HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

Im curious about the b&w p7s
My daughter tried the p5s and immediately wants them to replace her sennheiser momentums.
Fat chance, unless i could get something better than the p5s for not much money which is not all that likely for the money i paid for them. Ive gotten quite attached to the easy going qualities they have, in fact, im listening to the dave grusin/lee ritenour album 'harlequin' right now while typing with them on. They have quite a relaxing quality, nice when you just want to listen and enjoy some music rather than listen critically. Which i dont at this time of night, i want to relax
Perhaps its because im not a big headphone user that i have different priorities

@CN211276 You say you use the Cobalt when you're 'out and about', but what do you use as a source?

antonio66 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 25, 2022 7:26 am @CN211276 You say you use the Cobalt when you're 'out and about', but what do you use as a source?

Smart phone in my pocket, offline Qobuz, Audioquest Dragontail between phone and Colbat. The Dragontail sounds better and is far more robust than cheaper connections.

The move to planar headphones has shown up some shortcomings in a couple of my installations with the main problem being old/outdated DAC's from Cambridge and Teradak. So it's upgrade time!

Amazon Black Friday deals threw up a device from my brand of the month, Sabaj, and their latest basis model the A10d-2022.



That is the silver box in the middle. A cool and distinctive-looking unit with 'pro-style' handles on the front.

This is a DAC that falls fair and square into the Budget category but features advanced technology with Sabre ES9038Q2M processing chips that handle DSD and full Bluetooth access. Like the A10h headphone amp there is a remote control (can be used for both) and setting controls are done via the push-and-twist knob on the front. Inbuilt headphone amp (haven't tried that yet) and output via Coax or XLR.

Seeing as the Monoprice headphone amp has XLR inputs, I got a short set of connectors and have hooked up the A10d via XLR, a first for me. Initial fire-up was somewhat disappointing as I found the sound to be somewht flat and grainy - not what I had hoped for. Then I spotted that the DAC has a couple of options, one of which is to adjust the jitter correction - the unit comes with this set to a fairly high level in order to accommodate things like TV's . Lowering it to the most accurate setting helped a bit. Then there is a choice of 7 PCM filters that organise up the way in which the chips handle the signal processing. A bit of trial-and-error also caused some improvement but I wasn't happy.

Looking further, I thought to swap the Sonos Connect for the Pi-based Allo DigiOne - and that paid off! The SQ shot up with the grainy sound filling out to an enjoyable fullness which the inky black depths of the THX AAA amp could work with. Serious listening was now possible.

The Teradak V4.1 which was in this setup is an odd beast. Very low output voltage but a pleasantly natural NOS sound that has a lush detail but lacks some edge and power. The Sabaj A10d comes from another direction with a remarkably clear and defined sound. Somehow you cannot get away from the idea that this is an entry-level DAC, but for that it does an amazingly convincing job. It just misses that tiny bit of NOS musical magic - but I cannot criticise more than that.

Still have to try out things like Hi-res files and DSD - and the inbuilt headphone amp. For a cheap and accessible DAC this is certainly a contender to the similarly-priced Topping D50 and well-worth a look if you are wanting an affordable all-rounder for computer/TV use.

With dacs i have used a few fairly recently. Last one i bought was a topping e30 to go with an old arcam delta 170 transport. I have compared it to a musical fidelity m1, (next youngest), my cyrus cd7 (1998) a beresford tc7510 and an arcam black box 3 which was the matching dac for the transport (1988)

Somple fact is that the topping slaps all of them except the dac in the cyrus which is very smooth and clean. The m1 has an edge that grates after a while, the bb3 is the epitome of 80s 90s digital and the beresford is ... fine. Dac technology is light years ahead of what it was and it keeps getting better.
If the topping had been released 10 years ago it would have been hugely expensive
The more pertinent point is that dacs just keep getting better. More and more refined, closer to the ideal.
Newer does actually tend to be better with dacs, the co trast between the bb3 and the topping is stark, not subtle and much much better.
Analogue on the other hand, newer is not really better. I have heard and used and fixed things from 70 years ago to brand new stuff. I mentioned in another thread that engineering is engineering and tolerances are tolerances. Analogue requires high precision engineering which has always been available. Dac technology is still scaling rapidly

I have a Topping E30 and it is exceptional value. I found that a good PS lifts the performance significantly taking it very close to the level of the original Chord Mojo. However the cost of MCRU PS added to the E30 is close to that of the Mojo. I kept the Topping in the second system as it did not require charging. This year I bought the new Mojo 2 as it has a desk top mode and does not require charging, the 2015 Mojo being retained for domestic headphone duties. Facilities aside I do not think the Mojo 2 is much of a leap over the original. What I have found does make quite a noticeable difference, with the far from optimally placed speakers, is the comprehensive filtering options. Although I have only made subtle adjustments the improvement is very noticeable. I believe DAC designs have improved significantly in terms of facilities and in particular the ability to accommodate up-sampling which takes digital to a different level. Facilities aside I have found that Audioquest has lifted the bar with the Colbat being an improvement over the DF Red.

I have a linear supply for it which is a very solid upgrade for it.
I cant think of any particular downsides to it to be honest although there are certainly better dacs out there. Im not in a postion to invest alot in digital, mainly because im not that interested in doing so because im happy enough with what ive got. As you know its the analogue side that fascinates me

Following on from my tentative question on a headphone amp to go with the b&w p5s and the samsung note 9 i have been using to stream tidal, i made a purchase.

An astell and kern xb10 bluetooth dac/headphone amp wotsit. A little dinky thing abit smaller than a hockey puck with a belt clip. This uses bluetooth rather than a wired connection and has the aptx hd codec so it can transmit 24 bit 48khz via bluetooth, and handily the phone i have supports it.

Hopefully it sounds better than the headphone jack does, but it wasnt a great deal of money so im not too bothered if it doesnt

Got the Sabaj A10h last week but still haven't tried it. Just ordered some Monolith M1070s. With a £10 subscription coupon they were £205.99, which seems like a good price. Some reviews mention the build quality isn't great, particularly the metal band, but hopefully they will be ok.

ljones67 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 01, 2022 2:39 pm Got the Sabaj A10h last week but still haven't tried it. Just ordered some Monolith M1070s. With a £10 subscription coupon they were £205.99, which seems like a good price. Some reviews mention the build quality isn't great, particularly the metal band, but hopefully they will be ok.

I am loving the M1070.