richard_crl032

Hi, For those having gaia and avatar and certainly should daisy chain them to T+, please find below required 75 ohm parts (2 dual bnc and 1 load resistors) in additional to 3 bnc clock cables that I found sounding better that your usd1-2 cheap ones: https://sg.rs-online.com/web/p/coaxial-adapters/1120830/ https://sg.rs-online.com/web/p/rf-terminators/7009316/ Cheers. Richard PS: dual T adaptor not preferred due to limit in between space behind equipment

Hi Austin, I have the older mk1 in my car and home system. In my system, it bettered the ifi usb3.0 that I have and it is a nice bimp on SQ for the $. Not sure if mk2 at increased $ is worthwhile but I stopped using it after getting the Antipodes EX to replace the allo usb bridge signature as it sounded worse. Cheers. Richard

Hi Matt, It was the OYAIDE Elec d+ USB class S rev.2 0.7m that I found with low resolution and dull. I find the oyaide continental 5s v2 the best and using now from the Antipodes ex to the Terminator+. Cheers. Richard

Hi, Was reading up on fta callisto and this lush2 .... I have the oyaide Continental 5S v2, zonotone shupreme, furutech pro2 gt and gave away the oyaide neo that I felt was not in the same league as the 3 mentioned. Anyone here has these 3 to share how the callisto and lush2 compares ? Many thanks in advance. Cheers. Richard

Hi Luis, Sorry for the confusion .. the photos on audio info are both for the usb bridge signature provided by moode os .. one for 44.1khz flac and the other for dsd64 files. For the Antipodes I do not know how to provide such audio info running the squeezelite player. On the Tplus led indicators on its front panel, both usb bridge signature and Antipodes simply indicate 44.1khz and dsd64 and frankly do not understand why also 🙏. Guess too much rantings from my 3 consecutive posts which confuses and please let me summarize again in my system from what I hear via both my main speakers and headphone: 1. Gaia+Tplus is not always better .... with the Antipodes usb output, I preferred direct to Tplus without the gaia. With the Antipodes connected to the gaia, I lost the crispness, extension as well as midrange clarity ... music is less engaging in a nutshell. 2. all else, including also usb output from the usb bridge signature, I prefers Gaia+Tplus which I find to have greater "solidality", clarity and resolution ... music is more dense and enjoyable as if all gets snapped into place. This is very obvious also with aes output from my Bel Canto fm tuner which I will certainly connect via Gaia. My conclusion is that improvement of going via gaia or not depends on the quality of the source being used. I am also bias and believe that the clock synced devices said to reduce jitters is a big plus of this denafrips stack of ddc, cdp and dac with the best ocxo clock just cm away in the Tplus dac. Hope this clarifies and cheers. Richard

Hi Luis, My pleasure .. had always been looking at esoteric and dCs with their clocking but never been able to afford when younger but now old to be wiser not to spend too much ... until ok denafrips chi-fi products at chi-fi pricing at worldclass quality in sound and technology. For both usb bridge signature and the antipodes, they are playing at default setting with same 44.1khz flac and dsd64 music files primarily ... not into upsampling nor have the knowledge to do so but seems moode os of usb bridge signature does upsamples to 32 bit for the usual 16bits 44.1khz flac and dsd128 for dsd64 respectively. Cheers. Richard

Hi All, Just listened to the allo's usb bridge signature via the gaia and T+ and compared the Antipodes directly via the T+ with various same tracks on both. Without the gaia for both allo's and Antipodes to the T+ that I am very familiar with, it was like subjectively 60-70% for the allo's if Antipodes is at 90% .... With the gaia for allo's, it gets to 75-80% of the Antipodes which is quite impressive and nice as a backup server but it also tells me just how nice the Antipodes is .. crisp, clear and extended in comparison. Again ymmv and this helps further .... Cheers.

***Speculative but the usb output from my Antipodes is no slouch and does not benefit from going via gaia but a lesser usb source may.**Hi All,For completeness of the abovementioned, I connected my allo's usb bridge to the gaia and behold the needed validation ... the sound quality improved to more detailed, dense and musical presentation !Believe this update sums up the outcome of my planned venture with gaia with synced clock to T+ and i2s and should help bros here to consider the digital source quality if gaia will improve the sound quality of your system if you have the T+.Unfortunately, I cannot share further on validated result of the more common query getting the gaia for the standard Terminator or non Denafrips dac since having none.I can only guess that without synced clock or even i2s connectivity of T+ which I covet due to their sound technical advantages, improvement is likely less but pure speculation of course while bro Blake, John, Abyss etc. had already reported improvement of the gaia with at least the standard Terminator and/or T+.Cheers.Richard

expand... Hi All,First of all, daisy chain of Avatar and gaia input to oxco clock output of T+ works !! This is really a denafrips ecosystem of digital playback though not advertised as such by denafrips or mentioned in detailed review by 6moon.Secondly, key objective of getting aes-ebu output of my Bel Canto fm-1 tuner to gaia to convert to i2s and synced to oxco clock of T+ sounds so much better .. more detailed and clean with blacker background like veil had been lifted as compared to direct aes-ebu output directly to T+. Asked my dotter as I switch between the 2 and she remarked "you need to ask ? So obvious !"Thirdly, on this main query if usb input directly to T+ or via gaia to convert to i2s that is synced to the oxco clock of T+, there is no miracle for the usb of my Antipodes ex and sounded less detailed and less engaging.Speculative but the usb output from my Antipodes is no slouch and does not benefit from going via gaia but a lesser usb source may.Similarly, the aes-ebu of my Bel Canto tuner benefitted very much via the gaia after conversion to i2s and synced to the ocxo clock of T+ but perhaps a higher quality aes-ebu or other digital source of say esoteric k series transport may not ... Avatar that I tested for sure benefits when synced to T+ .. more solid imaging and prat.Hope this helps and YMMV since system dependent, personal preference and past experience ... I am still enjoying my Bel Canto fm 1 and it is unbelievable that fm radio can sound this goodCheers.Richard

Hi, Just listened to the allo's usb bridge signature via the gaia and T+ and compared the Antipodes directly via the T+ with various same tracks on both. Without the gaia for both allo's and Antipodes to the T+ that I am very familiar with, it was like subjectively 60-70% for the allo's if Antipodes is at 90% .... With the gaia for allo's, it gets to 75-80% of the Antipodes which is quite impressive and nice as a backup server since I have the gaia but it also tells me just how nice the Antipodes is .. crisp, clear and extended in comparison. Again ymmv and this helps further ... 4am and really to shower and sleep but no worry of listener fatigue to have messed up the subjective comparison. Cheers. Richard

Hi R1200CL, Clarification as below that I hope helps and accurate .. almost 3 am now and had been a long but fruitful day. Cheers. Richard My understanding is you’re override the Gaia clock with the TP+ one. Richard: Affirmative .. to me, T+ one is superior being sealed and expected other SQ related treatments e.g. psu etc. and hence doing so. I suppose removing the clock will change the result ? Richard: Did not test out and expectedly so since you lose superior ocxo clock of T+ and you lose single synced clock but 2 separate clocks. Or maybe i2s requires the DAC clock. Richard: Negative, clock sync of gaia can be disabled. Conclusion is based on AES/EBU from FM radio and usb in from the Allo Usb bridge. Richard: Affirmative on both .. that is my motivation in getting the gaia for synced clock and i2s connectivity for primarily the fm radio while the usb input from the Allo usb bridge signature is a bonus. USB from server wasn’t any benefit. (Maybe cause USB is already very good). Richard: Affirmative Also if you’re overriding the clock, one should think Iris would do the job almost as good 😀 Richard: Affirmative, almost as good indeed for at least usb from allo's usb bridge signature since Iris is with only usb input but does not serve my purpose for fm radio via aes-ebu. Also believe other SQ related treatments matter albeit not verified since not aware of the details of these treatments and no Iris to test out. Lastly, spending another sgd700 for the Iris and say sgd1k for added good power cable, hdmi cable, 2x bnc clock cables in additional to what you already spent on usb based server e.g. sgd500 allo's usb bridge signature amounts to sgd2.2k which may not make sense and better to get a better usb server with already presumably sgd8k+ T+ already bought to have this reclocking in the first place ?

Speculative but the usb output from my Antipodes is no slouch and does not benefit from going via gaia but a lesser usb source may. Hi All, For completeness of the abovementioned, I connected my allo's usb bridge to the gaia and behold the needed validation ... the sound quality improved to more detailed, dense and musical presentation ! 😃 Believe this final update sums up the outcome of my planned venture with gaia with synced clock to T+ and i2s and should help bros here to consider the digital source quality if gaia will improve the sound quality of your system if you have the T+. Cheers. Richard

Hi All, First of all, daisy chain of Avatar and gaia input to oxco clock output of T+ works !! This is really a denafrips ecosystem of digital playback though not advertised as such by denafrips 😃 Secondly, key objective of getting aes-ebu output of my Bel Canto fm-1 tuner to gaia to convert to i2s and synced to oxco clock of T+ sounds so much better .. more detailed and clean with blacker background like veil had been lifted as compared to direct aes-ebu output directly to T+. Asked my dotter as I switch between the 2 and she remarked "you need to ask ? So obvious !" 🤣 Thirdly, on this main query if usb input directly to T+ or via gaia to convert to i2s that is synced to the oxco clock of T+, there is no miracle for the usb of my Antipodes ex and sounded less detailed and less engaging. Speculative but the usb output from my Antipodes is no slouch and does not benefit from going via gaia but a lesser usb source may. Similarly, the aes-ebu of my Bel Canto tuner benefitted very much via the gaia after conversion to i2s and synced to the ocxo clock of T+ but perhaps a higher quality aes-ebu or other digital source of say esoteric k series transport may not ... Avatar that I tested for sure benefits when synced to T+ .. more solid imaging and prat. Hope this helps and YMMV since system dependent especially on quality of digital sources planned for gaia, personal preference and past experience ... I am still enjoying my Bel Canto fm 1 (this betters previous Accuphase T1000) for the last 2 hrs and it is unbelievable that fm radio can sound this good 😍😍 Cheers. Richard PS: Black gaia with customised blue leds ordered as with a 0.75m Argentus hdmi cable 🥰🥰

Oops .. forgot to mentioned one critical test. It is to test if daisy chain of T+ clock with both my avatar and gaia works. Cheers. Richard