kchew

What CD player are you using? And what is your budget? If you want something on par with a CDP then perhaps the Cambridge Audio DACMagic or Stello DA100 will fit the bill. Zero DAC has a preamp option but I've no idea how it performs. I do have a Stello DA100 for sale in the Classifieds subforum, PM me if you're interested. It's a great DAC for the price with good reviews around.

Wait, what? Optical and coaxial cables can never be made from the same material.

Balanced armature drivers are smaller than your typical earphone drivers, and many such drivers can be squeezed into an IEM for more accurate sound. The Westone UM2 has 2 balanced armature drivers, UM3X has 3 and the UE11Pro has 4.

Congrats! No need to feel bad if you're enjoying your purchase. No need to burn in your Westones since they use balanced-armature drivers.

Personally, between the two I'd go for coaxial, but I've experienced a cheap PCDP with a cheap optical cable being better than a $200+ soundcard with a Van Den Hul digital coaxial cable. System-matching plays a part here too. If I could I would go for either AES/EBU or BNC. If you need more than 3 meters, coaxial would be better as there is less signal attenuation compared to optical, and coaxial cables can go around tighter corners. But if you have a lot of electronic equipment around with lots of emissions, then optical is the way to go.

Digital coaxial cables should be 75 ohms for best results. I think some VDH analogue interconnects are 75ohms as well, so perhaps you're lucky.

Someone at head-fi is pretty satisfied with his I2S cable from Camelot Technology: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f21/i2s-cables-443727/

I just plugged them in with the dots facing up like my stock ES cable, didn't experiment with different orientations.

The Stello combo is a great set! But try not to put the CD transport on top of the DAC as the DAC gets very hot. My colleague finds that using a good digital XLR cable for his Stello stack is better than the provided I2S cable, so you may want to try that out.

As a DAC fed from my computer via coaxial, the 840C is a little clearer and has a wider and more open soundstage. The DA100 is warmer though. The DA100 is still a fantastic DAC for the price and comes highly recommended from me if you are looking for a DAC alone.

Bulk cables are for others.

Men of the 1st TWag Brigade, DRAW ARMS!!! Contact me by the usual methods to arrange for collection.

TT: I am your father. CDP: NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good luck, I received my "Electronic Shipping Info Received" on the 7th, left the US of A on the 9th and I'm still waiting for my batch.

When you have a good computer transport and a good DAC, the difference between using a computer as a source and a CDP as source may be quite subtle. My computer has an Asus Xonar D2X with digital output through a VDH Digicoupler coaxial cable. When I had my Stello DA100, the difference between coaxial input from the computer and optical input from a cheap portable CDP were minor, but the portable CDP had the edge in soundstaging and had a hint more clarity. I hear the same improvements with my Cambridge Audio 840C; coaxial input is not as good as pure CDP mode, but it doesn't lose that badly. In fact, my 840C is used as a DAC most of the time as I'm slowly but surely building up my CD collection. There's no question that a good CDP or a good DAC can eat iMods for breakfast though, and maybe even lunch and dinner.

For my ES2 cable, there is a blue and red dot on the pins. You are supposed to plug them in such a way that the dot faces up.

Man, the Emotiva CDP looks sweet! I see it has balanced outputs, are you going where I think you're going?

I dare not imagine the cost if he had gone for WBT silver or Furutech rhodium RCA jacks. Pretty and good sounding I'm sure, but the cost...

Good choice on APS v3! I'm still sticking to dynamics due to wallet not thick enough.

What recessed RCA jack is that in the last pic? Looks funky.

Cambridge Audio 740C/840C, Quad 99 CDP or Marantz SA15S2 would do nicely then. All have digital inputs so they can act as a standalone DAC.

I started off with a DAC because my computer was the source. I toyed with the idea of getting a CD transport, but that just means another power cord, another digital interconnect and more tweaks to worry about, so I got a CDP with digital input (CA840C) so my computer can still be a source. If you're thinking of getting a DAC, I'm selling my Stello DA100.

Zana Deux... I must try one with my AD2000 one day! I heard that they have fantastic synergy together. Wah, so many electrostats coming out, for once I'm glad I'm broke so I can resist the poison.

So many people with new and awesome stuff, the next meet will be fantastic! Where's the other turntable guy? No use hiding now.

I left it playing my pink-noise CD overnight, but I think I'll enjoy the burn-in process slowly. Don't wanna prematurely burn out the laser...