2. digital
  3. 1422309165

AMR DP-777, what am I missing ?

There are a lot of people here who love this DAC, I purchased one (used) based on the many glowing reviews, but feel like this DAC falls short.
To be sure it bested (by not a lot) my Wavelength Cosecant (better imaging and bass) but I still prefer my modest analog setup (Rega RP6, Shelter 500).

I am sure my digital front-end is not super tuned: IMac, audirvana, no-name USB cable to DAC. But before I spend more money I would love some advice from the good folks in this forum on how I can make this $5000 retail DAC at least come close to my modest analog setup that cost much less retail without spending too much coin.

Do I need to invest in a music server, or maybe a USB to SPDIF, or better USB cable or all of the above.

Rest of my system.
Coincident Line stage
Coincident Dragon mk2 monoblocks
Verity Parsifal Encore speakers.

Thanks.
essrand

Showing 11 responses by essrand

essrand OP
293 posts
 
I was afraid that was going to be the answer.

Was considering selling my analog setup to reduce the number of stuff I own, but guess not yet.

Redcarerra, I am considering getting the ifi usb stuff to see if that could help. Mattshipln huge thread has considerable info on making digital sound better.
essrand OP
293 posts
 
John,

That's cause a lot of music I listen to are not available on vinyl only CDs :(
essrand OP
293 posts
 
Other dacs I have tried are: triode labs dac, nad m51, benchmark hgc, wavelength cosecant. Amr in my memory seems the beat of the lot.

The usb input is async for sure. Yes I use usb

Douglas, can you recommend some usb systems, I am assuming you mean a usb to spdif converter.

I believe that a better usb cable might help but don't think it will gve me the order of magnitude performance jump I am looking for.

Thanks for ic recos willie , will check them out.

Al, my current plan as you suggest, is to switch my iMac to a Mac mini, since my iMac seems to be really slow and unresponsive these days. Then next maybe try a USB filter system.

Am planning to start with the ifi USB filers and cables system by Amr , unless you guys think there is something better I should try first
essrand OP
293 posts
 
Douglas, Elsneb

It would certainly make me a very happy camper if a simple USB cable solved my problems.
I am surprised with all the talk about USB Power supplies, SPDIF converters with clocks in them in the other threads that you think they harm the sound.

I will be posting my experiments as I perform them in this thread so maybe it will useful for someone else in the future.

step 1: replace imac with a mac mini that has a SSD and more RAM.
step 2: try a good USB cable, maybe wireworld platinum.
.....
Lets see if that works, before I try out specialized music servers or usb converters.
essrand OP
293 posts
 
Williewonka,

Looks like the USB cable you mentioned is sold out.
Any ideas on how to get a cable like this elsewhere.

Thanks
essrand OP
293 posts
 
I am currently evaluating using a iMac 4GB with regular HDD, vs mac mini 8GB RAM and fusion drive.
Do not hear a difference worth changing to mac mini with more memory and SSD.
Next up will be trying a USB/SPDIF converter.

Thanks Williewonka, I will try out dbpoweramp.
essrand OP
293 posts
 
An update.

I think my AMR needed more burn-in time. It really sounds fabulous now.
For Mingus in Bohemia record. The CD and LP versions are almost indistinguishable.

Williewonka,
Replacing my slowwww imac with a dedicated mac mini also really helped.

I love the pre-amp of the AMR, not as good as my coincident line stage, but close. Wonder if the pre-amp section also needs burn-in, since for all this time I have been bypassing it.

Samsca, how much did the SE upgrade cost you ?
essrand OP
293 posts
 
Hi Jazzonhudson,

Yes I stuck with the DP777.
It's fantastic. It really came on its own after a 1000 hour or two burnin.
I might try your recommendations about fuses etc. at some point but for now am happy.

George, yes the preamp on dp777 is quite stunning.
Although I did prefer a shindo monbrison to going direct to amp.
But the dp777 preamp is so good that you wonder if that improvement with the shindo is worth the 10k expense.
essrand OP
293 posts
 
Hi Charles,

Yes it did. It just felt so right and was the missing piece in my audiophile search.

The CSL I was surprised didn't do it for me, despite the high praise garnered for it on this forum. Maybe tube rolling might have helped but not sure. It didn't give me the goosebumps like the shindo did.

The CSL was closer to going direct to amp in terms of sound (better musically) but the shindo (less transparent) made music.
essrand OP
293 posts
 
I am not very interested in DSD so DP777 works fine for me.

if the new version has one chip instead of two it seems like a step backward as this was one of the best ideas of the Amr dac. 

Not tested this but I believe this dac does its best magic on redbook probably thanks to it having a dedicated chip for redbook.

holding on to my dp777 for now :)
essrand OP
293 posts
 
@knownothing I just use a generic USB cable for now.

I tested a 200$ USB cable (audioquest) I think, against a generic one and couldn't tell the difference (or it wasn't enough for me to spend $200). I didn't investigate into other USB cables that people rave about.

@truman do you know if the SE version is also a 2-chip version, one for redbook and another for high-res? Also thanks for the tip on the tube rolling, think I will be shopping for 6922 tubes soon. BTW How do you compare the improvement of using iFi USB vs the NOS 6922, if I were to do only one of them, which one would you pick?
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