DAC Favorites

Started by rollo, August 18, 2012, 07:44:22 AM

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rollo

Quote from: Bill O'Connell on December 05, 2012, 10:15:59 AM
etcarroll,
You need to let me throw some Dexa discrete's in there. You really haven't heard it until those are in installed :thumb:

   I will second that. We used the EE DAC with the Dexa discretes at the DC Audiofest feeding our system.
   BTW your welcome Bill. We are not dealers of EE.




charles
contact me  at rollo14@verizon.net or visit us on Facebook
Lamm Industries - Aqua Acoustic, Formula & La Scala DAC- INNUOS  - Rethm - Kuzma - QLN - Audio Hungary Qualiton - Fritz speakers -Gigawatt -Vinnie Rossi,TWL, Swiss Cables, Merason DAC.

Bill O'Connell

Your the man Charles, Thank you.
I'm certain it matched up well with all the other great gear you carry :thumb:
Bill O'Connell,
Retired /Morningstar Audio/Eastern Electric distributor for North America
847-255-1150
"If your playing more than 3 chords your just showing off"  John Lee Hooker

etcarroll

Still tube rolling Bill, but opamp rolling next on my list.

Send me a link to what you have in mind, I'm game.

I have an RCA clear-top in it now, sounds a tad 'forward' to me.

Quote from: Bill O'Connell on December 05, 2012, 10:15:59 AM
etcarroll,
You need to let me throw some Dexa discrete's in there. You really haven't heard it until those are in installed :thumb:
"...if you want to enjoy your gear, don't listen to anything that might be better."

etcarroll

Well if Charles liked it, I'm definately game.

Quote from: Bill O'Connell on December 08, 2012, 11:00:32 AM
Your the man Charles, Thank you.
I'm certain it matched up well with all the other great gear you carry :thumb:
"...if you want to enjoy your gear, don't listen to anything that might be better."

Triode Pete

Quote from: rollo on December 08, 2012, 06:28:18 AM
Quote from: Bill O'Connell on December 05, 2012, 10:15:59 AM
etcarroll,
You need to let me throw some Dexa discrete's in there. You really haven't heard it until those are in installed :thumb:

   I will second that. We used the EE DAC with the Dexa discretes at the DC Audiofest feeding our system.
   BTW your welcome Bill. We are not dealers of EE.
charles

Yeah, you failed to mention it was my personal EE DAC+ with Dexas we were using... Btw, it was the power cord attached that made all the difference in the world  :lol:

Cheers,
Pete
www.TriodeWireLabs.com
WT Reference/Lyra Titan I
Quadratic Audio MC-1
Custom BorderPatrol preamp with phono & line stage
Innuos Statement Server
BorderPatrol S20 EXD w/EXS PS
Klipschorns - Volti hot-rodded
UberBUSS

shadowlight

Gene,

Aren't you using the original EE DAC?  Will the Dexa work in it?

richidoo

Quote from: etcarroll on December 08, 2012, 01:27:35 PM
I have an RCA clear-top in it now, sounds a tad 'forward' to me.

I tried clear top RCA 12AU7s (cryoed Black Sable from TubeDepot.com) in my EE Minimax preamp. Great detail, but a little thin compared to a plain getter top RCA. Plain RCA too blurred for me. I liked the stock EE branded tube. Still not phat but extremely low distortion and more body than the cleartops. I guess it's Shuguang.

JBNY

Currently running a Wyred4Sound DAC1 with upgraded caps to be equivalent to their DAC2.

I listened to the REGA DAC, Benchmark DAC1 and Bel Canto 3.5 before I bought it.
-Joe
Von Schweikert Speakers/Seismic Isolation Podiums
W4S STP-SE STG2 Preamp/SST SOA2 Amp
Roon Core i7NUC/Synology 52TB NAS
Matrix X-SABRE PRO (MQA) DAC/Pi4 Ropieee
Pass Labs X-17 Phono/OL Resolution MK4 TT/Conqueror MK3c/Kiseki PH
Equi=core 1800 Balance

etcarroll

Correct - original EE Minimax with one of Pete's PCs.

Was going to roll in a different tube, opted for opening a bottle of wine instead. Maybe this Vouvray will back off the forwardness a little.

Quote from: shadowlight on December 08, 2012, 02:22:43 PM
Gene,

Aren't you using the original EE DAC?  Will the Dexa work in it?
"...if you want to enjoy your gear, don't listen to anything that might be better."

richidoo

There you go Gene! My wife and I broke open a bottle of our fav 2001 Montepulcciano, to watch the kids decorate the tree.  128k Christmas carols on Pandora sound just fine! :)

Bill O'Connell

Forget the RCA clear-top, overrated, compared to the older D/squared version black-plate from the late 50's. The clear top doesn't hold a candle to it.
Dexa's can be installed in the original, no problem. Forget tube rolling until you here the DAC with Dexa's.
Bill O'Connell,
Retired /Morningstar Audio/Eastern Electric distributor for North America
847-255-1150
"If your playing more than 3 chords your just showing off"  John Lee Hooker

Triode Pete

Quote from: etcarroll on December 08, 2012, 05:05:54 PM
Correct - original EE Minimax with one of Pete's PCs.

Was going to roll in a different tube, opted for opening a bottle of wine instead. Maybe this Vouvray will back off the forwardness a little.

Quote from: shadowlight on December 08, 2012, 02:22:43 PM
Gene,

Aren't you using the original EE DAC?  Will the Dexa work in it?

I really like the British Brimar T-series 6067 (12AU7) in my EE DAC+...

My $0.02,
Pete
www.TriodeWireLabs.com
WT Reference/Lyra Titan I
Quadratic Audio MC-1
Custom BorderPatrol preamp with phono & line stage
Innuos Statement Server
BorderPatrol S20 EXD w/EXS PS
Klipschorns - Volti hot-rodded
UberBUSS

etcarroll

Pretty sure I have one of those in the shoebox - I'll throw it in next.

Quote from: Bill O'Connell on December 08, 2012, 09:16:45 PM
Forget the RCA clear-top, overrated, compared to the older D/squared version black-plate from the late 50's. The clear top doesn't hold a candle to it.
Dexa's can be installed in the original, no problem. Forget tube rolling until you here the DAC with Dexa's.
"...if you want to enjoy your gear, don't listen to anything that might be better."

rollo

   There are few no brainers out there however the dexas are one of those. Just do it and be berry berry happy. Hard to find but a real tele 12AU7 just may give that Brimar a VG good run for the money. Ya never know until you try. To further enhance the EE+ DAC I strongly recco Pon-Tune footers. Yes we sell them. To date the most affective footers we have tried. Before the Pon-Tunes we liked roller blocks.
   


charles
contact me  at rollo14@verizon.net or visit us on Facebook
Lamm Industries - Aqua Acoustic, Formula & La Scala DAC- INNUOS  - Rethm - Kuzma - QLN - Audio Hungary Qualiton - Fritz speakers -Gigawatt -Vinnie Rossi,TWL, Swiss Cables, Merason DAC.

richidoo

http://www.audionervosa.com/index.php?topic=3934.0
http://www.dagogo.com/Print-Article.asp?hArticle=1029
http://www.newclassd.com/index.php?page=55
http://www.partsconnexion.com/opamp_dexa.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/198813-minimax-dac-best-opamps-replace-stock-ones.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/198813-minimax-dac-best-opamps-replace-stock-ones.html

I think stock opamp is LM4562, a fav of audio designer because of the specs. John Atkinson devoted an editorial to this savior chip a few years ago. I call it the vampire because it sucks the life out of music. It has low distortion and noise, but we don't need that. Vampire is better left to electron microscopes and military sonar.

Use a DIP puller to remove the existing opamps without damaging them.