Palomino
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Well, last night I think I finally heard what the reviewers have been talking about. It was pretty impressive. I've said since day one that this is a good DAC. I think last night I heard a great DAC.
The combo was the Chord with a LPSU fed via SPDIF from my iPod digital transport. The iPod digital transport might not sound that impressive, but I had my Onkyo ND-S1 modified a few years ago to make it low(er) noise and added a LPSU. At the time, the guy who did the mods swore that it rivaled $2K CD transports. I don't think I had a system (or at least a DAC) to show what it could do before now, but I think I believe him.
Anyway, what I heard was truly impressive. I did A/B comparisons to the Mac mini using USB output, but it wasn't that close. Especially my first try which was using what I think was a lower priority USB port on the mini. It sounded absolutely muddy compared to the transport via SPDIF. I read on line about some mini-tweaks and one of them was to switch USB ports. I did and this brought it closer to the transport but was noticeably thinner.
I'll spare you a lot of the superlatives, but it was more musical in every way. Bass hits hard. So hard in fact that I have to chase down a couple of new vibrations in my room that weren't there before.
My little Rachael still does not have the punch of the ZMA, but it's much closer than it was.
I am going to experiment with a USB to SPDIF converter because the transport will only do redbook and is generally more of a hassle to use (no volume control, no iphone remote, etc.)
So Stone, I think you have been running off a CDP via SPDIF all along, which may explain partially why you didn't feel the need for a LPSU. I think you will still get a lift, but maybe not as much as I experienced.
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Mac Mini with LPSU/SSD running Audirvana Studio, Uptone Audio Regen on LPSU, Mytek Brooklyn DAC+, Ven Haus DIY Silver ICs, 25th Ann. Zen, PS Audio P5 Power Supply, PS Audio/DIY Power Cords, GR Research Speaker Wire, Lii Audio P10 based OB speakers
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