there is an aqvox mkii on agon for $750

[postjack]

And I'm thinking about making an impulse purchase. I've been wanting to bring my computer/foobar/flac back into the audio family for a while now, and reading iron dreamer's and others' comments makes me think the signature of the aqvox might be too my liking (overall laid back, emphasis on the midrange, decent enough soundstage). Plus it has lots of options to tweak, which is fun, what with the oversampling, filters, and what have you. And I figure I could offload it without losing my shirt if I didn't like it.

So should I do it? Is this a decent price?

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?dgtlconv&1189793122

[Dusty Chalk]

And I'm thinking about making an impulse purchase.

It stops becoming an impulse purchase the way you're doing it.

And: I have no idea.

[postjack]

It stops becoming an impulse purchase the way you're doing it.

Excellent point. It would now be just a purchase.

[deepak]

It might beat your Sony with redbook playback. I would give it a shot.

[mjg]

that thing looks nice, i wonder how it would compare to my minidac. Take one for the team.

[Iron_Dreamer]

That's definitely a great deal. It would run you ~$1400 new from Europe. It's a very nice DAC, very versatile, great looking, and the headphone jack is quite decent (just doesn't go very loud, only 1.4V peak maximum).

As far as how it compares to the Mini-DAC, the Aqvox has a slightly more laid-back, and as a consequence, "softer" sound than the Mini-DAC. I'd say it is less analytical and tends to make things sound a bit more pleasant. The Mini-DAC is stronger in the lowest octave of bass, but so it is compared to every other DAC I've owned. The headphone jack keeps the soundstage depth better than the Mini-DAC's does.

[postjack]

That's definitely a great deal. It would run you ~$1400 new from Europe. It's a very nice DAC, very versatile, great looking, and the headphone jack is quite decent (just doesn't go very loud, only 1.4V peak maximum).

As far as how it compares to the Mini-DAC, the Aqvox has a slightly more laid-back, and as a consequence, "softer" sound than the Mini-DAC. I'd say it is less analytical and tends to make things sound a bit more pleasant. The Mini-DAC is stronger in the lowest octave of bass, but so it is compared to every other DAC I've owned. The headphone jack keeps the soundstage depth better than the Mini-DAC's does.

Thanks all for your input. With redbook, sometimes my Sony sounds to "hard", which, if I understand correctly, is part of the house sound for a lot of their players. This might be why I find myself so often turning to vinyl for relief. So a softer sound might be just what I'm looking for.

I shot the seller an email, we'll see what happens.

Peter, iirc you have auditioned both the MKI and MKII versions of this DAC. Is there any visual way to determine which is which, so I can verify that the Aqvox pictured in the agon ad is indeed the MKII?

[Iron_Dreamer]

Well, FWIW, I don't think they ever made the MkI in black. So that in and of itself should mean that it's a MkII. But there will also be a difference in the markings on both the front and back (I believe, I sent my loaner in a while ago, so I don't remember clearly). The MkII on the front mentions a Class-A headphone amp, which the MkI didn't have. Also, I believe the serial number starts with the model number. Based on the pics, and that guy's feedback, I think it shouldn't be a problem.

[postjack]

The DAC is on its way. Should arrive next week. I need to buy a USB cord and some really long interconnects.

This will be useful since I just rediscovered bt.etree.org. But I also haven't ripped a CD I purchased for months, so I've got a huge backlog of albums to run through EAC. \

[Salt Peanuts]

Congrats on the new toy, postjack!

You just reminded me that I also have a backlog of CD's I haven't ripped. I need to get myself another hard drive before I can start doing that, though.

[Iron_Dreamer]

Nice to hear you scored it! You'd be better off using a LONG usb cable and shorter interconnects.

[postjack]

Nice to hear you scored it! You'd be better off using a LONG usb cable and shorter interconnects.

Really? I assumed that longer interconnects would be better, since I remember reading somewhere about long optical cables being bad, so I transposed that on any cable carrying raw data. But a longer USB chord would actually work a lot better for me, since then I would be able to put the DAC on my Gusdorf rack. I can just move the Modwright's power supply to the floor next to the rack.

Here is a hideous flash photograph to show you what I'm dealing with:

When I got my turntable I had to move all my computer stuff to one outlet and all my audio gear to another to eliminate a ground loop. I originally planned on putting the DAC on the desk to the left of my monitor, and running ICs from there, but now I'll probably put it on the rack and run about a 12ft USB cable from the back of my computer. Should save me a few bucks.

[Iron_Dreamer]

Don't give Mr. impulse buy any ideas, now Reks

[postjack]

One day I might get a squeezebox for my den, so I can rock the party that rocks the party.

[grawk]

long optical cables are bad because the optical qualities of the transport material degrade the signal over long lengths. USB doesn't really have this problem.

ROFL

[deepak]

I'd like to see some data on that as well

[deepak]

a 5m USB cable works just fine, a 5 meter toslink cable doesn't, in my experience.

I have a 7 meter toslink cable in our home theater system, there is no degradation of the signal comparing it with one that is a couple of feet.

edit: so I've never tried it with music, but it's a fairly resolving HT system.

[deepak]

IIRC it's Acoustic Research brand, cheap but built well.

[grawk]

Use glass cable, and you can go as long as you'd like. Admittedly, it's for storage and not music, but since that's MORE prone to error, and goes WAY faster, it's a reasonable test, and I've got 90m cables. Fiber is WAY more resistant to degradation than usb/copper.

[grawk]

I just looked up the specs. USB 2.0 specifies cables not longer than 5m, and toslink is 15m until you need a repeater.

[grawk]

glass cables really don't work well in crowded coffee shops with nosy people stepping on cables \

Yah toslink isn't well suited to high traffic areas, or for plugging/replugging often, etc. You should see the industrial strength fiber cables we ran at one site...they were 1" thick, almost entirely rubber.

[grawk]

i bet an unruly 5 year old could still make mince meat of it

Maybe...luckily the forklift couldn't

[postjack]

So I guess I'm going to buy a 16ft USB Cable.

[postjack]

and yet another order of LC-1s!

[postjack]

you like those, don't you? i've only heard their coax digital cable (which works just fine). i was going to buy a set of LC-1s for my room mate, to go along with whatever amp i get him for his birthday, but i got bored at about 2 AM this morning and built him a pair, instead, out of my first pair of magwires that had unfortunately found the mouth of my mom's dog a couple years ago..

I've consistently bought them since I got into the hobby. Sometimes I do wish for something a little less heavy and bulky. Anywho, I told myself early on not to explore more exotic cables until I'm more settled into my system. Blue Jeans also ships extremely fast, which is a plus when I need new ICs quick.