Umm, Okay.

@audionautica6843 it was a joke...

Yeah - absolutely!

Fantastic - yeah, there's a used Perfectwave mk2 DAC tradein that a dealer has for sale right now - AUD4k!!! There's only one person that needs to think your system sounds good, and he is thee.

@ I also use a nad cd player to feed the dac….. however I also have an e-waste Meridian 808 which has a great sound via its own dac….but it’s display and remote appear to be cactus…I wouldn’t mind yr opinion on what to do about it…..

@georgeap4893, I'm not familiar with that Meridian, but if I were to make a wild guess there's probably a microcontroller on the front panel that looks after the display and the remote. Check that the cable going from the display to the main board is not damaged. Sometimes if it is a flexi-pcb they can crack. Also check the cable is connected properly at both ends. Then check for obvious problems on the front panel board - visible damage, has it got power. Does what is working give clues as to what is not working? As I say, this is just a wild guess having no knowledge what is actually inside your player.

@ thanks for your comments-there is a lot more I could say should you be interested-prob best to be by DM… rather than bore all others Cheers

Thank you! What do you find is the main difference between Tidal & Qobuz? Volumio supports both, but I just picked the one with the least strange name!

@@audionautica6843 I went through a long, extensive, A/B comparison between Tidal and Qobuz, just so I could put the debate to rest in my listening room. In doing so, I was unable to hear a consistently discernible enough difference in sound quality between the two in order to be able to declare one the clear winner over the other. So, I use Tidal, in Roon, as my default.

I think that's a good result!

I must disagree with you on sound quality on streamed music. I stream losslessly and not all the stuff out there sound great. Some is so bad you begin to wonder if the engineers have ever heard of RIAA curves ...... This is especially true for some older classic albums/artistes. Modern stuff generally fares better.

Awesome - glad to hear from someone with a similar experience. There really doesn't seem to be much on the net about these DACs.

Yeah, the Pi2AES is fantastic - the whole reason I went that path was to ensure I had the absolute best digital signal possible. I have a wifi to ethernet router so the ethernet to the streamer is unique to it. As the Pi2AES has I2S, I knew that in time I would need to get a DAC with an I2S input. I now have that DAC.

@@terriludolf6101 I hate grippy rca cables. I guess if you got a cat or something they exist for a reason but I’ve cringed at some of the ones I’ve bought off Amazon and feel like they’re going to pull the back off my vintage mcintosh amp with them.

Wonderful - welcome aboard!

Tidal! Check out my other video on my streamer. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pavaqZaBlL9ghas

@@audionautica6843 Yes, I watched this video about your Streamer. In my opinion, your Hi-Fi set-up is a bit overly-complicated and hence your audio signal could be improved by some simplification. The more cables, connectors, software and boxes of kit you have, the more artificial and unwanted signal-noise is introduced or the more signal-degradation or colouration-artifacts you get. It's only fair that I share with you my Hi-Fi Setup: Music Input Source is mostly 192Khz/24Bit FLAC lossess files physically stored on SanDisk MicroSD (x2 500GB cards). Where possible, I make sure I have the Remastered (i.e. latest versions) of music albums also as they are sonically superior to the original releases and have greater dynamic range and less noise. A good example is Pink Floyds' 50th Anniversary Remaster of Dark Side of the Moon. I have Remasters of most of the best-selling Albums such as Michael Jackson's "Thriller"...all in High Res 192Khz/24Bit or in DSD format (PirateBay is your friend here). My MicroSD (x2 500GB) cards live in my Fiio X5 (2nd Gen) Portable Digital Audio Player. The Fiio gets connected via a Coax-out to a dedicated external DAC (JDS Labs) and hence the internal DAC-chips of the Fiio are bypassed so that the JDS Labs DAC chips do the audio signal processing...this LDS Labs DAC costs less than $300 AUD. The JDS Labs DAC is connected to my NAD 1020 Pre-Amp (which is hooked up with my NAD 2150 Power Amp). Speakers are vintage B&W DM2A Transmission Line. To summarise my simple system: High-Res FLAC files on x2 500GB MicroSD located in a Fiio X5 DAP >> NAD Amp >> B&W Speakers. One minor and very easy hack I did was to remove the old standard plastic red & black speaker terminals on the back of the NAD Amp and connect the 12 gauge (12 AWG) pure-copper strand speaker wire directly into the Amp with a good 1cm of exposed speaker wire on the main contact plate inside the Amp and shielded it - this made a big and noticeable improvement in sound...bigger, meaty and deeper bass - just a bigger sound overall with no ill-effects. The logic of this hack is that by removing cheaply-made Speaker terminals in the NAD Amp and also removing connector plugs such as Bannana plugs from the speaker wire, this will only benefit the audio-signal as the audio-signal has less obstacles to go through when travelling to the speakers and hence the signal-path is easier for the audio-signal to travel through - less obstacles in a Hi-Fi setup equals less noise and less signal-degradation. I still have pure-copper banana plugs at the other end of the speaker wire going into the back of the B&W speakers (the B&Ws have their original banana plug terminals) however I will look at hacking them in future also to remove the need for banana plugs and wire them directly into the speakers cross-over...one less obstacle for the audio signal to jump through...hence, better sound output. I don't use streaming services as I've done plenty of A/B testing of them compared to my playing of physical FLAC files on a MicroSD card through my Fiio X5, and playing them locally on my set-up always sounds better to my ears when comparing to streaming services over WiFi & Laptop. The most important thing in any Hi-Fi set up is to have the best quality input source to begin with. There's no point getting 'Class A' amps and expensive DACs and Raspberry Pi's & Linux set-ups if all you're playing is iTunes, Vinyl, CDs, BlueTooth, WiFi streaming or Compressed MP3's or Compressed streaming files from Spotify/Tidal etc. Also, the more cables, connectors and 'magic black boxes' you have, the more "work" the audio-signal has to do and hence it gets degraded or corrupted with noise and colouration-artifacts. Other simple but effective improvements come from how your music speakers are placed in the room. Do they have sound-deadening platforms to prevent unwanted vibrations? Is the room-size correct?...does it have enough soft-furnishings to prevent 'hard/ bright sounds' bouncing around everywhere? Is the elevation of the speakers correct on dedicated stands? I enjoy your videos and hence thank you for making them and posting them. I'd encourage you to try as a simple experiment to borrow a dedicated portable DAP (such as a Fiio or equivalent), hook it up directly to your PS Audio DAC and play some locally-stored physical FLAC files (192Khz/24Bit) from a MicroSd card in the DAP and ignore all your Raspberry Pi-Macbook stuff. I can provide the High-Res FLAC files free of charge if you have an email address 🙂

I too use Tidal on a very high end Linn streamer and the biggest problem is that not all tracks are properly transposed from vinyl to digital. I can think of the same track on two different albums (one a compilation) and one is musically much superior to the other. Unfortunately, older tracks from years back generally do not do well. Newer stuff is O.K. No digital format can compare to a high end record deck setup in terms of musical quality. When I say high end I am speaking of £30,000 and upward. This has been demonstrated to me numerous times by my dealer. You just have to realise that you are sacrificing the ultimate in sound quality for convenience. Without doubt you should spend the most on the system on the front end, followed by amplifier then speakers. The amp can only deal with what it is sent, and speakers reproduce what the amp sends it. You have followed this mantra and can hear the difference. I warrant that you would not have had such results changing amplifiers or speakers! Just my tuppenceworth!

@Shaneonpole. Thanks for your detailed comment, and I there is a lot of truth in what you are saying. The problem is that in the world of pursuit for better audio, it is too easy to devolve into a self-enclosed world of self doubt and chasing your tail. That's why I began my video in terms of the weakest link of my system. I do not have a Macbook connected to my system anymore. That's why I got the streamer, and I did a tremendous amount of research into options for that streamer before I bit the bullet and got it. The single biggest difference I have *EVER* noticed in my system was throwing away my iTunes library (which took me 20 years to build) and going Lossless. And my Lossless source is Tidal. I also dug out my CDs which I hadn't touched since ripping them into iTunes and started using them again. People seem to forget that CDs are by definition lossless. Albums I really like I have purchased on Vinyl. I like both digital and vinyl - I'm not one of those one or the other guys. I also have my absolute most favourite albums on FLAC on local storage. So my system now is: Streamer -> DAC -> Preamp -> Amp -> Speakers That is not overly complicated, and there aren't any magic boxes. I agree that the weakest link in my system is now the room. There's absolutely nothing I can do about that. Given the weakness of the room, I'm astounded how good things sound. And when I look at the "Viewer System of the Day" over the Audiophiliac, it is clear that most people, like me, just do not have the option of a dedicated room or treatments, they have to work with what they have got. Thanks again for your detailed comment. :-)

@@iansyme3535I actually went back to buying CDs because I’ve found even the same supposed digital masters on streaming just don’t sound the same fed through the same exact dac, the soundstage isn’t as wide or the bass not as low reaching. I don’t know what the explanation is for what’s lost in translation but it is. I use streaming mostly as a music discovery tool or just playing that one or two singles off an album I’m not interested in purchasing.

No, I haven't heard any of the other Sansuis, but many people claim that the AU-X11 was the peak of Sansui Integrateds. I am surprised that the Accuphase is much more revealing than the Sansui. Guitar strings being plucked are just incredible. I knew the Accuphase would be amazing but I wasn't expecting such a big difference. The Sansui sounds much more "masked" in comparison. I am planning on making a shootout video, so I hope you're subscribed!

@@audionautica6843 Very interesting. The AU-X11 was near the peak for integrated's at the time it was released. Soon after, Sansui released their X-Balanced gear and surpassed the AU-X11 with models like the 1983 AU-D11 mkii. By 1987 (same year as the P-102) Sansui was using this new balanced and ungrounded topology across the Alpha line of integrated amps - TOTL AU-a907i in 1987. A fair comparison to the Accuphase C-202 + P-102 would be the period separates from Sansui C-2301 + B-2101/2201/2301. These separates from Sansui are in a whole other league from the AU-X11. The history between Sansui and Accuphase has got be an interesting one! Unfortunately Sansui the business did not survive, but fortunately the legend and the spirit did!

I think it's just personal preference as how one prefers to work.

I've never seen the Delta version. In these there is an L-shaped plate on the bottom and then bends up for the output transistors to mount onto. The plate would act as a heatsink. Maybe the mounting arrangement is different in the Deltas?

I have no idea what you are trying to say.

@@audionautica6843 These single channel preamps , used in builds like the VTA ST-120 , are now obsolete , now that Surface Amplifier uses a bi-amped preamp . One octal preamp tube , for bass , in parallel with a 9 pin preamp tube for vocals......

The design of these dates back to 1959. So of course there are plenty of advances since then. But there's still plenty of people who love these for what they are.

@@audionautica6843 it is time for consumers to move on .....

Yes, but obviously that adds effort and cost. The customer wasn't prepared to pay for that. (oh, the customer is me !)

HaHa - love it! Thanks for the memories.

Correct - I think I worked that out later on in the video.

Yes, as I said in the description this is a 3020i from 1998. Same basic design, but different from the earlier models.

You should be able to find one on eBay.

There's a BNC connector on the back of the 2015 which is the signal generator output. I then use a BNC to RCA converter to connect to the RCA input on the amplifier.

Great! From memory there seems to be a consensus on one of the Quad 405 enthusiast sites for an OnSemi part which is a good substitute, which is what I ended up using.

@@audionautica6843 I took a quick look at my 405. The output transistors on one side had caption 2N3773. On the other side no caption was visible. Now, ten years after getting it working I am not sure on which side I installed new output transistors.

@@v8pilot Date code?

@@audionautica6843 I took a look with special lighting and close-up specs. Transistor markings right side of amp: ON, 2N3773, MEXICO, BM0231 Transistor markings left side of amp: RCA, 2N5038, HNS 8148

@@audionautica6843 YT keeps deleting my replies...

Glad to see someone else with an appreciation for these amps!

Thanks for watching!

Sorry - I've never heard a 303.

@@audionautica6843 Peter Walker conducted very careful tests with statistical analyis of the subjective opionions of listeners which showed that there was no detectable difference audibly between 405 and 303.

You're welcome!

Glad you liked it!

Yes I am!

Awesome - thanks for that!

I hope it didn't explode like this one did!

I can't comment for every single unit, but this one is certainly running on 240V. 2x 120 V windings in series = 240V. I changed over the windings.

You just do exactly what I did in this video. If you already have the 2405s, then you need to get crossovers. I used the 3106 which has a 8k cutoff. I just did a quick Google and there are plenty of them out there for sale. Good luck!

@@audionautica6843hi, I was hoping to just add a few components rather than having to spends hundreds of $$.

Well you will still need a crossover, so if you don't want to buy one you will have to build one. There is a Nelson Pass design on the internet for an L300, which is the domestic version of the 4333a, but that is a 3 way crossover. You need a 2 way crossover that will pull out the HF for the tweeter, and then send the rest to the existing 3131 crossover. The only reason I would be doing this is because I liked building crossovers and was good at electronics. If you are doing this for cost reasons, that seems like false economy to me. These speakers are worth USD5000 on the used market. If you wanted to buy an equivalent pair of speakers brand new you would have to spend many tens of thousands of dollars. They are still very good as 2-ways. If it were me, I would enjoy them as 2-ways until I had saved up enough money to buy the proper cross over and then do the conversion. I've owned mine since 2017, and I only "finished" them a couple of months ago.

Hi yes, but I just i figured i can get good components for the mid to cut it 8500h and have the tweeter take over there. and it would be just as good with solen coils and capacitors.

Yes - for sure!

There are schematics, however they are not mine to share...

I think you could do somewhat better. These NADs are interesting for what they are, but there's plenty of stuff out there both new and used that is much better IMHO.

Glad you're enjoying it. Watch my other video. I think I ended up bypassing the JFETs.

Very different amps. The Stereo 70 has a valve-like warmth and sweetness that most transistor amps do not.

Great! My Ortofon OM5E stylus has just broken. I could replace the stylus, but I am thinking about going with a Nagaoka MP-110.

@@audionautica6843 Nagaoka is 150-300 hours of useful life, Ortofon 10 is 300-500, Ortofon 20 is 800-1000 hours. Nagaoka has a very small capacitance amplitude, 100-200pF. While Ortofon needles can work well between 200-500 pF. Nagaoka has a separation between channels of 20 dB. Ortofon 20 is 25 dB, and Ortofon 10 is 22 dB. But Nagaoka's main problem is compliance, which I don't recommend for low mass arms.Nagaoka is 18 µm/mN. Ortofon is 25, perfect for your arm. Ortofon are the best stylus for low mass duals tone arms

@@audionautica6843 The Ortofon 10 and 20 have a longer lifespan, according to the manufacturer, than the Nagaoka. The Ortofon 10 and 20 have higher compliance, which makes them perfect for low-mass tonearms (such as the Dual CS505). The Ortofon 10 and 20 have a greater tolerance for capacitance than the Nagaoka. The Ortofon 10 and 20 also offer better channel separation. I don’t think there’s a better cartridge for a Dual CS505 than the Ortofon 20. And if you’re on a tight budget, the 10 is excellent.

Thanks so much for this, it is really helpful. It looks like there are some good discounts out there on the 20 - this should fit straight into my OM cartridge. Looks like it isn't possible to buy the Super OM cartridge without a stylus in it, although my other deck is a Rega RP1 which comes factory with an OM5E fitted, so I guess its about time it had the stylus replaced. Win Win!