navlrac

Um, converting a balanced source to 3.5mm single ended like this is a bad idea! Your'e shorting two of the amplifiers (likely the negative) left right outputs together. Besides possibly killing the amp sooner or later, it has this weird surround sound effect. I know this first hand having had a badly soldered balanced to balanced adapter that did this once. It actually sounds quite nice in that it's different, but I soon realized that nice virtual sound is due to a small amount of left- right crosstalk added, which funny enough is sometimes done intentionally in headphone amps. Anyway, not good for your amplifier to do this. Also it's anyones guess what this does to the THD.

I finally received the TRRS components from Aliexpress after a couple months waiting. Here are some picks of my first balanced cable made for my Fostex TR-70. (will suit TR-80 and TR-90). 2.5mm Fiio standard pinout plug, Belden 1804A starquad, and 17mm TRRS 3.5mm plug custom wired as per Fostex manual. (Yes the user manual has the pinout). Just trying then out now with the cable and an iBasso DC01 balanced DAC. Sounds great so far! Jack plug wiring: Soldering the slim profile 3.5mm was a bit of a fiddle, but first attempt came out not too bad!

So listened to the Meizu HiFi on my old ATH-M40x from my Android device and I must say it sounded great. No lack of bass which I found on the higher impedance TR-70. Plenty of volume too, way more than I could tolerate anyway. The Meizu is *really* tiny, so its excellent for use with mobile or to keep in laptop bag. In any case, I've started playing with E1DA 9038S G3, which is a lot more competent and a fair bit larger (but still small compared to desktop DAC) and its balanced output, so can only be used on balanced wired headphones. Gave the Meizu + M40x to my wife who's more than happy with the combo! Still waiting on TRRRS connector components from Ali to make up balanced cables for the TR-70 ...

Aliexpress free shipping has taken up to eight weeks for me in pandemic, I now try find a seller with the cheaper tracked shipping ($3-4) that ships in +- 3 weeks.

My current work setup. New balanced headphone DAC being tested. Waiting on various Pentaconn 4.4mm and mmcx parts to make up some extra cables.

Maybe also consider Audio-Technica ATH-MSR7b currently $279 Addicted to Audio ?

Further information: Boston Acoustics CR75, in good condition. I inherited these from a neighbour when I moved and downsized from floorstanders. I ended up keeping them for a few years since they were actually pretty good so I delayed buying new entry levels since there wouldn't have been much in it. I've now finally decided to spend a bit to upgrade so these need to go. I've seen them go for more, but just hope someone will find a good use for them. Pickup only, sorry no auditions. Photos:

The optical cable likey has way less of an important influence than the sender side jitter and the clock recovery circuit jitter on the receiver. Unless you have long lengths, the signal attenuation likey won't impact the clock recovery, and the dispersion should be low. See this: https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/review-and-measurements-of-chromecast-audio-digital-output.4544/ Notice the horrible Chromecast jitter, then plugin to a topping d50 with a good recovery circuit and signal is perfect! A good DAC will have a decent receiver with a buffer to eliminate almost all the jitter. Since the jitter issue awareness has increased lately, new DACs are more likely to contain a good optical receiver. Other issues can be unexpected things you overlook like sample rate conversion in some intermediate device like a TV.

Ok true. Just checked pcrad sell at US 2.6/ft so AUD 12 / meter. I would be happy to get at roughly half the price element14 sell it for

Does anyone know where one could purchase Belden miniature star quad 1804a silver plated microphone cable by the meter in AU ? I've seen Element14 sell it for $30/m which seems high, given some US sites look like they sell it for a $4-$5 / meter. Looking to make some short balanced headphone cables into 3.5mm TRRS jacks with this, it seems to be the thinnest star quad available, plus silver coated copper is a bonus.

Found these thinner star quad ~4.8mm diameter ones which look nice. Mogami W2893 https://www.rubbermonkey.com.au/Mogami-W2893-Miniature-Quad-Microphone-Cable-Per-Metre Canare L-4E5C Mini-Star-Quad Microphone Cable https://www.herkes.com.au/cable-mic-4c-e-starquad-braid-thin-black http://www.van-damme.com/vandamme_product/van-damme-tour-grade-classic-xke-miniature-starquad/ Belden 1804A is only 3mm https://catalog.belden.com/techdata/EN/1804A_techdata.pdf

Thanks guys, I've done a little more research. I was originally hoping to find microphone cable with two twisted individually shielded pairs to remove any crosstalk between then. Well, I found some cable manufacturers who make such cables, but, either they were way too thick or not soft PVC so relatively stiff, more for fixed installation. There were also some good figure 8 dual balanced cables, but that's a bit awkward for a 3.5mm jack. Well I thought a bit more about the star quad cables that I was avoiding, and suddenly realised that the arrangement with two balanced pairs together would have less crosstalk between the pairs since each individual conductor of pair A is adjacent both the +ve and -ve conductors of the pair B. Assuming good equal spacing in the cable, the magnetic field of B+ and B- should cancel and induce minimal current in each of pair A's conductors. Is that the general idea? I did see that one manufacturer recommended not using this configuration for pro studio mic setups, and if possible to instead use two separate shielded pairs. For headphone use I guess this would still be a great improvement vs non-balanced cable crosstalk that already isn't an issue.

Hi, I've just acquired some 4pole 3.5mm TRRS jacks from aliexpress to make some custom balanced cables for my Fostex TR-70 headphones. These phones have a custom locking 3.5mm socket, which is 4p, but Fostex only supply cables terminated in single ended TRS. I found that they can take a special 17mm length 3.5mm jack (regular is 14mm length). What I'm after is advice on what type and where to get decent cable for making up a balanced HP cable. I prefer a soft jacket flexible cable, I'm looking to make up a 3m and a 1.5m cable ideally. I could use the "pro" 4 core microphone cable from Jaycar, but I'm sure I could find something nicer.

Not sure if it's digital or analogue, but the highly regarded and cheap E1DA 9038S G3 DAC has a mode with 2nd harmonic distortion added. Note this is a balanced output DAC so unsuitable for singled ended equipment. I believe a 9038D singled ended version should be out in a cohort months, not sure if they will keep the 2nd harmonic mode.

my Meizu Hifi Pro finally arrived Monday ? and I've had a small amount of time to listen to it. (I'm generally rubbish at critical listening) But I have so far listened only with my old Denon AH-C560R earphones, and my Fostex TR-70 250ohm open headphones. With the Denon's there was heaps of bass as expected, sounded quite boomy actually, but I normally only use those on the bus or plane where the extra bass helps. Midrange and treble was fine. Switching to the TR-70s, first impression was the sound is great, very transparent and crystal clear (much better than the C560R) and no issue getting enough volume. The Meizu has 2Vpp output I believe so it can drive, 250-300ohm just fine. I felt however the bass was not quite right. At first I thought it was the headphones, but I switched back to my Topping E30 + JDS Atom, and the bass was back. The TR-70s are quite flat without strong bass to start with, so any drop is bass seems quite noticeable. What confirmed this for me was re-reading the Audioscience review https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/meizu-hifi-pro-usb-c-phone-dongle-dac-review.10423/ which noted the same issue with bass in the listening tests. I have some ATH-MSR7B at the office which I'm keen to try out next week, they may do better with their greater bass emphasis than the TR-70.

> Have you received your Meizu HiFi Pro? So my experiment in best I could get on the cheap resulted in me refusing to pay for courier, and kind of backfired. I took the free delivery option ?. With Covid and everything going on, I guess it got put on a ship (or a few). After 4 weeks, the status was arrived in Singapore, after another 3 weeks it has been scanned in Australia today. I can only imagine how long it will take to get to me now, would this week be too optimistic? I'll let you know...

Make sure the TV is not outputting multi channel audio on optical with Netflix, often the TV has a setting for stereo or two channel output. These DACs can only play 2-channel PCM.

Reminds me when I had similar weird rattling in the sub, turned it upside down and my 2yr olds wooden blocks fell out the bass port. He must have had great fun posting them. ? Took quite some time to get the last two out.

Have not read the reviews for the Atom DAC, but assume it's very decent, and matched appearance. I could not wait and went for Topping E30 which is excellent and has a remote which is one the best features for me, no getting up to change the volume on the Atom is a major plus for me. ? Edit: the Atom DAC is USB only which would have been a deal breaker for me.

Not balanced to RCA! RCA or TRS is unbalanced, ground + signal, even though there are two of them! You'll be shorting the negative to ground and likely damage the preamp.

Just arrived today, Topping E30 to pair with my JDS Labs Atom.

My quick and dirty ultra low noise LDO powered Chromecast.

> What about those Audioquest Dragonfly USB DACs? I've just ordered a Meizu HiFi Pro for portable throwing in my laptop bag, apparently far exceeds the Dragonfly and only about $40USD (A$60). Will see when it arrives. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/meizu-hifi-pro-usb-c-phone-dongle-dac-review.10423/

Item: Schiit Magni Heresy - Headphone Amplifier Price Range: $180 Item Condition: Used - good condition Extra Info: Sydney Eastern Suburbs

I had a look at the Schitt Magni Heresy - US$99 + $44 postage + 10%GST * exchange-rate, works out only about A$6 less than buying from Addicted to Audio - then add AU-USD conversion margins - it was about the same, for no local support, longer shipping.