exaSound e18 - e20 - e28 - Info and Experiences Post All Here

[mav52]

Larry, I don't use A+, I use JRiver. In that player there is only one variable I change in the DSP studio (along with picking the 8 channel driver, of course). The remaining issues like bass management, etc have to do with channels other than the fronts (channels 1 and 2) so they are not affected when playing stereo, and automatically turned off when playing bitstreamed DSD in either case..

 

Hey ted, did George ever get 'integer mode' worked out for the mac guys.

[ted_b]

Dunno...I use Windows. I will ask.

[mav52]

Dunno...I use Windows. I will ask.

 

Ted. I sent George a email

[Kal Rubinson]

Audirvana +

 

Thanks. As a PC guy, it was not immediately obvious to me.

[astrotoy]

Thanks for the ideas. I was also thinking about installing JRiver in my Mac Mini and running the e28 with one and my BADA2 with the other. Is George a person with JRiver or ExaSound? Exa Sound said they were trying to get Audirvana to work in direct or integer mode (not sure whether these are the same) but haven't been able to do so. They say they are working on it with Audirvana. If JRiver isn't in integer mode on the Mac, maybe I wait. I would like to hear the multichannel files at their best through the Mac. I do also have a PC (fanless Zalman case with Win XP) but I am using it in my vinyl ripping project (from 8AM to midnight, every day I am home), so I would prefer to use the Mac Mini.

 

Larry

[mav52]

Thanks for the ideas. I was also thinking about installing JRiver in my Mac Mini and running the e28 with one and my BADA2 with the other. Is George a person with JRiver or ExaSound? Exa Sound said they were trying to get Audirvana to work in direct or integer mode (not sure whether these are the same) but haven't been able to do so. They say they are working on it with Audirvana. If JRiver isn't in integer mode on the Mac, maybe I wait. I would like to hear the multichannel files at their best through the Mac. I do also have a PC (fanless Zalman case with Win XP) but I am using it in my vinyl ripping project (from 8AM to midnight, every day I am home), so I would prefer to use the Mac Mini.

 

Larry[/quote

George is ExaSound and one heck of a nice guy to chat with

[wappinghigh]

Larry, Miska has told me the E28 will probably work with his HQPlayer running under OSX. It's one of the things I am very keen to try when my E28 arrives..

[thestewman]

Just got my E28. First question: There are 8 RCA outputs marked 1-8. I can't find anywhere which ones go to which channels. I connected 1-2 to L-R front, 3 to Center, 4 to SW, 5-6 to LR Rear, 7-8 empty. No sound yet, but I still am not sure about the other settings. I am using A+. Thanks, Larry

 

exaSound does need to mark the channel assignments on the outputs. No question.

 

Ted et al, why then is there channel 7 and 8? I guess this "future proofs" the E28.. but could the E28 be used for 7.1 movies?..I've asked before whether there is some sort of setup where you could feed the E28 movie soundtracks, but nobody took the bait.. As everyone knows, half decent available multichannel music pretty much max's out at 5.1.. Are these extra channels for BluRay music tracks that might be able to be played 7.1 analog out via JRiver? Is there such a thing as a 7.1 HiRez music download available anyway?? I'm not interested in doing this right now, but I'm just curious..

 

From George at Exasound

 

The channel mapping can be different for different players, that’s why we use numbers.

For J River the mapping is:

 

1 – Front Left

2 – Front Right

3 – Center

4 – LFE

5 – Surround Left

6 – Surround Right

7 – Back Left

8 – Back Right

 

Foobar allows for custom channel mapping, it is configured in the ASIO driver settings.

On Mac the channel assignments is controlled by the settings in Audio Midi Setup.

If necessary Exasound has two Flac files to trace and confirm the channel mapping

[Miska]

Larry, Miska has told me the E28 will probably work with his HQPlayer running under OSX. It's one of the things I am very keen to try when my E28 arrives..

 

Hmmh, did I say anything about OSX? HQPlayer on OSX requires network audio adapter for audio output -> separate Linux box. And exaSound DACs don't, AFAIK, work on Linux... Sorry...

 

HQPlayer on OSX doesn't support local audio output, because there's no officially supported way to bypass CoreAudio (from Apple or any of the device vendors I know of).

 

Windows should be just fine with ASIO, but maybe exaSound can confirm. I don't have hardware to test with.

[wappinghigh]

^Ok. Sorry about that.. understood.. obviously we need the E28 to support Linux

[Blizzard]

Hi guys! After hearing a large improvement in sound quality by using a lead acid battery from my UPS to power my E20, I decided to look for a more compact and convenient solution. In my search I discovered a lithium battery based portable power pack from Anker called the Anker Astro Pro:

 

Anker Astro Pro 14400mAh Multi-Voltage 5V / 9V / 12V External Battery Pack for iPad, iPhone 5 4S 4; Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, Note 8, Tab 2, S4 S3 [4 mobile phone connectors, 6 tablet connectors, 12V 1A adapter provided] - Black - Amazon.ca

 

It uses a DC-DC converter to select from 9-12v on the output and also has 2 USB ports for charging phones etc. Anker has various sized packs but I went for the 14400 mAh version as it has enough juice to power the E20 for several hours before it needs to be charged, and is compact in size. The unit comes with various sized DC tips, but the main 12V cord has the exact tip the E20 takes so no need to mess around with the adaptor tips. So now to get on with the sound. It came pre charged so I plugged it in and started listening to some DSD recordings with my Shure SRH 940 headphones plugged into the headphone jack. These headphones are extremely revealing so with them it's easy to detect subtle changes in sound quality. I was a bit skeptical about the DC-DC converter and thought that maybe it could have a detrimental effect on the purity of the power but I guess not because wow I was blown away instantly! Not only was the sound much better then the stock supply, it also exceeded the sound from the lead acid battery. Pretty much every area of sound quality was greatly improved. Another bonus is when I plug in the supplied charger into the pack while listening to music, I can't detect any change in the sound at all. So it probably could just be plugged in at all times. It seems like the power from the charger is buffered and filtered by the battery so the power remains pure. As far as life goes between charges, I'm getting from 6-7 hours listening to my headphones at quite high levels per charge. I can imagine that figure could be doubled using the rear outputs. So for $69 CND it's a no brainer for me. It also allows me to take my E20 anywhere without having to plug it in. It would be very interesting for one of you guys with a Paul Hynes supply to do a comparison

[wappinghigh]

^Yes it would be interesting.. Cool..very cool indeed… I Wonder if this Anker Battery pack you've mentioned could power the entire Exasound DAC range? The e18 and e28 as well as the e20.. ??

[Kal Rubinson]

^Yes it would be interesting.. Cool..very cool indeed… I Wonder if this Anker Battery pack you've mentioned could power the entire Exasound DAC range? The e18 and e28 as well as the e20.. ??

The e28 consumes < 15W while the others consume < 8 W.

[Blizzard]

^Yes it would be interesting.. Cool..very cool indeed… I Wonder if this Anker Battery pack you've mentioned could power the entire Exasound DAC range? The e18 and e28 as well as the e20.. ??

 

 

Yes it could. It just wouldn't last as long not plugged in with the E28. But they have larger packs as well such as the Astro pro 2:

 

Anker Astro Pro2 20000mAh Multi-Voltage External Battery

 

which has a 20000 mAh battery.

[astrotoy]

Yes it could. It just wouldn't last as long not plugged in with the E28. But they have larger packs as well such as the Astro pro 2:

 

Anker Astro Pro2 20000mAh Multi-Voltage External Battery

 

which has a 20000 mAh battery.

 

Maybe I could plug my e28 into my Tesla Model S battery (it holds 85kwH) :-)

 

Larry

[Blizzard]

That should keep it going for a while

[bmoura]

Let it break in quite a bit. During the process the sound is all over the place, unfortunately.

 

I'm guessing it probably needs 100 hours or more of break-in before the evaluating starts.

 

I noticed that the unit didn't come with a power cord. Which one are you using with the SR3-12 ?

[ted_b]

I'm guessing it probably needs 100 hours or more of break-in before the evaluating starts.

 

I noticed that the unit didn't come with a power cord. Which one are you using with the SR3-12 ?

 

Brian,

I have a full loom of Mark Cole's Sablon Corona Petit cords. If I run out (like when I demo another DAC) I use a Cardas Golden Ref (without the ferrite collar). The exaSound line (well, at least the E20 and E28) seems quite sensitive to power cords.

 

Blizzard,

great news on the Anker battery. I use the smaller Astro E4 (5V) for my controlpc SSD and its wonderful.

[bmoura]

Brian,

I have a full loom of Mark Cole's Sablon Corona Petit cords.

 

If I run out (like when I demo another DAC) I use a Cardas Golden Ref (without the ferrite collar). The exaSound line (well, at least the E20 and E28) seems quite sensitive to power cords.

 

A full loom of power cables? Does that mean a lot? Or that you have every model from Sablon?

I'll take a look at these cables as well.

[wappinghigh]

How do you stop JR defaulting to "Repeat On" playback all the time?

Also is there a quick "Rescan network" button?

[wappinghigh]

^Shite..Wrong thread!! How do you delete a post? hehehe…

[Audio_ELF]

^Shite..Wrong thread!! How do you delete a post? hehehe…

Report yourself to Chris... He should delete it for you.

 

PS Chris you can delete this too if you sort out the above.

[vibes]

George at exaSound is great to work with. Be sure to ask him about a copy of the DSD256 classical music file mentioned in the Stereophile review of the exaSound e28. He sent me a copy for playback on the e28 - as Kal Rubinson said very impressive !

 

Thanks for the suggestion. George provided this track to me right away and it was amazing. He also provided the link to the Japanese webpage where the track originated. Too bad there's no easy way to convert the other samples on the page to dsf files.

 

I continue to really enjoy my e20. I don't think there's ever been a time where I've spent so much time listening to music and doing nothing else. Tonight's selection is the newly released 96/24 version of Jack Johnson's "From Here to Now to You", and it sounds magical with my e20 + Sennheiser HD700's.

[Blizzard]

Attention all Exasound owners. This might be slightly off topic but you need to download Eric Bibb's Opus 3 DSD 128 download called A Analogue Selection of Eric Bibb! Probably the best Analog transfer I've heard to date. Great music too! Acoustic blues/folk/bluegrass. Sounds astonishing on my E20!

 

dsdfile.com | A Selection of analogue Eric Bibb

[wappinghigh]

My e28 has arrived.

 

Are any mac users with this DAC using something other than JRiver for multichannel PCM and DSD?

 

JRiver for OSX is giving me the %^&*&^t's…

 

Thanks