[HardtailHack]

Something that never got finished, Some sort of Chinese preamp thing and a DAB+ radio. There was a lesson about letting the smoke out with this, something about using separate AC supplies on cheap Chinese components.
It had two NFC tags in the top of the timber casing that brought up Bluetooth settings and the other one started Pandora when you tapped your phone on the case.

Not sure why I don't have an assembled pic with the face in.

 

[Shizzon]

I finally purchased some new gear for the home setup. The hand-me-down AVR unit a friend gave me decided to stop working a while back so I have spent some time looking at my options.

After a bit of research I decided to go with a Matrix Audio Mini-I 3 Pro (DAC/streamer/preamp) and a VTV stereo amplifier using Purifi class D modules.

The Mini-I 3 gives me plenty of options for inputs with built in streaming and it has been an absolute pleasure to use. Meanwhile the VTV/Purifi stereo amp should power pretty much any speaker I want to throw at them in the future while having industry leading distortion numbers (.00017% THD @ 100W 4ohm, 1% THD @ 425W 4ohm, 2 ohm stable!).

I also opted to build some official speaker stands to aid in the port floor bounce issue and to bring the tweeter near ear level any without tilt. Still need to do a final sand (remove visible glue etc.) and stain. Hell, I still need to do that for the speakers themselves!

 

[gonefirefightin]

Oh nice thread, Building a house shortly and already planning the theater room. 7.2.4 Atmos with projection. Currently researching my server rack and networking.

 

[CBJ]

I finally purchased some new gear for the home setup. The hand-me-down AVR unit a friend gave me decided to stop working a while back so I have spent some time looking at my options.

After a bit of research I decided to go with a Matrix Audio Mini-I 3 Pro (DAC/streamer/preamp) and a VTV stereo amplifier using Purifi class D modules.

The Mini-I 3 gives me plenty of options for inputs with built in streaming and it has been an absolute pleasure to use. Meanwhile the VTV/Purifi stereo amp should power pretty much any speaker I want to throw at them in the future while having industry leading distortion numbers (.00017% THD @ 100W 4ohm, 1% THD @ 425W 4ohm, 2 ohm stable!).

View attachment 156565

I also opted to build some official speaker stands to aid in the port floor bounce issue and to bring the tweeter near ear level any without tilt. Still need to do a final sand (remove visible glue etc.) and stain. Hell, I still need to do that for the speakers themselves!

View attachment 156575

View attachment 156576

View attachment 156566

View attachment 156567

I have also started shopping for a DAC. I have balanced input on my Amp. Is it worth buying a DAC with balanced output? They are clearly more expensive. At the moment I only get sound from Amazon Alexa dot and it's not good which is no surprise of course lacking so much detail and clarity.

 

[Westy]

I have also started shopping for a DAC. I have balanced input on my Amp. Is it worth buying a DAC with balanced output? They are clearly more expensive. At the moment I only get sound from Amazon Alexa dot and it's not good which is no surprise of course lacking so much detail and clarity.

I recently got a Bluesound Node 2i. I really like it. The sound quality is great and it connects with a wide variety of streaming services, although I primarily use Tidal. I would consider it a quality consumer item, and is supposedly performs just as well as a lot more expensive audiophile stuff. No balanced output.

 

[Shizzon]

I have also started shopping for a DAC. I have balanced input on my Amp. Is it worth buying a DAC with balanced output? They are clearly more expensive. At the moment I only get sound from Amazon Alexa dot and it's not good which is no surprise of course lacking so much detail and clarity.

I don't have much experience with balanced vs unbalanced connections in terms of sound quality. In terms of noise rejection balanced connections make a lot of sense, hence their propensity in PA gear and other sectors of audio. For the short runs between DAC and Amp that we typically see in home stereo (my DIY XLR cables are like 20" long) I am not sure if it is a thing to worry about. I am also far from an authority figure on this topic but I wouldn't get too caught up on finding a DAC with balanced outputs.

I recently got a Bluesound Node 2i. I really like it. The sound quality is great and it connects with a wide variety of streaming services, although I primarily use Tidal. I would consider it a quality consumer item, and is supposedly performs just as well as a lot more expensive audiophile stuff. No balanced output.

Bluesound Node 2i was a contender but the Purifi amp was only available with XRL inputs. Plus I liked having a built in display. I was actually considering a Peachtree intregrated amp + Bluesound Node 2i combo but decided to go a different direction with the Matrix/Purifi combo.

So far I have used the unit's optical in (TV/Movies), and wireless/WiFi (Apple phones as well as my Fiio M11 Pro DAP) for convenient listening with great results and very easy to use interface.

If I feel like listening to my hi-res collection then I connect the Fiio DAP via its SPDIF output into the Coaxial input of the Matriz Mini-i (Fiio outputs up to DSD 256). This is the same DAP I use in the car for hi-res listening (and to completely bypass the "car" audio system) and it serves as a pretty nice way to control everything.

Eventually I will likely add a Mac Mini as a dedicated music server (plus apple TV) but this is getting me by pretty well.

 

[Westy]

I appreciate how this guy debunks bullshit

 

[Brian HCM#1]

I do know balanced cables tend to be stupid expensive. Not sure in a regular listening environment you can hear the difference with decent quality RCA cables

 

[CBJ]

Well the wonderfully names Shiit makes a balanced output DAC that get great reviews all around so I might as well go balanced and you can get cables that are not expensive. Now that Denon has gone to great effort to make the input on the amp why not when it's not much more and I need to buy cables anyway.

Schiit Modius - Balanced DAC

Schiit Modius - Balanced DAC

www.schiit-europe.com

At the moment I am getting sound directly from Amazon Echo Dot and it's really not good. Everything about is really bad. So a much needed upgrade to my streaming setup will be this years birthday gift to Me and myself and I.

 

[Shizzon]

I do know balanced cables tend to be stupid expensive. Not sure in a regular listening environment you can hear the difference with decent quality RCA cables

My DIY pair of 20" long XLR cables (using fairly expensive $7/ft cable) was about $60 and it could have been a fraction of that with cheaper cable/connectors. Same thing goes for the RCA cables I made for my jeep and the SPDIF-> Coaxial for connecting my DAP.

I certainly don't buy into audiofool snake oil marketing claims but I am comfortable with spending a more than is likely justified since my DIY approach tends to help on the money front anyways. Really the biggest advantage of going the DIY route beyond cost for me is the ability to tailor the lengths of all your cable runs. I like nicely managed wiring and making my own allows me to minimize clutter and excess lengths.

 

[mykel]

My DIY pair of 20" long XLR cables (using fairly expensive $7/ft cable) was about $60 and it could have been a fraction of that with cheaper cable/connectors. Same thing goes for the RCA cables I made for my jeep and the SPDIF-> Coaxial for connecting my DAP.

I certainly don't buy into audiofool snake oil marketing claims but I am comfortable with spending a more than is likely justified since my DIY approach tends to help on the money front anyways. Really the biggest advantage of going the DIY route beyond cost for me is the ability to tailor the lengths of all your cable runs. I like nicely managed wiring and making my own allows me to minimize clutter and excess lengths.

It is a strange field, with too much foo, and yet so many wonderfully weird workable designs sprinkled throughout.
For example, my amps are designed so the cable provides the amps inductance, so requires 3.5m of cable length to complete the output stage. Obviously the cable must be with a certain spec profile, so not just any cable can be used.

Amps are Naim NAP 135 monoblocks with Naim NAC A5 cable.
(If you are familiar with Naim, amps are Chrome Bumper vintage with Holden and Fisher toroidal transformers.)

 

[Westy]

I do know balanced cables tend to be stupid expensive. Not sure in a regular listening environment you can hear the difference with decent quality RCA cables

Snake oil IMO. On paper the balanced inputs have an advantage using a separate wire for the ground. This will help reduce any noise in a system. I believe the arrangement was initially used for microphones, where you can have very long cables and a very low input signal. Signal interconnect neither have a very low signal or long cables.

There is a simple test you can do, play nothing and turn your volume up until you hear noise. If your situation is bad, perhaps a better cable architecture will work but probably not.

My system has a 120 watts per channel and 99dB/watt speakers. If I play nothing and listen to my DAC input with my ears directly next to the tweeter I start to hear noise at around -20dB. I can't hear any of it at my normal listtening position at max volume. The loudest I listen to anything is -35dB and my ears would bleed above -30dB. Now the RCA cable to my DAC is pretty cheap and also 9ft long, it only needs to be 1 foot long. The only other input I have connected is my phono, and it goes through an additional input stage. It has a nice short signal cable. I can go up to -7dB before hearing noise with my head next to the tweeter. In conclusion my shitty cables don't make a difference and probably the best solution is simply to run the shortest cables I need but even then I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

 

[Westy]

I don't have much experience with balanced vs unbalanced connections in terms of sound quality. In terms of noise rejection balanced connections make a lot of sense, hence their propensity in PA gear and other sectors of audio. For the short runs between DAC and Amp that we typically see in home stereo (my DIY XLR cables are like 20" long) I am not sure if it is a thing to worry about. I am also far from an authority figure on this topic but I wouldn't get too caught up on finding a DAC with balanced outputs.



Bluesound Node 2i was a contender but the Purifi amp was only available with XRL inputs. Plus I liked having a built in display. I was actually considering a Peachtree intregrated amp + Bluesound Node 2i combo but decided to go a different direction with the Matrix/Purifi combo.

So far I have used the unit's optical in (TV/Movies), and wireless/WiFi (Apple phones as well as my Fiio M11 Pro DAP) for convenient listening with great results and very easy to use interface.

If I feel like listening to my hi-res collection then I connect the Fiio DAP via its SPDIF output into the Coaxial input of the Matriz Mini-i (Fiio outputs up to DSD 256). This is the same DAP I use in the car for hi-res listening (and to completely bypass the "car" audio system) and it serves as a pretty nice way to control everything.

Eventually I will likely add a Mac Mini as a dedicated music server (plus apple TV) but this is getting me by pretty well.

I have an old smart phone that I connect to the Node 2i USB input. I can use it as both a display and media storage.

 

[CBJ]

Schitt not in stock I then find out. Not easy to find a reasonable priced DAC.

 

[mandown]

Ugh. I’m about ready to kill my NAD amp. It keeps dropping signal to the left speaker, though occasionally also the right one too. It also generates a fair amount of heat. Since I’ve got some nice ///B&W floor standing speakers, I should probably invest in a new power amp. I’m considering the NAD C 328 and 368 amps. I’ve got a buddy-deal connection for a bit of a price discount to help ease the pain. The real question is if I should pop for the bigger amp. It’s more connectivity than I need. It’s also more power than I “need” but that helps with headroom.

I’d consider going for something fancier, possibly even Macintosh, but I’m trying to be realistic. The heat generation is a factor in my apartment, particularly in summer months. If I ever need loud, I’ve got a PA system that’ll be more than I could ever use.

Anyone here have any experience with these or thoughts on other options? My hi-fi connection has pretty good ears so I trust his judgement on these units, but hive-mind feedback is appreciated.

 

[Westy]

Ugh. I’m about ready to kill my NAD amp. It keeps dropping signal to the left speaker, though occasionally also the right one too. It also generates a fair amount of heat. Since I’ve got some nice ///B&W floor standing speakers, I should probably invest in a new power amp. I’m considering the NAD C 328 and 368 amps. I’ve got a buddy-deal connection for a bit of a price discount to help ease the pain. The real question is if I should pop for the bigger amp. It’s more connectivity than I need. It’s also more power than I “need” but that helps with headroom.

I’d consider going for something fancier, possibly even Macintosh, but I’m trying to be realistic. The heat generation is a factor in my apartment, particularly in summer months. If I ever need loud, I’ve got a PA system that’ll be more than I could ever use.

Anyone here have any experience with these or thoughts on other options? My hi-fi connection has pretty good ears so I trust his judgement on these units, but hive-mind feedback is appreciated.

The NAD 328 and 368s are class D so they should be energy efficient and have a lot less heat dissipation than other types. No first hand experience with one though.

Looks like the 368 runs the BluOS system which my Node 2i has and have only good things to say about.

 

[HardtailHack]

Having three wire signal cables is also for safety, there have been more than a few people zapped when grabbing the mic, ground lifting is a big no no in live music.

I get mains noise in my headphones using a DAC on my laptop even if the thing is not on charge, it is almost loud enough to be annoying.
I think our off peak ripple is 600Hz here and if you have dimmed LED lights they all fluctuate in brightness when the off peak signal starts.
My old Denon amp used to pass the interference through at pretty annoying levels, Denon(rebadged Panasonic+$$$) DVD player with headphone out was good, almost no noise, old Pro-Logic era Onkyo filters it out completely.

 

[CBJ]

Ok, Schitt Modius Balanced Dac ordered and @Westy it has the blessing of the Audio Science guy and he also likes XLR! I will stream music and bluetooth via Amazon Echo Link into the Modius and then into my 90s Denon amp. Can't wait I should be a huge improvement over the Echo Dot I use currently.

Btw Westy it's been interesting to read reviews and comments on that site. Where there is a very different approach vs a lot of reviews talking about what they feel they hear.

 

[Westy]

I made a thing

Anyone who complains that 'they don't make things like they used to' doesn't understand what a royal pain in the balls 'used to' is.

This was close to 18 hours of wiring and soldering. I wanted to make sure I understood how the damned thing worked so I poured over the schematics and instructions for hours, pretty much built it from memory but on several occasions checked and reviewed my work. Took my time, was extremely careful and meticulous, which goes against every fiber of my being. Fired up on the first try with no issues. Accidentally melted a few things with the soldering iron and managed to light a piece of paper on fire, yet somehow avoided burning myself, a first.

 

[mykel]

This service should be available to hobbyists of all forms.

 

[dump]

This service should be available to hobbyists of all forms.

View attachment 157862

imagine not having this tension at all. Freedom!

 

[dump]

imagine not having this tension at all. Freedom!

For example, a partner that does not ask!

 

[CBJ]

Final piece of my setup arrived today. Schiit Audio Modius DAC hooked up balanced in and output. Getting digital signal from Amazon Echo Link with music from Spotify who is also rolling out lossless but not sure when we will get it here. Speakers are used Jamo Concert 8 and 1999 Denon S-10 integrated amp I bought new.

 

[Westy]

Final piece of my setup arrived today. Schiit Audio Modius DAC hooked up balanced in and output. Getting digital signal from Amazon Echo Link with music from Spotify who is also rolling out lossless but not sure when we will get it here. Speakers are used Jamo Concert 8 and 1999 Denon S-10 integrated amp I bought new.

View attachment 157942

How are you connecting the Echo to the DAC? Optical?

I have a 90 day Hi-Def demo from Amazon music. I hate their interface and will not be subscribing. So far happy with Tidal. I wish Pandora had Hi-Def options and I like their interface the best.

 

[CBJ]

How are you connecting the Echo to the DAC? Optical?

I have a 90 day Hi-Def demo from Amazon music. I hate their interface and will not be subscribing. So far happy with Tidal. I wish Pandora had Hi-Def options and I like their interface the best.

Echo to the DAC via coaxial cable so digital. I could have use toslink too but what I learned is really no difference as its just bits that are transmitted.

I really like the voice control with Alexa so I have an old 1 gen Echo dot that I can use for that as it can control the Echo Link. I like I can control all the music without my phone or computer including volume, forward etc. It will even pick interesting playlists.

 

[Westy]

TLDR summary: The HiFiBerry DAC + DSP is a poorly documented, poorly supported piece of shit that will only provide endless hours of anger and frustration.



So I purchased a HiFiBerry DAC + DSP so I could apply some filters and room correction to the tube amp I made upon the suggestions from @Shizzon

Out of the box the HiFiBerry didn't work. Documentation is limited to a single webpage so I was had to dig around in their support forums. I was told it was a software bug and was given some extremely vague directions on how to fix it, and honestly talked down to for not being an Ubuntu expert. They assume you are fluent in working with a Raspberry Pi. I wasn't, but I can't walk away from a problem, so I spent a week trying learning all the bullshit you need to know to execute vague command line configurations. It still didn't work and was told it must be a hardware bug. I had the damned thing packed up and ready to return when I got a message from someone else on the forum to check a jumper on the board.

I had no jumper on the board, it never shipped with one. No documentation referenced the jumper and the HiFiberry tech support people didn't seem to know about it. An alligator clip applied in lieu of a jumper and it worked, huzzah!. Out of the box the DAC part worked great, sounded just as good as the DAC on my BlueSound Node and had a lower noise floor, however I can't tell the difference with the noise floor during normal listening conditions.

I got a calibrated microphone from Mini DSP and Used REW software to come up with some optimized filters. The response was good but had a few steep random dips and a room resonance at 50 Hz. I followed the instructions on how to implement the filter file from REW, and to no surprise it didn't work. But no matter I can enter the filters manually. After applying the filters I sat down to listen to the glorious results, and it was terrible. Horrible horrible distortion. I ran the REW software again and a found that a few specific frequencies output massive distortion. The optimized filters from REW had a bunch of filters sitting on top of each other, thought that could be causing the problem so I deleted them all and just applied a slight filter at 50 hz where I have a room resonance. All seemed good until I played a few songs with deep bass and heard massive distortion around 50hz. Went back to REW and confirmed what I heard.

Conclusion: The HiFiBerry DAC + DSP is a poorly documented, poorly supported piece of shit that will only provide endless hours of anger and frustration.

The core Rapberry Pi iteself with the Raspian OS was pretty slick, will keep it to play around with.

 

[HardtailHack]

Sucks that you had so much of an issue with the HiFiBerry stuff, I will say that I found it odd how clunky everything seemed but the product has had so many years of development.

Can't you get an EQ settings screen up like this in HiFiBerry OS? B&O were behind it so it is a proper functioning bit of software.



I had similar issues when I bought a DSP from Sure a few years ago, boards on boards and cables everywhere, it was torture and I just gave up.

 

[CBJ]

@Westy have you seen the Buchardt A500 active speaker with room correction. It's really interesting flexible they speaker is with may different tunes you can upload and with room correction too.

 

[HardtailHack]

It's pretty crazy how long it has taken for people to accept DSP for home use, a car headunit I had close to 20yrs ago came with a mic to set up the EQ and the time alignment, it even adjusted the speaker volume to overcome road noise.

Would like to see the specs on the bass driver, they would have to be doing some serious massaging to the lower notes to get a small sealed bookshelf hitting 25Hz.
That's a lot of money, you could build some really nice active speakers with DSP for that, you'd only need two way if you went with Purifi 6.5" drivers.

 

[CBJ]

It's pretty crazy how long it has taken for people to accept DSP for home use, a car headunit I had close to 20yrs ago came with a mic to set up the EQ and the time alignment, it even adjusted the speaker volume to overcome road noise.

Would like to see the specs on the bass driver, they would have to be doing some serious massaging to the lower notes to get a small sealed bookshelf hitting 25Hz.
That's a lot of money, you could build some really nice active speakers with DSP for that, you'd only need two way if you went with Purifi 6.5" drivers.

I would never be able to build something nor program all of it to work together I am not sure I am not sure it's easy to replicate. The site has some detailed info

Buchardt A500 Detailed Description

Detailed description of the A500 - Active Wireless Speakers

www.buchardtaudio.com

 

[HardtailHack]

Curse word, curse word, curse word, HiFiBerry.

Decided to start making some test enclosures this afternoon I haven't done any woodwork in a long time so I don't trust myself getting it right first go. I got one done, it's about 8.5L after displacement and it's tuned to 52Hz.
Figured I'd dust off the amp and give it a go, goes to find specs for the amp and the speaker outputs are listed numerically, alpha and then in a different numerical order none of which is printed on the board. That means if you run the amp's active crossover, you have to work out which channels are left and right and more importantly which channel is high or low passed.

Worked that out, remembered I had to use a HDMI cable to be able to set the thing up with it plugged in to a LAN port on the modem. It appeared on my laptop, I adjusted the crossover, set up the Wi-Fi and that was the last my phone or laptop has seen of it.
So I have to reset it tomorrow and start again, the memories of my previous battle slowly came back to me tonight.
I need to make a folding work bench.

 

[Westy]

After I built the tube amp I realized I hated everything about my Pioneer AVR amp. As I no longer have any desire to run surround sound again I was looking for a way to get rid of the Pioneer. The tube amp is fun but not practical for full time use. The HiFiBerry DAC+DSP has been a huge disappointment but it gives me enough simple equalization that I can get rid of the AVR. Read this review of the Aiyima A07 and figured it was cheap enough to give a try. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/amazing-budget-amplifier-find-aiyima-a07-tpa3255-video-review.21059/ I ordered direct from China with the default power supply for $95. It arrived in about a week. I don't have a lot of things to compare it to, but it sounds a little better than the tube amp and is a lot more practical, sounds a lot better than the crap Pioneer.

Pretty amazing for less than $100. Probably made by slaves but short of building it yourself or spending many thousands of dollars the story is going to be the same. I guess it may be a little susceptible to heat failure if you run it hard seeing as though it is so compact. I run it at less than 25% volume and use the volume remote from my DAC to control it, is cool to the touch. Sounds like the power supply is the weak link if lots of power is required, easily upgraded but I certainly don't need to worry about that. Great little amp if you don't care about remote volume control or have a DAC that can do that for you.

 

[HardtailHack]

Turned out I was an idiot and the hardware input for the Pi was basically in beta phase and made it look like my DSP file on the board was no good.
Speakers sound pretty good, good enough that I am learning to appreciate a bit of opera, hahaha! Neither drivers are flush mounted at the moment so the sound should improve with new boxes, I'll make them taller and narrower as the test boxes look a bit chodish.
Rough punt at an EQ curve, I can't work out delay as they have + and - rather than just having delay and milliseconds, I'd assume + would add delay......

 

[StiHacka]

Any suggestions for decent sounding bookshelf speakers that won't break the bank? I've read good stuff about Elac.

 

[Westy]

Any suggestions for decent sounding bookshelf speakers that won't break the bank? I've read good stuff about Elac.

No first had experience with any of them but I would love to listen to a set of the Kef LS50Cs. Those with their new subwoofer look like a killer compact setup.

 

[Westy]

These look pretty good, quite a bit less than the Kefs.

Elac Debut Reference DBR-62 Speaker Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Elac Debut Reference DBR-62 bookshelf speaker. It was kindly purchased new and drop shipped to me for testing. The DBR-62 costs US $600 a pair from multiple sources/dealers. The DBR-62 comes in black and walnut finish or the distressed Oak and...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[jdcamb]

All you folks being smarter then me and having cooler stuff. Is starting to fucking piss me off.

 

[Westy]

All you folks being smarter then me and having cooler stuff. Is starting to fucking piss me off.

You are smarter than @rideit and we will all be jealous when you get your Porsche.

 

[rideit]

Well, thats a pretty low bar, dontchya think?

 

[jdcamb]

You are smarter than @rideit and we will all be jealous when you get your Porsche.

I was pretty sure I was smart. It turns out I am not. Thanks for being gracious. As soon as my Brother gets out of jail and he can take on the responsibility of taking care of his family instead of me. My reward will be a Porsche 911 and it will be red. I will share it with my monkey friends I swear. Except for Jimmydean. He can have a ride in it.