heady

Martin Electronics and Wells Audio, both in Burlington Square also sells tubes. I am biased as I like the aunty in Martin Electronics better. Prices in Koba should be better but the range of tubes is probably more in the Burlington Square shops.

The name is Koba Electronics at level 3 of Peoples Park Centre: http://sg.88db.com/sg/Services/Post_Detail...s/?PostID=51443

Thanks viscy. I tried my friend's zero with the Earth HDAM and it did sound quite good. Unfortunately I sold my Zero to regain the deskspace. Also I find the Over-Sampling sound a little too fatiguing after hours of listening. That's just a personal preference. If I used a Senn, maybe it would be ok.

sghound, You are so right, they look so georgeous together. Who care about the sound? Just looking at them together is already so over-whelming. Just kidding, I am very sure they sound heavenly together. I haven't heard the W1000 but have heard yotiao's Yamamoto and is familiar with AT's house sound. Good recommendation.

For budget level, belt driven TT is better than direct coupled. It stands to reason, as the belt and the platter mass helps to damp out the irregularities in the driver motor. Direct coupled TT will allow the speed irregularities to show up more pronounced in the sound as wow and flutter. Also, the better TT tend to isolate the platter (eg Linn Sondek) or isolate the motor (Rega) to keep noise from the motor from entering the pickup. As with everything audio, as your equipment get better, you can hear the influences of the TT design which in a less capable setup, you can't hear. So there is a synergy aspect to all setup. Also personal preference comes into play. So, YMMV. Best is to listen to it yourself and if happy, don't let anyone else tell you otherwise.

C'mon man, you can't do DIY without a multimeter. They are cheap lah, no need to steal.

Hey N@Z, Have yourself a very happy birthday. And many many more happy birthdays to come. Got any nice birthday presents to share with us?

loop_, what to do? Itchy fingers syndrome. Have sold the Zero, it is too big for my desk. Will be selling the Go-Vibe when time permits, since I don't use it anymore. mouz - you are right. Got into the y1 prototype team, now trying to find time to finalise parts purchase while waiting for boards to arrive.

For me the joy is in the building, so I just itch to buy. After buy then get remorse for wasting money. So far has been able to sell unwanted items but at loss lah. No profit. So you have to decide for yourself. Sorry, I cop-out.

There is only one "fellow" at LHS who does the soldering outside the shop, his name is Patrick. He may also try to sell you silver interconnect he made himself. I have no experience with the silver interconnect as copper has always been good enough for me.

I don't have the super ears which can hear small differences and so my opinion is biased. I like using cat5e wire for my amps. Copper sounds good to me. I think solder has very little effect but if using silver wire, should use silver solder.

The usual place - LHS, level 2 at Sim Lim Tower. Look for uncle with afro hairdo, sitting outside shop with a pair of soldering irons.

If you post a picture, maybe we can help. Or if you stay in Tampine or Simei, you can pass me the board and I help you debug it. Cheers.

Sorry, habba. There are lossless formats which are compressed, eg. flac. There are no bits loss during the compression and on decompression, in theory, every bit of data is restored to original. It's like a zip file, that's also lossless compression.

I gave up pimping my car from my 3rd car onwards. I am now driving my 6th or 7th car which looks so neglected, no one even want to go near it, much less scratch it. Basically don't want hifi in the car, too noisy to enjoy.

There are anti-rust treatment which spread tar-like material on the metal car doors which also does the same.

I don't even know what it is.

Got mine from Hung Brothers, from Douglas. He is good to deal with, patient and let you try before buy.

A lot depends on the other equipment. I am also supporter of the ATH M50, in fact, pribadi is the one who recommended it to me. On some source/amp combo, the phone does not sound revealing enough but on others, it's a killer. In hifi, the important thing is to trust your ears and not others who give you advice. Go try it.

Shoot-out of the USB DACs The contenders: ZeroDAC - CS8416 receiver circuit and Analog Devices AD1852 DAC chip. - Over-sampling DAC. - Only digital inputs, RCA and optical. - Gets USB input by using add-on and connect via optical digital line. - Mains powered. - Built in headphone amplifier. - Can be used as pre-amplifier. - For this test, the ZeroDac's DAC opamp was switched to LT1364 USB Monica - USB receiver chip info not available - TDA1545A Non-OS DAC chip - Needs a power supply - Needs separate headphone amp HPDAC - PCM2707 USB receiver and TDA1543 Non-OS DAC chip - Built in headphone amp using LM6172 opamps. - Fully USB powered. - Was available only as pcb, now out of production. Govibe Petite - No technical info available except it is Non-OS DAC - Has built-in headphone amp which can be used with line-in - Amp is battery powered, 4 AAA which are USB charged. - DAC is USB powered. AlienDAC - PCM2702 USB Receiver cum Non-OS DAC chip. - DAC only, no amp. - USB powered. - Needs a separate headphone amp. Listening tests with album by Laura Fygi: ZeroDAC (with USB Digital PCLink) and Mini3 (AD8397 opamps) - space between instruments, ie sound stage is wide - deeper silence between tracks, ie higher dynamic range - sparkle of hi-hats, triangles, cymbals is very obvious - midrange is a little bit cold - bass is deep and controlled - drums are impactful USB Monica and Mini3 (AD8397 opamps) - slightly less sparkle and clarity compared to ZeroDac - separation initially sounds like less than ZeroDAC but is due to the effect of less sparkle - midrange is warmer, feels like Laura Fyigi is singing, sitting on my lap. - bass is also warmer, less dry but with a tiny bit of bloom which makes it a tiny bit less impactful than the ZeroDac - very natural sounding. HPDAC (LM6172 opamps in PINT config) - very similar to USB Monica with warm sound (typical Non-OS sound signature) - but with a very slightly less sparkle and clarity than Monica - bass is noticeably less impactful than Monica, a little too weak in comparison - shows the lack of power due to the amp being USB powered Go-Vibe Petite - DAC + Amp - low output compared to the above, need to increase volume in computer - has NON-OS sound signature but is not as warm as Monica - sounds clean, with sufficient separation between instruments. - bass is sufficient but not as extended as the above - not exciting to listen to after listening to HPDAC, Monica and ZeroDAC AlienDAC with Mini3 (AD8397 opamp) - low output, require higher volume setting in computer - has the NON-OS signature but not as warm sounding as the Monica - lack the clarity of Monica or ZeroDac - bass is there but doesn't stand out - not exciting to listen to after listening to HPDAC, Monica and ZeroDAC Conclusion: The ZeroDac is very good for the money. If you like the OS sound, which is the tizzy top end. This gives the ZeroDAC a very good initial impression, making it sound like its got a wide sound stage and good separation between instruments. However, if paired with a amp which also has a bright top-end, and with bright headphones like Grado, it's gonna give you a headache after a while. My money is on the Monica although it is twice as expensive as the ZeroDAC. It has a smoother mellower sound. A lady if you like, compared to the "rocker" ZeroDAC. Maybe it is just synergy of my phones (DT150) and the amp (Mini3) both of which tends to slightly more treble. The HPDAC is good with my Audiotechnica M50, somehow it just rocks with it. It runs out of oomph with the DT150 though. I guess the DT150 needs an amp with muscles and the USB power just don't give the amp enough juice. But I like the HPDAC because it needs no power. Simple to carry around and use. Just need to use it with normal impedance headphones. Both the Go-vibe Petit and AlienDAC just get bowled over by the other DACs. I guess they are a different class of creatures. But they are cheap and if you aren't exposed to the other DACs , they will still impress. Picture: ZeroDAC on the bottom, USB Monica on top of the ZeroDAC. The HPDAC is the one with the blue knob while beside it is the AlienDAC. That small thing right at the top is the Go-Vibe Petite.

habba, that is not a constructive post. If you don't know why bother to post?

When film was B&W, it was possible to do your own processing at home. I did this in my secondary school photo club darkroom. With colour, only the rich could do their own processing. And so I agree with your assessment iggyting.

If getting speakers and you don't mind the sound balance of monitors, then get active studio monitors. Then you won't need to buy an amplifier. Plus monitors are better for small rooms. Try Hung Brothers, they have a wide range of monitors. Or go to Jaben for their nEar monitors which is lower budget but good value for money. I don't know if Stereo Electronics carry monitors.

Solder not sticking (wetting is the technical term) was also my problem when I first started. I found out things get soldered easier if I use solder flux. You can buy this in a tin from Sim Lim Tower. Use a toothpick and apply a tiny bit to the parts being soldered. This flux cleans up the parts to be soldered and the solder will wet it easily. Second, if the soldering iron does not heat up the part fast enough the solder won't wet it either. Using a cheap and low powered iron, it is easier to damage the parts because need to hold the solder iron longer to the part before the solder melts. I personally prefer a temperature controlled 75W iron, makes work easier for yourself. But it cost nearly a $100 and so worth it only if you will be doing lots of projects. Cheers.

Wah, very pretty for a first attempt. Well done. A 50K pot for the volume is ok.