muel

This one really leaves little question of where are the deficiencies as well as where a setup excels! In the end, you really need to play some of your favorites too.

So, YOU are the monkey's uncle?! We finally found him, folks! I am certain that after your elucidation they will throw the case right out of court! (or the accused right into jail)

Nice buy, Bonzo! Your serial number picture looked familiar to me... I checked and my 68 Cornwalls have the same people who signed yours under Inspected and Tested except they were reversed with Inspected:Portus Gilley and Tested: NWB. You certainly see the N.W. Bradford name a lot on these speakers!

Your mention of “poor gain structure” certainly might be relevant to my situation... see what you think- With the Dacmagic (or the V-Dac) connected to the Scott 299b I often found myself turning the volume down via the control in Foobar. I now have the volume all the way up in Foobar and I have to have the volume on the integrated amp turned very low or it is just too loud. Even with a 6db Harrison Labs attenuator installed between the DAC and the Scott input the volume is around 70 db (estimation) with the volume control set at 8:00. Do you think this might have something to do with what I am hearing? I would describe the V-Dac as having a slight grainy sound while the Dacmagic can have a slight harshness. I can’t say that the harshness is any worse or better at any given volume, low or high. These DACs aren’t USB powered as they have separate power supplies. Unfortunately, I don’t have any S/PDIF or Optical connections available on my desktop or my laptop. I’m limited to comparing an optical connection from the Oppo DV-980 VS. a USB connection from the computer playing a FLAC version of the same CD playing in the Oppo. That certainly introduces extra variables. Maybe I could find a interface card that would have an optical connection for test purposes on the desktop.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora [] oh, and it is also a great source for music over the Internet.

You are giving me some things to think about. I understand noise floor but I don't know what I would hear with the other two things you mention. There is no volume control between the DAC and the Scott amp and I've started leaving the Foobar volume at maximum. I thought about swapping out the Cornwalls for some old Bostons just to listen for the differences but that might just confuse things for now. I thought I eliminated the speakers as being related to the harshness because the same recording via the Oppo CDP sounds better. I can say for sure that I am hearing a slight harshness with the DacMagic that I didn't hear with the V-Dac. Could that be because the DacMagic is a little more revealing and I am just hearing more of what is in the recording? hmmm... perhaps. I'm certain that some of my recordings are just not that great to begin with. I'm getting a little confused about where I should go from here. I've been concentrating on the DAC but maybe I should be listening for other causes... different amp etc..? Thanks for the comments!

Thanks for the replies! I've spent some time playing with the settings in ASIO4ALL and my settings are pretty much where you were describing. There is a checkbox you can check to Always Resample to 48kHz. I leave this unchecked now... on the DacMagic it has lights telling you the incoming sample rate so you can see if it is working right. I can't hear any difference with the ASIO Buffer Size setting... it doesn't seem to matter on playback but it might actually keep my CPU percentage down a little. The Kernel Buffers are working fine set at 2. I didn't know what to do with the latency compensation settings (in and out number of samples?). I mentioned enabling the equalizer temporarily because I found it interesting that lowering the gain on 5kHz helped the harshness. Of course, it also took some music with it. I haven't done enough comparison with the toslink and USB. From the computer I only have USB available. I did compare the same music from the Oppo via toslink and the computer via USB. It still has the slight harshness or brightness from both sources. I wasn't doing a very good job keeping the levels equal so I couldn't say if toslink sounded better than USB. The Oppo DAC straight to analog is smoother sounding but very close otherwise to the DacMagic. I am stuck with USB for my computer source so any digital connections would be reserved for other less used sources. Half of my listening is via Foobar but I also spend a lot of time on Pandora (paid version with 192Kbps) which is great for the variety and hearing music I don't have but certainly lacking in quality compared to Foobar. I'm just hoping to do the best I can with it. I like "detail" but perhaps I need to lean more towards what I hear people refer to as more "musical" DACs. Actually, both detailed and musical would be nice! What do you think of the "1 bit" DACs? or the NOS DACs? Any other Scott owners using a USB DAC they are particularly happy with? I'm swimming in a sea of choices and I'm trying to narrow it down some.

Congratulations! [Y] Matching wood putty would be the way I would go to help that nick be less noticable. Some putty won't like being on an oiled finish so you will have to look at the labels. I think one was called "Swedish putty" that you mix with stain and boiled linseed oil.. I would think that would be compatible but more of a hassle than if you can find the right color in a ready made form. I'm not sure if you should oil the cabinets before you do this. If they are dry you take a risk of the surrounding edge of the nick soaking up some of the color and becoming darker. With fresh oil the putty might not adhere as well. You should be able to oil as normal after. Those with more experience can/should speak up to correct me.

I’m trying to find that elusive synergy with my setup and would like your advice and to hear about what you are using, especially if you have a similar setup. I’m looking for a nice USB connected DAC that will make my ears happy. I’ve had a Musical Fidelity V-Dac and a Cambridge Audio DacMagic that I have been rotating for the last few months. I graduated to these after using various computer sound cards such as various built-ins, the Creative Audigy 2zs and the old Creative external Extigy. I picked up the DacMagic first and when those first notes poured out it made all the old sound cards I had heard before sound like mud in comparison! I apologize that I might not be good at giving a clear description of what I am hearing but I will do my best. The DacMagic has a very clear sound that reminded me much of listening straight from the Oppo. It had a better sound stage than I am used to experiencing. As clear and nice as it was there was a harshness or brightness that appears on some recordings that I found annoying. After enabling the equalizer in Foobar I found that I could reduce the harshess by lowering 5kHz a notch. DacMagic has 3 filters available which do nothing about the harshness but changing this can improve or worsen some recordings to my ear. I also used the DacMagic as the DAC (via toslink) for the Oppo to compare. With some music it was similar enough that I forgot which way I had it switched… then with other recordings I could hear some of that harshness when it was switched to the DacMagic. The V-Dac also sounded nice but the soundstage wasn’t quite as precise and I couldn’t place the musicians and instruments as easily. It has a bit of a grainy sound (very slight). Still, it was nice enough that I am using it in another setup for now. Some of the DACs I am considering include: Grant Fidelity Tube DAC-09, Scott Nixon's DACs, Bryston BDA-1 ($$ have to find used at those prices), MHDT Labs Havana, Music Hall 25.3, Benchmark DAC1, wyred 4 sound dac 2 ($$). I would like to keep my budget under 1k but I might go over that for the right DAC. If I find myself listening to the DAC instead of the music then I know I have a problem. So, what do you think? System: Scott 299B w/Telefunken 12ax7 Oppo DV-980H 1967 Cornwall CWO with ALK xovers

I was getting ready to order one of those Ikea Expedit 2x4 cube bookcases for album storage. I don't live anywhere near a store so I decide to order online. [st] Holy fricken shippin' cost rip off Batman! [] Check out the charge for shipping... $349 to ship a $69 bookcase. (I cancelled the order)

Here is what I have in my Cornwalls: http://www.basslinear.com/ This is the egg carton looking stuff. I never heard my Cornwalls without it so I can't give you a comparison but I can tell you that they have some nice bass! [Y]

Have never financed anything audio, it takes longer to get but when it gets here it's paid for. Besides if I tried that I would have to stand to listen............because my wifes foot would be up my........ You are quite wise! ...and a wifes foot can make you even wiser!

What?! Do you have any equity left in your house? []

I was already to get set with some popcorn or maybe some margaritas [D] with some chips and salsa but this plot seems a little too familiar. Somebody needs to throw in some obligatory sex or violence... something.

and I read the whole thing before I noticed the dates. [:$]

whoa... that looks like one of my birthday parties as a kid. Just give the kid a bowl cut and tinted glasses. Flash forward a bunch of years... I was given Versed as a sedative on 2 occasions. The first time I asked the nurse for a "6 pack of that" when I left. The second time was for a vasectomy and the SOB started cutting before I was all the way out. [] Luckily, I was only partially concious and not for long.

I agree but it depends on your goal. In the living room I set the gain low enough so that when the kids spin the volume control all the way up it won't do any big damage. My youngest thinks that horrible clipping sound is "funny" [:'(] Luckily, she hasn't done that to any klipsch.

Yikes! I was just getting ready to order one of these... I am thinking about the narrow one and laying it down instead of upright. Are you saying I couldn't put one on its side? Perhaps I would be OK with enough wood glue or epoxy?

I've been using Foobar more lately and it has been working well for me. I like that it will automatically find any new FLAC files I create and I don't wind up with double entries as I was finding sometimes with Media Monkey (don't know what was up with that). Foobar has a portable installation (no information written to the registry... just the application folder) that could be very useful to me! I could put it on a USB drive and assuming the same drive letter is assigned I could move it from one machine to another with all my settings and play lists. I haven't put this to the test yet as I have a networked storage drive. That would be a slick way to transport 1 or 2 TB of music to a friends house for an extended listening session! Also, Foobar has been working well with the asio4all driver (to bypass the Windows driver).

... I dispise audience noise and applause coming from the front. Many learn to live with it. But it's definitely unnatural and a learned response as human ears and audio location wiring simply isn't designed for front only sound. You must get good seats at concerts! In my experience of lousy seats the applause is almost all coming from the front. [:'(]

Very true! But unless it is interfering with the rest of your life (work, family, grocery bills) it is ALL good. No side effects. Increased levels of melatonin and serotonin... relaxing you and clearing your thoughts of the day... gotta love it! Gotta have it! I'm sure we are prolonging our lives, preventing disease, and making ourselves smarter every day!

I thought we might be on to something when you mentioned Cambridge Audio in your line up. I have been testing a couple of DACs recently and found that while the Cambridge Audio DacMagic introduced a nicer clarity and soundstage it also brought with it a "brightness" that I would call harsh and fatiguing after a while. (that said, it is still my first string DAC) I'm wondering how the DacMagic DAC compares to what's in the 840C. I would think the 840c ought to be quite a step up. Are you are saying you hear this brightness all the time no matter the music or source at a given volume? I find that some recordings don't seem to bother me (most jazz sounds great) while some can grate on my nerves (some rock). In regards to volume - to a point anyway, the louder it is... the more I hear good and bad. I wonder if what you are hearing at higher volumes is still there at lower volumes but isn't objectional at that level. What do other people think who have heard your setup? Don't give up... it can be a lot of time and trouble to chase one variable at a time to see how things change when making a tweak or equipment change. If you are methodical and don't change more than one thing at a time you can learn a lot and when you share it here then we can all learn!

More specifics on your equipment used will help. I have found that a simple change in your source can affect things drastically... while trying different DACs I experienced a lot of brightness with one, muffled distortion with another, and a couple that were somewhere in between. Actually, I am still looking for the "right one" but that is a story for another thread. Also, what is it that you are listening to the most?

EXCELLENT idea! I haven't found the spray locally yet so I'm giving the Sharpie a try. A black sharpie is a little too black and is obvious from about 5 feet away but the 3 spots I tested are hard to see once you take another step back! This is way better than spots of white paint! 10 feet away and I can't see them anymore. The picture is a little bright from the flash... I can't see any white. There are many different colors of these pens so I might be able to match a little closer. I can certainly live with this for now! THANKS for the idea! I'll say a toast to you with a beer later tonight! [Y]

Best idea yet.... Wouldn't that require them blowing something up?