Contrastique

Quick update: purchased a Matrix Audio Mini-i pro 3 via Ebay for 400€. Good bang for the buck I suppose and option to upgrade the dac in de future.

How do you like it? Seems like a proper way to go. Would be what I need actually..

Hi guys! Thanks for the replies and kind welcome backs 🙂 Good point @jpelg . I think the Maggies need a bit more juice so a more powerful amp would be a future thing. But it's now mostly a matter of changing the source due to compatibilty issues. The Macbook is seriously outdated and I would prefer not to use a laptop anymore. A mac-mini would mean that I'd have to go the route of a USB-dac again. A streamer with a proper dac would also be an option but I don't know where to look. Or at least a streamer with a dac on par with the Duet and with the ability to bypass the internal one and add a more proper one down the line. I am very much in love with these Maggies though. I heard the 1.7 at a friend's place..that just blew me away. Never heard electrostats in speaker shape before.

Hi all, have been out of the game for a while but slowly lurking again. I still use a Macbook pro (late 2008) as a source to play local files on a separate drive and stream Tidal. But it’s really too old to function properly. Looking for a headless mac mini running Roon server. I still have the macbook attached to an older Apogee Duet, the FW version, and slowly looking to upgrade to, preferably a proper USB dac. Saw a Stello DAC DA200 II for around €500,00 though not sure if that would be a significant step up. I use a Solen / Ensemble B-50 amp with tube front and SE end. Might upgrade to more powerful tube amp in the future. And have this all hooked up to a pair of little Maggies, which I acquired recently and is the cause of the audio fire lightning up again 😍 Anyway, a usb-dac for a mac mini; what would you recommend? What’s interesting these days? I’ve been away for so long! Budget around 1000-1500 second hand. Would that get me more than let’s say a new Duet? Edit: If I were to stray away from the USB-dac route, which would be better quality wise I suppose, which streamer, roon-ready, with a built-in dac on par with the Duet would you recommend? Or a streamer with the option to bypass the dac later on.

Not a book but a manual on collodion photography this time: I've been working with collodion photography for a couple of years (photography on glass plates dating from 1851) now but it's always interesting learning more as there's so much more to it. This guy and his wife are insanely knowledgeable and their stuff is fantastic to read. I'm also reading "Point counter Point" by Aldous Huxley but that's currently on hold.

Ah that shucks! Better give it some rest to not stress it even more but it must feel horrible after all this time you've been working towards this event. Had an infection in my knee which kept me from doing sports the last couple of weeks. Went spinning for the first time today, hope it'll work out. It sucks to be held back by physical injuries. Good luck!

Another question. I'm now running my source (Apogee Duet) SE. Would it make a substantial difference to make it balanced too?

Awesome event and cause! I didn't see this before but..done! Have a good ride!

I'm about to eat a bunny..not our bunny, just a bunny. Along with some veggies and other stuff (not sure what exactly, I'm behind the computer not the stove). The head is being boiled for different purposes; a classic win-win

Darn, I thought you were joking but it's really there... I might go and stir the pot...oh well, no bother...last time was with Germania and nothing can beat that Sounds like everything I'm doing atm, thanx I already thought this was shit-expensive (first time I felt reserved telling my boyfriend the cost of these haha). I will probably sell this combo in the future anyway in my quest for the perfect hp. Just wanted to see how I much could make them change to make them stay with me for a while longer and to hear for myself what a better cable would do. Mission succeeded.

Very kind Mr. Nate Only, I don't really have much to contribute I guess. I know shit about things, not like you all. And I'm pretty busy but I do miss it. Now that the bunny has been raised (read: we learned to properly stuff away the cables) I felt confident again getting out my headphones and listening to them. Along with that came the urge to change some things Who knows what might follow. The other place is great for buying / selling, this is a great place to get decent advice!

Double post

Received my balanced Cardas cable today. I wasn't much of a believer but it does sound totally different. I'll ab them against my brothers SE HD600s hopefully soon as memory is a finicky thing but they are definitely much more enjoyable now, not as boring as before with for example rock music like Korn or Pleymo. Thank you all for your help!

Sorry to hear about your cat...losing a pet is really horrible They are so much more than just a pet, certainly after 14 years. I hope he's not in much pain and will have a peaceful last couple of months.

I'm pretty much a cable-sceptic (also because I never ab-ed cables) but seeing that so many comment in favour of an aftermarket cable for the Sennheiser I took the plunge and ordered a balanced Cardas cable. Th advantage of selling an ED9 and "downscaling" to an HD600 is there's a little money left That and seeing that the resale-value of the cable is pretty decent the loss would be kept to a minimum if I ever decide to sell it. Looking forward to the cable and here's to hoping it will make a significant difference so the urge of upgrading to something else resides a little