A couple of things arriving (hopefully, by the end of this week).
First, my music server is getting an upgrade so that I can try out upsampling via HQ Player (and Roon). I'll be using HQP to upsample to DSD 256 to my RME DAC (which has a DSD Direct mode) via my Sonore MicroRendu, removing the need for the DAC to do any upsampling / filtering.
Second, a modified Marantz CD50 - TDA1541A DAC running in NOS mode, triode valve output stage, split power supplies, custom made decoupling generator, new caps etc.
When I get both set up, if anyone is interested in popping over for a listen, you'll be very welcome.
The 'guts' of the modded Marantz...
HQ Player vs (modded) CD player - savvypaul's digital bake-off
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HQ Player vs (modded) CD player - savvypaul's digital bake-off
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- CycleCoach (Mon Oct 24, 2022 5:38 pm) • antonio66 (Tue Oct 25, 2022 5:39 am)
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Re: HQ Player vs (modded) CD player - savvypaul's digital bake-off
I'll be interested to 'hear' what you make of the two. Out of interest what machine is the server. We've not had an actual CD player in the house for 10 years, at a we 'can' play them through the DVD player, but it really is a once in a blue moon thing.
My guess is that it will be very chalk & cheese, a bit like CD vs Vinyl.
Valve outputs on digital devices has always struck me as a bit odd, but when you take a step back, no odder than using a valve amp, something I don't consider at all odd.
Have fun.
My guess is that it will be very chalk & cheese, a bit like CD vs Vinyl.
Valve outputs on digital devices has always struck me as a bit odd, but when you take a step back, no odder than using a valve amp, something I don't consider at all odd.
Have fun.
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Re: HQ Player vs (modded) CD player - savvypaul's digital bake-off
The server is a Vortexbox Player that I bought from Martin Smith at Audiostore about 8 years ago. It's going back to him for a new CPU, SSD, extra RAM, heatpipes etc.Grumpytim wrote: ↑Mon Oct 24, 2022 6:04 pm I'll be interested to 'hear' what you make of the two. Out of interest what machine is the server. We've not had an actual CD player in the house for 10 years, at a we 'can' play them through the DVD player, but it really is a once in a blue moon thing.
My guess is that it will be very chalk & cheese, a bit like CD vs Vinyl.
Valve outputs on digital devices has always struck me as a bit odd, but when you take a step back, no odder than using a valve amp, something I don't consider at all odd.
Have fun.
I know what you mean about valves in a CD player. Tomasz reckons this one might sound pretty spectacular for not a lot of money, though - a guy in Poland called Lampizator has apparently got himself a bit of a name for modding early CDPs and this Marantz follows that playbook.
I'm not expecting too much from either tbh, but the Marantz appeals to my alternative nature and I know a few people who rave about HQP / M Scaler, so you never know.
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Re: HQ Player vs (modded) CD player - savvypaul's digital bake-off
The server is back and set up with my MicroRendu endpoint and RME DAC.
I got LMS up and running with Qobuz in a couple of minutes.
Signed up for the Roon trial - got it up and running within 5 minutes (the instructions from Martin at Audiostore, who uprated the server, are excellent).
Now upsampling CD quality from Qobuz to DSD256 using Roon's DSP engine, and feeding that to the DSD native mode on the RME (so the DAC does not have to do any oversampling / filtering)...
I got LMS up and running with Qobuz in a couple of minutes.
Signed up for the Roon trial - got it up and running within 5 minutes (the instructions from Martin at Audiostore, who uprated the server, are excellent).
Now upsampling CD quality from Qobuz to DSD256 using Roon's DSP engine, and feeding that to the DSD native mode on the RME (so the DAC does not have to do any oversampling / filtering)...
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- CycleCoach (Wed Oct 26, 2022 11:30 pm) • CN211276 (Thu Oct 27, 2022 7:42 am)
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Re: HQ Player vs (modded) CD player - savvypaul's digital bake-off
Seems a complex procedure. Interested in how it sounds.
Main System
NVA BMU, P90SA/A80s (latest spec), Cube 1s, TIS, TISC(LS7)
Sonore OpticalRendu, Chord Mscaler & Qutest, Sbooster PSs
Network Acoustics Eno, ifi iPurifier3, AQ JB FMJ, Cisco 2940 & 2960
DH Labs ethernet, BNC & USB cables, Lindy cat 6 US ethernet cable
Second System
NVA P20/ A20, Cubettes, LS3, SSP, SC
Sonore MicroRendu, Chord Mojo 2 MCRU PSs, AQ Carbon USB cable & JB FMJ
Headphones
Grado SR325e/Chord Mojo, Beyerdynamic Avetho/AQ DF Black
RIP Doc
NVA BMU, P90SA/A80s (latest spec), Cube 1s, TIS, TISC(LS7)
Sonore OpticalRendu, Chord Mscaler & Qutest, Sbooster PSs
Network Acoustics Eno, ifi iPurifier3, AQ JB FMJ, Cisco 2940 & 2960
DH Labs ethernet, BNC & USB cables, Lindy cat 6 US ethernet cable
Second System
NVA P20/ A20, Cubettes, LS3, SSP, SC
Sonore MicroRendu, Chord Mojo 2 MCRU PSs, AQ Carbon USB cable & JB FMJ
Headphones
Grado SR325e/Chord Mojo, Beyerdynamic Avetho/AQ DF Black
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Re: HQ Player vs (modded) CD player - savvypaul's digital bake-off
DSD is one of those things that I wasn't aware even existed. Until Saturday. At Owston where a DIY DSD DAC was played with - according to my understanding - some native DSD recordings.
My highly provisional impressions - because it wasn't a comparative demo - was that DSD showed a lot of promise for sounding like there was nothing between the recording and the pre-amp. With a natural, high quality, analogue, transparent feel to the sound.
When I googled DSD I got some links to Disorders of Sex Development. And a link to a What Hi-fi article that included these drawbacks of DSD:
" It’s not very practical to manipulate a DSD recording.
All the things that are required post-recording such as equalisation, editing, dynamic range control and adding reverb usually involve the DSD stream being converted to PCM to do the processing and then switched back."
Sounds good to me. I'd be quite happy if music biz technicians were cajooled into not mucking up recordings by dynamically compressing them and adding Chiselhurst Caves amounts of reverb.
My highly provisional impressions - because it wasn't a comparative demo - was that DSD showed a lot of promise for sounding like there was nothing between the recording and the pre-amp. With a natural, high quality, analogue, transparent feel to the sound.
When I googled DSD I got some links to Disorders of Sex Development. And a link to a What Hi-fi article that included these drawbacks of DSD:
" It’s not very practical to manipulate a DSD recording.
All the things that are required post-recording such as equalisation, editing, dynamic range control and adding reverb usually involve the DSD stream being converted to PCM to do the processing and then switched back."
Sounds good to me. I'd be quite happy if music biz technicians were cajooled into not mucking up recordings by dynamically compressing them and adding Chiselhurst Caves amounts of reverb.
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Re: HQ Player vs (modded) CD player - savvypaul's digital bake-off
Upsampling within Roon is very simple, and very easy to a/b compare.
Between LMS, Roon, HQ Player, DSD, PCM... there are quite a few possible configurations, though. I'm probably going to play for 3 or 4 days before writing up.
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- CycleCoach (Thu Oct 27, 2022 8:57 am)
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Re: HQ inPlayer vs (modded) CD player - savvypaul's digital bake-off
It seems that HQ Player upsamples to a far higher rate than the Mscaler and the Bit rate is also substantially increased. A big difference, I don't know if it is linked, is that the upsampling takes place far sooner in the chain. With the Mscaler the upsampling is between the streamer and the DAC.
Main System
NVA BMU, P90SA/A80s (latest spec), Cube 1s, TIS, TISC(LS7)
Sonore OpticalRendu, Chord Mscaler & Qutest, Sbooster PSs
Network Acoustics Eno, ifi iPurifier3, AQ JB FMJ, Cisco 2940 & 2960
DH Labs ethernet, BNC & USB cables, Lindy cat 6 US ethernet cable
Second System
NVA P20/ A20, Cubettes, LS3, SSP, SC
Sonore MicroRendu, Chord Mojo 2 MCRU PSs, AQ Carbon USB cable & JB FMJ
Headphones
Grado SR325e/Chord Mojo, Beyerdynamic Avetho/AQ DF Black
RIP Doc
NVA BMU, P90SA/A80s (latest spec), Cube 1s, TIS, TISC(LS7)
Sonore OpticalRendu, Chord Mscaler & Qutest, Sbooster PSs
Network Acoustics Eno, ifi iPurifier3, AQ JB FMJ, Cisco 2940 & 2960
DH Labs ethernet, BNC & USB cables, Lindy cat 6 US ethernet cable
Second System
NVA P20/ A20, Cubettes, LS3, SSP, SC
Sonore MicroRendu, Chord Mojo 2 MCRU PSs, AQ Carbon USB cable & JB FMJ
Headphones
Grado SR325e/Chord Mojo, Beyerdynamic Avetho/AQ DF Black
RIP Doc
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Re: HQ Player vs (modded) CD player - savvypaul's digital bake-off
Channel Classics has a dedicated site for downloading direct-to-DSD recordings:
https://www.nativedsd.com/
I have regularly sat with Jared Sachs in his mastering studio here at the other end of the village and he records, edits and mixes using DSD. What you hear are the not-messed-about-with studio masters as he has made them.
Last time I was there he was working on a full-orchestral performance of a Mahler symphony which was incredible.
https://www.nativedsd.com/
I have regularly sat with Jared Sachs in his mastering studio here at the other end of the village and he records, edits and mixes using DSD. What you hear are the not-messed-about-with studio masters as he has made them.
Last time I was there he was working on a full-orchestral performance of a Mahler symphony which was incredible.
Upstairs:
VinylPro-Ject 1.2 + Grado Sig Jr + Cambridge Alva Duo
DigiVolumio PC + Kiss DP-500 + Sabaj A20d
NVA: Cube2 + LS6+ Sabaj A10a (2) + Little Bear MC2
Downstairs:
VinylLogic DM101 + Syrinx LE1 + Grado Sig MCX
DigiDenafrips Ares II + Volumio PC + Cambridge CXC
NVA: P50 (phono)Aiyima A07 MAX (2) + Arcam One
HP: Allo DigiOne + Sabaj A10d + AQ NightOwl
Office: Allo DigiOne SIG + SMSL M300se + Douk G4 (x2)
Mission 760 + Monolith 887 + German Maestro GMP 450
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Re: HQ Player vs (modded) CD player - savvypaul's digital bake-off
The Marantz arrived, but the display doesn't power up. Parcelforce strikes again, lol?