New Toy - for (budget) hifi enthusiasts

[Jipster]

kev - kimber pbj's.... hmm not familiar with that food group.... what is it?

Bund's - DNM solid core's..... where where.... exactly the kind of thing I was looking for..... maggies? cool beans mate.

Jule's - hey long time no see..... still karting my friend? I may come back to BMWs.... but just enjoying free car and maintenance for now. Have you seen 535's new acquisition .... is fcuking awesome!!

affan - cardas?!!! omigod.... thats wayyy to much mate

flash - how's life mate?


How does everyone feel about a post on ...... cigars? I was thinking of starting one.... Lets make it interesting.... a post on reasonably priced cigars? Must be hand made, doesnt have to be cuban and shouldnt be less than 30 bucks per stick at local retail. Interested?

 

[affan66]

cigar pulak.. are you trying to be a monica lewinski?? hehehe

come back to BMWs la..

 

[kevster30]

Nah....http://www.kimber.com/products/interconnects/analog/pbj/

 

[Jipster]

Ok..... a fly in my ointment....... the volume control of the dock I think is screwing with the signal..... I mean you control volume with the dock (using the remote) and also at the amp..... this is not good.

THis has been bugging my anal retentiveness for a few days now....so wehn I picked up a what hi-fi mag today and was flipping through ('free reading' as they say in the trade) and saw something on the Russ Andrews GQ-24 interconnect I thought to myself EUREKA!

It apparently by-passes the volume thingy on my ipod.....and the cables they use are by Kimber Kable (nice!) and it takes its signal from the 30 pin connector which means a line level signal. You can connect to the amp using RCAs or the 3.5mm headphone jack.... so its a bit like my Monster Cable set up only better.

Info on product ... http://www.russandrews.com/product-GQ-25Ag-interconnect-for-iPod-2205.htm

Problem is i'm not flying to the UK anytime soon..... my last trip was during that volcano thing..... rats.

Anyone going to the UK?

 

[affan66]

yeaaa. go kimbers... bila mau audition?

 

[Jipster]

my US trip coming up so kinda pressed for time. Lets try 3rd week May ....

 

[ah lian]

i wonder how it sounds like? must be awesome.

mine is a yamamoto Ha-02 (vacuum tube headphone amp) and i am running that with cheap edifier desktop e3200 speakers, with my nano/idock.

 

[Jipster]

i wonder how it sounds like? must be awesome.

mine is a yamamoto Ha-02 (vacuum tube headphone amp) and i am running that with cheap edifier desktop e3200 speakers, with my nano/idock.

coooool..... vacuum tube headphone amp...... i mean headphne amps in general are pretty rare, usually used with high end cans like grado's etc.... my set up sound is proably like yours smooth, detailed .... only bigger coz the mordaunt shorts really kick ass ..... in fact bass is too much sometimes (depending on material).... tweaked it by moving speakers away from the wall but then I think its one of those tube amp drawbacks... bass control not one of its strong points.... I have shure SE210 isolating headphones which I havent tried wite the MP5.... will check that out when I have the time.

 

[ah lian]

there are cheap headphone amps and expensive headphone amps... you can check them out at jaben (http://jaben.net/forums/)... now there's Jaben in Malaysia (Subang Jaya, near Asia Cafe to be exact).

 

[Jipster]

there are cheap headphone amps and expensive headphone amps... you can check them out at jaben (http://jaben.net/forums/)... now there's Jaben in Malaysia (Subang Jaya, near Asia Cafe to be exact).

dude, the dared mp5s is also a DAC (burr brown) but havent gotten that function to work yet with my laptop.... in touch with their tech people on getting it up and running.

Hey thanks for the link.... very interesting stuff!............... holy mother of ..... its a whole sub-culture out there.... I am not worthy.... take me to your leader

 

[ah lian]

oh no... jipster has been abducted by the dark forces... :O

 

[affan66]

i have the Grado SR80 but the foams are brittle

 

[Jipster]

Update

Finally got some cables to try....

Audioquest Type 4's

Initial impressions - really good, better bass control, less 'harshness' with some material.... will post if this stands up to longer listening....

Cable comes ready for bi-wiring, sheathed in cloth braid outer cover followed by main jacket which protects an inner core of 4 solid core cables individually wrapped in their own jackets. They are also directional ie there is specific amp side and speaker side

Amp end:

Speaker end:

Nice blue colour:

If Im not mistaken I have have had this before in the past. I remeber the type 4s back then were simply jacketed in pvc/plactic material and were flat squarish designs not the current thick round cloth braid sheathed design they are now.... anyway, may be mistaken LOL its been a while...

 

[affan66]

The Type 4s are good back in the 90s. Not sure of the current iteration. Let it run-in....Enjoy

 

[Jipster]

UPDATE

Tried my hand at 'tube rolling' ..... for those in the know that means you change the tubes with some other type.

The ones that came with the MP5 are some anonymous chinese ones (duh... they are chinese made amps).... EDIT - the ori tubes are indeed shuguang. My reearch on the net seems to suggest they are not the last word in quality. New Old Stock euro valves are the ones to go for eg Mullard, Telefunken etc

So I looked around to find some 'upgrade' tubes and found myself a matched pair of RFTs made in germany, ECC85 . They are what the industry calls NOS tubes or New Old Stock. Sort of vintage stuff but never used.... bought for RM180 for the pair from this site... http://kintavalleyaudio.blogspot.com/ .... hi fi buffs check it out (esp those who love analogue

The RFTs (NOS ECC85 matched pair)

Glowing madness

At recent KLAV show got myself a nice little gadget that lets me get a line level signal stright off the iPod and bypasses the volume control of the iPod itself - from the Jaben people (thanks member Ah Lian).... its black thingy (The iPod dock is now in the office hooked up to old microsystem)

I get to reuse my iPod Monster cable, which is nice

UPDATE 2

Finally got the on board DAC to work!! Dont use the iPod now. Instead laptop hooked up via USB to the MP5. What happens is music is processed not by sound card but by the DAC on the MP5 .... something like a two box CD set up (transport and outboard DAC).... some articles say the MP5 uses an Onkyo sourced Burr Brown DAC.... would have liked a Philips TDA 1541A but thats a bit much for a cheapo set up like this this is how the set up looks like now

Everything is running in nicely now..... initial impressions? Mighty impressed..... such a humble set up, sound is very nice. Not the last word in transparency but what the fcuk! I didnt spend RM4K on this set up .... will post more detailed impressions soon....

 

[erica34]

cute rig and nice write-ups. looks like quite a number of hifi enthusiasts here too. guess will have to eventually move with technology and include ipod and pc in setup. system will most likely get more use.

 

[Jipster]

cute rig and nice write-ups. looks like quite a number of hifi enthusiasts here too. guess will have to eventually move with technology and include ipod and pc in setup. system will most likely get more use.

exactly right mate! CDs are nice but you dont always want to listen to the whole album. Maybe a few songs but most times just one song. Ever since I set up my iTunes account havent bought any CDs. Only the songs I like... almost 300 songs now.

BUT I know you are a bit of a hifi buff (hows the E34 mate?) .... you'll want both ie MOBILITY/CONVENIENCE as well as SQ - the way forward will be to continue buying your CDs but then you rip em into Apple's lossless format and then cram them into a large capacity iPod (one of the classics). Get your car ICE iPod integrated (not too difficult) while at home you listen direct off your laptop (like my rig.... you can do better of course) OR burn the lossless ripped tunes onto CD and play off your normal home hi fi set.

This way you you can listen to music all the time anywhere or wherever suits your fancy

 

[erica34]

me e34's doing good Jip. still slowly doing up the car. bought a couple of ipod classics (160GB and 80GB) mainly for the cars since in office and home i use the notebook and headphones. e34 ipod connection through some alpine cable connected to the alpine 9861 dvd player. can view album/track/artists info on player. sound quality is ok. unfortunately haven't got around to loading songs from CD collection to the ipod. really want to set up a mini rig like yours some time. but instead of glowing tubes, i have my heart set on a glowing naim logo from the nait 2 promised myself i'd get one someday.

 

[Jipster]

me e34's doing good Jip. still slowly doing up the car. bought a couple of ipod classics (160GB and 80GB) mainly for the cars since in office and home i use the notebook and headphones. e34 ipod connection through some alpine cable connected to the alpine 9861 dvd player. can view album/track/artists info on player. sound quality is ok. unfortunately haven't got around to loading songs from CD collection to the ipod. really want to set up a mini rig like yours some time. but instead of glowing tubes, i have my heart set on a glowing naim logo from the nait 2 promised myself i'd get one someday.

The naim sound is legendary and I think the Nait 2 will be awesome. I'm kinda sold on valve sound - the Dared's are not true valves though but it makes a good job of making the right kind of noises.

The Mordaunt Shorts are a good pairing to my untrained ears. Kudos to the Desa Home Theatre people who sold it as a package. Big smooth sound, good bass. Will go quite loud with the 13watt Dareds they responded well to a cable upgrade although I dunno whether the the bi-wiring added anything to the sound as I'm too lazy to do a comparison.

Possible future tweaks/upgrades:

dedicated DAC eg Musical Fidelity V-DAC.... trying to et one 2nd hand - I would run it using USB from lap top to DAC and then RCA plugs to Dared's. The DAC should last a while coz could go the CD transport + DAC route if I decide to add a CD player. Limiting factor is the Dared which only has USB and RCA inputs;

associated with above - get some nice interconnects to go between the DAC and amp; and

there are apparently now audiophile grade USB cables - although i think they are just a marketing ploy I think having one would be super cool.

It probably needs to end there - further upgrades will likely involve change in equipment etc.

May add a CD ...... but nah...... my iTunes approach is superior in terms of flexibility and convenience..... but we'll see.

In terms of music, it does very well (as expected) with vocals - ranging from Tracy Chapman, Tanita Tikaram, Amos Lee, Ryan Adams, Norah Jones, David Gray TO pop/chart stuff eg Black Eyed Peas, Nelly Furtado et al TO classical (yes I have a few) TO techno/Dance (although the timing? seems slow but decent) eg Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Tiesto, Moby, Crystal Method TO rock eg Dire Straits, U2.... even ACDC, Dio, Scorpions.......

 

[erica34]

nice choice the MF V-DAC. keeps everything smallish. i think CD player would most of the time be just an ornament. if getting one, can consider getting something like the old roksan top loader washing machine so that it does something when sitting there doing nothing...

i guess most audiophiles just have to find something to do with their system. bmw owners too... what was initially a simple package will eventually be not so simple. btw, could that be why the red curtain behind the speakers or there's actually a window behind?

i picked up an old audiolab 8000 dac last year. i'm quite sure the MF v-DAC will easily out-perform it sonically but it'll look at home next to audiolab player and amps. was also thinking it'll be useful in a digital multi-source home system. thats the plan but unfortunately its still sitting in a box buried amongst bmw parts...