MikeH
Well-Known Member
Yea the signal chain in roon is really nice to see.
The Dark Side; Digital audio equipment recommendations and setup.
- Thread starter Ed Selley
- Start date
displayname
Well-Known Member
This video could have been posted in a lot of sections, but posting it here because of an interesting comment around SACD.
Paul says Marantz is the last maker of SACD drives, and they are pulling out of the market. They have about 300 SACD drives for the new transports, and when those are done, PS Audio will regrettably be done with SACD as well. I’m sure other manufacturers are in the same position, so it sounds like SACD has potential of going extinct in the foreseeable future. I’m sure some other company will pick it up, but that was an interesting takeaway.
Diaper Baby on the Run
Well-Known Diaper Baby
Pardon me if I am being obtuse....by this it means, Marantz makes the SACD drives that other manufacturers (like PS Audio) use in their equipment?
I am an SACD buyer and, in fact, use a Marantz SA-KI Ruby, but I did not (if I read correctly) that they make the drives that others use.
displayname
Well-Known Member
That’s how I understand it. Not dissimilar to Jay’s Audio advertising that they use the Philips dives in their transports.
Joe Mac
Well-Known Member
Yeah when oppo shuttered PS Audio tried to buy their drive manufacturing but were turned down so they went to Marantz as the sole show in town. I think I remember them saying their unit jumped quite a bit in price because Marantz charged a fair bit.
Some sony blu ray drives do still play SACD as well but I doubt the build quality of them would draw in an audiophile company.
Diaper Baby on the Run
Well-Known Diaper Baby
Years back when I was looking to invest in an SACD player I looked at some of the "universal players" (i.e. a BR player that CAN play SACD).
I remember the lower price point compared to a reputable SACD player was appealing but I didn't want a player that COULD play SACDs versus a player DESIGNED to play SACDs. Especially when, besides a view deluxe sets that have BR discs in them, I have no need for a BR player.
Joe Mac
Well-Known Member
I think you could use the mechanism in a higher end player transport and with better quality electronics and dacs they’d sound really good. But equally if you’re paying multiple thousands you want something substantial and probably more aluminium than plastic and those sony blu ray drives are very flimsy and very very plastic.
My AVR is going into protection mode every few days (Yamaha RX A2A). It's about 5 years old and that seems pretty crappy, but I'm sick of dealing with it. I have it because I need so many inputs (Switch, PS5, Apple TV, Blu-Ray Player). What type of device could I use so that all of this can go into a Sonos easily. Is that a pre-amp?
Joe Mac
Well-Known Member
With the newer Sonos bars they connect to your tv directly using the HDMI ARC or eARC slot. It relies on the tele to take and control all the inputs. The older ones connected using an optical cord but otherwise the same, relied on the tele to take and control the inputs. If you have too many inputs for your tv’s slots I’d look at a HDMI input switch to attach them to and switch between them.
Last edited:
Jbraswell
Well-Known Member
Some BJC XLR cables for the FOSI DAC.
Probably overkill for the $100 I have invested in the DAC.
5V vs the 2.5 V for the unbalanced output is a nice bump going in to the RP-9.
Sounds great. I haven't streamed much since the Preamp upgrade. So no real baseline for different cables.
I still need to see about swapping Op-Amps out.
Probably overkill for the $100 I have invested in the DAC.
5V vs the 2.5 V for the unbalanced output is a nice bump going in to the RP-9.
Sounds great. I haven't streamed much since the Preamp upgrade. So no real baseline for different cables.
I still need to see about swapping Op-Amps out.
mindhead1
Well-Known Member
I definitely recommend playing with the op-amps. I have enjoyed rolling them in my Geshelli J2S and have started on my Kinki EX-M1+.
So far in the Kinki I have updated the amp output op-amp with a Sparkos 3602. Immediately noticed a bump in the weight of the music. Everything is still smooth and detailed just with a little more grunt.
I have some Burson V7 Classics on order for the preamp stage. I’ll post some updates once I get those in.
Jbraswell
Well-Known Member
I am really enjoying the FOSI with the stock.
It's definitely punching magnitudes better than the $100 I put in to it.
It came with additional JRC 4580D op-amps. Are those any good?
mindhead1
Well-Known Member
Not familiar with those. I’ve only used Sparkos and Burson op amps. Aside from the stock TI or no name op-amps that came with my J2S and Kinki amp.
The stock op-amps sound good. The changes are not dramatic, but when I make the changes and then go back to the stock op amps I immediately want to put the other ones back in.
It’s like tube rolling. You know what you like when you hear it. None are bad, just different to suit taste.
Last edited:
Jbraswell
Well-Known Member
I decided to drop in the 4580D tonight since I had some spare time.
Seems these are a tad bit less cold sounding and more to the natural, musical tone.
Definitely a plus which is probably why they included them in the early bird special buy-in.
Decided to test against some LPs.
Recent Eastern Sounds OJC cut at KGs place by Matt L.
Craft puts their remastered files out on Qobuz after each recut, which is really awesome of them.
I gotta say this DAC is crazy good stacked up to a Technics G and a very expensive AT $$$$ cart.
The vinyl still leads but the same mastering A/B listening at 65dB, the FOSI is really strong.
I'm impressed. This little DAC for $100 is blowing me away.
Angsty
Well-Known Member
I feel similarly about my Schiit Modi. It competes very well with my more expensive DACs.
Jbraswell
Well-Known Member
My third trial on Roon (running out of emails and credit cards to load to game the system) and I discovered this display trick.
It displays each track on my Google TV with really cool artists/album photos, the dynamics of the music and track play status.
I may be bought in finally.
I also think the sound is slightly better going through Roon vs the Bluesound interface. Roon must be applying their own sound signature. It seems a little more rich and the tonality is better plus the bit up sampling stuff is nice.
It displays each track on my Google TV with really cool artists/album photos, the dynamics of the music and track play status.
I may be bought in finally.
I also think the sound is slightly better going through Roon vs the Bluesound interface. Roon must be applying their own sound signature. It seems a little more rich and the tonality is better plus the bit up sampling stuff is nice.
