spritzer

There are a lot of sanded parts in there so the regulators and opamps are unknown at this point. I've been listening pretty much all day and I quite like how this DAC sounds. The slightly thinner sound does give a lot more insight into the various parts of the spectrum and the separation between instruments is excellent. Voices are reproduced perfectly, quite startling actually and the bass...let's just say that the Carbon CC shines here. Not just depth but the detail...something which the SR-009's just can't do the 007's handle easily. The top end might be a stumbling block for the new, bright as all fuck, Stax sets such as the 507, L700 and 009's. Far from being bright on the 007's but the extension and presence is something else and it might push the bright squad over the top. Now the only thing I'm missing is the volume control on the MSB...

I doubt it is fully balanced as the TOTL stuff has four discrete banks but I've yet to check under the board.

It's this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/252689559326?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT Though the price has gone up almost 130$ since I bought it 11 days ago. Not sure what version this is but I don't really care. I always use the USB input and the drivers were flawless as one expects from the XMOS stuff. Those are 105°C quality caps so I would expect a lot of life out of them.

So the Denafrips arrived an hour or so ago and here are some pics. First off, it can certainly hold its ground against the MSB Platinum DAC3 with the new Carbon CC and SR-007Mk1BL. Way too early for an concrete findings but resolution in the Denafrips might be a bit better, the sound just a tad more forward and maybe a tad thinner...not sure to be honest but the DAC is still dead cold. Over all the build quality is excellent, solid steel box with an aluminum front panel. All quality pieces used through out and even the mains select switch is a nice C&K unit, not the horrible open cheapo shit that's in the Holo.

I doubt I'll ever find the plug as it was molded. I might need the ratio of the transformer though at some point if my Suprex stuff doesn't have the same transformer. I might be able to squeeze a small mains transformer in there with the right ratio. Yup, the worst company ever. Their repair work is just legendary...

Nope, can't be done on those boards. You could do a second board for just the CCS but yeah... it would be a bit of work.

I'll hook up something to drive these or just fit some transformers in the earcups. Might be the easiest route...

Excellent. Looks like green and yellow feed the transformers and blue and red from each of the yellow taps goes to the headphone socket as well. Output from the transformer seems to be black and red. Red going to the PCB where a cap is added as something (compensation perhaps) and then green and blue from the small black sheathed cable go the socket. Dynamic driven off the speaker taps with a single ended electret element.... Seems reasonable.

Ahh so these came with an energizer!! I didn't crack open the drivers to check but can you shoot a pic inside the adapter? Mine came with nothing like that... Black is clearly common so all drivers driven single ended.

That is the old issue with these old units, use them and risk them breaking or just make them look odd in some cabinet.

Bloody gnomes!!!

Stax serial numbers mean absolutely nothing so you can't use them as any guide. That said, some retailers might have stock sitting for years before it is sold. Balanced and single ended should sound exactly the same and no...the wires are not at fault... Did you completely clone the - input off the + one?

Nothing yet.

I'll fly in and out via NYC and I should have one night by myself so I'm up for some shenanigans...

I'll be visiting Kevin at the end of March so I'll try them out and see if I them better than the Wiha stuff.

They are US only and nothing like that here.

Excellent!!

20V of drift is nothing to worry about.

I normally use the Wiha 36050 stippers but they do wear out after a while with the 24# teflon stuff. The Wiha 24672 is supposed to be better but I need the bloody PTFE cartridge for it...

The EP-5 is indeed the massive hybrid with a horrid coiled cable and 5 wires inside it. I was going to take the easy route and not bother to ohm them out and figure out what they were doing with all of them. The PEP-79's were excellent. I have the PEP-71's here with the massive wood grain adapter and the plan is to someday do a bunch of youtube videos about these. Plus the Stanton Isophase (very, very odd those), PWB's and a whole lot of weirdness I've been collecting.

I'll throw something together eventually as I need a balanced DAC for my test setup. What is the USB input of choice these days? Still XMOS what ever?

One thing cropped into my head, didn't you once have a Suprex EP-5, Justin? I bought one but it lacks the TRS plug and the multitude of wires has made me go all "mehh" so I didn't reterminate.

Can I blame you too for the 150$ Wiha wire stripper I bought which really doesn't like PTFE wires? I need a new cartridge for those... It will sure be fun to compare it to the MSB. They sent me message asking for my email address so they can send me the drivers so that is a good sign. The Soekris modules are also sitting here but I have no idea what to do with them.

Anybody remember how angry he got at CJ'10 when Justin lent Tyll some of his headphones to test?

Yeah I bought one... blame Kevin as he's such a bad influence on me. It's shipped but I have no idea when it will arrive...