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yotiao

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Posts posted by yotiao

  7. Posted · Report reply

     

    How does it compare to your SR71?

     

    SR71's better job with managing the depth of the sound (how sounds degrade when instruments are more far away), it was more real, the Xenos seemed like a big, unorganized sphere next to it.

     

    SR71 has better transparency, with plenty of air and space between instruments and performers. It sounded equally nice with any phones I throw in it, better tonal balance. With Xenos REP, it overemphasized the lower ends with my E5C & MSPro, but I do like the Ety ER4S with the Xenos though.

     

    But stop! In fact this comparison isn't fair, consider the SR71 costs US$395 and it's a few times more than the Xenos. You better hear it yourself with your setup.

  14. Posted · Report reply

    Hey I only just noticed this... it looks cool mayb it should go somewhere in either of the links SGHeadphones > Main since both appears the same.

     

    My initial proposal is to set this portal page as the home page. So when go to http://www.sgheadphones.net, it will automatically show the portal page instead of the board index. I'm not sure if we are all ok with this. So it is still out there for testing.

     

    ' date='11 Jul 2006, 09:49 PM' post='68873']

    I thought this was out long time ago, yotiao?

    Anyway, is it possible to have maybe some Quotable Quotes or something at the top end that changes everyday, or below the calendar?

     

    BTW, how come the pictures look like sliced apart with fine white lines between them?

     

     

    The Gallery has a lot of bugs. I have set the album to Private, but it still shows the random images from that album.

     

    The lines maybe due to the display problem? Try scroll down and up to see if the white lines disappear.

     

    Quotable Quotes? I need to check how to do it...

  18. Posted · Report reply

    Introduction

    A source is an important part of the system and the rule "garbage in garbage out" always applies. But for beginners it's unclear what exactly a better source does, and many start their journey by buying/trying a lot headphones and headamps instead (like I always do :P), and leaving source upgrade path because there aren't many choices for budget priced units.

     

    Thanks to Jaben for giving me the opportunity to listen the 24-bit Spitfire DAC (SF) with the "Supplier" (SP) power supply from Firestone Audio. I try to summarize what I heard, and it is all just my personal opinion.

     

    Equipments used:

    Transport: Slim devices Squeezebox 3 with coaxial optical out. Every CD was encoded using xACT to FLAC.

    Amps: Meier Audio Corda HA-2 and occasionally a PINT with AD8397 opamp.

    Phones: Alessandro MS-Pro and Beyer DT880 (pre-2006)

    Interconnects:DIY RCA-RCA interconnects similar to SlinkyLinks cable (a gift from Jeff, :DD), meier-audio's Tech+Link mini-RCA interconnect.

    Power cords: Volex hospital grade plugs (high impact nylon body) that were previously used in the molecular biology laboratories. Best thing they are free for me.

     

    The builds and features...

    The SF and SP in real life are indeed much solid built than what were seen in the pictures. The chassis is great, and I am impressed with the weight of the Supplier which weights 700g it's quite heavy actually.

     

    The Spitfire has changeable opamp so you can tune the sound for your tastes and experience a little upgrade.

     

    The Supplier is an upgrade power supply designs for other Firestone products. As my grumpy hi-fi guru fishball always told me to upgrade the power supply first in any fine tuning in the chain if possible, this Supplier sure adds improvement to the dynamics and power.

     

    Now the sound...

    I did not spend much time to listen the Spitfire DAC with stock power supply; these impressions were done mainly on Spitfire + Supplier PSU. Upon first listen it's very flat sounding as nothing were emphasized nor lacked. The sound was very tight, and it was not upfront to your face sounding or laidback, it takes time for me to form impressions for this combo.

     

    Its highs are smooth sounding and non-fatigue. I can listen to them for few hours without the need of taking a break. Listening to some live tracks it's capable of presenting a sense of airiness and decay which I like, although I feel that it does not extend much.

     

    The midrange is impressive. It is more forward sounding and stands out from the rest of the soundstage yet still integrates well with accompanying instruments. Besides vocals, instruments such as piano and strings are liquid and full bodied. Female vocals don't sound sibilant, if it does check your recordings. It doesn't sound chesty for male vocals as well.

     

    I tried some rock music albums, the kind of in your face sounding such as Metallica's Master of Puppets, Nebula's Apollo, Queen's The Works, and it's really enjoyable as it's not fatigued at all and I can continue listened to them for few hours. The bass is really tight and detailed, but does not have the impact. The bass depth is not as deep but overall it's sufficient. I feel that there isn't a hump to the upper bass which gives an impressive punch and weight to music, but do not mistaken that it sounds lean. On the contrary, it sounds rather mean and clean but never so much as to cloud the mids and highs.

     

    I feel that the soundstaging width is better than depth; nonetheless you still get a sense of space and imaging where you are now in the music.

     

    Details are abundant but of course, they are not as prominent as my cdp with 24-bit resolution.

     

    Summary

    It sounded very close to the stock Squeezebox 3, I feel that the Spitfire together with the Supplier have the balance of both frequency extremes which IMO slightly better over the Squeezebox 3. As it is a very natural sounding and smooth DAC, it won't wow you on first listen. But give it some time and the sound will grow on you like you wouldn't imagine.

     

    So how far would you go with a source? If you're starting with a soundcard or usual DVD player as transport, I am happy to report that the Spitfire and Supplier will be good for the price. Of course, conclusion is subjective and I'm only drawing this upon my own music and sound preference.

     

     

    Albums used:

    Metallica's Black album, Master of Puppets

    King Crimson, In the court of the crimson king, Red, Discipline

    Uriah Heep, Demons and Wizards

    Queen, The Works (1984)

    Nebula, Apollo

    Zhou Zhi-yong, The Great Yellow River (Kiigo 1020-2)

    Cheng Yong-ling, Wandering Singer (HUGO HRP 755-2)

    Eva Cassidy, Live at blue alleys

    Diana Krall, The Girl in the Other Room

    Harry Connick, We are in love

    Leonard Cohen, The Essential of Leonard Cohen

    Paul McCartney, Unplugged (1991)

    Nirvana, MTV Unplugged in New York

    The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Jazz impressions of Eurasia

    Jeno Jando, Beethoven Piano Sonatas Nos 30, 31, 32 (Naxos)

    Jascha Heifetz, Sibelius, Prokofiev, Glazunov- Violin Concertos (RCA label)

     

     

    For more information, Firestone audio

  22. Posted · Report reply

    I am not complaining but just asking if the interface has changed again. :) Some controls which were new have disappeared. Old man like me getting worried my mind is going. :D

     

    I am referring to the link to mark all posts as read. Thanks for the fantastic work in updating this site.

     

     

    It just moved to the right instead of on the left. I admit it took me a couple of times before I got used to it as well.

     

     

    [attachmentid=3474]

     

    Thanks N@Z :))

    markpostsasread.JPG

  23. Posted · Report reply

    As far as I can tell, the previous domain host Influeix is out of business. I really don't know how to renew our domain now.

     

    I tried email 815domains.com, and the reply is not helpful.

     

    I'm trying to get Influeix's business registration details from BizFile. I guess in the end we need to register another domain. :verysad:

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