Speak of the devil!
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That’s going to be so practical and pretty, nice colour choices too.
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I feel this soooooo much 
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Cabasse Murano Alto, my selection for downsizing from the Devore speakers (buyer picked them up on Saturday)
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That’s down$izing not downsizing.
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Thats impossible to do, you either have an external PSU or an Internal one.
Your DDC is rather old and probably should be upgraded but the thing with ddcs is that they provide a good upgrade even if theyre lower end.
I imagine you are using AES to connect to the dac.
I like to have a good digital source personally and I think your chain can take the upgrade too.
If you havent you can upgrade your digital cables before the DDC, or at the same time, the idea is to level up the source.
Getting a supra excalibur for usb cable is really really worth.
For the AES cable you want a mogami 3080 at the very least, but theres a ton of aes cables on many different cable shops.
I think thats a solid step before changing the DDC because even tho its old it looks quite decent.
After that, or when you want or can I think denafrips iris 12th is quite a solid ddc option for your system given ive seen many of those used for a good discount and it has an internal power supply so again, you save money not having to get one.
If you want a generalist that gives a rather large advantage to the v281 in the way its gain levels work, and its noise floor is lower, it can drive properly a rather large variety of headphones.
But if the matchup with the he1000se is a more important deciding factor that gives a helping hand to the auralic.
The taurus is a special amp, I have no idea what its internal design is but it sounds special, not like a tube amp but like a different kind of solid, If I had to guess Id say FETs or MOSFETs working low voltage and driving large current.
Its actually probably less accurate and more distorted than the v281 but thats what makes it sound more organic and lifelike to me, because the v281 as warm as it is its still a more analytical approach to sound while taurus is very organic with that specific chain
Cool amp wa6, I wish I could test the SE version, It looks like it would go from a random 1k SET to a beast 1.5k SET. Not that regular version is bad or anything, the competition is too tough.
I didnt like the little dot mk2 tho, I was mislead by bad reviewers that gave me wrong expectations of it. Good amp good value, but its one of the most solid state sounding tube amps ive heard.
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Merason Dac1 just arrived.
Few songs in with my AWKT and MZ3, the sound is pretty dang beautiful, a bit soft and gentle on some tracks, but on certain tunes it makes the music flow in a good way. Though the AWKT can be pretty hit or miss and not very forgiving on certain songs. I’m thinking of pairing it with a Mass Kobo 433 in the future. Have yet to listen to it with my D8kp though.
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Yo, its been on my list of possible dacs to get to complement my exogal, or just when it dies if it does.
Theres like few information on it but enough to include it in my list, and its not common to find a used one.
The photo looks pretty, theres just something about merason that feels like trying it, I even put the frerot + upgrade PSU in the list as well just in case.
I also have the AWKT! And I also plan to get either a MK433 or a 394ii if it drops price with the new one coming out. The d8kp also on my list but im waiting to see the developments with the new versions coming out.
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so far to my ears its a nice slight upgrade, the exogal has less defined separation and slightly less stage width, but id say they share more in common overall than not. the merason has a touch more detail retrieval but its def presented in a more smoother gentle way compared to the exogal(not that i think the exogal is aggressive)
I agree, its also a lot bigger than i thought it would be compared to the exogal, but i hadnt researched size before i purchased it. but its like 3-4 times bigger than the exogal lol
The AWKT is pretty interesting with this DAC, it really points out the AWKTs pickiness with tracks , but really shines on the right music. Something that is very well recorded, simple but with a warmer angle to the sound, like the band Khruangbin. Just Bass guitar, Drums, electric guitar, and minimal vocals. The AWKT can sound much “warmer” with nice punch and chilled mids and highs with this band. That being said the AWKT isn’t quite the “all rounder” in my opinion, i do find myself skipping more tracks than the d8kp.
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Oh thanks, sounds more like a “replacement” than a sidegrade, which is an option like I said before
Omg, every dac seems to get exponentially larger as Ive gone uo the ladder, yggy being the classic example.
Of course! Gotta love using the AWKT with great gear.
Although the way you described it as a bit softer to the exogal and now how it sounds with the AWKT I think it might not be the best dac choice for me, even the size is a concern now.
Id probably love it anyway, and I know it was just a quick impression, but I have been looking at a bunch of dacs for a while and I think id prefer something that goes closer to what a rockna style presentation.
Thanks for your take.
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Congrats. I say this one you got to actually get used to it’s sound signature and then play with the audio settings. After you play with the audio settings, see if you can actually hear a difference:
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Class A (smoother, sweeter presentation) vs Class AB (more energetic, technical presentation)
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Turbo mode always on (it’s always better in no matter what unless you got really sensitive iem)
For the Darwin Controller settings:
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Harmonic Controller:
0 further back in your head and soundstage is more holographic. 255 is more center stage in your head kind of soundstage. -
Low-pass antialiasing filter setting:
Once you really get used to the R8ii sound, go from default to Darwin Ultra. That’s a pretty special filter gift from HiBy to their user last year that some people went nuts for.
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Thanks, dude. With the bewildering options, I probably would’ve just switched between amplification modes and not even bothered to try and understand what else it can do. I appreciate the tips!
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Finally got off the PC and bought an Allo USBridge Signature:
Currently testing it using a 4GB USB stick so I really had to pick and choose which album to test with it lol, will try to use my DAP as a source for it to hear if there are any differences but regardless I’m leaning on just getting a 512GB USB stick since my collection is not that big (bit more than 200GB).
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Finally got my hands on them!
It was NOS and very affordable from a head fi user so I was very worried it might be a fake or fail soon after use
Like 3 seconds into the first song I could tell its an original, the treble is way better and more present than I thought it would be, and they arent even burned in yet.
I broke my 2 favorite 12au7 ever a british mazda and a (west germany?) siemens so the tube input is hanging from a thread with the psvane 12au7s, with noticeably less technicalities than the ones I broke.
Im planning to pair the mullard with a matsushita 12au7, since its affordable and the name reminds me of the mazda, sounds like a good fit in general
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Turns out Let Shuoer have a brilliant rep that lurks around forums to help people.
The rep saw many of my posts loving the Cadenza 12, but also moaning that I can’t seem to buy or even audition their legendary EJ07. Not too much of a surprise since it has been out of production for some years now. What is a surprise is that the British rep reached out to me and offered to send me a set to audition, with the possibility of buying if it turned out to be my endgame set.
What’s more is that, this was yesterday afternoon and it’s already turned up! This is HifiMan levels of customer service!
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Those look really beautiful, I Soooo wish I had ordered the brass hardware for mine. The rose gold looks great w/ that particular wood 
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Those are fantastic! I’ve been giving my OG Autuer’s more head time recently. They really seem to scale up nicely with my Aegis. I have considered “upgrading” my set to a Classic, but then I listen to them again and realize they are already amazing as is.
Hope you enjoy your new Auteur!
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I like how the middle of the stand gets light and the color matches the headphones. They look very much like an intentional pair.
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