, I remember reading someone mentioned Touch can provide USB output to USB DACs. I could be wrong though. found the thread: Touch USB port as digital output to DAC? - Squeezebox : Community : Forums

I made a off-the-cuff comment about Alpha v dCS stack and got the mob coming after me; that's where we spent 2 pages arguing over whether I am a douche. I hope we can get back to talking about the Ayre DAC, perhaps how it works or doesn't work with Touch. FYI..I have had my 2nd M3 with sigma for a couple of weeks now. I still feel Opera is the superior amp in terms of mid-range presence and realism, and in term of its HF analog-like quality. M3 has gotten better with sigma compared to STEPS..it's better, just not quite "there".

what's your point? DV337 sounds fantastic with 650 as does B52. But then again, my taste in gear has changed over time. Now days, I look for more realistic, more analog-like and more musical sounds in equipments over sounds that are technically superior but lacking the realism factor. I am more mid-range and treble focused now whereas before I would take bass performance as one of the most important factors in my decision making. If you like Dynahi, you should get one. It's a great amp, but runs hot as hell. Ok..can we please get back to talking about the Ayre DAC? I am thinking about getting it along with Touch so I can finally have my all-Ayre system.

gosh...no need to get defensive here... I have a lot of respect for you n_maher (I am actually using cables you DIYed for me I am just putting down my thoughts after listening to both DACs for hours side by side. I trust my hearing and I know what I like. This is personal preference and is in no way reflecting the absolute performance of either DAC

Mid-fi is a relative term. You were absolutely correct that I dismissed Alpha when I heard it in comparison with the dCS stack. dCS was so much ahead of the Alpha in term of its realistic rendering of instruments. I am sure, by itself, Alpha is great, just like many other components, but we don't live in a vacuum so everything is relative in this hobby. Granted I did listen on an unfamiliar system, but I was listenigin to the recordings I was very very familiar with. Honestly, between C5-xe and ECD-1, I suspect ECD-1 has the mid-fi DAC (Ayre doesn't have a DAC on par with C5-xe, yet). I can't afford a C5-xe, so ECD-1 will do for now (a big upgrade from DAC1 thanks to a number of Monkey's posts here)

no extensive experience, just spent a day with both at a place Monkey hates, so YMMV. both DACs are neutral, but the dCS has the most realistic HF quality/extension I have ever herd. Strat violin sounds so real I can swear its in the room. Alpha, comparatively, didn't have that realistic HF extension (hard to explain, but I was conscious I was listening to a DAC). Listening to dCS playing quartet performance is like listening to real violins playing, just unreal. This naturalness to the point of "real" spends across other instruments and music genres. What ever dCS did to their ring DAC must be magic (or great DSP engineering)

forgot to mention, Sound by Singer has the dCS stack and the Alpha hooked up to Magico Mini if anyone is interested in auditioning those pieces.

like you are in heaven. the new dCS stack is really something, certainly put Alpha in its rightful place - just another mid-fi DAC

sound stage and bass definition for the most part..oh and this lack of "soul stirring" quality. But thanks to this post, I finally found a DAC I can enjoy via my balanced inputs on my amp

You might be interested to know the several "short-comings" of ECD-1 are, for all practical purposes, cured with using XLR output. SD Transporter + ECD-1 is proving to be so very close to Cx-5e, although transporter + CAL Alpha still has the edge in presence (hard to beat tube at their own game)

ECD-1 is in the house..but I am not... school sucks...

DACing off is time consuming. So far the winner is CAL Alpha followed in some distance by DAC 1 and the Transporter internal DAC. I hope my impulse ECD1 purchase will dethrone Alpha, since my Alpha is only good for Redbook audio. Granted DAC 1 is more dynamic and has better sound stage and the bass def hit harder (DAC1 is not cold in comparison to both Alpha and Transporter)

IMO Opera sounds much better than DAC1; both of which I have. I bought another M3 w/ sigma as this would be my 2nd M3; my 1st M3 had STEPS. I have lowered expectations, however (but I am open to the possibility of a miracle with the new sigma ps

something to look forward to for black Friday

Quad is not full range, if full range means 20hz - 20khz But I love Quad 2805 and 2095 or whatever older version you can find. I heard many Quad electros and all of them are just so musical w/o sacrificing any hi-fi quality (ok they don't extend as far and go as deep as Watt Puppy...but so what). OP: if having 2 full-size mattresses in your living room turns you off, you can try spkers from Spendor, Harbeth, ProAc, or Tannoy. You can do fairly well with $4k+ budget, assuming you are getting from Agon. But again, no full range until you can spend at least 10k. Oh and IMO the newer B&W sounds nothing like a good English speaker, hi-fi but not musical...what a shame

not sure...my DAC1 sounds nothing like glass breaking, and I am one of those high frequency sensitive types.

Between DA10 and DAC1, DAC1, to my ears, sounds better than DA10. DA10 is too detailed and cold, and not musical at all. I am not surprised that your denon sounds more musical.

I don't know why Meier's input imp is so F#@$ low (the industry std is around 50kohm for unbalanced and 25kohm for balanced). I am using a DAC1 with the Opera; I tried using CAL Alpha/Delta but that didn't work out too well (1.5kohm output imp..lol).

yeah..and I have had my HD650 for quite a while now. I had actually owned M3 for quite a while (>1yr) before letting it go; it wasn't bad, but I didn't get goosebumps listening to it like how I did with Dynahi. I like Opera because I get goosebumps every time I listen to it.

Rockhopper, AD 8610 w/ STEPS Opera has an input imp of 12Kohm which is very low IMO and hard to match with.

I was up 3-4 indent (the source was Rega Saturn) ....with HD650... am I deaf? HD650 benefits greatly from going balanced, B52 is balanced and Dynahi isn't. Never heard Dynamite, maybe that's better than B52..I wouldn't know.

What type of music do you generally listen to? Fungi: you can chime in on this question as well.

Cmoy << Pimeta < PPAv1 < PPA v2 = M^3 (Rockhopper w/ 8610 and STEPS) = Presonus CS = DV 336/332 = G-lite < DV336SE << Opera == SPL Auditor/Phonitor =< Dynahi < DV 337 (high imp cans only) < B52 My first impression of M^3 was literally -- "that's it?" either something was wrong with your opera, or we had an operator error (I suspect you had a imp mismatch between your source and opera