av98m

I'll probably pair it up with my cheap ass dvd player for office use or something. Too bad I'm useless with a soldering iron.

lol.. quite many headphones dont cost that much in cost price either.. probably the brand, workmanship if any, etc

Heh, like the RS-1. Its just a couple of small wooden cups, a couple of drivers, some copper wire, pvc insulation, bits of metal and leather, hot glue, globs of solder. And it comes in a cardboard box! HOW DARE they charge a thousand bucks for it!

And them interconnects, powercords etc. Its just wire and insulation! How can we possibly let them get away with charging hundreds and even thousands of dollars!

Old news lah. If you take only cost of parts only into consideration, excluding overheads, 99.9% of the stuff we buy are not worth the selling price.

If I thought I could afford it, I will buy nothing but Japanese pressed cds. Even US pressed cds are not free from problems. I'm quite pissed over the obviously poorer quality of the local/regional pressed cds compared to the US or Japanese presses. I'm quite convinced that there's absolutely nothing wrong with cds as a medium, rather it is the recording engineers mucking things up, like trying to make the recordings as loud as possible, that cause all the compression, clipping and grunge. One good example is Do As Infinity's last compilation, Do The A-Side. Great music, but absolutely horrible sound, to the point of being almost unlistenable.

And with mandarin or canto pop cds, you don't even have any option for a higher quality pressed version. If you like the genre, you'll have to live with the very bright/harsh nature of such material. I can't help but wonder sometimes if the very excessive sibilance found on such recordings is due to their artistes' poor miking techniques.

The irony is that CDs from China (I'm talking their own original artistes, not pirated CDs) these days, costing only about $15 each, featuring either DSD or K2 mastering, sound so much better. Unfortunately, the limited content will not appeal to many people.

Glad to know that, I saved $250 for my wallet.

Owww, that hurt.

Enough about the cosmetics. How does the thing sound ?

After more extensive listening and comparison(the DAC-AH has had about 100 hours of run-in time by now), I've come to the conclusion that the analogue output of my Rotel RCD991 outperforms the DAC-AH overall, esp in the midrange. The DAC-AH has the slight advantage in bass slam, but at the end of the day is simply outclassed by the Rotel(but not by a wide margin). However, my earlier 2 thumbs up for the DAC-AH still stands. Its really a great performer at its price point. Also Note that my Rotel has been modded, not sure how a stock one would have measured up.

Headphones are a compromise, thats for sure. Lack of space for a speaker setup, not being able be blast your speakers because of other family members, kids or neighbours etc are some of the reasons why people turn to headphones. I'd rather listen to speakers if I could!

Have heard it out when I listened my diva at the shop with the setup of CD63SE->Lite Dac-ah->diva->akg 271 and used all the diva cable/PC. Listened to some female(CaiChin) vocals. Very warm, forward and intimate with close microphone recording.

Did you try comparing the modded cd63 with and without the lite dac? If so, which did you prefer?

$250. Cheaper if you get it from the link below though, but after adding shipping you will end up paying about the same.

DAC-AH

In an episode of backsideitchynitis, I bought one last week when I was at bukit timah plaza buying cds.

After a 48 hour burn-in(which was done for reliability check), and opening the unit up to ensure that no caps leaked or exploded(Yes, I have phobia of chinese equipment, esp their use of dubious caps). As it turned out all the caps used in the unit are at least recognizable(Sanyo oscons, Sanyo generic, Elna for audio, Phillips etc) I have to say that this is a very nice little DAC. Presentation is rather forward, which should appeal to Grado users, without being harsh. Killer bass slam and speed. However, others have complained that the soundstage is too foward, so YMMV. There is a switch at the back to toggle between coaxial and toslink inputs.

The unit does run rather warm, which has been mentioned in earlier reviews elsewhere. As a precaution, I heatsinked the 8 tda1543 chips as well as the other one whose name I cannot recall. The opamps were left alone because I want them changed out in the future. After an hour of use with the heatsinks in place, I turned off the unit and removed the cover. The heatsinks were HOT to the touch! And this was with my aircon blasting away! Maybe some air vents should be drilled on the top cover as well.

Those looking for a cheap and good external DAC should really try out the Lite DAC-AH. Two thumbs up!

Equipment used:

Rotel RCD991 >Lite DAC-AH>Big Ben Rev 2>Grado RS-1

Music used:

Warriors of Heaven & Earth OST

Alison Krauss and Union Station: Live

Evanescance: Anywhere But Home

Patricia Barber: Live in Paris

F.I.R. : F.I.R

F.I.R. : No Limit

Corrosion of Conformity: Live

There was quite a disastrous group buy on ipodstudio some time ago when most of their little dot 2s failed due to leaking caps and other issues. See the following threads:

http://ipastudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2210

http://ipastudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1862

http://ipastudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2387

hi rameish thanks for the suggestion. i am thinking of buying the ra-1 clone in the classified section, you don't suggest a tube amplifier?

Ah...thats a very good choice for your RS-1. Inexpensive too!

Rameish with an ipod, never thought I'd see the day!

It completely thrashed my E-MU 1212m. There is simply no comparison. I'm talking Mick Jagger vs Scarlett Johansson - in other words, no comparison. I am now a convert to Dedicated Sources. My next upgrade will be to get a good dedicated redbook source.

Its about time! Goodbye soundcard. Hello cd player.

BTW, Scarlett Johansson is the redbook player I hope. I'll take her over Mick Jagger every weekday and twice on sundays.

(the DT-150's pictured are mine and thats me with the K1000s)

WHAT! What happened to that impressive looking head of hair since the last time I saw you man. National Service?

Looks nice! Might be good for use in the office

And the non-local voltage is a big problem too. Try selling on head-fi instead.

The general concept behind meets is that everyone brings something so that everyone can try out different setups.

Of course if everyone decides to travel light or not bring anything at all, expecting others to bring all the gear, then you have a big problem.

For instance, if nobody is willing to bring along a cdplayer then you have no means of even listening to the headphones! Or you could end up with people bringing only portable players and the poor guy who lugged his big heavy tube amp to the meet will have nothing to connect it to. (Yes adhoc, I'm referring to you)

So yes it'll be useful if everyone who is going can list out what they're bringing so that you can correct any equipment shortage before the event. I wouldn't expect the shop to provide any equipment because they are already kindly allowing free use of their premises.

Good idea. It'd be awkward if everyone showed up with headphones and amps but no one brought any players, interconnects or powercords.

Wah, didn't know now Koba is also going "upmarket". Yeah, sometimes if you keep your eyes open you can find some amazing bargains at the shops scattered around sim lim tower. Managed to snag some very low priced Panasonic FCs and Elna RJH caps (limited values, but they they had exactly what I needed) at the beginning of the year. I think firefox went nuts and bought an enormous lot. Some shops order in much larger quantities hence the lower prices. Availability will depend on your luck and timing.

Oh well, at least its a cosmetic flaw, not a functional one. Enjoy! Does it sound like your woodied sr225s?

what are those, scratches?

I'd take whatever I read from head-fi with a bucketfull of salt. I've been using grados since 2003 and never had any issues from my sr80 and later on rs-1. Some of those guys are very rough on their equipment.

Don't forget the older Rotels as well. Very well built machines.