The Dark Side; Digital audio equipment recommendations and setup.

mindhead1 said:
Which Op Amps did you get with your J2S?
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I got stock as I bought a few from Sparkos during the Holiday sale so I just got the socketed with standard op-amps and the 4499 upgrade and USB upgrade
Sherri did do a custom paint job for me as I like my components to be black so this will be textured black. She said it would look cool.
I also asked to get it drilled out and she was going to do it but that got nixed by Geno. So smoked front and paint.
 
Middle Earth said:
I got stock as I bought a few from Sparkos during the Holiday sale so I just got the socketed with standard op-amps and the 4499 upgrade and USB upgrade
Sherri did do a custom paint job for me as I like my components to be black so this will be textured black. She said it would look cool.
I also asked to get it drilled out and she was going to do it but that got nixed by Geno. So smoked front and paint.
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Nice. The 4499 w/ Sparkos sounds great. I feed my J2S with an iFi Zen Stream via USB. Sounds fantastic. Details, layering, soundstage. I’m very happy with it.

I may try rolling Op Amps in the future but not in a rush.
 
Middle Earth said:
I decided not to get a streamer and just use a PC
Then I decided to get the Advance Paris WTX-Stream Tubes
over the Mercury V3

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Ordered a Geshelli J2 Socketed with a USB for the original plan so it will be assigned to that 👆☝️👆☝️
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Geshelli does have a new DAC starting to make its way around audio shows. Dual mono, loads of inputs, custom wood casing. Starting under $2k if I recall correctly.

878f9a5a-9ccf-4d3e-be97-42df13921f76.jpeg

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Dayzee – Geshelli Labs LLC.

geshelli.com geshelli.com
 
displayname said:
Geshelli does have a new DAC starting to make its way around audio shows. Dual mono, loads of inputs, custom wood casing. Starting under $2k if I recall correctly.

View attachment 199374

View attachment 199375

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Dayzee – Geshelli Labs LLC.

geshelli.com geshelli.com
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That does look like a it could be great. It is around $1,500 starting price
Orchard also has a similar new DAC in that price range.
For that $$$ I would rather have an R2R DAC either the Gustard R26 or the Laddar Schuman or possibly a Holo Audio.
 
Middle Earth said:
That does look like a it could be great. It is around $1,500 starting price
Orchard also has a similar new DAC in that price range.
For that $$$ I would rather have an R2R DAC either the Gustard R26 or the Laddar Schuman or possibly a Holo Audio.
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Agree, it gets competitive at that price point. And all are probably over kill for most systems. But the new LTA Aero really caught my attention.
 
Middle Earth said:
That does look like a it could be great. It is around $1,500 starting price
Orchard also has a similar new DAC in that price range.
For that $$$ I would rather have an R2R DAC either the Gustard R26 or the Laddar Schuman or possibly a Holo Audio.
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Agreed. There is definitely a ceiling with Delta Sigma DACs at a certain point your paying more for features and a nice case vs sound quality improvements.

I say this as a fan of Geshelli gear.
 
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I’m wondering if I’m getting vinyl price fatigue. Eight of my last ten music purchases have been on CD vs. vinyl. I’m getting tired of having to pay up to $50 for vinyl releases I can get for less than half the price on CD. Although I love vinyl for my pre-1980 albums, for ones released after 2000, I am more ambivalent.
 
Angsty said:
I’m wondering if I’m getting vinyl price fatigue. Eight of my last ten music purchases have been on CD vs. vinyl. I’m getting tired of having to pay up to $50 for vinyl releases I can get for less than half the price on CD. Although I love vinyl for my pre-1980 albums, for ones released after 2000, I am more ambivalent.
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Price coupled with less disposable income means I am buying significantly less. The nad and the marantz have been instrumental in keeping me sated. The nad allows me to stream new stuff to my heart’s content with pretty great sound. And things like the new Black Keys which wasn’t necessarily bad but wasn’t going to spend a lot of time on the table are making me completely rethink buying new shit before it comes out. Having a very large cd collection that has set dormant for some time also means that I basically have this new collection to explore. But yeah the price of vinyl is out of control. Coupled with fun things like the live Willie last year and the new Beyoncé not being complete on vinyl and being at a premium, it’s just super frustrating.
 
Lee Newman said:
making me completely rethink buying new shit before it comes out.
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This is where having a nice streaming setup has saved me a lot too. There are very few artists now where I buy the album before it comes out. I’ve been focusing more on quality over quantity for records these days and supplementing that with streaming/CD rips. I’ve tried adding to my CD collection but can’t be bothered too much.
 
Lee Newman said:
Price coupled with less disposable income means I am buying significantly less. The nad and the marantz have been instrumental in keeping me sated. The nad allows me to stream new stuff to my heart’s content with pretty great sound. And things like the new Black Keys which wasn’t necessarily bad but wasn’t going to spend a lot of time on the table are making me completely rethink buying new shit before it comes out. Having a very large cd collection that has set dormant for some time also means that I basically have this new collection to explore. But yeah the price of vinyl is out of control. Coupled with fun things like the live Willie last year and the new Beyoncé not being complete on vinyl and being at a premium, it’s just super frustrating.
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At my local record store, I came out with 5 CDs and zero vinyl LPs. The average price for the used CDs was about $6, whereas used vinyl records that I was interested in were typically $20 or more. I'm thankful that I have CD players that I'm happy with.
 
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