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Silver Member Username: WattsssupBarrie, ON Canada Post Number: 242 Registered: Aug-06 | Just bought one off of Audiogon, and now the wait... |
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Silver Member Username: DmitchellOttawa, Ontario Canada Post Number: 905 Registered: Feb-07 | Nice. What are you hooking it up to? |
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Silver Member Username: WattsssupBarrie, ON Canada Post Number: 243 Registered: Aug-06 | I'm going to start with using my Rotel as a transport and see how that works out, but sometime down the road, I want to use a laptop as the source. |
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Silver Member Username: DmitchellOttawa, Ontario Canada Post Number: 907 Registered: Feb-07 | Cool. I sorta have the same setup, I have a server in my basement with (mostly) FLAC files that I stream to my system via this DAC: http://www.obadimports.citymax.com/catalog/item/4377355/5226912.htm Mind you, the Bel Canto is tad better... lol. |
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Silver Member Username: WattsssupBarrie, ON Canada Post Number: 244 Registered: Aug-06 | That's cool. I will be going FLAC in the not so distant future. How do you like the DAC you have? |
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Silver Member Username: DmitchellOttawa, Ontario Canada Post Number: 908 Registered: Feb-07 | It's actually really good, especially considering the price. I liked it so much I bought 2 of them - one for my main system, and one for my system in my gym. |
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Silver Member Username: WattsssupBarrie, ON Canada Post Number: 245 Registered: Aug-06 | That's cool. Do you move your music server around? Or can you connect from varrious points in the house? |
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Silver Member Username: DmitchellOttawa, Ontario Canada Post Number: 910 Registered: Feb-07 | My music server is in my rec-room, directly below my living room where my main system is. I run a long USB cable through the floor to my DAC, which is then connected to my system. I have a laptop in the living room from where I can control the music on the server with a remote winamp program. My music server is fed the tunes from a file server in the server with a big-@assed hard drive. |
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Silver Member Username: WattsssupBarrie, ON Canada Post Number: 246 Registered: Aug-06 | The Bel Canto arrived today. Was desperate for a Coax cable, so I burried my head between my legs and went to Future Shop (Best Buy for you American folk) and picked up a Monster. Don't know if this cable is going to work out for me. Any suggestions? I have great music lined up for the weekend... |
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Silver Member Username: DmitchellOttawa, Ontario Canada Post Number: 919 Registered: Feb-07 | Don't see why the Monster wouldn't be ok in the short term. How does it sound? |
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Silver Member Username: WattsssupBarrie, ON Canada Post Number: 247 Registered: Aug-06 | It's sounding good. Very good. Cable needs break in time and sounding better by the hour, so I'll wait before posting a full review, but I'll say this, it completely undresses my Rotel. Whole new league. |
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Platinum Member Username: NuckPost Number: 10224 Registered: Dec-04 | and the setup really should! Great going, Marc. Run the cable for a while, then see if your dealer has a demo to loan out Sun/Mon. |
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Silver Member Username: WattsssupBarrie, ON Canada Post Number: 248 Registered: Aug-06 | Thanks. The cable is sounding better and better (been running non-stop since I hooked it up). The improvement the DAC is making in overall sound quality is really unbelievable. |
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Silver Member Username: DmitchellOttawa, Ontario Canada Post Number: 921 Registered: Feb-07 | I found the same thing too when I switched to an outboard DAC. It really was remarkable. |
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Silver Member Username: HawkbillyNova Scotia Canada Post Number: 310 Registered: Jul-07 | Same experience here. Congrats Marc. It will continue to get better for weeks.....or at least mine did. It was the slowest most excruciating break-in of any component I've ever owned. 100 hrs to really relax and open up, and then kept getting better almost with every listen for weeks. Biggest single improvement I've ever made in a system. |
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Silver Member Username: WattsssupBarrie, ON Canada Post Number: 250 Registered: Aug-06 | Thanks Chris. I'm liking the improvement I hear everyday. It's giving me cable upgradeitis though, and don't know where to start. |
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Silver Member Username: DmitchellOttawa, Ontario Canada Post Number: 922 Registered: Feb-07 | I recently bought AudioQuest. When I used them from my CD player, I didn't care for them. But when I connected them from my receiver to my Bryston mono's... holy cow. |
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Silver Member Username: WattsssupBarrie, ON Canada Post Number: 251 Registered: Aug-06 | Yeah, a friend of mine says some of his cables are better with certain components than his other cables and vice versa. Looking for synergy with each individual component is a scary thought. |
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Silver Member Username: DmitchellOttawa, Ontario Canada Post Number: 923 Registered: Feb-07 | Trial and error... Luckily I found a place in my system for the AQ's. Plus I got them on ebay for super-cheap. |
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Silver Member Username: HawkbillyNova Scotia Canada Post Number: 311 Registered: Jul-07 | I had Kimber cables, but have recently replaced everything with Zu cables. They are not fully run in yet, but were as good as the Kimbers right out of the packaging. The Digital cable (the Ash) between the transport and the DAC was the most noticeably better actually. The interconnects and speaker cables less so. Once I get a few more weeks on them I'll switch back to the Kimbers and get a better feel for what the differences are. |
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Silver Member Username: WattsssupBarrie, ON Canada Post Number: 252 Registered: Aug-06 | Chris, What kind of Kimber cables did you have? My friend has mostly Heros and also has a Select for interconnects. The Select is far better in both our opinions. His cables seem to provide much more "space" and "openess" than the ones I'm currently using. Which is something I'm after, but I don't want to buy the same cables as his, as dumb as that may sound (I already bought the same DAC...lol). I know that the Zu's need breaking in time, but I'm interested on your impression on how they compare to the Kimbers that you had. |
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Bronze Member Username: MyselfPost Number: 25 Registered: Jan-08 | marc, congratulations! Bel canto dac 2 is one of the best(price performance)! the best price performance 75ohm digital cable that i have tried is tara labs "the one" it might worth looking for one from Audiogon. |
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Silver Member Username: HawkbillyNova Scotia Canada Post Number: 314 Registered: Jul-07 | Marc, I had the DV-30 digital cable, the PBJ interconnects and 4VS speaker cables. The differences are a little harder to pinpoint as I changed all 3 cables over a 1 month period, and put everything up on Isonodes. So, with all of the changes it's difficult to pinpoint what is attributed to what. That's why I want to switch each component back to Kimber individually to hear the differences. Prior to putting the Isonodes into the mix, the 3 things that seemed improved to me were; 1) I had noticed a slight brittleness to the treble, most noticeable on cymbals. People had suggested to me this was possibly the PBJ's. This has improved greatly with the Zu's. 2) More detail in the bass, less bloom. 3) A slight improvement in transparency. After another couple of weeks I'll switch things back one at a time and confirm the differences. One other note; the connectors on the Zu cables are top knotch. Very nice design that lets you loosen the ends for attachment, and then tighten them down for a perfect connection. I had found my Kimber interconnects slid on and off a little to easily. I also got a good deal on them, having won them on an ebay auction direct from Zu. Paid less than half price for all 3 cables. |
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New member Username: DcarlsonPost Number: 1 Registered: Aug-07 | Marc, you should buy some cables for me to try. Lol. I was searching google for DAC2 systems to get an idea as what people run with it and came across your thread. The "but I don't want to buy the same cables as his, as dumb as that may sound " quote made me laugh. Maybe it's time you strike up a relationship with a dealer in TO and see if you can borrow some cables to try out. Anyway, I'm glad you're liking your DAC after all my leg work. Lol. |
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Silver Member Username: WattsssupBarrie, ON Canada Post Number: 258 Registered: Aug-06 | LMAO!!! |