Yesterday night at 11:40PM (yes its not a typo) FM @srijith call me and wished to talk. We talked and he immediately went to the point where he has an Arylic Streamer with built-in DAC + preamplifier. He was not happy about how that sounds and as per him the output is very thin and he needs modification. One FM froim Bangalore (dont know name) had discussed with him and suggested to go for an R2R DAC to resolve this issue. Srijit had seen my adventures with a Passive DAC chip and was wondering if i can help.
He has an Arylic S50 pro streamer-cum-DAC which uses a sabbre ESS9023 DAC chip - which is an all-in-one package with an in-build LPF with op-amps. This DAC has an analogue voltage output and not a current output. For such a DAC chip the passive low-pass filters cannot be implemented. Only where the DAC chip and active LPF are isolated on a different package can the passive LPF be implemented.
Srijith was very curious to discover more and wanted to listen this passive DAC and checked with me if he can drop-in today. We are meeting in the afternoon for a listen and he will get his Arylic along with him as its very small box.
So what's the big deal if a FM is visiting for a listen? - Yes its a big deal for me as no FM has visited me past 4.5 years and the last visit was by @prem and mpw in the year 2019, December to listen Manohar's speaker. Since than almost 95% of my setup has changed / been modified and no FM till date has ever listened to my setup. There are over 20+ major/minor modifications to my setup and am trying to list them below from my memory -
- Amplifier - Changed from Dared VP300B SET tube to Directly Coupled KT88 mono-blocks - designed by Jeff Medwin - Aka @drlowmu
- Speakers - Changed from a single Russian driver + Dayton Audio subwoofer to - Russian Driver + Sachenwerck Field Coil + Cleavland Audio Alnico+ Bolton H-frame subwoofer
- Power cable change - from stock to mil speck silver plated copper wire with an unique geometry
- Interconnect change - from stock to time aligned interconnects using 5 metals in a unique geometry
- Speaker cable change - from polycab telephone cables to Fulton length mil spec silver plated copper wire 12+12 +14 awg- each terminal
- Marantz blueray player - from stock active LPF to DIY passive LPF using audio transformers
- Preamplifier - from active preamplifer using JFET & OPAMPS - to passive preamplifier using a quad ganged volume control
- speaker placement - from parallel to the wall - to diagonal to the wall for saving living room space and WAF
There are many minor changes which i am not listing - as that is part of continuous improvement - 5S.
So from the above you can notice that i am more a DIY person and try to gain maximum from my investments. I also believe that a best sounding setup can't be purchased but can only be made. But TBH, i myself don't have much exposure to a live performance (other than my Wife's occasional Carnatic vocals) or listening to other setup. The last setup i listened was at Prem's home in early 2019 where his JBL 4343 was connected to his stock Denon Integrated amplifier. Moreover i have stopped visiting what-hifi shows since 2018 and now currently don't have any reference of how other setup sounds for a comparison. Ignorance is Bliss - its said OR is it?
What Srijit listen today is my own version of what's a good sound and he is the first FM to listen to them today - hence the fuss.
Thanks for looking.
He has an Arylic S50 pro streamer-cum-DAC which uses a sabbre ESS9023 DAC chip - which is an all-in-one package with an in-build LPF with op-amps. This DAC has an analogue voltage output and not a current output. For such a DAC chip the passive low-pass filters cannot be implemented. Only where the DAC chip and active LPF are isolated on a different package can the passive LPF be implemented.
Srijith was very curious to discover more and wanted to listen this passive DAC and checked with me if he can drop-in today. We are meeting in the afternoon for a listen and he will get his Arylic along with him as its very small box.
So what's the big deal if a FM is visiting for a listen? - Yes its a big deal for me as no FM has visited me past 4.5 years and the last visit was by @prem and mpw in the year 2019, December to listen Manohar's speaker. Since than almost 95% of my setup has changed / been modified and no FM till date has ever listened to my setup. There are over 20+ major/minor modifications to my setup and am trying to list them below from my memory -
- Amplifier - Changed from Dared VP300B SET tube to Directly Coupled KT88 mono-blocks - designed by Jeff Medwin - Aka @drlowmu
- Speakers - Changed from a single Russian driver + Dayton Audio subwoofer to - Russian Driver + Sachenwerck Field Coil + Cleavland Audio Alnico+ Bolton H-frame subwoofer
- Power cable change - from stock to mil speck silver plated copper wire with an unique geometry
- Interconnect change - from stock to time aligned interconnects using 5 metals in a unique geometry
- Speaker cable change - from polycab telephone cables to Fulton length mil spec silver plated copper wire 12+12 +14 awg- each terminal
- Marantz blueray player - from stock active LPF to DIY passive LPF using audio transformers
- Preamplifier - from active preamplifer using JFET & OPAMPS - to passive preamplifier using a quad ganged volume control
- speaker placement - from parallel to the wall - to diagonal to the wall for saving living room space and WAF
There are many minor changes which i am not listing - as that is part of continuous improvement - 5S.
So from the above you can notice that i am more a DIY person and try to gain maximum from my investments. I also believe that a best sounding setup can't be purchased but can only be made. But TBH, i myself don't have much exposure to a live performance (other than my Wife's occasional Carnatic vocals) or listening to other setup. The last setup i listened was at Prem's home in early 2019 where his JBL 4343 was connected to his stock Denon Integrated amplifier. Moreover i have stopped visiting what-hifi shows since 2018 and now currently don't have any reference of how other setup sounds for a comparison. Ignorance is Bliss - its said OR is it?
What Srijit listen today is my own version of what's a good sound and he is the first FM to listen to them today - hence the fuss.
Thanks for looking.