Since last couple of weeks, I have noticed that vibration isolation of dac/pre/power is having a profound difference in the tonality of the sound in my case. My speakers don't like vibration isolation and I prefer them without the cerabase footers I bought. I dont know why that is. But dac/pre/power are getting me to drive crazy. I have tried cerabase, wood, plastic, rubber, metal and each gives a characteristic sound, some dull and earthy and some so airy and metallic. Please guide me what else can I try and why there is so much difference, can it be because the equipment is not well designed or what. Can it be because I live on 17th floor of a building, maybe it vibrates more higher we go
Impressions of audiogd master pre-power combo
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rikhav
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I won't say it's due to design of equipment not being good.
Even in very high end setups I have noticed the sound changing depending on the material of footer used except for maybe one or two setups.
So nothing wrong with what you are experiencing.
But it's little tricky to tell what may work for you because every component will react different and every one of us hear differently.
At the same time I can understand it's not simple to try everything before buying
Even in very high end setups I have noticed the sound changing depending on the material of footer used except for maybe one or two setups.
So nothing wrong with what you are experiencing.
But it's little tricky to tell what may work for you because every component will react different and every one of us hear differently.
At the same time I can understand it's not simple to try everything before buying
The type of footers that works for a given setup also depends to a great extent on the type of rack/platform used. I use hardened glass shelves. Ceramic or steel ball based footers frustrated me. They harden the sound. What works for me has been a sandwich of foam rubber and natural cork. It might work for you too.
Nice setup. It was a lovely coincidence that I met you at Heliumflight's place.
MPW, didn't know you were lurking around
At Heliumflight's place it was bare walls. Keen to know your observations
Yes bare walls do have an echo, especially bare corners muffle up the sound. I have realised few things regarding diffusers/panels based on my experience.
- A proper wooden diffuser helps in bare walls as against any foam/absorption panels, i have now removed the absorbers behind speakers that were in the pic, they can deaden the sound.
- realized, bass traps on top empty corners always greatly help, infact they are a must as far as i am concerned for any critical litening
- these things need to be placed far away from speakers/listener to heave desirable effects.
In that particular room, I think bass traps on rear wall top corners would be interesting to hear.
Congratulations
New additions to my system:
1) allo shanti psu
2) furutech cables for shanti, dac and amp
3) changed acss cables to mogami 2549.
Allo shanti psu is very high perfoming psu imo. I am using it to power my mi box and dirty side of allo digione signature. It marks a significant difference for me for both equipment. Its highly susceptible to different power cables and upgrading its power cable to furutech fps022n has brought it to a new level with increased resolution and smoothness. Stock cable sounds grainy in comparison.
I have changed audiogd stock acss interconnect cables to mogami 2549 which has brought down high frequencies, decreased soundstage but increased bass and has made voices more lifelike. I also experimemted alot with balanced vs acss with same cables and acss clearly wins the competition, unfortunately it works only with audiogd components.
I am using furutech tcs21 power cable with my dac and fps55n with power amp. Both are excellent power cables but they can make my system analytical so i am using lapp power cable with my preamp to balance out things a little. Though these cables are shielded i am not connecting shield to ground earth for all my power cables cables as i have noticed it makes bass more lean and sounds unnatural though it increases sound clarity. All cables use furutech connector at equipment end. I found its not worth using good cables without good connectors, they being important than cables themselves. Trying different power cables is really fun.
All in all i found power quality contributes a lot to a hifi system. My system sounds best after 11pm and worse during evenings. All mew changes. Have made my system sound a little analytical. I dont know what exactly the power cables do especially without shield connected to ground but they do affect the sound in a positive way especially the way the connectors affect sound is really magical.
1) allo shanti psu
2) furutech cables for shanti, dac and amp
3) changed acss cables to mogami 2549.
Allo shanti psu is very high perfoming psu imo. I am using it to power my mi box and dirty side of allo digione signature. It marks a significant difference for me for both equipment. Its highly susceptible to different power cables and upgrading its power cable to furutech fps022n has brought it to a new level with increased resolution and smoothness. Stock cable sounds grainy in comparison.
I have changed audiogd stock acss interconnect cables to mogami 2549 which has brought down high frequencies, decreased soundstage but increased bass and has made voices more lifelike. I also experimemted alot with balanced vs acss with same cables and acss clearly wins the competition, unfortunately it works only with audiogd components.
I am using furutech tcs21 power cable with my dac and fps55n with power amp. Both are excellent power cables but they can make my system analytical so i am using lapp power cable with my preamp to balance out things a little. Though these cables are shielded i am not connecting shield to ground earth for all my power cables cables as i have noticed it makes bass more lean and sounds unnatural though it increases sound clarity. All cables use furutech connector at equipment end. I found its not worth using good cables without good connectors, they being important than cables themselves. Trying different power cables is really fun.
All in all i found power quality contributes a lot to a hifi system. My system sounds best after 11pm and worse during evenings. All mew changes. Have made my system sound a little analytical. I dont know what exactly the power cables do especially without shield connected to ground but they do affect the sound in a positive way especially the way the connectors affect sound is really magical.
heliumflight
Well-Known Member
So finally the itch was so strong you couldn't hold back. I can lend you my ASI liveline powercable.
HiFi Rig: Dilvpoetry Preamp 6J1 + Marantz NA 6005 + ASI Liveline power cable + ASI Liveline Reference IC + Quad 405 MK2 + Castle Knight 5 (For Sale - Cambridge Audio Cxn & Piega Classic 3 + Stands)
HiFi Rig: Dilvpoetry Preamp 6J1 + Marantz NA 6005 + ASI Liveline power cable + ASI Liveline Reference IC + Quad 405 MK2 + Castle Knight 5 (For Sale - Cambridge Audio Cxn & Piega Classic 3 + Stands)
An idle brain is a devils workshop, causing the itch
heliumflight
Well-Known Member
No question of being idle. With music your always in paradise.
Back to audiogd interconnects now which are basically canare cable. They are more entended in frequency spectrum and more revealing than mogami 2549. Dac is fully burned in now which took around 2 months. Overall soundsignature is soft and smooth, full of richness and naturalness in tones, very very musical and engaging. Not a hint of harshness or agression anywhere, though i can hear lot of details.
Digione signature is a little more bright than usb played from pc. I am liking usb more these days as i find it more musical and smooth, maybe the dac suits usb more. I tried converting few of my flacs to wav couple of days back and played via foobar, the difference in sound was more than expected, especially in lower frequencies and separation. Now it seem like two subwoofers are playing in the room, never before i got this feeling, bass in not lean as before and it was never as smooth. I feel its very true that its all about source, whatever it is i am very happy for now. Next step should be some power conditioning and usb to i2s convereter.
Digione signature is a little more bright than usb played from pc. I am liking usb more these days as i find it more musical and smooth, maybe the dac suits usb more. I tried converting few of my flacs to wav couple of days back and played via foobar, the difference in sound was more than expected, especially in lower frequencies and separation. Now it seem like two subwoofers are playing in the room, never before i got this feeling, bass in not lean as before and it was never as smooth. I feel its very true that its all about source, whatever it is i am very happy for now. Next step should be some power conditioning and usb to i2s convereter.
Friends, i am using furutech connectors only on equipment end for all power cables. Wall end still uses anchor plugs. Does anyone know if replacing wall side connectors also with furutech plugs will make sound any better and if its worth the money. They did made a significant difference on equipment end.
Standing between digione signature and r8he is new audiogd interface DI20-he. Since yesterday entire room is just filled up with musical bliss and nothing else. One of the best purchases i have had in my life. Still burning ........
rikhav
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- Mar 27, 2008
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So magic is in some proprietary medium of transfer whhch only audio gd dacs support or you use spidif or aes to connect this device to your dac?
For you you have a transport with coax out so common sense would say why should I add another device in between when digione signature by itself is so good ?
So what made you believe before purchasing it that this will surely work for you ?
Ofcourse , after listening it has worked really well.
For you you have a transport with coax out so common sense would say why should I add another device in between when digione signature by itself is so good ?
So what made you believe before purchasing it that this will surely work for you ?
Ofcourse , after listening it has worked really well.
Its not any proprietary medium of transport which audiogd dac supports only. Di20he is a digital transport which has usb and spdif coax inputs, then it reclocks and does something to the signal to output spdif coax, i2s hdmi (psaudio standard), aes to any dac that supports these inputs.
In my case, digione signature to di20he is coaxial connection, then i2s hdmi from di20he to my dac. Whatever this thing does, its doing it brilliantly. I never had plans to buy this thing keeping in mind digione signature is itself very good, but seeing the sort of sale records kingwa is breaking with this product on headfi, i had to get this. Indeed it has turned out to be magical to my surprise.
Di20he has now been burned to 200hrs and is getting better day by day. I have also got new furutech etp80 power distributor and upgraded all interconnects to furutech occ diy cables so the system is singing at a whole new level these days.
I would like to share a little experience with my system.
My prepower amps are now about to get an year old. Dac is 4 months old and di20he has been around for 15 days. Initially last year when i bought the amps, it sounded sort of good but after going through lot of burn in and a series of upgrades including dac, all power cables, ics, speaker cables, i can now feel the system is performing at its highest level. There was a certain politeness and loss of control in the sound that always used to always itch me but now with the last ic upgrade and power distributor it has gone away, quads are shining now and sounding thick as i want them to be which is i think is a good sign. The power distributor has defineltely lowered the noise level of my digital sources alot and taken the leading edges off the sound leading towards a thick valve like voices sound at the expense of transparency that i am liking alot. My poweramp is still plugged into the wall directly.
Overall sound signature is laid back, clean, precise, smooth and refined but thoroughly musical with an endless power reserves. Instruments come out really well seperated though still on softer side of punch. Background is thick black. The tone of the system is what i like. The blat of the saxophones and horns is very good, piano tones are almost perfect, bass lines fine, drums shake, vocals go straight to into belly and heart, though something still left to be desired from the guitar strums. Yes sound do tend to get too thick at the expense of treble transparency (due to power distributor) sometimes but who cares if i like the sound.
Audiogd has basically won me over personally. Their performance/price ratio is unbelievable. Just that their gears need atleast 500hrs of burn in time before sounding good is a source of frustration (the amp took 4-5 months). My experience also has been that patience pays alot when trying to build up any system. Experimenting to see what works and what not has been most important keeping a balance. Any good sounding system can be transformed into an excellect system just by trying such things as cables, positioning of speakers and room related stuff and ofcourse alot of patience
Things i tried:-
- power cables, ics, speaker cables
- Amp and speaker vibration Isolation with wood, cork, etc
- Room dampening with panels
Things that worked:
- cable upgrades especially power cables and ics, power affects system the most and good power cables are must, i think they affect more than ics and speaker cables and in that order. Any cable you want to change first, it must be the power cable. Maybe it has to do with non feedback design of my amps somewhere i read nfb amps are more susceptible to power cables. Good connectors are also must, gold connectors are sweet and warm, rhodium is open and with lively, so balancing is must. Correct polarity is also a must.
- though i have smallish room and big speakers but room dampening helped to focus the sound but though too much of it creates problems.
Things that did not work-
- vibration isolation, it never worked for me, be it speakers or amps. I tried wood, cork, metal anything that came my way but always ran back to the builtin feet. Either they made sound too artificial or bright or too dull and bloated.
Question is that for how long the system can keep me satisfied now. Keeping fingers crossed. Happy for now.
I would like to share a little experience with my system.
My prepower amps are now about to get an year old. Dac is 4 months old and di20he has been around for 15 days. Initially last year when i bought the amps, it sounded sort of good but after going through lot of burn in and a series of upgrades including dac, all power cables, ics, speaker cables, i can now feel the system is performing at its highest level. There was a certain politeness and loss of control in the sound that always used to always itch me but now with the last ic upgrade and power distributor it has gone away, quads are shining now and sounding thick as i want them to be which is i think is a good sign. The power distributor has defineltely lowered the noise level of my digital sources alot and taken the leading edges off the sound leading towards a thick valve like voices sound at the expense of transparency that i am liking alot. My poweramp is still plugged into the wall directly.
Overall sound signature is laid back, clean, precise, smooth and refined but thoroughly musical with an endless power reserves. Instruments come out really well seperated though still on softer side of punch. Background is thick black. The tone of the system is what i like. The blat of the saxophones and horns is very good, piano tones are almost perfect, bass lines fine, drums shake, vocals go straight to into belly and heart, though something still left to be desired from the guitar strums. Yes sound do tend to get too thick at the expense of treble transparency (due to power distributor) sometimes but who cares if i like the sound.
Audiogd has basically won me over personally. Their performance/price ratio is unbelievable. Just that their gears need atleast 500hrs of burn in time before sounding good is a source of frustration (the amp took 4-5 months). My experience also has been that patience pays alot when trying to build up any system. Experimenting to see what works and what not has been most important keeping a balance. Any good sounding system can be transformed into an excellect system just by trying such things as cables, positioning of speakers and room related stuff and ofcourse alot of patience
Things i tried:-
- power cables, ics, speaker cables
- Amp and speaker vibration Isolation with wood, cork, etc
- Room dampening with panels
Things that worked:
- cable upgrades especially power cables and ics, power affects system the most and good power cables are must, i think they affect more than ics and speaker cables and in that order. Any cable you want to change first, it must be the power cable. Maybe it has to do with non feedback design of my amps somewhere i read nfb amps are more susceptible to power cables. Good connectors are also must, gold connectors are sweet and warm, rhodium is open and with lively, so balancing is must. Correct polarity is also a must.
- though i have smallish room and big speakers but room dampening helped to focus the sound but though too much of it creates problems.
Things that did not work-
- vibration isolation, it never worked for me, be it speakers or amps. I tried wood, cork, metal anything that came my way but always ran back to the builtin feet. Either they made sound too artificial or bright or too dull and bloated.
Question is that for how long the system can keep me satisfied now. Keeping fingers crossed. Happy for now.
M
mpw
Guest
It seems a long time...we met at your place.
And your music system seems to have changed a lot..
)
And your music system seems to have changed a lot..
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