the DAC arrived last friday, but since i wasnt home i had to take it today at the post office.

now, im using an old discontinued headphone by sony mdr-v150, the padding's seal is no more and the clamp is loose enough to fall of your head if you tilt too much.
but the DAC turned it into a whole new headphone. i noticed some details i had missed in some songs.
no amping though. but listening even at low volumes still produce good quality.

cyberjaya. im waiting for a new set of headphones though so you might want to lend it later.a
also, i dont have much lossless. 320kbps ya

oh my, i didnt check before posting. some words were clipped off at the end LOL
i have mostly 320kbps, and not much lossless formats is what i mean.

ya i listen to youtube a lot too. sure if you'll be in cyber in a month+ we can have a meetup.
was thinking about getting a DAP along with a new amp but then i think i'll hold that back in the meantime.

what a coincidence, im in MMU too
i've never been to any meetups at all, its been only 2-3 weeks i had started to browse this Audiophiles section.

ya im still in MMU. degree of course, not masters.
im in FCM, interface design. i only go for class and then come back home.

thats great, welcome to MMU

DAC stands for Digital-Analog Converter. it converts the digital signal from your music source to analog so your speakers/headphones can play it.
your computer either uses an on board DAC or a sound card. the quality of the conversion depends on the hardware and configuration of it.

the difference between this DAC and the normal 3.5mm port on your pc is this one uses better hardware.
so it could convert the signal with minimal distortion or loss in the signal.

thats how i understand it, maybe chchyong89 could explain it better if im wrong.

ya maybe like a USB soundcard

aah, no no. you going to need a separate amp for it
for me its enough to drive my headphones, so i dont need an amp. some headphones and IEMs will need it.

Aww man. More moolah need la liddat :3
Found a sweet deal on hippo box+ but the lack of volume control is a turnoff. I don't want my ears to explode LOL.
What's a good portable amp suitable for this? Aside from FiiO lineup?

Lol I don't even know what those pcb for. Amp circuit? No thanks I might burn my house down.

well, soldering is hotter than heating up the heat shrink sleeve.
so i guess it is totally safe for the components

i got the DAC, next time i can hand it over to you for testing if you want.

probably couldn't see because of the darkness and image quality (lol plebian cameraphone)
the DAC is in the top right corner.



yep, that's a JVC HA-S500

You've read my mind brother. Just now I was talking with my friend about the soundstage for these cans. I wondered why it was feeling like its 'oppressed' or something. Turns out its normal for closed cups (these are my first for good quality headphones).

I should listen to yours some time. And velour pads are hard to find if not imported, and would take some more $$
:|

Haha. But paired with the DAC it sounds phenomenal even without amping. In fact, I think no amping is needed, right now I'm even playing on 1/3rd or 2/5th of volume. 50% volume is max for my ears.

Kudos for chchyong89 for developing this.

No please stop poisoning my wallet. Apologize to my wallet nao!

Lol.

Straight through the DAC or amped?

For PC it's alright since you can control your winamp's volume. Straight from the line out from your phone I'm just worried your ears might explode.
Same case for amps without volume controls like HippoBox+ or Pipe amp.

I'm on my holiday now, left both my UD100 and S500 back at my other house. Miss them so much.

I want to listen to music tak syok lah.

IMHO Adele's album 21 has a bad recording. In Rolling In the Deep you can hear clearly the snare/counter for her cue before she started singing, right after the bass guitar. Probably had leaked out from her headphones while recording. Also the effects on her vocal is quite excessive.

Try to find a live recording of Someone Like You, the with her in the house. That sounded better.

I highly recommend Zee Avi's new album Ghostbird to test out the vocals.

When you listen to the music you should hear some artificial reverb on her vocals. It's that effect that makes the vocal sound echoing inside your bathroom. It makes the whole vocal sound very nice if done properly but excessive reverb would make the vocals sound very artificial. You don't really notice any effects when vocals are mixed into the music, without the effects, vocals would sound less energetic and very unsatisfactory. Even for live recordings musicians sometimes use effects to sound close to album recordings.

Adele has a very good voice, I must praise her for that. But the effects kinda killed it. This is a personal view however, so take it with a pinch of salt.

If you want a good example of vocals with an effect, try to grab some acapella recordings of artists. For me I have an acapella of Chester from a song by Linkin Park. You can hear the reverb very clearly. Alternatively, you can try comparing a live show with a studio recording. Usually you can hear in live shows the vocals are more 'pure'.

I hope the price difference won't be that big