The Best for the Least

[bigbob]

17 minutes ago, beerandmusic said:

bigbob, i have no ill feellings towards you.  I think what you are doing is a great thing.  You merely misunderstood me.  I think you are a good guy, and look forward to seeing more from you.  I will always lean more towards a DSD product over a pcm only product in same price range though, but that does not make me think any less of you or your opinion...most differences are very subtle imho in my experience with exception to speakers and amps.

 

Thank you.

 

My audience are people like my prostheticist, who is also a Deadhead.

I had him over and played a 24-bit recording from 1974 show at the Winterland--it was a Debby Stash reel from Jerry's personal collection and converted using a Telefunken tube something or other.

He sat in the sweet spot and was gobsmacked.

 

He has a stereo, but he didn't realize that for less than $100, plus a 32Gb thumb drive, he could have 10-12 24-bit Dead Shows to chill with at home, through his laptop... Simple as that.

 

I have a Facebook magazine, I have sold one thing on eBay and have three refurbished receivers ready to go. Hopefully, we will sell a few.

 

In my circumstance, accepting a free MC-0.5 from Rick Schultz has not changed my opinion of his product, and since I mentioned that it was a loan from a friend, he sent me one for my use.

 

He read the review, and sent it to me, I didn't solicit it, ask for it, imply anything to anyone.

 

I guess if I were on the payroll of a magazine or website that might be an ethical dilemma, but at my house, it was a welcome addition, that I could ill-afford to purchase.

 

As were the Chang Lightspeed, the Denon receiver, the Nordost Valhalla Reference Speaker Ribbons, and the Synergistic Research XOT Crossover Transducers--all gifts to make my music sound better.

[beerandmusic]

Ok, thanks for sharing...

 

I think it is great that Rick extended a hand to you.

 

Just curious for my own future interests....are most manufacturers willing to send review hardware to anyone, or just someone with review experience...is there a link you can share that stipulates the rules for review hardware?

 

In all likelihood, if i knew about that, i probably would have tried the gungnir before buying it, and i likely wouldn't be as open about my honest personal opinion....

[beerandmusic]

Back to topic, "BEST FOR LEAST", that would really depend on what you currently have.

 

If one is really on a budget, there is some likelihood they are using an AVR.

Many AVR's have toslink and coax inputs, and many of the newer ones have ethernet.

 

If they have a newer avr with ethernet, They can get comparable sound to any cheapo dac (e.g. ifi nano or schiit) by simply using the ethernet input on their avr and using jriver to play to that enet port.....cost is zero for hardware.

 

Even if you are using an amp instead of an AVR or If you don't have a enet port on your avr, you can buy a used sony bluray player for about $20 which will allow you to do the same.

 

If you have a pc that has a toslink port (like my vm60) you can also plug your pc directly into the toslink port of your avr.

 

All 3 of these options will be comparable to quality of a cheapo dac and usb toy for under $50.

 

Also for slightly more money, respected Darko reviews suggests using an ALLO...but the other 3 will be cheaper and easier to implement.

 

https://darko.audio/2017/08/allos-digione-pulls-five-star-sound-quality-from-the-raspberry-pi/

[bigbob]

21 minutes ago, beerandmusic said:

Back to topic, "BEST FOR LEAST", that would really depend on what you currently have.

 

If one is really on a budget, there is some likelihood they are using an AVR.

Many AVR's have toslink and coax inputs, and many of the newer ones have ethernet.

 

If they have a newer avr with ethernet, They can get comparable sound to any cheapo dac (e.g. ifi nano or schiit) by simply using the ethernet input on their avr and using jriver to play to that enet port.....cost is zero for hardware.

 

Even if you are using an amp instead of an AVR or If you don't have a enet port on your avr, you can buy a used sony bluray player for about $20 which will allow you to do the same.

 

If you have a pc that has a toslink port (like my vm60) you can also plug your pc directly into the toslink port of your avr.

 

All 3 of these options will be comparable to quality of a cheapo dac and usb toy for under $50.

 

Also for slightly more money, respected Darko reviews suggests using an ALLO...but the other 3 will be cheaper and easier to implement.

 

https://darko.audio/2017/08/allos-digione-pulls-five-star-sound-quality-from-the-raspberry-pi/

 

I have a Denon AVR 2805 with seven DACs on board, but I use the external DAC and the pure direct circuit.

My input is with single-ended RCA from the DAC to CD inputs (6-inch runs of straightwire.)

My computer doesn't have Toslink, HDMI, or Coaxial S/PDIF outputs--just USB.

Can it be improved upon? Sure. But it works just fine.I am familiar with Allo. They want $65 for the Boss DAC for the RasPi. That might just be my new challenger--Darko thought very highly of it. And when the Mimby and iOne are returned, the S/PDIF will no longer be an option.

[bigbob]

3 hours ago, beerandmusic said:

Ok, thanks for sharing...

 

I think it is great that Rick extended a hand to you.

 

Just curious for my own future interests....are most manufacturers willing to send review hardware to anyone, or just someone with review experience...is there a link you can share that stipulates the rules for review hardware?

 

In all likelihood, if i knew about that, i probably would have tried the gungnir before buying it, and i likely wouldn't be as open about my honest personal opinion....

 

I would think that if you are a direct vendor, like Schiit, they would probably not give a free trial, and maybe the restocking charge was implemented to prevent such.

 

I am really looking into the RasPi 3 as the ultimate 'Computer Audiophile on the Cheap' device, with Volumio as the headless OS. ( Android app costs 99 cents on Google Play)

[beerandmusic]

14 minutes ago, bigbob said:

 

I have a Denon AVR 2805 with seven DACs on board, but I use the external DAC and the pure direct circuit.

My input is with single-ended RCA from the DAC to CD inputs (6-inch runs of straightwire.)

My computer doesn't have Toslink, HDMI, or Coaxial S/PDIF outputs--just USB.

Can it be improved upon? Sure. But it works just fine.I am familiar with Allo. They want $65 for the Boss DAC for the RasPi. That might just be my new challenger--Darko thought very highly of it. And when the Mimby and iOne are returned, the S/PDIF will no longer be an option.

 

Does your pc have an ethernet port?

If so, you could also buy a cheap used SONY bluray player that has an ethernet port.

Some of the sony's also support dsd over ethernet also.

You install jriver on your pc and configure the sony as a dlna endpoint....takes 10 minutes.

[beerandmusic]

7 minutes ago, bigbob said:

 

I would think that if you are a direct vendor, like Schiit, they would probably not give a free trial, and maybe the restocking charge was implemented to prevent such.

 

I am really looking into the RasPi 3 as the ultimate 'Computer Audiophile on the Cheap' device, with Volumio as the headless OS. ( Android app costs 99 cents on Google Play)

 

I "think" i tried volumio awhile back ago...i dont recall why i didn't pursue it further.... Jriver has a lot of flexibility and relatively cheap...it also allows you to upsample, use dlna endpoints...can also be used as dlna server...plus has web browser remote....they also sell similar devices as allo (jriver id)...all in all a great software package, and i think it is still under $50....

[franz159]

27 minutes ago, bigbob said:

 

I would think that if you are a direct vendor, like Schiit, they would probably not give a free trial, and maybe the restocking charge was implemented to prevent such.

 

I am really looking into the RasPi 3 as the ultimate 'Computer Audiophile on the Cheap' device, with Volumio as the headless OS. ( Android app costs 99 cents on Google Play)

I recommend having a look at Moode too (as the player on a raspberry)

[semente]

My current file playback system consists of HQ Player Desktop player/processor installed in a old MacBook Pro which feeds HQ Player NAA installed in a Raspberry-Pi 3 via eNet. My current HAT DAC is the Audiophonics i-Sabre v3 which replaced the HiFiBerry DAC Pro +.

 

In my opinion it's better than an iFi iDAC connected directly to the MBP with USB.