Computer Audio 2016

[Sligolad]

After a very enjoyable, busy, well run, day of extensive testing at Tony's on Friday (7 hours for me) the upshot from all of it is that 2016 is looking very good for PC based playback and DAC developments.

I heard some of the best music ever heard that day with the best during the latter hours, something we all were in no doubt of given what we heard.

Unfortunately some of the testing we cannot discuss just yet as there is a lot of further development work ongoing before any announcements can be made.....hopefully 2016 will herald in some news of developments ready for mainstream use.....all in attendance will certainly be hoping for this anyway.

What I can say is that R2R DAC's are certainly going to lead the way for me and I may be retiring my Big7, although there are rumours that Lukasz is working on an R2R implimentation for his DAC's so maybe an upgrade may be on the cards!!

After listening to lots of variations on OS installs and player software versions we should have a serious selection of very good options for 2016 and I expect we will all be betting on what we think may be winners but for now lets wait and see where it all fleshes out in the coming months.

We listened to lots of variations on Regens, Jitterbugs, USB cables, USB Cards, Dual PC v Single PC with Linear and battery supplies, a compact Lenovo PC, 3 different DAC's with all played back through Tony's Jadis amp and Quad 63's.

Thankfully it was not all work as Tony and Anne provided a relative feast for us in the evening with Indian dish selections, desert, wine, beer and coffee upstairs to give a fresh start for the final round of testing.
It was a serious spread and I really enjoyed that break around the kitchen table and around the dining cable where we could step back from it all and regroup.

Not sure how we will repay you for that extravagance Tony but I am sure we will find a way...I have some good wine in storage which I think you both might appreciate!

Some standout conclusions for me are as follows:

Nige's Soekris R2R DAC with his mods was a star performer and when partnered with the right software produced 16 44 playback quality which shocked me.

John's battery implimentation of the Regen was a winner on the night.

The Jitterbug works and even on my modded dual PC setup it was easy to hear the change when it was plugged into a spare USB port on the Control PC, so I will be buying one or two to experiment with...I know it makes no sense but much of what we have found on recent years still does not either!!!

I am sure I have forgotten lots of great moments but I expect others might remind me.

Oh by the way for the scientific method purists out there we did our own version of "Double Blind Testing" which I believe John Kenny and Ken Moreland participated in....there may be evidence lurking somewhere of our methodology.....I think it may be on Tony's phone ready to be pulled out for whenever the discussion gets a bit heated and evidence is required :-))

Thanks all for a great day, evening and everything else.
Cheers, Pearse.

[Ivor]

I passed at about 4pm and there was a fine selection of German cars outside. I had planned on dropping in too but real life got in the way, I really wish I could have been there but....
Sounds like it was a great day on several levels! Next time.. .

[Sligolad]

Some of the gear on test:



We hired an acrobat for all the changeovers!!!!!

[Diapason]

Interesting stuff!

What's R2R when it's not reel-to-reel, or have you given up on digital completely...? :)

Let me know if the Big 7 is going in a skip, Pearse. I could give you the scrap value for it. There I was this morning thinking I should just nut up and start thinking about a Big 7, only for it to be immediately superseded!

Anyway, great report of what sounds like an entertaining evening.

[tony]

Absolutely no thanks needed Pearse sure half my special CA bits have been supplied by yourself. I think I owe you but I am trying to keep you drunk enough that you will not get the calculator out.

It was a nice meet up and heard lots of stuff as Pearse outlined. Hugo dominated proceedings initially with a variety of testing (some blind and the photos/proof will be loaded up later) done listening to DSD stuff. Various combinations of regen/jitterbug definitely seems to have an effect. To sum up briefly less sharp,clearer bass definition and just more pleasant to listen to. Modest supplied the naim cd sampler track that became the Oscar Peterson tune of the night. Not sure whether we want to thank or kill him for coming up with it!

Big7 was as per usual full of detail but also a meatier sound over the lighter presentation from the Hugo but it really is down to what you prefer and unfortunately also down to depth of pocket. Nice to hear the Big7 has now plummeted to scrap value levels and I have jumped over Simon who is suffering from elipsa pocket emptying disease at the moment so would not be in a healthy enough position to take on the challenge of the Big7.

Battery powered regen is the biz but sure this nearly comes as a given. Of course Paul Hynes and the Terradak are a more expensive route to heaven.

Nigel's dac was one of the biggest revelations. It seems to be getting close to out Lamping the Big7. Completely not what I would expect from a Dac made by Nigel. Very analog and warm sounding but not in a woolly way just natural and very realistic. It could be the R2R design or maybe the batteries are doing their bit. For the latter stages once we introduced the Soekris we never looked to move back to the other dacs. It is limited currently to 16bit material and as per a lot of Nigels designs a bit fragile!

R2R or Ladder dac is a type of Dac design. Delta Sigma is the newer type of design/chip. Your Wadia has an old style chip not sure of the type Simon. Surprising for me I thought Lampizators were multibit old style chips but the prognosis is they are delta sigma. Did a bit of a read up and I see people quoting delta sigma as also being multibit so maybe that explains my confusion. Over to the experts to fill out the blank spaces in my interpretation.

Bughead was used by Ken on the material played through Modest's tiny pc. We never compared that but Ken is convinced it is the way to go.

John introduced a USB cable used in the aerospace industry and it had a distinct tone. Plastic connector at the PC end.
Also he had a supra usb cable internals and they look very well made with beefy grades of wire.

Thanks to all for bringing their gear and in some cases traveling a long way.

[jkeny]

Yes, thanks Tony & Anne for their hospitality & food & drink - very much appreciated & enjoyed

Pearse, can you post the photos of the blind testing we did :) ?

Oops, I hadn't read the thread before I posted & I thought it was you that took the photo but now that you say it I remember it was Tony.

[tony]

The evidence is available but file is over the 2mb limit. Can I save it as a lower resolution?
It is a bit damning one gentleman can be clearly seen peeping.

[jkeny]

The evidence is available but file is over the 2mb limit. Can I save it as a lower resolution?
It is a bit damning one gentleman can be clearly seen peeping.

I'm sure some picture editing programs on Windows will allow saving to lower res?

Well, it will serve as an example for future scientific research endeavours into blind testing.
They will be able to learn useful lessons from our technique & procedures.

[sima66]

The evidence is available but file is over the 2mb limit. Can I save it as a lower resolution?
It is a bit damning one gentleman can be clearly seen peeping.

Come on Tony, I'm still waiting! :)

[nige2000]

Many thanks Tony & Anne for the food & drink,
at that rate we will be up every week pushing the boundaries of CA

it was great to catch up especially as its been quite a while since ive been active

anyway battery regen seems to be a must, surprised me how effective it was id consider it 3 times more effective than a regen with the supplied power brick
cleaner, crisper sound, lower noise floor, and better resolution

i was very skeptical of the jitterbug, but as the salesman say one is good and two is better :)
definitely not just as effective on the highly modded pcs but more standard equipment could benefit quite a bit

thanks for letting me compare my implementation of the soekris r2r dam dac, its good to know that it really actually sounds good and im not loosing the plot entirely
it was unfortunate we couldn't test it with the battery powered regen due to needing +5v for the i2s board, i will hopefully get one fitted to the front end as it undoubtedly will give further improvements

anyway it was great to see u all again

nigel

email the photos to me ill post em