TMoney

Heh, fair enough. I was listening to them on AMB's Dynahi, so I guess thats more or less an ideal case as far as amplification.

^ Agreed. Its amazing how well they stand up tonally to some of the current flagships. Senn really nailed it with the 600s. They are clearly beaten by todays big boys, but they still sound awfully nice.

http://www.oppo-bluray.co.uk/UserFiles/Docs/PDF/HFN_Oppo%20BDP-105EU.pdf The reviewer is a nitwit, but I noticed this in the sidebar: "However, SACD is now downsampled to 88.2kHz LPCM regardless of whether the Audio Format > SACD Output mode is set to DSD or LPCM (also unaffected by HDMI Audio or Coaxial/Optical output setting)." Not that you would ever hear a difference, but its interesting none the less. EDIT: Wow, those guys are quick over there (avs). Their comments: "That statement represents a profound misunderstanding of what's going on with SACD DSD audio. There is no down-sampling for DSD-Direct-to-Analog Conversion nor for DSD output via HDMI. The concept doesn't exist for DSD. There is, however, the required 50Khz filter in the DAC. For conversion to LPCM, use of 88.2KHz is also not "down-sampling". It is "correct sampling" as it also imposes the equivalent of that 50KHz filter. DSD encoding is subject to quantization noise in the audible frequencies. SACD counters this by "noise shaping" which pushes the noise up above 20Khz at the expense of making it substantially worse up there. This noise is not due to the quality of the recording or the quality of the playback. It is, rather, simply an artifact of using DSD with noise shaping which has to be dealt with. You keep it from getting to the output via the 50KHz filter as part of converting SACD DSD to Analog. However, when you convert to LPCM, whatever is downstream of the player no longer knows the signal contains that DSD quantization noise -- it has no way of knowing the signal came off an SACD disc. So no filtering gets applied. By using an LPCM sampling rate below 100KHz the math accomplishes the same thing -- those high frequency noise components get discarded. Simply put, it is not always the case that a higher sampling rate is better, and converting SACD DSD to LPCM is just such a case." This answer makes a lot of sense given the points raised in that XIPH article regarding distortion issues.

I'm afraid to ask if the bag is yellow.

Happy late birthday, Dave. No, I still don't have any prog rock for you to listen to while demoing my gear. Sorry.

Happy Birthday to the proprietor of the unofficial Grado Headphone Museum.

Oh noes. Sad to see one of the all time Bay Area greats go.

Amazing.

^ I have the same laptop and use and older version of this bag to carry it around. It might exceed your budget, but maybe you can find it cheaper elsewhere?

Arnaud, it generally looks like you did a good job. Here is some feedback on your questions. Feel free to ignore it if you do not agree. 1. A1 and A2 are really the same question. Either combine them into one question or eliminate A2. 2. I would eliminate question B3 altogether or replace it with a question like "Does stax design earspeakers with a target frequency response in mind?" 3. Maybe change B4 to ask "Can you describe the design process for your amplifiers." 4. B6 and B7 can be combined into one question. Just add an "and" between them. 5. C1, C2, and C3 don't seem all that important and might be trade secrets. I would consider cutting them. 6. D1 change "Can you share" to "Will there be." D2 and D3 also seem to be asking this same question over again. I'd eliminate them. 7. With E1 eliminate the entire first sentence. Hope that helps. Good luck.

"Versions" eh? Please tell me they are sending you both the 13 and the 16. An IF review of both would be awesome.

If he is talking about using it as a DAC for his squeezebox and about having not yet tried the headphone amplifier I'd wager he is talking about the 105.

I'd rather hear about the virtues of $10,000 Esoteric CD players.

James Taylor - JT SACD by Mofi. Stunning job here, beautiful singing by James captured brilliantly by Mofi. What a great listen.

Dave, just because you enjoy the same gear as us does not necessarily mean that this site is a good fit for you.

I do have the original SACD PS3, but I think I may be SOL because my firmware is too new. I'll have to check once I get home.

Heh, no doubt. Hence the part about "at least two camps"

Does anyone have a link to the method to plug the PS3 into the computer to read SACDs? I'd love to jack the PS3 into my computer and start posting pictures of some of these SHM-SACDs to see how they compare. Going by ear, some of these waveforms must look fantastic.

^ I agree with you. There are at least two camps on this. Some of us are more sensitive to treble harshness (real or perceived, I have no idea) and prefer the 007MK1. Others are not and prefer the 009. I find the same dichotomy in dynamics with the HD800 vs. LCD2 debate. Those who are sensitive to treble tend to gravitate twoards the LCDs, while those who aren't often prefer the HD8s. Different strokes for different folk, I guess.

I believe the volume is handled by the Sabre DAC. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

My goodness, these Japanese and their direct DSD transfers from the master tapes onto SACD are making a believer out of me. They may cost upwards of $50 a pop but gawddamn do they ever sound great. I'm listening to the SHM-SACD of Exile on Main Street right now and I've got to say its the first time I've ever heard a Stones recording with dynamic range. On every CD version I've heard up till now Charlie's drums always seem to get buried by the compression. Now, they really pop, like just about every other instrument. Mick's vocals seem a bit farther back in the mix compared to the regular CD releases, but lets be honest, on Exile thats the way it should be. Really the only downside to the BDP-105 for me so far has been the lack of a Windows 8 driver for the USB DAC. Hopefully that comes soon.

I have new appreciation for why Kevin and some of the other heavy-hitters on this site listen to primarily SACDs. My goodness some of these old recordings sound nice. I think my wallet is really gonna hurt over the next few months. Neil Young Archives on Blu-ray 24/192 ain't to bad either. And I haven't even tried using it as a DAC yet.

Getting my SACD -> 105 -> 009 working... very nice. Why don't normal redbook CDs get dynamic range like this? Holy smokes!

Just got the shipping confirmation from Oppo. Looks like it'll get delivered to my office tomorrow and come home with me tomorrow night.

Heh, indeed Voltron and Dusty. I checked out SA-CD.net before I made these purchases to make sure I avoided clunkers. Until this week with the BDP-105 and sacds the ol' wallet was starting to feel kind of heavy. Now, not so much.