The State of DACSES

[nopants]

maybe not the best suggestion based on the aesthetic bar weiss is setting, but the ayre codex seems to be pretty good, just a bit skimpy on the features

 

Apparently they're also coming out with a QX-8 with a bunch of bells and whistles including streaming functionality if that's your thing http://www.theaudiobeat.com/highend2017/highend2017_ayre.htm

Edited August 7, 2017 by nopants

[Hopstretch]

^^^ "Vintage"
(Craigslist's favorite word for over-charging)

In the UK, just substitute "bespoke".

maybe not the best suggestion based on the aesthetic bar weiss is setting, but the ayre codex seems to be pretty good, just a bit skimpy on the features
 
Apparently they're also coming out with a QX-8 with a bunch of bells and whistles including streaming functionality if that's your thing http://www.theaudiobeat.com/highend2017/highend2017_ayre.htm

Interesting, thanks.

QX-5 Twenty is also on my short list.

[Howard]

Any opinions here in the recent DACs that Gustard of China has released?

The Gustard A20H is a dual AK4497 balanced design with headphone output that is balanced too.



Sent from my LG-US996 using Tapatalk

[catscratch]

All this Ayre talk prompted me to pick up a used QB-9 DSD. Now, I have to hijack the thread with a question: while it seems to work fine, and sounds good, there is an audible buzz coming from the transformer. It's not loud enough to really hear over my PC fans when the computer's on, but when it's off, and the DAC is on standby, the buzz is audible. It's also audible if I put my ear close to it. Is this something I should worry about? I've yet to open it up and take a poke around, but given that I know nothing it'll be about as useful as dissecting myself to figure out why my stomach hurts. However there are 2 screws in the center of the base plate that are missing, I guess I'll see what they should be holding down and if that might be contributing to this.

[Dusty Chalk]

I would (get it fixed somehow).  If it intrudes on the experience, then it's bad, is the way I see it.

[EdipisReks1]

1 hour ago, catscratch said:

All this Ayre talk prompted me to pick up a used QB-9 DSD. Now, I have to hijack the thread with a question: while it seems to work fine, and sounds good, there is an audible buzz coming from the transformer. It's not loud enough to really hear over my PC fans when the computer's on, but when it's off, and the DAC is on standby, the buzz is audible. It's also audible if I put my ear close to it. Is this something I should worry about? I've yet to open it up and take a poke around, but given that I know nothing it'll be about as useful as dissecting myself to figure out why my stomach hurts. However there are 2 screws in the center of the base plate that are missing, I guess I'll see what they should be holding down and if that might be contributing to this.

Assuming that the screws in the baseplate were holding something down that would otherwise vibrate, you may just be able to wedge something under said component, depending on what it is.

[morphsci]

So I am feeling the itch to upgrade my digital front end with a streamer and DAC or Streamer/DAC. The contenders right now are the Bryston BDP-3 and Bryston BDA-3, PS Audio Directstream DAC w Network Bridge II or the Directstream junior DAC (most likely the latter as the former seems too expensive given the differences), Auralic (either the Altair or the Aries and Vega) or the Nativ Vita and Wave. I know we don't really discuss audio components anymore but if anyone has any positive or negative comments (relevant or not), about any of these or any other suggestions would be appreciated as I am still in the early research stage. Now back to discussing alcohol and other matters of more importance.

[Dusty Chalk]

Several people here like the Oppo Sonica, too.  Sorry, I don't know about any of those.

[morphsci]

Yep, I am one of those that like the Sonica. It’s ability to stream was what convinced me I would like a more capable streamer.

[Voltron]

Stretch and I were just discussing the waning interest in owning ANY media. Disc players are way passé (as you long ago demonstrated with a disc giveaway) and even piling up data on servers and hard drives is starting to seem clunky and unnecessary.  

I am also looking for a streaming device that doesn't require a computer and I think it is going to be best to focus on the interface and streaming capability. I think I may just skip the hard drive/server models because I don't like managing the files and still have lots of silver discs and vinyl. 

The Auralic DAC was not my favorite when I was comparing dsd dacs a few years ago, but that is pretty dated info. I may just get a good streaming device and run it though my Playback Designs DAC because I still like it so much (and it plays discs). 

[TMoney]

+1 for the Oppo DACs. I use Oppo's ios app on my phone/tablet to control the 105 I have and it is fantastic at streaming from Tidal and/or my networked drive.

I'm actually thinking of pitching all my physical CDs when I move. All they do right now is collect dust.

Edited October 3, 2017 by TMoney

[swt61]

CDs will never fully go out of style in San Francisco.

 

Roll that one around a while.

[TMoney]

I don’t get it?

[Voltron]

11 minutes ago, swt61 said:

CDs will never fully go out of style in San Francisco.

 

Roll that one around a while.

 

[blubliss]

I've got this streaming device for sale if anyone is interested:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/fs-bel-canto-refstream.853693/

Willing to do better price for HC.

[Hopstretch]

Good to see you around! What other streamer are you using? Also trying to understand the state of the market a bit better.

[wink]

Didja hear, The Monkey is reprising the role of Kevin Costner in the revamp of Dancing With Wolves.

Tentative title is "Dancing With DACses" ....... 

Ho hum, another attempt to emulate the Blade Runner revamp......   

[blubliss]

2 hours ago, Hopstretch said:

Good to see you around! What other streamer are you using? Also trying to understand the state of the market a bit better.

Good to be seen (: I have a sonore signature rendu.  No USB (because I never liked my system enough with USB in the chain).  It's ethernet in and BNC or i2s out.  I don't do DSD so don't care about that. All my music is on a synology NAS.

[Hopstretch]

Thanks. I understood some of those words.

 

[gepardcv]

14 hours ago, TMoney said:

I'm actually thinking of pitching all my physical CDs when I move. All they do right now is collect dust.

My physical media collection was in the basement level of a house which flooded in Hurricane Sandy. All vinyl lost. CD paper and booklets destroyed. The disks themselves survived, just needed a good cleaning. So I put them in large sleeve folios. Those folios don’t take up much room, and the media are all still there if I ever want.

Pure streaming from 3rd party services isn’t an option for me personally. I listen to too much old, obscure, and international stuff which doesn’t exist on Tidal, and never will.

I’ve been thinking about a way to put media files on Amazon Drive or S3, and put together an iOS app that can stream them (maybe something like that already exists). Then connect an iPad to a DAC. Seems more elegant and future-proof to me than buying an expensive dedicated streamer box which will become obsolete when Tidal goes out of business.

[blubliss]

1 hour ago, gepardcv said:

Seems more elegant and future-proof to me than buying an expensive dedicated streamer box which will become obsolete when Tidal goes out of business.

Uh, that statement makes no sense to me and is misleading.  I don't use any internet streaming services.  That's not what a network streamer is primarily for, they are to stream your media to a DAC and avoid having another PC with a USB connection to your DAC.  Sure, most of them do Tidal, but that's not why they were created.

[Grahame]

Makes perfect sense to me. Who is the source of your streaming data? (Hint: External provider tidal)

I need a client that understands the streaming data  ....

How useful is that client when that provider goes away> ....

If however I use standard protocols ...

and can implement my own provider of that streaming data  ...

hosted in the cloud ... ( or elsewhere)

I'm not reliant on transient, fickle, providers ....

Some people have already tried to put slimserver / logitech media server in a docker container ....

https://hub.docker.com/r/larsks/logitech-media-server/

same approach could be tried with any other streamer source server / program 

and use someone else's (hosted) infrastructure, so you don't have to host / manage it on-prem

Voila - Music Streaming,  As A Service  - MSAAS!

Sorry for all the nerd buzzwords, but I've just seen a bunch of presentations on on similar topics ... As A Service

 

[blubliss]

The source of my streaming data is an NAS on my LAN.  That's what the streamers I am talking about were designed for and those came out before internet streaming services like Tidal. The internet streaming features are being added now, but were not there in the beginning.

That's why the observation is misleading.

[gepardcv]

@blubliss: Could something tempt you to move away from your NAS box to an off-site service you control? I mean move your media to your own Amazon Drive or S3 account? Assume that a good playback interface to your DAC exists. The basic pro-et-contra are not replacing failing drives, or migrating to new storage appliances in the future versus trusting Amazon with your data.

[blubliss]

Cloud stuff is interesting but I haven't really looked into it.  Maintaining my own NAS has been pain free.

You still need the streamer to get the music to the DAC unless your DAC has something built-in, which may be the future?