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 Post subject: Re: In other news....
PostPosted: December 25th, 2022, 8:13 pm 
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cport wrote:
@HAL - mine (Velvet DAC) arrived last week - I am very happy with the sound, as there is a notable (but natural) smoothness and rounding of notes that I hear in comparison to the ESS chips I am more used to. For the price, it is sounding like a winner.

Charles Port
LINKWITZ-Lounge “East”


The AKM AK4499 let you select minimum phase style filter that I really prefer to any brickwall style that uses a truncated SINC function. Never been fond of any ESS DAC I have heard. The minimum phase filter sounds very natural in comparison to the others.


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 Post subject: Re: In other news....
PostPosted: December 27th, 2022, 8:04 pm 
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Received the E70 Velvet DAC today. Now to get it into the heaphone rig.


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 Post subject: Re: In other news....
PostPosted: December 27th, 2022, 10:21 pm 
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Joined: November 28th, 2021, 12:08 pm
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Location: Chantilly, VA
HAL wrote:
Received the E70 Velvet DAC today. Now to get it into the heaphone rig.


Nice! what will you test that with for amp/speakers?


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 Post subject: Re: In other news....
PostPosted: December 28th, 2022, 9:20 am 
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My headphone rig with an iFi iCan headphone amp and Audeze LCD-MX-4 headphones to start.

I am still updating my Erno Borbely Headphone amp with a new input attenuator.


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 Post subject: Re: In other news....
PostPosted: December 28th, 2022, 12:46 pm 
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HAL wrote:
My headphone rig with an iFi iCan headphone amp and Audeze LCD-MX-4 headphones to start.

I am still updating my Erno Borbely Headphone amp with a new input attenuator.


WOW! I've never got to try headphones of that level before! That will be a fun listening session no doubt!


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 Post subject: Re: In other news....
PostPosted: December 28th, 2022, 8:27 pm 
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I did max out the iCan volume control and used the E70 V digital control. Sounds much better to me than the iCan volume control at the same approximate setting. 

The E70 V has 0.5dB/step settings, so would need a voltage output check to make them exactly the same.

The remote works well and sets the filter in the DAC for 6 different types. The F-4 setting is minimum phase slow roll-off that I prefer.

Will check more tomorrow after some time.


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 Post subject: Re: In other news....
PostPosted: January 3rd, 2023, 7:10 am 
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The E70 V DAC has been running for days with the iFi iCan headphone amp.

Sounds great to me with no noise background and all instruments sounding natural. That is with my preferred minimum phase filter in the AK4499 DAC F-4 selected.

Will be testing it with other headphone amps as from past trials the Borbely Audio HPA is a better sounding setup. Since the E70 V has a digital 0.5dB/step attenuator, I can just direct drive the HPA and use the DAC as the volume control. Just need a good input resistor to ground for the HPA.

This should be interesting.


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 Post subject: Re: In other news....
PostPosted: January 4th, 2023, 6:09 pm 
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Stuart,
Are you planning on getting the E70 V DAC?

It sounds better to me than either my DIY AK4490 DAC that was at CAF or the AK4495's in my DSP crossover. Very happy with the new AK4499EX system in the E70 V.


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 Post subject: Re: In other news....
PostPosted: January 4th, 2023, 11:00 pm 
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HAL wrote:
Stuart,
Are you planning on getting the E70 V DAC?

It sounds better to me than either my DIY AK4490 DAC that was at CAF or the AK4495's in my DSP crossover. Very happy with the new AK4499EX system in the E70 V.


Hey Rich,

Yes sir, planning on getting one. I'm very anxious to hear your final evaluation of the DAC. What do the power supplies look like? Well thought out, low noise regulators, or just basic LM317 type stuff?

Please keep us informed!

Stuart


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 Post subject: Re: In other news....
PostPosted: January 11th, 2023, 7:51 am 
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After days of warm-up and listening, the new version of the AKM AK4499 is my new favorite DAC. My other reference is the Wolfson Micro WM8741 that the earlier AKM DAC's approached but did not equal. The AK4499 surpasses it. The other AKM DAC's I tried were the AK4490, AK4495 and AK4493 in comparison. I could never get the AK4497 DAC board I did buy to work. :(

Classical orchestral music recordings done with simple mic techniques, sounds like a mic feed. I have been lucky enough to record a Steinway D for a piano recital and a lot of that quality comes through this system.

Waiting on a few parts to get the Borbely HPA running, but the iFi iCan did well. I could not resist a Topping E90 Discrete HPA that was a refurb, so added that to the setup with even better results.

Back to more listening.


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