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Post by Charles Nguyen on Feb 20, 2011 12:01:19 GMT -5
I got the xda1 for couple days now and everything is looking good so far. I have the coax out from Logitech duet to XDA1 coax in and use it as preamp to drive my krell int amp KAV 400 (200w/channel). My music source is computer/WAV files. The speakers are Zu audio Omen. What I found was the DAC section from the Duet wasn't that good. Piping through the XDA gives it a fuller and balanced sound. The xda1 sounds pretty neutral to my ears with a beautifully focused mid range. Bass is tight and clearly defined (thanks to my krell).
One thing still puzzles me is my 10 year cd player with coax out to XDA1 coax in stills sound better (more oomph) than my logitech duet setup as mentioned above. Hmmm....
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DYohn
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Post by DYohn on Feb 20, 2011 12:11:47 GMT -5
I got the xda1 for couple days now and everything is looking good so far. I have the coax out from Logitech duet to XDA1 coax in and use it as preamp to drive my krell int amp KAV 400 (200w/channel). My music source is computer/WAV files. The speakers are Zu audio Omen. What I found was the DAC section from the Duet wasn't that good. Piping through the XDA gives it a fuller and balanced sound. The xda1 sounds pretty neutral to my ears with a beautifully focused mid range. Bass is tight and clearly defined (thanks to my krell). One thing still puzzles me is my 10 year cd player with coax out to XDA1 coax in stills sound better (more oomph) than my logitech duet setup as mentioned above. Hmmm.... Is your digital library compressed? |
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Post by Charles Nguyen on Feb 20, 2011 12:22:05 GMT -5
I ripped my cds into wav files so no they're not compressed. Somehow the coax output from Duet is not up to snuff compared to my old Pioneer 414 ? cd/dvd player from yesteryear
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DYohn
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Post by DYohn on Feb 20, 2011 12:55:23 GMT -5
I ripped my cds into wav files so no they're not compressed. Somehow the coax output from Duet is not up to snuff compared to my old Pioneer 414 ? cd/dvd player from yesteryear Perhaps. More likely you're hearing a level difference. What's the digital volume in the duet set to? If it's not at max, try that. |
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Post by CrazyBlue on Feb 20, 2011 13:45:47 GMT -5
I got mine on the 17th too. My initial impressions running it through a USP-1 to a UPA-1 pair are similar; very focuses mids, lots of detail, and powerful, defined bass. More space around the instruments and better imaging, even through my budget PSB's (can't wait for the new speaks to arrive!).
Source is PC>Musiland Monitor 02 US
Comparison is Musiland>USP-1 via analog vs. Musiland via coax>XDA-1>USP-1.
Files are also CD's ripped as WAV files.
It filled out the sound out of my DirecTV DVR too.
Careful level matching is required, as the difference between the Musiland as DAC and the XDA-1 isn't as WOW! in-your-face as it first seems, as the XDA-1 has a hotter gain and has to be lowered 4-5 dB upon switching (instant switch while source material is playing). But it definitely has more air, more detail, tighter, more defined bass, clearer mids, and better low-volume performance (important) than the Musiland.
More to come when I finish building my stands and get some speakers on 'em.
I ain't even gonna bother trying it as pre until then.
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Post by Charles Nguyen on Feb 20, 2011 14:14:39 GMT -5
DYohn,
You hit the nail right on the head. My vol level for Duet for at 85. I cranked it up to 100 and it sounds the same . Thanks for being so helpful on this. Now I can safely put my Pioneer cd/dvd player back into retirement with no second thoughts
By the way for xda1 owners I tried the optical out from duet to optical in on xda1 and it sounds the same as coax option.
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DYohn
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Post by DYohn on Feb 20, 2011 14:23:04 GMT -5
Excellent! Enjoy the tunes.  |
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Post by firethebomb on Feb 21, 2011 19:36:51 GMT -5
What exactly is the XDA? What is it best for?
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Post by UT-Driven on Feb 22, 2011 11:20:24 GMT -5
What exactly is the XDA? What is it best for? It is a dedicated Digital to Analog Converter. Devices like receivers, and source units with analog RCA jacks have a DAC inside, but the XDA-1 is dedicated to the conversion to analog. You need to convert digital sources to analog before it gets sent to an amplifier and speakers since speakers are analog. Since it is dedicated to this one task, it is built to very high standards to improve audio quality. If you have a good stereo setup and want to improve the music from your digital sources, it is worth checking out. Doug |
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Post by firethebomb on Feb 24, 2011 15:30:56 GMT -5
So this would be a good investment even if I have Emotiva's ERC, USP, XPA-3, UPA-7 and UMC-1?
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Post by stuofsci02 on Feb 24, 2011 16:57:36 GMT -5
So this would be a good investment even if I have Emotiva's ERC, USP, XPA-3, UPA-7 and UMC-1? The addition of the XDA-1 might give you slightly improved sound over your ERC-1 if you ran the digital out of the ERC-1 through the XDA-1 and into your USP-1. |
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Post by briank on Feb 24, 2011 22:29:12 GMT -5
To me, it's a substantial improvement using the Erc-1 as a transport and adding the XDA-1. Love my XDA-1 and it seems to sound better and better over time. :-)
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2011 22:38:20 GMT -5
What exactly is the XDA? What is it best for? It is a dedicated Digital to Analog Converter. Devices like receivers, and source units with analog RCA jacks have a DAC inside, but the XDA-1 is dedicated to the conversion to analog. You need to convert digital sources to analog before it gets sent to an amplifier and speakers since speakers are analog. Since it is dedicated to this one task, it is built to very high standards to improve audio quality. If you have a good stereo setup and want to improve the music from your digital sources, it is worth checking out. Doug Hey... even i can understand this explanation... nice!  |
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Post by UT-Driven on Feb 25, 2011 0:16:08 GMT -5
It is a dedicated Digital to Analog Converter. Devices like receivers, and source units with analog RCA jacks have a DAC inside, but the XDA-1 is dedicated to the conversion to analog. You need to convert digital sources to analog before it gets sent to an amplifier and speakers since speakers are analog. Since it is dedicated to this one task, it is built to very high standards to improve audio quality. If you have a good stereo setup and want to improve the music from your digital sources, it is worth checking out. Doug Hey... even i can understand this explanation... nice! Thanks Rather. I sometimes hate to post replies like this thinking that I don't explain myself well. ;D Doug |
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Post by paintedklown on Feb 25, 2011 0:21:43 GMT -5
That really is a great description of a DAC and what it does and why it's important. |
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Post by bobbyt on Feb 25, 2011 0:51:38 GMT -5
The only thing it's missing is the other half of the XDA's functionality--the preamp!
That's the volume control that boosts the post-DAC analog voltages before sending them to the power amp that cranks the current up to drive a speaker.
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Post by dumdedum on Feb 25, 2011 19:41:04 GMT -5
Charles Nguyen:
I've had my XDA-1 for a couple of months. I am also finding that hooked up to a dedicated CD player by a coax cable I'm getting better results. When I've hooked it up to a DVD/CD player by coax cable the results are not as good. I tried three different DVD/Cd players. Pioneer. Oppo 971 and 980. I was told by Mr. Robert Hartley of TAS that A DVD/CD player has bad coax out because of too much "Jitter"(Whatever that means)Whereas a dedicated CD player has much less "Jitter"thus better results. Hope this helps.
Cheers
Charlie
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Post by charles nguyen on Mar 5, 2011 23:12:01 GMT -5
I retired my cd player after getting good results from my logitech duet playing wav files. I agree with this setup I can eliminate jitters from cd players and eliminate another electronic path between my source and xda-1
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