HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

That's a bit of a bugger, Fretless. I'd say "give Metrum a shout," but i.i.r.c. the Musette is discontinued, so they might not be interested. They'll probably just try to flog you an Amethyst or something.

In other news, as they say...

My new/used AQ Diamond coax lead has arrived, been plumbed in, and Rattle That Lock is purring along nicely. It's the first time I've used the CD player in months. I'd forgotten how good the old Primare sounds.

CD player ????

What's that ?

Anybody have any experience with DH Labs Silver Sonic or Mirage USB cables ?

Affordable high-end, apparently.

Been pondering the handling of USB by my Metrum DAC. The Hiface USB receiver converts the incoming data signal into SPDIF format for further processing by the R2R NOS DAC chipset. This means that all the inputs are treated as SPDIF.

The Teradak units are optimised for USB input and all have a separate Tenor TE7022L receiving chip which converts the USB data stream into I2S format for direct processing by the TDA1543 DAC array..

So my thinking is that USB sounds noticeably better than SPDIF with the TeraDak, but USB & SPDIF inputs probably won't sound any different from each other using the Metrum Musette.

Geek ramblings, just ignore me,

Fretless wrote: ↑Sun Jul 12, 2020 5:42 pm Nice result, Slinger.

I just won an Ebay auction on a Joni Mitchell HDCD.

Just curious. Which Joni Mitchell.

Miles of Aisles.

The remastered HDCD edition is very difficult to find in Europe.

This year I have achieved great leaps by upgrading cables in the hifi and tv set ups, so I thought it was about time I looked at my domestic headphone rig. This is portable, with my phone or tablet as the source streaming lossless music, because I do not listen near the hifi and much of the time it is in the garden. Our back garden is a sun trap and you can sit outside on nice days for most of the year. Early last year I thought I could go wireless but with no success. I was unable to connect the Chord Poly to my Mojo and had to teturn it, discovering that it was not compatable with the router.

This year I have found that the gap in SQ and music enjoyment I am getting from the main system and headphones has become greater and greater. I am sure this is to do with the improvements I have made to the main system, a combination of the NVA amps being updated to the latest specifications and the numerous upgrades and tweaks I have made to the digital chain documented in this forum.

The OTG link I had been using was cheap and cheerful when the headphones and DAC/amp were not. There was definately scope for improvement and, from previous experience, I looked at Audioquest. The reviews I read of their Dragontail OTG cable were mixed, but I put this down to the equipment and sources they were being used with. The reasonably priced Dragontail was the way to go, but to connect with the Mojo it had to be partnered with another length of cable. I looked at the specifications of the Dragontail and it contains 5% silver. To match this I needed to go up to Carbon in the AQ range. I was not planning to spend this much but I wanted both lengths to be of the same quality.

The visible difference in quality between the new AQ cables and old ones was very apparant not least the tightness of the connections. The same did not apply to SQ at first and I was underwhelmed. However after a few hours listening this completely changed and it seemed like a window had been opened. The increase in the sense of seperation, dynamics and bass definition was huge, a night and day improvement. I am very pleased but at the same time regretful of owning the Grados and Mojo for four and a half years without realising their potential. I was completely unaware that headphones could sound so good.

Just ordered a pair of these:



DH Labs Silver Sonic USB. They are just under 50 euro for a 1m length at Amazon.nl so I thought it worth a punt. DH Labs are a small American company who specialise in high-quality audiophile cables for non-extortionate prices. A lot of their product is used in studios and theatres (Peter Gabriel's Real World Studio is completely wired with DH Labs cabling).

Their USB lead has silver-coated OFHC conductors in carefully constructed and shielded casings.
Blurb here: https://silversonic.com/products/digital-cables/usb/

Supposed to be giant-killer material - I am intensely curious to see how they measure up to my Audioquest Carbon USB.

Oh no - they do a more expensive USB link as well, the Mirage!

I'm looking forward to your report on the DH Labs cables, Fretless.

I said cables, plural. See what did there?

slinger wrote: ↑Tue Jul 21, 2020 2:19 pm I'm looking forward to your report on the DH Labs cables, Fretless.

and me. Will be interesting.