davide256
Responses from davide256
| Good amp choices with LTA Velo as pre amp? I ran across a First Watt F7 and bought it, it’s working well . But it exposed that the Caladans had more distortion than Magnepan 1.7, I’m using it with them instead. My challenge for next upgrade is to review the speaker market, to see if i can ... | |
| My experience with the First Watt F7 I just acquired a First Watt F7, so far its a keeper. What I’ve noticed about it is its harmonic purity; originally I intended to use it with 93db Clayton Shaw Caladans but as I kept listening they had an edginess and listening fatigue. I had reti... | |
| Which amp to use with Linear Tube Audio pre? In the FWIW column I had bought an LTA Velo in 2025 to use as pre with an Apollon NCx500 class D amp. It’s better but when I bought Caladan speakers the 1 watt MZ2 outshone the combination of either LTA product as pre to the Apollon amp feeding th... | |
| My Caladan Impressons I was having some issues with bass boom using the Caladans. The lower drivers edge is only 7.5 inches from the floor, lifting the speaker 6” off the floor helped quite a bit with the bass boom. The tweeter center is also 35”, from bottom of speak... | |
| Preamp Upgrade Advice Preamps are only one component in the chain. I suspect your “ bad actor” is a different component or possibly the combined intersection of 2. If you want useful advice vs random luck share the system… wouldn’t surprise me if the actual cause of y... | |
| Why in some instances does changing streamers makes a bigger difference? Aha! Looks like I was right that the Galubridor DAC is a Denafrips spinoff. 6moons article on Galubridor | |
| Why in some instances does changing streamers makes a bigger difference? @tyray The Galubridor appears to have the bare minimum for a power supply, looks like a Denafrips Ares minus transformer coil with a volume knob added. While you don’t need a beefy power supply for a DAC you do want some serious engineering for v... | |
| Why in some instances does changing streamers makes a bigger difference? @tyray if you do try USB, I recommend buying 2 half meter cables and an Intona USB isolator. You would think that unnecessary between good gear but between an Innuos Pulse and Holo Spring 3, I find the Intona reduces USB irritants. | |
| My Caladan Impressons Caladans are back in main system now… I realized that they were showing system problems the Magnepans were covering up and just put time into correcting those. Buying a better DAC was key as the tweeter in the Caladan is faster and more dynamic th... | |
| Why in some instances does changing streamers makes a bigger difference? @tyray theres no clear agreement on which is better, I2S or USB. What is clear is that I2S isn't standardized between devices whereas USB is. | |
| Why in some instances does changing streamers makes a bigger difference? Personally I’m beginning to think my next purchase is an AC regenerator to connect DAC, streamer, phono pre and preamp to...that way I don’t have to worry about what’s happening with the local grid. The stereo amp itself would be a cost challenge,... | |
| Why in some instances does changing streamers makes a bigger difference? I think the main point is that connected equipment interacts electrically and that these interactions cause DAC clock timing perturbation, causes faults in the D/A conversion accuracy. This makes sense to me... we can send data across the planet u... | |
| Looking for a DAC $2500-$4000 @meambler wifi is common in consumer products, whereas enthusiast products have ethernet ports as standard because its more reliable. Its cheap to use a pair of Ethernet over Powerline adaptors and pretty well behaved if you have only the 1 pair ... | |
| Ethernet Lots of responses here. As someone who has used streaming for a decade here is my advice. 1) Always use ethernet where possible. It’s as close as possible to 100% reliable for transmission path, wifi is not. 2) put all your audio gear on a common ... | |
| Denafrips Iris @gcknapp All depends on how resolving your audio chain is, what you are willing to spend. I dabbled with streaming solutions under $2k for quite a while; using a NAS with minimstreamer, an endpoint like ultraRendu/Holo Red and tablet controller s... |