AudioNervosa
Group Therapy => Audio Syndrome NY => Topic started by: ltr317 on January 08, 2012, 01:11:36 PM
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Happy New Year to all! The Syndrome club will be having the January meeting at Jim B's place. Notice has been emailed to members.
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Should be a good day. Jim is a great host. The system ain'y hurting either. Hope to see all there.
charles
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Looking forward to this one......
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Jim's system looks cool. I'd love to hear it but FRIDAY nights are what make this club work for me... Saturdays can be an occasional [perhaps summer?] variation but I just can't do them otherwise. Bummer, I was really looking forward to the next meeting, (as I missed the Christmas party too...for other reasons). Have a good time guys, hope to see you all on a February Friday.
Regards, Grant
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Grant,
So far 6 people have replied in the affirmative, so you might not be missing much...
Jim
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Grant,
So far 6 people have replied in the affirmative, so you might not be missing much...
Jim
Jim,
I'll be there ~ 2 PM in the afternoon!! Let me know if I can bring anything!
Pete
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Hoping to be there, but my wife is sick so I will have to see how it goes come Saturday. Pete, if I can make it I'll pick you up about 1-1:30.
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Hoping to be there, but my wife is sick so I will have to see how it goes come Saturday. Pete, if I can make it I'll pick you up about 1-1:30.
I'll be ready at 1:05 PM!
Thanks!
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All,
Please bring your audiophile cd's (Diana K, Rebecca P, etc.), as I am woefully deficient. Thanks.
Jim
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All,
Please bring your audiophile cd's (Diana K, Rebecca P, etc.), as I am woefully deficient. Thanks.
Jim
Damn, you got a trailer I can borrow? :rofl:
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Jim I will bring some demo discs. Hoping the weather cooperates. Snow ??
charles
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Snow would kind of throw a wrench into the works... I will consider all RSVP's as tentative; it looks like you city folk might have it worse than us Islanders for once.
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Small amounts of snow on the ground this morning. Nothing large here on the south shore of LI.
Unfortunately I can not make it though. My wife was admitted to the hospital Thursday and I need to be there for her. I had hoped she would be home bny now but she is staying the weekend there.
Bob
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Hi Everyone,
Looks like the snow is going to make it difficult going. I will be here regardless; so please feel free to come by. I was able to cancel the catering because of the uncertainty, but I do have a few tricks up my sleeve for good eats.
Best wishes to Bob's wife for a speedy recovery.
I'll send this same message via email also...
Jim
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Small amounts of snow on the ground this morning. Nothing large here on the south shore of LI.
Unfortunately I can not make it though. My wife was admitted to the hospital Thursday and I need to be there for her. I had hoped she would be home bny now but she is staying the weekend there.
Bob
Sorry to hear that, Bob. :( I hope she's better real soon.
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Bob- sorry to hear about your wife. Hope all will be OK.
Had a gift for you today (you asked about it sometime back). I'll bring it to the February meeting.
Jim- I'll be four-wheelin over. I imagine the (closer) LI guys will make it too (Rich, Jay, Paul, etc.).
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Unfortunately I can not make it though. My wife was admitted to the hospital Thursday and I need to be there for her.
And I would would be the first one in line to smack you upside the head if you were thinking any other way. There aren't many things in life more important than music, but family is most definitely number 1 on that list.
Best wishes and prayers for a speedy recovery coming from this end of the world.
Tell her the loonies are all thinking about her. :lol:
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Jim- I'll be four-wheelin over. I imagine the (closer) LI guys will make it too (Rich, Jay, Paul, etc.).
Neither rain, nor snow, nor dark of night...... :thumb:
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So who is going?
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I'm stuck in Queens . Cannot drive yet and no ride. Not a happy camper right now.
charles
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I haven't been out yet, but the roads do not look too bad from what I can see from my windows. I'm going to give it a try.
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My wife was admitted to the hospital Thursday and I need to be there for her. I had hoped she would be home bny now but she is staying the weekend there.
Bob
Bob, sending good thoughts to you and yours! I truly wish for a full and speedy recovery for your wife.
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Jim -
Freezing rain / sleet on the south shore of LI... would love to hear your system on the north shore but...
Regrets,
Pete
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Thank you Jim for hosting the meeting. The turnout was good as the weater was bad.
The time was great!
Liz
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Jim -
Freezing rain / sleet on the south shore of LI... would love to hear your system on the north shore but...
Regrets,
Pete
Wow, I drove out on Northern State Pkwy at 2:00 and didn't see a single drop or flake (except on the ground of course).
You gotta love LI weather. a few miles here or there can make all the difference in the world. :roll:
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Nice meeting Jim. A pleasant time was had by all.
Thanks for hosting and for changing all your plans at the last minute to deal with the weather. :thumb:
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I'm glad so many made the meeting considering the weather.
And we ate quiche.
Special thanks to Bill C. for heading up the presidential motorcade from Queens to Suffolk.
Thanks to all for the goodies, and have a fine day.
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I'm glad so many made the meeting considering the weather. And we ate quiche. Special thanks to Bill C. for heading up the presidential motorcade from Queens to Suffolk.
Thanks to all for the goodies, and have a fine day.
Hey! Don't forget the pizza and sausage rolls! :D
Jim did a fine job with the last minute preparations for the meeting due to the weather conditions and not knowing how many of us would get there.
The new "all Bryston" system sounded really good. The Acoutic Zen (?) speakers sounded as good as they looked and last but not least, his listening "throne" is to die for !!!
Thanks for the kudo's on giving Charles a ride to and from the meeting. It wasn't a big deal and all I thought of is how would I feel if I was stranded without a way to get to one of our Syndrome meetings. I'm just glad I happened to see his (Charles') post here on AN before I left the house.
See you all next month! :thumb:
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EEEEEEEEh nobody was happier than me. Jim you scramble very well. Great job. Loved the attention to detail from snacks to desert.
A VG turnout for the weather conditions. A special thanks to Bill for going way out of his way. :thumb:Yup that listening chair is in my future, Lazy Boy here I come.
At the end of the day when the curtains were closed and less bodies and taking to soak up the sound the system sounded just fine. The days of " brightston " are gone.
See ya all at Tmazz next month. Vinyl nirvana. I believe another Saturday event. Sorry Grant. Hope to have the Arion Hybrid class "D" amps and PDX DAC by then to try out. There will be two systems to chew on oh my ! Bobby boy will show off his wares as well.
Lizard King bring your laptop and USB cable.
charles
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Charles,
May I ask why you want me to bring my laptop and USB cable?
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Why certainly. We will have the PDX and latest Neko DACs to try out. Might as well use a computer front end and compare to a transport. Fun, fun,fun.
Since you are our clubs computer Guru who better to demo. :thumb:
charles
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Why certainly. We will have the PDX and latest Neko DACs to try out. Might as well use a computer front end and compare to a transport. Fun, fun,fun.
Since you are our clubs computer Guru who better to demo. :thumb:
@:-)
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Charles,
Please look into what they use for the USB input? As I mention , most use a BS off the shelf receivers so running my interface with the custom PSU into the SPDIF is better.
Why certainly. We will have the PDX and latest Neko DACs to try out. Might as well use a computer front end and compare to a transport. Fun, fun,fun.
Since you are our clubs computer Guru who better to demo. :thumb:
charles
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Please look into what they use for the USB input? As I mention , most use a BS off the shelf receivers so running my interface with the custom PSU into the SPDIF is better.
Just a bit of interesting info about the PDX, and by way of answering your question. I may do a separate post about it as well.
The PDX uses a battery powered M2Tech board direct to I2S and fedding, directly, the 8X oversampler, then onto the PCM1704 DAC Chip, but the board in the PDX has recently been redesigned to use a new PCB board the M2Tech board docks directly onto it. I compared it to my older PDX and it sounded better so I ordered a new one but this time with the option of an I2S input to connect my Off-Ramp to. Now the Off-Ramp is a quantum leap above the M2Tech and everyone expected the Off-Ramp to annihilate the M2tech. Everything I had previously tried the Off-Ramp against the Off-Ramp blew away - that includes the Audioplellio, JK, Wavelength, Berkley, and Stello. But when I connected it up - guess what - it didn't - is was excruciatingly close - what the fook.
The Off-Ramp was slightly smoother and more analogue like but the M2TEch was slightly rougher but sounded a bit more detailed - which is better - I don't know. I have demoed it to a few acquaintances and they say the same as me - both really good but which is better - don't know. I am going to have some guys over to my place when they get a bit of time to try and get to the bottom of it.
The only thing I can think of is the shorter paths are lifting the performance of the M2Tech. I sent a note to Steve Nugent about it and he is going to do a mod on my Off-Ramp that he thinks will make a big difference.
Anyway really interested in what you guys think about the PDX. So if anyone has any ideas about this don't be shy in coming forward. This is really strange - the Off-Ramp is in every way better than the M2Tech boards.
Thanks
Bill
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BILL,
My Dac uses an older AD1865N deccoder which does not accept an I2S input. The supplied USB board is crap so I learned about using an interface and I went from the M2tech Hi-Face to the M2tech EVO. I have been using BNC for the SPDIF and that makes a difference.
I have a shunt regulated power supply for the Evo and that takes the EVO to a whole new level of Playback. What was a good device (EVO) is now an great device.
I can't do anything these days and was system is in storage yet one day I may look into modding the EVO.
Do you have a link about this PDX dac?
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Go to Lenehan audio site.
charles
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Do you have a link about this PDX dac?
Just to elaborate a bit on what Rollo said here is the Lenehan Link:
http://www.lenehanaudio.com.au/pdx.php
I have compared it to all sorts of stuff and only the Metrum fed with the Off-Ramp so far has been able to touch it although the Tranquility Signature put up a good show - people said they could live with it.
However some guys over at Computer Audio compared it to the new AMR:
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/AMR-DP777
The AMR was preferred by a smidgen.
Thanks
Bill
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Had an opportunity to hear the AMR in a unfamiliar system. Excellent performance. No digital artifacts whatsoever. Price is $5000. The PDX starts at $2500 with level 2 adds $800. The volume control may be a add on some perfer.
Very anxious to hear the PDX. Getting in the latest Neko. Transformer output no op amps oh my !
charles
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Bill,
You seem to have a good understanding of this Dac. Does it use the M2tech OEM Bus powered board or does it have a dedicated power supply?
Are you the designer or the distributor? I wand love to leanrn more about this dac. I weill be using my mac laptop to connect to the dac at the meeting? Can I use my NOS Tubes?
Do you have a link about this PDX dac?
Just to elaborate a bit on what Rollo said here is the Lenehan Link:
http://www.lenehanaudio.com.au/pdx.php
I have compared it to all sorts of stuff and only the Metrum fed with the Off-Ramp so far has been able to touch it although the Tranquility Signature put up a good show - people said they could live with it.
However some guys over at Computer Audio compared it to the new AMR:
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/AMR-DP777
The AMR was preferred by a smidgen.
Thanks
Bill
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You seem to have a good understanding of this Dac. Does it use the M2tech OEM Bus powered board or does it have a dedicated power supply? Are you the designer or the distributor? I wand love to leanrn more about this dac. I weill be using my mac laptop to connect to the dac at the meeting? Can I use my NOS Tubes?
I am neither mate - simply a guy that is lucky enough to be 40 minutes away from the designer (Clay Geisner) and the manufacturer Lenehan Audio.
Here is info on Clay:
http://www.thespeakerspecialist.com.au/
They are a pretty friendly bunch and a lot of Audiophiles out our way (myself included) drop in every now and then for a chat and a demo of their new gear or to use Lenehan Audio's Reference system to check out different gear.
Clay had a lot of trouble getting my Off-Ramp working via I2S with the PDX and when he finally did (it was a loose wire in the PDX) he had a good listen with the Off-Ramp. When I picked it up we had a long chat about the gizards of the PDX - some of which I knew before - but a lot was new. A number of guys out my way do that - you probably dodn't know them because they primarily post out here in Aus.
Interstingly a guy recently moved from Western Australia to near where I am - about halfway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast and he had extensively modded his PDX. He took it down to Lenehan Audio, I took my PDX, and of course there were some PDX's already there. We rang up another PDX owner and the stage was set for an interesting listen. We heard it via the old USB interface the PDX once had - a Teradac - and it was veiled and distorted compared to the M2Tech boards in the new DAC's using one of my standard test Tracks - Dianna Krall - A Case Of You - the piano and coughing is a good test for any DAC. We were going to check it out via SPDIF from my Off-Ramp but much to our charin and distress the SPDIF input on his PDX was on the blink and we couldn't get it working - it will need to wait for another time.
Interstingly, and not really related to this, he took an amp down called the Killer Amp and we all had high hopes it could be something special. When I first heard it I went my my - the midrange presence, weight and palpability was astonishing - I said it could have been the best amp I had ever heard. But others there were less impressed - one guy called it the blob - all midrange and no top or bottom end, slow, bloomy with no sound-stage or imaging. It really polarized. But what really struck me was when its owner said he thought it didn't sound like your typical valve amp - to me it was your typical valve amp in overdrive. And I had a phone call from a guy in Perth asking me what I thougt. I said it sounded like your quintessential valve amp - he said it made voices sound real - which to my ears it most emphatically did not - beautiful, entrancing etc etc - but real - nope. Anyway it will probably take a while to get fully up to speed on exactly what is going on with that amp.
The input to the PDX consists of M2Tech boards purchased from M2Tech - exactly what boards they are I am not sure. They evidently require a number of supplies and in the PDX they all have their own separate battery supply - no regulators from a larger supply - it's nothing cutting edge using modified Paul Hines regulators and the other top of the line stuff Steve Nugent uses - it was done basically to keep the price within reason - not to be an all out assault. Everyone, Clay, myself, everyone, thought the Off-Ramp would kill it - but it didn't - which left us all scratching out heads. Of course Lenehan Audio is chuffed - but it still is a big mystery.
If you want to know more of the technical details of this DAC simply drop Clay a line and tell him what the go is and I am sure he will be only to happy to discuss it with you - like he does with guys like me that drop in. Oh and the other thing is this DAC is not made in large quantities - Clay basically hand builds each one - so you will be speaking to the designer and builder.
Thanks
Bill
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Had an opportunity to hear the AMR in a unfamiliar system. Excellent performance. No digital artifacts whatsoever. Price is $5000. The PDX starts at $2500 with level 2 adds $800. The volume control may be a add on some perfer. Very anxious to hear the PDX. Getting in the latest Neko. Transformer output no op amps oh my !
IMHO the PDX without the volume control is better. To my ears direct connecting to your amps sounded more transparent. Lenehan Audio hasn't done the comparisons yet, but I have and direct connecting easily wins - as Steve Nugent and some others I know found with their DAC's as well. Since Clay builds each one he can use an I/V resister to match the output of the DAC to your amp. Evidently the lower the value of that resister the better it sounds - although I personally have not done that comparison.
Thanks
Bill
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I am looking so forward to hearing this Dac. I will play my library of Vinyl recordings at 24 bit 96 Khz.
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Just cannot get it to work. Do not know what settings to use on J. River and cannot seem to locate the driver required from M2tech. I give up. Zero info on sites.
Guess I need Baby instructions step by step.
charles
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I deleted my post. I thought you were using a HIFACE or HIFACE EVO, which doesn't seem to be the case after reading further up the thread.
Sorry.
--Jerome
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Just cannot get it to work. Do not know what settings to use on J. River and cannot seem to locate the driver required from M2tech. I give up. Zero info on sites. Guess I need Baby instructions step by step.
Here are the drivers:
http://www.m2tech.biz/hiface.html#driver
To install it you simply download it and run it which should install the driver. I do know when using a Windows machine with Jriver their is a slight issue with getting the setting in J River right but I have had my PDX running on machines with JRiver. Maybe Foobar would be a better choice to start with.
Exactly which step is mucking up - did you manage to download the driver, install it and you cant get Jriver to work?
I just downloaded it and installed it on my windows machine no problem. You have to select the one for the operating system you are using - I use Window 7 64 bit- you probably do as well. Its a zip file so you have to unzip it - is that where you ran into problems?
Have you got dropbox? Tell me what you are using (ie which version of windows and if its 32 bit or 64 bit) and I can send it to you - you simply click on it to install.
Anyway simply let me know and I will either dropbox it over or email it to you.
Thanks
Bill
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Downloaded driver for windows vista no problem. Easy as pie. My computer will not recognize my document folder it was downloaded to. I guess we need to create a new folder to that we can access. For some odd reason where it was downloaded to will not come up. Again I believe it is a computer issue NOT the PDX.
Going to try a different computer. Let ya know. I should have paid attention in computer class , eh !
charles
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Downloaded driver for windows vista no problem. Easy as pie. My computer will not recognize my document folder it was downloaded to. I guess we need to create a new folder to that we can access. For some odd reason where it was downloaded to will not come up. Again I believe it is a computer issue NOT the PDX.
Going to try a different computer. Let ya know. I should have paid attention in computer class , eh !
charles
I see the download comes thru as a zip file, did you open the file after the download Charles?
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Downloaded driver for windows vista no problem. Easy as pie. My computer will not recognize my document folder it was downloaded to. I guess we need to create a new folder to that we can access. For some odd reason where it was downloaded to will not come up. Again I believe it is a computer issue NOT the PDX.
Going to try a different computer. Let ya know. I should have paid attention in computer class , eh !
charles
I see the download comes thru as a zip file, did you open the file after the download Charles?
Yes Sir. However my computer could not access the folder. had a virus that shut down the file it went to. So, need to create a folder or file we can access. Oye !!
Thanks for the help.
charles
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Hi Charles
Sorry to hear you are having so much trouble. These things can be maddeningly annoying even for guys like me with over 35 years IT experience.
Just say the word and I will email or dropbox the file to you if you think that will help.
Thanks
Bill