Newbies???

HEINEY_9
HEINEY_9 Posts: 18
edited February 2024 in Clubhouse Archives
Madmax... are you talking newbie's to the forum or to 'net?
Hell I'm a newbie to the forum and I won't let you guys scare me away. No matter how you's all act, if you like Polks, you're already a step above in my book, especially on the intellectual scale.

Come to think of it , I know alot of intellectual-****, actually I can be one sometimes. They kinda go arm in arm

Sarcasm is hard to read in e-mail so please take the above comment a sarcasm :D.

Welcome newbie's from a newbie to the Forum, but an oldie to the 'net and an "oldie Polk(ie)".
ADCOM GFA-545 AMP
NAK CA-5 PRE-AMP
NAK MB2S CD
ADCOM GDA-700 DAC
POLK RTA-11T
MONSTER CABLE INTERCONNECTS

2 CHANNEL AND STILL LOVING IT!!!
Post edited by RyanC_Masimo on

Comments

  • PolkThug
    PolkThug Posts: 7,532
    edited June 2004
    Boo!


    Welcome aboard!

    Regards,
    PolkThug
  • TheReaper
    TheReaper Posts: 636
    edited June 2004
    As one newbie to another, push the 'Post Reply' button ;)
    Win7 Media Center -> Onkyo TXSR702 -> Polk Rti70
  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited June 2004
    Let go of my Heiney! waaaaaaaaaaaa!

    good nickname.

    hey, how do you like your Adcom DAC? DAC's facinate me for some reason. and i'd like to add a DAC to my 2 ch rig down the road.

    What does it sound like? How did your player sound before it?
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
  • HEINEY_9
    HEINEY_9 Posts: 18
    edited June 2004
    Originally posted by danger boy
    Let go of my Heiney! waaaaaaaaaaaa!

    good nickname.

    hey, how do you like your Adcom DAC? DAC's facinate me for some reason. and i'd like to add a DAC to my 2 ch rig down the road.

    What does it sound like? How did your player sound before it?

    No you let go of my Heiney! It's actually a nickname because my last name is 'Heinzeroth'. Old girlfriend used to say "hey heiney, come here", or "god dammit Heiney what the hell is wrong with you", etc. :D

    Two words for seperate Dac's--- VERY REVEALING--. It's sort of a double edged sword. Ok I'll start from the beginning.

    I'm a bit, how shall we say, anal about accurate sound reproduction. IMO, sperates are the only way to go. As you break things down each individual piece really improves the overall sound reproduction when it's all put together.

    Before I bought my DAC (Seprate Digital to Analog Converter) I was a bit skeptical about the degree of improvement it could make. I've had experience with 2 companies and 4 models. My younger brother, of all people, turned me onto Monarchy and it's founder C.C. Poon. My younger bro grew up being in my audio shadow and that's why it's hard for me, the "audiophile", to learn something from him. I mean, I taught him everything he knows about good audio. It just goes to show you you can learn something new if you're willing to listen.....

    Anyways, a mutual friend of ours, and my bro both bought Monarchy dac's, a 22B and 33B respectively. They both use the same internal guts, except the 33B is also a line source preamp. Now, not really knowing the characteritics of each of their systems it was hard for me to judge the POSITIVE difference's they claimed. We did some half assed A-B'ing and I could hear a difference, but without really spending time analyzing it I couldn't get as excited as they did. Needless to say they both swear by outboard DAC's. The biggest thing that amazed me at the time was both of them had expensive audiophile cd players at the time. Top line Nakamichi and the best hi-end Denon made, and they were hearing very noticeable differences.

    I had a Nak OMS-5 at the time which had been a real workhorse as it was manufactured in 1986. It had the "old" 16 bit dual ladder type dac's which I think still sound so "sweet", but unfortunately have been surpassed by the current Burr-Brown chips, atleast in terms of detail. Alas, the Nak tracking mech died and it sits in a closet now, because I can't bear to throw it out, and I don't trust anyone to fix it properly. Plus my current set up would kill it sound wise in many respects. Those old players had no digital out, which you have to have for an outboard DAC.

    So then I bought my bro's Nak MB-2s 7 disc music bank cd player. I'm not a fan of changers at all, but if there was one company who'd do it right it'd be Nak, plus it was $100 and hardly used. That thing sounded so sweet in my system, with it's dual 18 bit Burr-Brown dac chips, discrete output stage, it was a real winner, had better detailing and sound-staging than the OMS-5 simply because of newer technology. Plus the music bank system was slick and quick, best $100 I spent. Manufactured in 1993 I think, plus it had a digital output.

    I really had no need for an outboard DAC until I got my first DVD player. I don't care how much you spend on one, the audio sections suck on virtually every DVD player. Crappy crappy DA conversion, crappy crappy digital clock and, especially in the sub $500 units, crappy crappy transports. I primarilly listen to music DVD's and concerts, etc. and I was verv very disappointed in the sound coming from the DVD player so I decided it was time to get an outboard DAC just for the DVD player. I chose the Adcom after listening to a borrowed GDA-600. The GDA-700 is newer than the GDA-600. The 700 is also HDCD compatiable , has a newer oscillating digital clock as opposed the the crystal digital clock in the 600, which theoretically means better 'jitter' reduction.
    The 700 also had, at the time, the latest version of the Burr-Brown 20bit dac chipsets. Sonically there is very little dicernable differences. The 600 retailed for $850 and the 700 for $1000. I also chose the Adcom because it has (2) coax inputs, (1) optical/toslink input and (1) AES/EBU input. This makes them both very versatile for multiple digital sources. Both have discrete class A input stages and discrete output stages. In audio terms it's a dual-mono construction. The right and left channels are essentially discrete, (seperate from each other), they only share the power transformer. Each stage has it own seperate power regulators, etc....

    Ok, that's all the background out of the way now to the meat and potato's......

    I really was skeptical in the beginning. I knew it would really improve the DVD player, but the way it made the Nak sound was incredible, mainly because the Nak was an expensive unit with much of the same parts the Adcom had. It's not always the parts it's how they are put together. It was jaw dropping, really.....

    The best analogy I cam come up with is someone who needs glasses. You can see pretty good w/o them but when you put the glasses on everything becomes vivid, crisp, sharp, etc.... and sometrimes you see things you don't want to see so well!!!

    It's the same with the DAC.. the bass tightened up and was much more extended and controlled. The soudstage is huge. both vertically and horizontally. The depth is fu**ing amazing. I can palce intruments anywhere in the soundstage. I can tell the exact position of the snare and the hi-hat and where they are in relation to each other and each tom, etc. The natural decay of instruments can now be heard, so many little nuances I missed before. I literally turn off the lights and the speakers disappear. Background singers are actaully placed in the background and if to the left of the main singer then that's where you hear them. I've heard/sold SDA's in the past and this is a similar experience, but the imaging and staging is absolutely remarkable. When I first got it I actually had to take a day off work to stay home and listen. I did this over a 3-day weekend and listened almost 12 hours a day. I was simply blown away. It has such an open, airy sound. It is really amazing it could make such a difference. Imagine someone drapping a double folded sheet over your speakers and then after years and years of listening to it that way, have someone remove the sheet and that's kind of what it's like. When I leave the room and am in another part of the house I swear the performer is live in the other room. It's amazing

    On the down side, and for some this may be a formidable draw back, poor source equipment and poor source recordings are only made worse. Margianlly recorded music is going to sound shrill, compressed, unapealing using an outboard DAC. I have RTA-11t's and that annoying resonance/spike at 12-13KHZ has become much more annoying on certain musical passages. Most of the crappy, compressed top 40 rock cds are going to give you listener fatigue because the DAC is revealing all the deffeciencies of the source material. Forget MP3's, they sound horrible through the DAC, not musical at all. But, when you do get a good recording, it really makes a night and day difference and it becomes much more enjoyable. I highy recommend an outboard DAC if you have better than mediocre equipment, it will change the way you listen to music.

    I listen to a lot of female vocal-Jewel, Sarah Mac, Sarah Brightman, Holly Cole, Lisa Loeb, Norah Jones etc. and lot's of acoustic music and it sounds phenomenal. However, Vanessa Carlton, Joss Stone, Michelle Branch although acceptable are not mastered very well and it shows. Just to name a few off the top of my head.

    This is another damn-long post...hope this helps someone

    Peace

    Brock "heiney"
    ADCOM GFA-545 AMP
    NAK CA-5 PRE-AMP
    NAK MB2S CD
    ADCOM GDA-700 DAC
    POLK RTA-11T
    MONSTER CABLE INTERCONNECTS

    2 CHANNEL AND STILL LOVING IT!!!
  • dragon1952
    dragon1952 Posts: 4,907
    edited June 2004
    You wouldn't happen to be a tweaker by any chance, would you?
    2 channel - Willsenton R8 tube integrated, Holo Audio Spring 3 KTE DAC, audio optimized NUC7i5, Windows 10 Pro/JRiver MC29/Fidelizer Plus 8.7 w/LPS and external SSD drive, PS Audio PerfectWave P3 regenerator, KEF R3 speakers, Rythmik F12SE subwoofer, Audioquest Diamond USB cable, Gabriel Gold IC's, Morrow Audio SP5 speaker cables. Computer - Windows 10/JRiver, Schiit Magni 3+/Modi 3+, Fostex PMO.4n monitors, Sennheiser HD600 headphones
  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited June 2004
    Nice and very through description of your DAC.

    I'm a little familiar with DAC's... not much though. I do use a DAC from my Marantz CD changer. It's a older unit from about the mid to late 90's. Found it on Ebay for a good price and it's in mint condition.

    It's a California Audio Labs Alpha DAC with two Mullard 12AX7 tubes. I had heard that tube DAC's and amps can sound nice and warm and smooth. I too find my DAC airy, and revealing... much more so than the DAC's in most receivers and CDP.

    I had read that some people were saying that a external DAC could make even bad recording sound good. I beg to differ.. I haven't heard that at all. A bad recording is a bad recording. It isn't going to improve much if at all.

    One of my favorite CD's to listen to is Coldplay's A Rush Of Blood To the Head. that to me sounds very open and wide soundstage. That was probably the disc that made me take notice how much of an improvement in sound a DAC can bring to a system.

    I'd write more.. but i'm heading out of town for a long weekend.

    thanks for taking the time to write down your experiences with your DAC.

    Al
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited June 2004
    Originally posted by dragon1952
    You wouldn't happen to be a tweaker by any chance, would you?

    you say that like it's a bad thing. ha ha ha
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
  • HEINEY_9
    HEINEY_9 Posts: 18
    edited June 2004
    Originally posted by dragon1952
    You wouldn't happen to be a tweaker by any chance, would you?

    Yah, I suppose to a small degree I'm a tweaker. :p

    Not a traditional tweaker though. I have what I have and I like things to sound natural and dynamic. A traditonal tweaker is constantly trying to get better sound by tweaking this and tweaking that. I don't do that. My system has pretty much been the same simple seperates system I;ve had for 17 years. As cd players cash out I;ve had to replace them. The DAC was the last purchase I made and that was a few years ago. I like what I have and see no reason to "tweak" or change it at this time. Except to swap out my sl2000 tweets for the better sl2000t.

    Peace

    Heiney
    ADCOM GFA-545 AMP
    NAK CA-5 PRE-AMP
    NAK MB2S CD
    ADCOM GDA-700 DAC
    POLK RTA-11T
    MONSTER CABLE INTERCONNECTS

    2 CHANNEL AND STILL LOVING IT!!!
  • HEINEY_9
    HEINEY_9 Posts: 18
    edited June 2004
    Originally posted by dragon1952
    You wouldn't happen to be a tweaker by any chance, would you?

    Yah, I suppose to a small degree I'm a tweaker. :p

    Not a traditional tweaker though. I have what I have and I like things to sound natural and dynamic. A traditonal tweaker is constantly trying to get better sound by tweaking this and tweaking that. I don't do that. My system has pretty much been the same simple seperates system I;ve had for 17 years. As cd players cash out I;ve had to replace them. The DAC was the last purchase I made and that was a few years ago. I like what I have and see no reason to "tweak" or change it at this time. Except to swap out my sl2000 tweets for the better sl2000t.

    Peace

    Heiney
    ADCOM GFA-545 AMP
    NAK CA-5 PRE-AMP
    NAK MB2S CD
    ADCOM GDA-700 DAC
    POLK RTA-11T
    MONSTER CABLE INTERCONNECTS

    2 CHANNEL AND STILL LOVING IT!!!
  • dragon1952
    dragon1952 Posts: 4,907
    edited June 2004
    I guess I meant 'tweeker' :D
    You know, with the verbal barrage and all.....bad joke I guess :rolleyes:
    2 channel - Willsenton R8 tube integrated, Holo Audio Spring 3 KTE DAC, audio optimized NUC7i5, Windows 10 Pro/JRiver MC29/Fidelizer Plus 8.7 w/LPS and external SSD drive, PS Audio PerfectWave P3 regenerator, KEF R3 speakers, Rythmik F12SE subwoofer, Audioquest Diamond USB cable, Gabriel Gold IC's, Morrow Audio SP5 speaker cables. Computer - Windows 10/JRiver, Schiit Magni 3+/Modi 3+, Fostex PMO.4n monitors, Sennheiser HD600 headphones
  • brettw22
    brettw22 Posts: 7,623
    edited June 2004
    lol....I got it dragon.......
    comment comment comment comment. bitchy.