wwenze

Interesting, a CD-ROM drive so old it has I2S. Can tap to send to a better DAC.

That is a VST plugin, to use those you need to download the VST wrapper for foobar: http://pelit.koillismaa.fi/plugins/show.php?id=213

Do they sound better or worse?

My statement was directed at TS's case of the sound card being unable to drive headphones properly. For your case you might want to check with this: http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

Maybe your laptop's sound just lousy.

What you should be checking is whether turning the pot has any effect on the signal eventually reaching the amp chip. Place your probes on pin 5 of the chip and this pin on your pot It should read 10k at min volume and ~330 at max. Also, the two topmost pins of the pot (with respect to the diagram), check that the resistance between them is zero regardless of pot position. This could be just a simple case of broken solder.

Do let know the outcome, thx.

What you described is a quite common occurrence for USB DACs - a power surge from turning on/off something else knocks out the DAC and you need to cut the power and on it again - which disconnecting and reconnecting the USB cable does. IMHO a well-designed equipment shouldn't be affected by this, but seeing many anecdotes of this happening and owning two DACs with this problem I'd say this is pretty normal. Maybe your stereo amp and headphones are just too powerful. Add: It's possible both ways - that your unit is more sensitive or it happens across all units, if in doubt test with another unit.

A few years for it to get noticeable. ESR starts to increase, then capacitance drops.

I posted before; put in normal case (jewel case) and throw in envelope. The receiver was to burn and perform error scans on the DVD+Rs in question and he did not note anything abnormal.

AES/EBU is either 110-ohm shielded TP or 75-ohm coaxial. It does not use 110-ohm coaxial.

1) Google 2) The 75-ohm coaxial cable "standard" (IIRC it was never really defined but just followed for convenience) is used in phono, composite, component, and SPDIF with RCA connector, and used with many others with other connectors including TV, AES/EBU, and ethernet.

Most if not all RCA should be 75 ohms, analogue or digital, video or audio.

KOK is one of those brands "you can find being sold here but you'll never find its info nor its manufacturor's info". The name is probably a mimick of KRK? I dunno, but they also produce audio switches and mixers so I don't think they're a small wannabe company. Don't expect them to be very expensive.

Ok lar, at 0.3A current draw to drop 5.7V will only result in 1.71W, doubt you'll need a big heatsink for the LM317 if you're using TO-220 package, or just screw to case will do. If you got the TO-220 version that is.

I feel sorry for the iMod owners.

You can always put 4 in series and get 10V... =.=U

Power reservoir. Lower ESR and higher capacitance compared to aluminium electrolytic.

Considering your drivers are already burnt in, there is no need to burn in the shell unless for a psychological effect.

The speaker and amp are as weak as the ears, you'll know if you hear strange artifect during playback. To hear 10Hz and 22kHz you either have v.good ears and setup or the setup (and the test) is just crappy. You can do the same test with Audacity or just about any sound editor.

Ya lol, can tell... everything looks so big. That's quite a load of SMD transistors you got there. For 2 channels?

Back onto topic, something just crossed my mind; When the designers of various connectors were setting the standards, did they take into consideration the contact and oxidation problems at the connecters? Because if they didn't, then we're all operating out of spec without contact enhancers and preservatives. That means we've all been listening to crap all the while without the contact grease. XD This might just be the most interesting and important (and unsung) part of an audio setup. Heck if it was supposed to have been a mandatory part of the system. And I've never before come across something that makes so much sense yet was undiscovered. XXD F, even if it by itself doesn't improve performance, it can stop my speaker wires and terminals from oxidising like crazy! Why didn't I think of this before? Still took lessons as mechanic somemore. XD (Have to apply it to battery terminals. So actually dragonboy's guess it correct. Going off-topic, the advantages are less arcing, heat, better battery performance (can make the difference between able to start engine and not, on a weakened battery), longer battery life.)

lol, none taken, as I don't see any. And it's great to see another observant member who know his stuff. Never really looked thru his calculations, coz I just plucked a random article from the net. Glad that you pointed out the mistakes. You're right, it makes no sense on first glance. Regarding my part of the reasoning I gave, notice I never mention the significance of the figures. I never do unless I have the means to obtain and perform the right calculations i.e. I totally do not know just how much is significant or audible. The inductance and capacitance of cables as you've mentioned, and almost about everything else, of and between cables, are pretty much negligible, less the cable construction, if you compare it against something else that is designed to purposely change those values. And yet, small differences between the physical properties of cables can cause audible and measurable differences. The reason I like to use "crap grade" vs "audio grade" during reasoning is to maximise the differences to aid myself in pointing out what the possible causes are. It's like listening between crap and audio grade and hear the big difference thus able to conclude that the audio grade is better. So Re: different "audio grade" cables, my answer is that the extent of the physical differences between different "audio grade" cables is much smaller than that between "audio" and "crap", just like how the sonic differences between different "audio grade" cables is much smaller than that between "audio" and "crap", assuming same construction. (Actually, if you think about it, the last statement is pretty self-contradictory actually. Because if the constructions are exactly the same there won't be any difference to speak of. So lets define "same construction" as same general idea of constuction, can't be letting twisted pair fighting against parallel-running or coax. ) Well, this is my general approach of looking at things. Ignoring the complicated functions required for calculations, if there's difference in performance of something and there's difference in the properties of something, I'll attribute them to each other. Add: Anyway a bit OT... lets go back to the Silclear. I think that one has no area for argument, sonic or electrical wise. Can't be cluttering up to board, not my style.

Moo

Try this for a start: http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?fc...r&4&5#Audioengr To add on, cables are inductive in nature, L = V/(dI/dt) i.e. the bigger the change in current, the bigger impedance of voltage you get. This kind of fluctuation in voltage is a form of power supply noise, but that's not all. Because a cable is both inductive and capacitive, the energy stored will be dumped back to both the source and the load during other parts of the cycle. If you can see that a cable actually behaves like an LC filter. And sure enough, like improperly designed/placed chokes and capacitors they can kill performance. Or it can be made to do opposite - some power cables boast noise filtering properties, by giving it the appropriate inductance and capacitance through construction. While for most others the goal is to reduce these to a minimum, with thick solid-core conductors, lots of shielding and careful selection of dielectric. Ultimately the cable will not cause as big of a change as a real filter. But if you have a power conditioner, the least you'd want is for a cheap cable to negate its effects. Even if you don't have a power conditioner, less noise closer to the load is always welcome. Oh. and this is not including the talk on connectors yet. Some of the cheapest power heads/sockets/distributors I've seen has less contact area (between the bare wire and the connector) than a crimped Canare RCA. Or actually, make that all of them. Add2: Another way of thinking is how all cables will generate some form of noise by themselves with current passing through them. And consider that the norm power cable is of smaller gauge and lower quality than audio cables, while required to pass more than 200 times the voltage and maybe around the same number times of current to a much smaller, constantly fluctuating load. Of course there will be filtering, before the transformer, after the transformer, before the regulator, after the regulator, and decoupling capacitors right next to the component i.e. IC. And apparently it's still never enough. And power supply noise is the single most irritating noise in audio because it limits performance, can be amplified, and lots of voltage references are point to it.