high quality balanced DAC (small-ish, lightweight a plus)

[spritzer]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alps-Brass-RK50-Quad-Pot-/200990813525?pt=US_Amplifier_Parts_Components&hash=item2ecbfc6d55

 

That is some funny shit.  The "alps folk of Switzerland"?  What the hell are they smoking.  Plus the quad was used in a lot of high end equipment in Japan. 

[Nebby]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alps-Brass-RK50-Quad-Pot-/200990813525?pt=US_Amplifier_Parts_Components&hash=item2ecbfc6d55

 

That is some funny shit.  The "alps folk of Switzerland"?  What the hell are they smoking.  Plus the quad was used in a lot of high end equipment in Japan. 

 

The Swedish folks that work at Arupusu Denki Kabushiki-gaisha must be what they're referring to.   

[complin]

Well the Apls  are in Switzerland (mountains that is), but not the ones they are referring to! Perhaps mount Fuji would be more appropriate 

They say elsewhere in the listing that they are made in Sweden?

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alps-Brass-RK50-Quad-Pot-/200990813525?pt=US_Amplifier_Parts_Components&hash=item2ecbfc6d55

 

That is some funny shit.  The "alps folk of Switzerland"?  What the hell are they smoking.  Plus the quad was used in a lot of high end equipment in Japan. 

[tom_hankins]

http://highresolutiontechnologies.com/music-streamer-hd

 

HRT Music Streamer HD, Full Sized XLR, 24bit 192 khz and it supports USB 1.0 and 2.0,

Had one of these (it died) but now not sure if it was it or laptop. Liked the sound a lot. Will most likely get another one. When I sent it back I had a case of 45rpm reissue flu and had MD send me a bunch of records instead of another unit.

[Filburt]

 

 Originally Posted by barrows 

I can understand if you are no longer monitoring this thread, but if you are I have a few tech questions on the new QB-9:

1. I understand that you are running the ESS chip synchronously, that is with master clock and bit clock synchronous, disabling any intervention from the onboard ASRC and DPLL, right?

2. I also understand that you are running your own OSF (on FPGA), and I would guess that this is the same set of filters as in the previous QB-9, outputting 705.6 kHz and 768 kHz to the ESS chip, with your minimum phase/slow roll off "listen" option, right?

3. Given if my understanding above is correct, I suspect that you are using fixed oscillators at 45.184 and 49.152 as master to the FPGA and ESS chip, right?

4. And, that the OSF in the ESS chip is off, eliminating the onboard OSF, right?

Thanks again for sharing so much information here, I liked the previous QB-9, and I bet the new version sounds fantastic!

Hello Barrows,

Yes, yes, yes, yes, and I think so. YMMV. It's always best to listen for yourself especially with recording with which you are extremely familiar.

 

 

Am I reading it wrong, is #1 referring to something independent of the ASRC that they licensed? I'm kind of a dumbass when it comes to this stuff tbh.

 

 

The Sabre/Sabre32 has on-board asynchronous sample rate conversion as part of a coordinated system that also includes S/PDIF demultiplexing, rate estimation, and reclocking. I presume he's referring to that.

[nopants]

Thanks Filburt- I believe you're correct and they're just letting the ESS system handle things. I'm still slightly curious about the original PCM1794 implementation though.

 

I should also correct myself, they licensed Streamlength, the async usb code, from Gordon Rankin. This is the same stuff that's being used in some fancypants converters like the ar-t legato.

[Filburt]

I believe you're correct and they're just letting the ESS system handle things.

 

I'm not sure what you mean. Weren't you asking about what was being said to be disabled?

[nopants]

^Sorry I must have misread your post. It would make more sense in that context if they were disabling the on-chip functions, to leverage their existing architecture.

 

I'm kicking this dead thread to bitch and whine about finding a used unit. Audiogon has been sending me email alerts for the qb9 but by the time I get around to looking at the ads they expire- this is typically within 8 hours. Ayre must be doing something right. 

 

I think they are offering 500 for the upgrade, so ~2300 used + upgrade vs 3250(?) for a new retail unit must be driving some of this.

[Bear]

 created a seperate thread

[roadtonowhere08]

Two things:

 

1. Nobody here is interested in helping you get referral rewards from Light Harmonic, but nice try anyway.

2. Fuck Light Harmonic... in the ass... with a pineapple.

[Voltron]

Really? Two threads of fail at once?!

[Matt_Carter]

No Wadia fans here?