Gryph0n
Adept
Cranky, you were right about the Xonar's not-so-great performance. The "transparent" speakers have revealed that the Xonars are not worthy of them
I brought the Ampino today, and managed to hook it up to my SoundCard & Speakers for about 30min before wife shut us up since it was late (21.00). However right away, I can tell that there is something lacking. It sounds like a mid-fi system, with details missing, and mids not sounding as great as when I had auditioned them :S
I've heard the Usher S-520's at ARN's audition room with the Ampino, and it sounded very detailed there, with excellent mids. I believe that ARN was using an Ayon CDP in their Audition room, costing ~1L. On my system, the mids weren't so clear, although the Bass became somewhat more pronounced. Since Speakers and Amp remain same, it is apparent that my Xonar DX is not upto the task. :'(
I will have to get a better soundcard/dac soon. :sos: Guys, any better options than the Essense STX for ~10K ?
Off topic:
I thought that Monster cables were not expensive, but was I in for a surprise !!! Most of their InterConnects were ~1k+, and speaker cable for 180/m. :O
I'm using MX OFC Interconnect from SoundCard to Amp (Rs. 190), and some No-Name cheapo speaker cable obtained from SP Road (Rs. 20/m). I will probably upgrade to MX OFC speaker cables & banana plugs when I also upgrade soundcard/dac.
And no, I don't believe that the cables are at fault for the Mid-fi output, and neither do I believe there would be any difference with costlier cables. Only that chances of oxidization at contacts/wire would reduce with costlier OFC cables.
I brought the Ampino today, and managed to hook it up to my SoundCard & Speakers for about 30min before wife shut us up since it was late (21.00). However right away, I can tell that there is something lacking. It sounds like a mid-fi system, with details missing, and mids not sounding as great as when I had auditioned them :S
I've heard the Usher S-520's at ARN's audition room with the Ampino, and it sounded very detailed there, with excellent mids. I believe that ARN was using an Ayon CDP in their Audition room, costing ~1L. On my system, the mids weren't so clear, although the Bass became somewhat more pronounced. Since Speakers and Amp remain same, it is apparent that my Xonar DX is not upto the task. :'(
I will have to get a better soundcard/dac soon. :sos: Guys, any better options than the Essense STX for ~10K ?
Off topic:
I thought that Monster cables were not expensive, but was I in for a surprise !!! Most of their InterConnects were ~1k+, and speaker cable for 180/m. :O
I'm using MX OFC Interconnect from SoundCard to Amp (Rs. 190), and some No-Name cheapo speaker cable obtained from SP Road (Rs. 20/m). I will probably upgrade to MX OFC speaker cables & banana plugs when I also upgrade soundcard/dac.
And no, I don't believe that the cables are at fault for the Mid-fi output, and neither do I believe there would be any difference with costlier cables. Only that chances of oxidization at contacts/wire would reduce with costlier OFC cables.