Another XDA-1 review

[BigV10]

Correct. Pure Audio mode will blank the front panel on the 707 and light up a blue LED. When you change the volume, the display will light up long enough for you to see that only your L and R speakers will show as being active in the 707's display.

There are probably a great number of reasons you don't perceive much or any difference. Some of which have been mentioned. I would probably agree with you that the benefits of the XDA-1 in your system may be negligible. You already have a nice Oppo and ERC doing the D to A conversions for you.

If you want to hear the difference, run optical or coax from your transports directly into the 707 and use it as your DAC. Then run optical and coax into the XDA-1, and run the analogs into your 707 CD connectors. Run both of these in Pure Audio mode. I guarantee you will hear a difference, and that's what many of us have bought the XDA-1 for. I send all of my 2 channel music from my computer over optical and would rather have the XDA render it than the 707. It's much cheaper than a whole new Pre/Pro and sounds fantastic. The biggest increase in quality I notice was the clarity of the vocals, cymbals. Bass seemed less muddy.

As so many people have said here. Trust your ears. Nobody will be offended if you send it back, most people just want to verify that you've done things right.

Cheers

[mmeysarosh]

My experience with the XDA-1 has been a bit different in the terms of sound quality. When comparing the to the analog output of the Mac Mini, it handled itself quite well. While the core of the sound was similar between the two, it expanded the dynamics, separation of sound in the respect that it was easier to hear everything, and lowered the noise floor. It did all that while never sounding bright at any moment.

Going against my CD player was an entirely different matter. Again the difference between the two was notable and in favor of the CD player. I wasn't necessarily surprised that it did, just by the degree in which did occur. In either scenario, where the XDA-1 surpasses the mini and the Marantz CD surpassed the XDA-1, the improvement was quite notable.

[sharkman]

Interesting. When you compared your Marantz CD player to the XDA, were you using the Marantz to feed the XDA?

[shawmcbigdis]

I will keep the unit for a while longer. I have 30 days I might as well use it.

I will try a few of the suggestions, like Pure audio mode and stuff. But really I'm not going to disadvantage my current setup, to make the XDA seem better. If it's not better (to me) then it's not better. No harm done.

Honestly I think it is just that my system is getting to the limits of what I can perceive. Some people can hear more stuff than me, just like some people can tell the difference between a box of wine and a $100 bottle of wine, but I can't.

[roadrunner]

The one thing that seems to be totally missing in this thread is what was done to ensure you were listening to both options at the same volume level. It is important that both options have exactly the same output level to your speakers. If they are not equal, the one that is played at a higher SPL will likely sound better than it would have if it had matched the output level of the other option. I have seen tests where the inferior performer sounded better when it had a higher output level. So the evaluation is meaningless, or nearly so, if both options where not level matched during the test.

You might want to calibrate the outputs and run the comparison again. It might surprise you to see how big a difference a small change in volume can make.

[mmeysarosh]

Dec 9, 2010 16:58:52 GMT -5 sharkman said:

Interesting. When you compared your Marantz CD player to the XDA, were you using the Marantz to feed the XDA?

Yes. The Marantz was feeding the XDA-1 via Optical and both were connected via balanced to my preamp. Since I was able to switch between inputs, it made referencing between the two easy. I did a bit of full CD and some tracks to get a good handle on what each did. As for the level, the Marantz had a higher output voltage so I had to do a little bit to balance the volume levels but the differences were much more then sheer volume.

[pdaddy]

I think shawmcbigdis is right on in terms of what works for HIS system. What I read in his review is making a case for is the outstanding performance of his Emotiva ERC-1 and that it, based on HIS system, does not improve the SQ over using the ERC as the transport to the XDA. To me this says that Emotiva build two very good products that in some systems may not provide significant greater SQ over the other.

I also did some A/B testing. I tested a CD on the Oppo BDP 83 using an Emotiva optical cable into Opt1 on the XDA. I used the same model Emotiva optical cable from my Macbook Pro using iTunes (where I ripped the same CD I own at the highest available input level I can and also highest output that iTunes allowed) using the Optical Audio out to the Opt2 input on the XDA and there is a marked difference in the sound. The Macbook to XDA is much more clear, as such the placement of instruments is much more defined but also not as bassy. The Oppo to the XDA is a bit louder (like due to output voltage differences), but clearly more bassy/middy in sound. Muddy almost in some instances. So with a slight adjust to my Sub I was able to get bass I wanted and the better overall SQ. So for MY system there is a clear difference.

P.S. The XDA hook up was XLR's to an XPA2 and RCA's to my sub.

[franksonic]

For me the XDA is a keeper. I made a few tests with my gears.

I compared the sound from my WDTV live connected to my LMC-1 via optical. Then i feed my XDA from the WDTV live with optical and then connect the XDA analog out to the 7.1 analog input of the LMC-1.

The difference was easily noticeable. Tighter bass, way better separation and more details. It sounds way better using the XDA. This was done with flac files and mp3 at 320k. My wife could also tells the difference easily.

I will have a nice Asus netbook for christmas and gonna use it with the dac as music server with the program J.River. My ipod touch gonna be my remote. It's gonna be sweeeeett!

[shawmcbigdis]

Per roadrunners advice I tried level matching the two option. Is not super forfeit, I used my rs spl meter in slow response mode and listened to the first 10 secs of a song and tried to match the peaks from both sources. I got it to within a half db, so that should be close enough.

I also tried putting the onkyo in pure audio mode, thus disabling the subwoofer.

Results are pretty much the same. I can't tell a difference. If anything they are even closer now. That sense of something different is gone. I can only imagine that was caused by the sub difference before.

So I will probably keep it around a little longer, but I do think it will go back. I guess I should be happy that my onkyo isn't nearly as bad as I thought it was

[franksonic]

Does your pure audio mode is a real pure audio mode on your Onkyo? Cause on certain receivers it's not. Like my LMC-1. Have you tried to use the direct 7.1 analog in?

Just a tought.

[shawmcbigdis]

Dec 9, 2010 22:49:58 GMT -5 franksonic said:

Does your pure audio mode is a real pure audio mode on your Onkyo? Cause on certain receivers it's not. Like my LMC-1. Have you tried to use the direct 7.1 analog in?

Just a tought.

The onkyo doesn't have an analog multiple channel input. So pure audio is the closest I can get to, well, pure audio.

But again, I'm not going to go out of my way to make my current system sound worse just so the XDA sounds better in comparison. As far as I can tell, to my ears, the XDA is not an improvement in my system, it's not a detriment either, but I'm not going to pay for a zero gain mod.

Now if someone has any tips for something I could be doing wrong with the XDA I'm all ears. Or heck if any Emo fans in the Sac CA area want to come take a listen and tell me I'm crazy I'm down with that.

[rogerwilco]

Dec 9, 2010 23:46:29 GMT -5 shawmcbigdis said:

But again, I'm not going to go out of my way to make my current system sound worse just so the XDA sounds better in comparison. As far as I can tell, to my ears, the XDA is not an improvement in my system, it's not a detriment either, but I'm not going to pay for a zero gain mod.

And in the end that is what it all boils down to. How your system sounds to you in the various configurations.

I don't notice a huge difference between the XDA straight to the LPA-1 vs. my UMC-1 either. I am going to utilize the XDA to convert digital audio from my PC in my hobby room to feed a Marantz 2270. It should work wonderfully for that!

[franksonic]

For sure it can't be a "one size fit all". There are so many factor in a sound system and sometimes it just does not work. It'a all about that, trying to improve and if it doesen't fit, that's ok. Maybe you're gonna make someone else happy. Nobody lose!