Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2012 15:50:34 GMT -5
Garbulky, here are a few dacs in the $200 to $400 range with good headphone amps and decent amount of inputs: Musiland MD10 HLLY DMK-IV Little Dot Dac II Audio-gd NFB-5.2, NFB 12.1, NFB-15, NFB-16 There are so many with similar features to the XDA.Including a 5 year transferable warranty? www.audiophilechina.com/service.asp?newsid=5 (good luck)
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Post by danny01 on Jul 7, 2012 19:33:03 GMT -5
Garbulky, here are a few dacs in the $200 to $400 range with good headphone amps and decent amount of inputs: Musiland MD10 HLLY DMK-IV Little Dot Dac II Audio-gd NFB-5.2, NFB 12.1, NFB-15, NFB-16 There are so many with similar features to the XDA.Including a 5 year transferable warranty? www.audiophilechina.com/service.asp?newsid=5 (good luck) Oh. So you buy audio equipment based on a transferable warranty and not price to performance/quality? Sent from my DROID RAZR using ProBoards
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Post by GreenKiwi on Jul 7, 2012 19:54:26 GMT -5
Transferable warranties increase a unit's "value" as they increase it's price at resale.
And even the most expensive DACs don't sound good when they are broken... Knowing tat it will be fixed for then next 5 years is a "value". Each person can choose how much money they want to assign to that value.
At any rate, back to the real discussion... When will we hear a bit more about the details of these two devices.
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Post by garbulky on Jul 7, 2012 21:50:11 GMT -5
Garbulky, here are a few dacs in the $200 to $400 range with good headphone amps and decent amount of inputs: Musiland MD10 HLLY DMK-IV Little Dot Dac II Audio-gd NFB-5.2, NFB 12.1, NFB-15, NFB-16 There are so many with similar features to the XDA. I don;t doubt that these DACS have good music quality and features. My point is they can't offer ALL the features of the xda-2 + the great sound quality. The Audio+gd, musliand, HLLY, little dot stuff at 400 and less don't have as many inputs. Also not one of them at 400 has AES connectivity either. And most don't have an analog volume control that is controlled digitally via remote. I guess it really depends on what you are interested in. I like the size and aesthetics of my dac. It's long wide and short and has got a pre-amp with four inputs I can practically use. AES connectivity isn't a big loss at all for me, neither are most of those features, but if you combine all that it really is hard to find a DAC that have all those things at the price. If features don't quite float your boat, then you're right there are lots of good DACS at 400 that would probably interest you more. For instance Audio gd stuff. I've heard good reviews on the oppo. It's just not for me. Though worth it, it's more than I'm willing to spend. As for my HD-DVD player, I got it a long time ago when it was on sale for 200. But I don't actually use it much when HD-DVD died out. Most of my listening is done through USB. For me, what makes me interested is the headphone amp, analog volume control, and asynchronous USB over what I already like over my xda-1. I could also easily do with a $40 DVD player with digital out for CD's. So, though the oppo sounds like a great deal, it's not for me right now. I'm not arguing with you that there are DACS that sound good or maybe even better and have features, just not ALL the features and sound good at that price point.
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Post by danny01 on Jul 7, 2012 22:54:26 GMT -5
What is "digitally controlled analog" volume?
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Post by garbulky on Jul 7, 2012 23:03:24 GMT -5
The xda-1 has a digitally attenuated volume control which loses digital information as you turn it down from maximum. (Volume control is done on the digital side). The XDA-2 has an analog volume control which doesn't lose information as you turn it down. The control of the analog volume control is done via an electronic device but no information is lost. The attenuation is done on the analog side.
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Post by danny01 on Jul 7, 2012 23:07:28 GMT -5
So this defeats the purpose of a Usp1 if all you are listening to is digital music?
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Post by garbulky on Jul 7, 2012 23:42:20 GMT -5
So this defeats the purpose of a Usp1 if all you are listening to is digital music? Sent from my DROID RAZR using ProBoards Well that was the brief opinion of emotiva until they discovered the flaw with their digital volume control. The USP-1 is pretty good and it's a dedicated pre-amp so I'm not sure how to advice you here. I haven't heard the USP-1. Sorry. But I hope to use the XDA-2 when I get it as a pre-amp if that's helpful to you. And as a headphone amplifier! I know it's going to have enough of a power supply to do it as the previous xda-1 consumed up to 15 watts though it all matters on the implementation.
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klinemj
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Honorary Emofest Scribe
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Post by klinemj on Jul 8, 2012 16:47:40 GMT -5
If all you listen to are digital sources and only in 2-channel, and if you have an XDA-1 or other DAC w/volume control - then, yes...you do not need a pre-amp (USP-1, XSP-1, or other...).
If you have an integrated 2-channel/multichannel system or want a phono stage - then the USP-1 serves as a pre-amp and easily integrates w/your multichannel system to do HT bypass or not...
It would be cool if Emo were to integrate HT Bypass into the XDA-3 (which hasn't even been announced yet...but I'm asking for a feature that's not reputed to be in the XDA-2...!)
Mark
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Post by GreenKiwi on Jul 8, 2012 17:50:27 GMT -5
Yeah, I'd love HT bypass in either the XDA or pro dac.
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Post by danny01 on Jul 9, 2012 0:36:22 GMT -5
Yeah, I'd love HT bypass in either the XDA or pro dac. Wow. I would pay more than $400 for an XDA-2 if it had HT bypass. But heres my dilemma regarding that: I would need bass management, ie a sub out since my speakers are far from full range. If I wanted to use a sub with my current receiver and an XDA-1, the analog signal from the XDA would have to be converted back to digital for the x-over in the receiver and then back to analog through the receiver's onboard dac, defeating the point of an external dac in the first place. Which is why I'm looking for a Parasound 2100. Ugh, it can be a PITA integrating 2 channel system with HT. Anyway, I'm getting way off topic here.. Back to the XDA-2.
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Post by garbulky on Jul 9, 2012 4:26:17 GMT -5
The upcoming emo pro dac has some type of HT bypass. I believe it has an analog input...
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Post by GreenKiwi on Jul 9, 2012 11:53:30 GMT -5
Yeah, but I'm guessing you can't choose to have the analog bypass the volume control, while digital doesn't... but if you could program it to do that, it would rock!
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Post by garbulky on Jul 9, 2012 12:52:09 GMT -5
Yeah, but I'm guessing you can't choose to have the analog bypass the volume control, while digital doesn't... but if you could program it to do that, it would rock! It took me a while to understand. I'm not very fluent in surround lingo Yes, I agree that would be great.
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Post by danny01 on Jul 10, 2012 23:25:20 GMT -5
I just got my XDA-1, and realized that it has no IR input and I have to use a blaster. It's not a big deal but it would be really nice to have it on the XDA-2, as all of my components are controlled with wired IR (even my cheapo cable box). IMO IR inputs would be more useful vs 12V triggers on a dac.
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Post by garbulky on Jul 11, 2012 0:18:22 GMT -5
Sorry to hear Danny. Maybe there is a work around somebody could help you with. How do you enjoy the sound?
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Post by GreenKiwi on Jul 11, 2012 0:40:31 GMT -5
Hadn't realized how useful they were until recently. Direct connections w/o blasters totally rocks!
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Post by danny01 on Jul 11, 2012 17:29:38 GMT -5
Hadn't realized how useful they were until recently. Direct connections w/o blasters totally rocks! +1 Sent from my DROID RAZR using ProBoards
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Post by ottaone on Jul 21, 2012 12:48:49 GMT -5
Holding out for the XDA-2 as well. Features that are important to me are: - lossless volume - check - sub-$500 - check - hi-res USB - check - headphone amp - check
start edit here: - sub-out - check end edit here:
But didn't see if there's going to be a sub out. With the features above, the XDA-2 can become a DAC/pre except for the sub-out.
Anyone knows about the sub-out?
TIA.
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Post by GreenKiwi on Jul 21, 2012 13:03:55 GMT -5
Don't think that they have sub outs, at least I don't think the XDA-2 has one. Don't know about the pro.
I guess one can always use the crossover in the sub.
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