KenW Posted July 19, 2006 Report Posted July 19, 2006 First, does anyone have dimensions and a guess on weight? Second, how's the headout on this unit? Decent or great job with Grados? Finally, anyone know of a good online source for purchase of this DAC?
Iron_Dreamer Posted July 19, 2006 Report Posted July 19, 2006 Dimensions, going off memory, would be about 8" x 11" x 1.8", weight, hmmm my guess would be 5-6lb. The headphone amp is pretty good, I'd compare it to a Gilmore Lite (w/o upgraded PSU). I'd say you'd need a tube amp (different flavor) or medium-high-end SS amp to be worth using instead. I bought mine from Soundpure.com, and it was a very good experience. I know they are also carried at mercenary.com, from which I've bought other things in the past.
KenW Posted July 19, 2006 Author Report Posted July 19, 2006 Dimensions, going off memory, would be about 8" x 11" x 1.8", weight, hmmm my guess would be 5-6lb. The headphone amp is pretty good, I'd compare it to a Gilmore Lite (w/o upgraded PSU). I'd say you'd need a tube amp (different flavor) or medium-high-end SS amp to be worth using instead. I bought mine from Soundpure.com, and it was a very good experience. I know they are also carried at mercenary.com, from which I've bought other things in the past. Thanks Dreamer. I've got an email in to Sound Pure and will check the Mercenary.com site. Guess I might get some cables made up and toss the Lavry or DA220 MKII in with the GCHA for an office rig. Appreciate the help. The Lavry is the right size plus it's not going to cost me like the new Stello would. Tough choice.
philodox Posted July 20, 2006 Report Posted July 20, 2006 Second, how's the headout on this unit? Decent or great job with Grados?The headphone out is perfect with Grados. I personally think that it is better than most dynalo implementations I have heard in this respect.Finally, anyone know of a good online source for purchase of this DAC?Me? I will be selling mine shortly to finance my amp. Hopefully the Zapfilter upgrade to my CD-E5 brings it up to around the same level as the DA10 in terms of its analog output stage.
KenW Posted July 20, 2006 Author Report Posted July 20, 2006 The headphone out is perfect with Grados. I personally think that it is better than most dynalo implementations I have heard in this respect.Me? I will be selling mine shortly to finance my amp. Hopefully the Zapfilter upgrade to my CD-E5 brings it up to around the same level as the DA10 in terms of its analog output stage. Do tell! Shoot me a PM with the details on the dac, cables, etc....
philodox Posted July 20, 2006 Report Posted July 20, 2006 Will do so tonight when I get home... need to take pics of my squeezebox for Nate anyways. Everything must go!!! I seriously hope this amp is worth it. \
n_maher Posted July 20, 2006 Report Posted July 20, 2006 No rush on pics for me, I'm waiting to hear from f'ing FedEx about a damage claim on yet another of my sources (good grief no longer covers my fristration) so operation Squeezebox is somewhat up in the air. And whatcha gonna get for an amp?
KenW Posted July 20, 2006 Author Report Posted July 20, 2006 I suspect an ES-1? Come on, if we're gonna help fund it, you at least can tell us what you're getting so we can live vicariously through you.
JBLoudG20 Posted July 20, 2006 Report Posted July 20, 2006 Jay doesn't have any electrostatics... well FULL electrostatics.
KenW Posted July 20, 2006 Author Report Posted July 20, 2006 I thought he had the HE90 from that last batch? Hmm......now I'm really curious.
philodox Posted July 20, 2006 Report Posted July 20, 2006 I thought he had the HE90 from that last batch? Hmm......now I'm really curious.I wish... that there is about the only headphone that I would give um my K340's for. I am getting a custom amp built by Peter McAlister of McAlister Audio. It is loosly based on his PL12 amp... which is not on his website yet... though it is itself loosly based on his PL10 amp. Fully balanced, all tube [except rectification as Peter prefers solid state rectifiers], with a beefy PSU... and pimped to the gills. It should have quite a few tubes sprouting out the top of it... as far as I know there will be 4 6H30's, 3 or 4 27GB5 sweep tubes [in triode mode I believe], 2 12SN7, plus some other tubes used for regulation. The 12SN7 tubes are not in the audio circuit and are instead used to create an infinite plate resistance circuit for the 6H30's. It should be a real beast. Originally I was going to continue to use the Lavry as a volume control, but have to decided to upgrade my Eastsound with a ZapFilter to get a true balanced discrete output instead. This means I now need a 4 channel stepped attenuator or potentiometer in the amp... which is rather pricey. Anyone have good recommendations?
n_maher Posted July 21, 2006 Report Posted July 21, 2006 If it were me and I was going full pimp I'd use Welborne Lab's Remote SA. I've been managing to hold off on ordering one for nearly a year now as none of my projects seem worthy.
philodox Posted July 21, 2006 Report Posted July 21, 2006 Thanks Nate, that looks like a great solution!
philodox Posted July 21, 2006 Report Posted July 21, 2006 The priceing for the version I would like [Display board, balanced, source selector] is as follows: Kit - $397 USD Assembled - $533 USD w/ Caddock upgrade [Kit] - $471 USD w/ Caddock upgrade [Assembled] - $607 Not too bad when you consider what 4 channel stepped attenuators cost and the fact that you are getting a display/remote/source selector as well.
n_maher Posted July 21, 2006 Report Posted July 21, 2006 [EDIT]Upon further review, my previous statement was probably wrong so I'm just removing it. Here's to hoping your amp looks something like this when it's all done.
ayt999 Posted July 21, 2006 Report Posted July 21, 2006 what do you know... my amp looks exactly like that.
philodox Posted July 21, 2006 Report Posted July 21, 2006 Here's to hoping your amp looks something like this when it's all done.Nah, it should look much better than that! More tubes for one... more is allways better as we all know. Thinking about getting Steve [swt61] to craft me a nice bloodwood front panel for it as well. Also, I took the K340 sideplates off of my pair and plan on topping a couple of the metal can caps with them after I paint them black. Figured this would be cool since it is an amp customized for the K340's. It definately won't be as large as an SDS-XLR though. I asked Peter about a two chassis design and he told me that with tube amps it is better to have everything in the same box.what do you know... my amp looks exactly like that.Bastard!
philodox Posted July 21, 2006 Report Posted July 21, 2006 BTW, you have a message waiting for you KenW.
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now