Accuphase DP800/DC801 or Esoteric P-05/D05?

[laxx]

if you ever feel like donating to a poor asian kid, HERE I AM!!!

I'm another one, lol. Can I come over when I go back to Taiwan in 2008?

[Elephas]

I also used the XLR outputs of the Chord and DP-500 with the KGSS, and the same cables.

I think some brain burn-in is required.

I'm another one, lol. Can I come over when I go back to Taiwan in 2008?

I don't know, it could be dangerous. For your wallet. Assuming you are young like jinp6301, I wouldn't want to be responsible for any lack of saving on your part. Saving and investing your money is best when you're still young, each dollar will work for a longer period of time.

[spritzer]

When Stereophile measured the DAC64 it had a 3.1/6.2v output voltage and I can't find any for the D-05. Can look in the owners manual under specs?

[laxx]

I don't know, it could be dangerous. For your wallet. Assuming you are young like jinp6301, I wouldn't want to be responsible for any lack of saving on your part. Saving and investing your money is best when you're still young, each dollar will work for a longer period of time.

Heh, I'm pretty tight on my spending and don't see myself spending like you have these past few months. But it would be fun to just be able to compare so many headphones at one time.

[Icarium]

Welcome to the fold Elephas! I've been enjoying my UX-1 for awhile now... I can't wait until my APL modified dv60 arrives to shoot it off against the stock UX-1 and Neil's modded unit.

APL hifi is nice because they do have an actual partnership with Esoteric (Only modding outfit to have that partnership) which allows them not only to source replacement parts that otherwise are not sold on any market (Transformers for voltage swaps... even the transport they will literally not sell to any other company though the cost is not.. cheap). And the guy knows his way around the stock units. I was having an issue with my UX-1 where the disc tray wasn't opening up all the way I emailed Alex on a Sunday morning and he had me drive up that day and he fixed it on the spot. Immediately diagnosed it as a massive misalignment due to being dropped (Probably by Fedex) and took the thing apart realigned/llubricated things till it was working better than before... free of charge.

That all being said. I totally understand where PFKman is coming from. A lot of modding outfits you don't know how reliable they are or even how long they will still be in business. You don't generally know before hand if they will build you a shoddy product that will fail and then refuse to take responsibility and fix it for free or cost of shipping. These are problems that sometimes crop up when not dealing with a relatively established company.

Still there are modding companies that are pretty established and guys that have good business practices so people who are pondering that thing just need to dig a little bit harder for info before they make a decision.

[grawk]

APL hifi is nice because they do have an actual partnership with Esoteric (Only modding outfit to have that partnership) which allows them not only to source replacement parts that otherwise are not sold on any market (Transformers for voltage swaps... even the transport they will literally not sell to any other company though the cost is not.. cheap). And the guy knows his way around the stock units. I was having an issue with my UX-1 where the disc tray wasn't opening up all the way I emailed Alex on a Sunday morning and he had me drive up that day and he fixed it on the spot. Immediately diagnosed it as a massive misalignment due to being dropped (Probably by Fedex) and took the thing apart realigned/llubricated things till it was working better than before... free of charge.

That all being said. I totally understand where PFKman is coming from. A lot of modding outfits you don't know how reliable they are or even how long they will still be in business. You don't generally know before hand if they will build you a shoddy product that will fail and then refuse to take responsibility and fix it for free or cost of shipping. These are problems that sometimes crop up when not dealing with a relatively established company.

Still there are modding companies that are pretty established and guys that have good business practices so people who are pondering that thing just need to dig a little bit harder for info before they make a decision.

The key here seems to be your proximity to alex more than anything else. It was damaged in shipping, but you were able to drive up there to get it fixed. If he'd been in albania, he could be the best guy in the world, and it wouldn't have helped much. And shipping stuff to him to get fixed can reportedly take forever. I know todd had major problems getting his sacd player back, a few years back. The local guys have the advantage of being able to have stuff done while they wait. These small modding shops quickly become overwhelmed by their success.

[spritzer]

The key here seems to be your proximity to alex more than anything else. It was damaged in shipping, but you were able to drive up there to get it fixed. If he'd been in albania, he could be the best guy in the world, and it wouldn't have helped much. And shipping stuff to him to get fixed can reportedly take forever. I know todd had major problems getting his sacd player back, a few years back. The local guys have the advantage of being able to have stuff done while they wait. These small modding shops quickly become overwhelmed by their success.

This is also something I thought about being stuck on a rock in the middle of the Atlantic but my experience is that you get much better service from the smaller manufacturers as well as much better products on the whole. It might take some time but who cares, I've got a much better product for a lower price then anything sold at a dealer.

[Icarium]

The key here seems to be your proximity to alex more than anything else. It was damaged in shipping, but you were able to drive up there to get it fixed. If he'd been in albania, he could be the best guy in the world, and it wouldn't have helped much. And shipping stuff to him to get fixed can reportedly take forever. I know todd had major problems getting his sacd player back, a few years back. The local guys have the advantage of being able to have stuff done while they wait. These small modding shops quickly become overwhelmed by their success.

Hrm yes that's true.

[spritzer]

if you do get the APL treatment, elephas, i would wait until you have an iron clad understanding of the stock sound.

APL doesn't do mods to the P-05/D-05 that I'm aware of but if he decides to go for a P-01 and two D-01's he can have them modded...

[Elephas]

The key here seems to be your proximity to alex more than anything else.

Yeah, if I lived within driving distance I probably would be unable to resist checking out APL.

if you do get the APL treatment...

...if he decides to go for a P-01 and two D-01's he can have them modded...

*splutter* *choke* *regurgitate* *vomit* *swallow*

You're killing me here. There's a giant hole in my bank account, you know. I had to tell them I wouldn't buy anything else before they would give me any money. And I still haven't paid for SinglePower upgrades yet.

It's only the second day, but I admit to some pangs of anxiety already and you guys aren't helping. \

To me, source quality is one of those things that I don't know about until I hear it. I was blissfully ignorant for some time and even used an E-MU 1212m as my source for a while. It was the same thing with headphones, for example the SR-007 or R10; I didn't know what I was missing until I heard them.

When I stumbled on Head-Fi almost three years ago I only had a Bose Triport and iPod 1st generation. Yes, I had speaker rig then that wasn't being used much, but how far can one fall?

[dvse]

I've been thinking about getting D-05 stand alone for a while... Do let us know how well it works with a computer source!

[spritzer]

Yeah, if I lived within driving distance I probably would be unable to resist checking out APL.

*splutter* *choke* *regurgitate* *vomit* *swallow*

You're killing me here. There's a giant hole in my bank account, you know. I had to tell them I wouldn't buy anything else before they would give me any money. And I still haven't paid for SinglePower upgrades yet.

It's only the second day, but I admit to some pangs of anxiety already and you guys aren't helping. \

To me, source quality is one of those things that I don't know about until I hear it. I was blissfully ignorant for some time and even used an E-MU 1212m as my source for a while. It was the same thing with headphones, for example the SR-007 or R10; I didn't know what I was missing until I heard them.

When I stumbled on Head-Fi almost three years ago I only had a Bose Triport and iPod 1st generation. Yes, I had speaker rig then that wasn't being used much, but how far can one fall?

You can certainly fall a long, long ways but trick to to not be a gullible idiot. Do the research and you will end up with a great system no matter the price level. Just don't listen to anything you can't afford as that will only mean trouble...

[Elephas]

Sure. I'm not a big PC-source expert, but I do like using a PC for playback. It's just too fast and convenient, and playlists are great.

My setup is currently a WinVista PC with an RME HDSP 9632 sound card. The RME has optical, coaxial and AES/EBU outputs. I'm using the AES/EBU with the D-05 now. In the future I'm planning to change to the HDSPe AES-32 sound card when it becomes available, and will then be able to connect two AES/EBU cables to the D-05's dual AES inputs.

I usually use foobar or iTunes playing mostly ALAC files which are stored on an NAS.

With foobar I am able to resample to 176.4 with Secret Rabbit Code, which I thought sounded best with the Chord DAC64.

[Elephas]

According to the D-05 manual:

Analog output level

RCA: 2.5 Vrms / 10 kΩ (1 kHz)

XLR: 5 Vrms / 10 kΩ (1 kHz)

[dvse]

Thanks for describing your PC setup! Please compare it with P-05 if you get a chance....

[spritzer]

According to the D-05 manual:

Analog output level

RCA: 2.5 Vrms / 10 kΩ (1 kHz)

XLR: 5 Vrms / 10 kΩ (1 kHz)

That's the same spec as the DAC64 though Stereophile measured it a 3.1v/6.2v. This doesn't account for the difference in volume level...

[Icarium]

APL doesn't do mods to the P-05/D-05 that I'm aware of but if he decides to go for a P-01 and two D-01's he can have them modded...

I'm sure alex would be interested in redesigning it.. but it probably wouldn't be very effective. Since he pretty much builds a whole new dac pretty much nothing of the d-05 would remain while the p-05 could get some mods. Would be cooler is a p-05 modded with his dac (When/if it ever gets released).

[spritzer]

I'm sure alex would be interested in redesigning it.. but it probably wouldn't be very effective. Since he pretty much builds a whole new dac pretty much nothing of the d-05 would remain while the p-05 could get some mods. Would be cooler is a p-05 modded with his dac (When/if it ever gets released).

I'm sure you could talk him into doing it but I'm sure that would require some new interface between transport and DAC as well as the complete rebuild of both units. OTOH I should really start bothering Alex and see if they aren't about finished with my 3910... :'(

I think I read on the APL forum that the SA-10 is supposed to be the dedicated transport and then a DV-60 and a UX-1 for those insane enough. The P-05 would be cool though as it looks so good.

[Icarium]

Yeah I've been trying to get some feedback as to how my unit is doing. I'm hoping end of January but who knows

[spritzer]

Yeah I've been trying to get some feedback as to how my unit is doing. I'm hoping end of January but who knows

I don't think I even asked when it would be finished... I don't care all that much as I have a few players here to use once the Meridian is gone. I was a bit concerned by the post that they would start to offer the upgrades in the spring...

I was also talking to him about electrostatic amp design and I should really bother him some more about it. It will be very interesting to see what he comes up with.

[Elephas]

I couldn't stand only having 12 SACDs, so I brought a box home yesterday.

[grawk]

I couldn't stand only having 12 SACDs, so I brought a box home yesterday.

damn son! Color me jealous.

[Grand Enigma]

I couldn't stand only having 12 SACDs, so I brought a box home yesterday.

I typically prefer buying boxes of CDs at a time. Seems like a waste to only get one or two.

[Elephas]

I tried to negotiate with the store owner. I'm a very bad negotiator, in hindsight I should've brought one of my loud and fierce aunts along.

I think average price for each disc was about US$16.

I hope I'll like at least half of the SACDs. I picked out some discs by Chesky, MFSL and Tacet. They didn't have many discs by Opus 3, one of my favorite labels.

I had the Opus 3 30th Anniversary Celebration on xrcd24 already, but also got the SACD version anyway. And I find out the SACD version has more tracks!

[Dusty Chalk]

Nice!

Your collection overtook mine overnight, maybe...(double-checks)...I have about 200.