XTreamer vs HTPC with Asus Xonar vs Samsung DVD vs Marantz CDP

[svenkateshsmart]

3. For all the - Seriously getting confused on CDP or Hard Disk based players with external DAC. Same for cables - I will stick to the street corner cables till i get clarity on cables with value

My sammy DVDp begged for its life before a vintage Marantz 53 and this is for a noob! Witness: Jeevabobby of our forum.

Also, I will let Jeevabobby comment the way the sound from the Xtreamer was!

Cheers!

 

[jeevabobby26]

XTreamer vs Samsung DVD

My sammy DVDp begged for its life before a vintage Marantz 53 and this is for a noob! Witness: Jeevabobby of our forum.

Also, I will let Jeevabobby comment the way the sound from the Xtreamer was!

Cheers!

hi,

I went to Mr.smartspendors home last week to give him a Profigold Premium Stereo Interconnects (which he bought from me) and a Marantz CD53 CD Player to listen, as his appartment is opposite to my house.

I listened to the NAD Amp, Monitor Audio BR2 Bookshelf Speakers and the Samsung DVD Player stereo setup, the interconnects was some unbranded ones, we played some songs from Ravana, Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya tamil movies and Eric Clapton Unplugged. The Samansung DVD player itself is doing a great job delivering the songs at good stereo seperation, imaging and the soundstage etc. Overall the Samsung handled the music well, delivering the full frequency bandwidth. The volume kept in the NAD Amp is in between the third point and the fourth point(the point refers the small white marking around the volume knob). As Venkatesh's room was only 10'x8' in size. For his room the 10'O clock position is more than enough and more than that will be boomy to hear.

We played the same songs in FLAC through Xtreamer, NAD Amp and Monitor Audio BR2 Bookshelf Speakers without any External DAC.I thought the Xtreamer has much more capabilities than the DVD player in music department. Xtreamer cannot able deliver the sound output even at full volume from it.The volume kept in the NAD Amp is more than 12'O clock position. We can't able to hear any of the music come from the same songs we played before. There was hardly nothing, no stereo seperation, no imaging, and no soundstage etc. We heard the music like that it was playing in MONO Audio System, one for each. The left speaker for Mr.smartspendor and the right speaker for me. Even my MotoRokr E6 or Venkatesh's Iphone will beat the Xtreamer anyday in stereo audio section.

The difference between the two is miles miles ahead, which the Samsung DVD player kills the Xtreamer at his feet.

We hooked up the Profigold Premium Stereo Interconnect and the Marantz CD Player to the NAD amp and the Monitor Audio BR2 Bookshelf Speakers. Same songs were played again, It was totally a different league.
A vintage NAD Amplifier 35 watt RMS/Channel, a Vintage Marantz CD53 CD Player, the Award winner model Monitor Audio BR2 Bookshelf Speakers, these makes a huge diiference in music, the sound was very insight, involving, has very wide soundstage depth than Samsing DVD player, stereo separation has lots of difference, the Bass has its punch there and the mids were very clear in focus. Overall the music listening to this steup is was very enjoyable. The volume kept in the NAD Amp is in between the second point and the third point.

I just dont know how come a Xtreamer with An External DAC could possibly give the sound output better than a stand alone CD Player. First thing the basic Source player should have capability to deliver the sound at ease without any DACs like the Smasung DVD player above did.
This is my point of listening opinion and feedback.

I think Mr.smartspendor will be now enjoying his stereo music setup. And oh, he has the Marantz CD6003 CD player in his next hot buying list as he was the proud thread starter of the NON-Spendors Club. Good luck Mr.Smartspendor.

cheers.

 

[venkatcr]

I am not too surprised by the outcome. It would be incorrect to expect too much from the players as they are designed and manufactured for a different purpose.

Cheers

 

[spirovious]

The thread title cld have been -Xstreamer vs Samsung DVDp vs Marantz CDp
even similar to know the actual comparision.
By the way thanks for review.

 

[svenkateshsmart]

Hi,

Today, after taking enough meds and an IM, prepared to test the Asus Xonar Essence ST that I received today from Lynx India (Amarbir). Was feeling low after I cancelled the tickets to Bangalore, but things changed in the later part of the day.

Xonar Setup
HTPC
PCI Slot
Profigold RCA Interconnect
Windows 7
WMP/Foobar/VLC
NAD Stereo A
Monitor Audio BR2

Called up Jeevabobby who without any hesitation turned up for a quick A/B comparison between Asus Xonar ST vs. Marantz CD-53. Will post more about the A/B later, because we did not tweak Asus and I have not given it enough chances or resources (media players, etc.) to show its real performance.

But with Mp3s, Marantz easily beat the Asus Xonar ST, but the Xonar ST tried hard but could not produce a wide stage and looked like the sounds produce and die within the speakers at its level, sort of flat, though I would say it did decently well. We used several media player ranging from WMP, Foobar, VLC, and yet to try more.

When playing FLAC, there is close tie between CDP and Xonar ST. The Asus ST did well in all areas but could not beat marantz in creating a wide soundstage and marantz just threw the music in all directions and even revealed the areas where singers literally struggle to hit the notes and the music out of CDP was involving and very intense, which was completely missing in ST. But otherwise separation, details, imaging were all good.

We did everything without any tweaks, so could not arrive at a consensus as to the clear winner, but will tweak Asus ST and listen to various albums and will post a A/B comparison and review soon!

This is just to provoke a few members and targeted at psychotropic, theVortex, VenkatCR, et al., - how about a A/B comparison/shootout?

Venkat sir is already in!

Enough for a long day, feeling tired, dehydrated, but "happy," and going to bed, good night!

Cheers!

 

[spirovious]

Thats nice change to title,but now Xonar is in too.
Well,if you use Cplay,soundstage can go really wide,but voices can sound a bit thinner.
Again cables supplied by Xonar are not good Q & if you use better one,sound changes(I did).

again I feel sound in win7 is better than XP.

 

[sridhar-v]

Yipes!

I was looking to use the Xonar for a music server. Basically I am ripping all my cds to WAV/Aiff format (without compression).

Now the only option left seems to be to use a Macmini & external DAC. Any feedback on the quality of music from a mac digital output?

regards

Sridhar V

 

[reignofchaos]

The xtreamer is meant only for output via hdmi. The analog outs are crap and there for the sake of being there.

As far as the Asus essence, a lot depends on the power supply in the computer and a crappy power supply will produce crappy output. The best output will be when the card is used with a linear power supply.

 

[magma]

as roc said the xstreamer analogue outs are not meant for music
try adding a dac in between and youll see a differnce
(even an el cheapo dac should show considerable differnce)

 

[reignofchaos]

Also there is a huge difference in how the essence ST/STX sounds if you replace the el cheapo JRC2114D opamps in the I/V section with LME49720HA. The LM4562 buffer op amp is good enough. There's a huge difference in dynamics, clarity and overall performance. My STX has been running in this manner for a long while now.

There's more performance to be had if one can build a small linear PSU for the Essence.

 

[svenkateshsmart]

Also there is a huge difference in how the essence ST/STX sounds if you replace the el cheapo JRC2114D opamps in the I/V section with LME49720HA. The LM4562 buffer op amp is good enough. There's a huge difference in dynamics, clarity and overall performance. My STX has been running in this manner for a long while now.

There's more performance to be had if one can build a small linear PSU for the Essence.

Hi,

Thanks a ton!:clapping: Can you tell me where to source LME49720HA this form? I will work on getting a linear power supply for the Essence.

I think some of the coolest features in the Essence series are the:
1. EMI shield
2. Dedicated power supply.
3. Swappable op amps.

Cheers!

 

[reignofchaos]

Hi,

Thanks a ton!:clapping: Can you tell me where to source LME49720HA this form? I will work on getting a linear power supply for the Essence.

I think some of the coolest features in the Essence series are the:
1. EMI shield
2. Dedicated power supply.
3. Swappable op amps.

Cheers!

Just create an account at National Semiconductor website and request for free samples :lol:. Make sure you use your corporate id for the same else they'll not give free shipping.

 

[svenkateshsmart]

Just create an account at National Semiconductor website and request for free samples :lol:. Make sure you use your corporate id for the same else they'll not give free shipping.

Hi,

How do you compare a normal DAC with Essence? Is there a substantial difference in quality? I was initially inclining towards a DAC but was left confused and subsequently pluged into the Essence.

Cheers!

 

[magma]

There's more performance to be had if one can build a small linear PSU for the Essence.

ROC i would be very intrested if you can guide me about how i can do that in an ESI juli if possible

 

[reignofchaos]

ESI Julia would be hard to modify as its power comes from the PCI slot. In case of the Essence ST/STX all the power comes from a molex(old IDE hard drive type) connector. So its very easy to create a good 12V+5V source that outputs to a molex connector.

 

[rajuwaste]

It may be out of context of this thread but I am willing to raise with the experts hear.What kind of result OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray Player produce instead of samsung DVD player and Marantz CDP.Also nowadays most of the people prefer ipod for hearing music.Can anybody clarify is there any major difference in hearing music using ipod (Rs.10000 and above - apple lossless format) ,stereo amp+cdp+speakers combination.I have neither ipod nor stereo amplifier setup so I don't know about the sound they produce.

 

[spirovious]

Just create an account at National Semiconductor website and request for free samples :lol:. Make sure you use your corporate id for the same else they'll not give free shipping.

any mods for D2X?