Received my Compass from the second bulk early Tuesday morning, a day after GodLuvSxS said was being sent out to everyone.

I tried Compass with the OPA-Earth as I had the Earth for nearly 3 months on my Prodigy card so it is already well burned-in I suppose. Source is Prodigy HD2 output via TOSLINK to Compass. Headphone is Sennheiser HD595, neutral setting in the Amp.

First impression is the whole soundstage opening up, clear and airy highs, clear mids, and solid bass. And everything sounded so clean, natural and neutral. There is a very clear depth and width in the soundstage. With the HD595, I thought it sounded very natural, clear and neutral, like listening to the Alesis M1 Active MkII Monitors using balanced connections ...

I am wondering what it will sound like with a HD600...itchy to get my hands on a HD600 just to hear the difference in sound....

True to what has been reported before, while burning in, I can hear some shift in the sound signature...Been letting Compass running 24 hours since Tuesday...

I also tried using USB link and USB-ASIO driver. Surprisingly, the audio seems to sound fuller and added depth compared to TOSLink. Wonder if the TOSLink cable needs to be upgraded... Not sure which one is suppose to be the correct sound then....

This post has been edited by damieneo: Jul 11 2009, 10:57 PM

I don't know if this is what people do but a Hi-Fi friend of mine suggested that I use some Blu-Tack and cover the capacitors and IC chips on the Compass board... suppose to make the sound better and it was an old "HI-FI audiophile trick" - about dampening effect...

Not sure if it's the Compass burning in or whatever, but after he has done the blu-tack thingy...I listened again while he did with and without blu-tack...Surprisingly there is a difference... Soundstage gain additional depth, the highs have some sparkle and instruments seems to have layers...

Is this something like a mod to try??

The Compass with the Earth HDAM has finally passed the 350 Hours mark. Must say...the sound seems to settle down alot... Bass, mid and treble now balanced....

My connection is through stock Toslink from Audiotrak Prodigy HD2 (only has optical out). My friend loan me an audioquest toslink...difference is great....seems like better tsolink , better sound...more textures and depth, details compare to stock toslink...my friend suggest I try getting the Van Deb Hul Optocoupler made from glass...should sound as good as digital coaxial...

Second thing I try is using Vibrapods underneath the Compass... bought 4 of model 1 from Tong Lee at LYP.... Wow! I thought it was just minor change in sound but with the vibrapod the sound quality improved a lot! Soundstage really widen up...and depth moves back deeper....trebles have clearer and sweet sound, bass...physically solid.... Really good.... Listen to music and it sounds lifelike...Tong Lee sells for RM30 one piece of vibrapod.... I heard they were stuckup but not so in my case...the owner was very helpful and suggest I try different model ...if not right...go back and change.... I tried model 3...but not much effect so finally settle on mdel 1 as suggested by GodLuvSxS....

...I am hoping the bulk will still jalan... I wanted to get more.... Anyway, also tried the Vibrapod Cone on top of the Isolators under the Compass. Strange though...the effect on the sound is like it's much brighter, a little bit constricted sound signature... Not sure if need the Cones anymore...but yea...definitely BIG IMPROVEMENT using the Isolators under the Compass...

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Added on July 30, 2009, 12:04 pm....How come the Compass thread no post arrrr?? No one have comment lor? Or too deep into the sound of the Compass ...

I think I have reach quite close to the 600 hours burn - in for the Compass with the Earth HDAM (matured almost 6 months liao..Only burn in Compass).

Strange experience...whenever I opened up the cover, and replaced it...if I tightened the screw tightly, the sound from my HD600 sounds a little bit compressed in the sound signature... if I loosen the screws until it just tighten but not yet...I hear a wider soundstage, and highs are little bit clearer but not bright, airy...

I thought its just my hearing...but I repeat a few times and get the same result....odd....

Also...I have since removed all the blu-tak on the ICs & caps in the Compass... I use just two little dots about 3mm in size on the DIR9001 IC and the DAC chip... I hear a stronger bass...the bass drum kicks really "kick" my head... ... I wonder if this is what the Marigo VTS Tuning Pots does.... But the little bit of bluu-tak did produce different sound... instruments I can tell them apart.... Bass "Kicking"... slightly warmer sounding instruments...Hmmmmm

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Added on August 1, 2009, 3:15 amDang!....Just set the jumpers to soft2 settings...Now the Compass really sounding really real thru the HD600! Instruments such as violins sounded very very lifelike....freaky....I work with an orchestra at the KLCC most of the time and now I can hear the instruments just like in real life!

This post has been edited by damieneo: Aug 1 2009, 03:15 AM

My COMPASS is now well over thousand of hours in use so can say it really shows what it is good at...

BTW, I have been doing some tweaks to my setup of the Compass unit after doing some research on the Net and at Head-Fi. All are mostlly done externally no messing around with the internals of the COMPASS. It's just to enhance what is already a very natural sounding DAC output.

What I did and impressions:

1. At GodLuvSxS' suggestion, I put the COMPASS on four Vibrapod Pods and Cones Isolators. Removed the feet that came with the unit.

2. Use some RCA plugs, and put some resistor inside to short the live and ground pins together. These I put on the unused INPUT RCAs on the Unit. (NOT OUTPUT! Doing so will damage the unit!) These helps to reduce RFI & EMF interference from the unused jacks picking them up. I use 75ohm resistor for the plug to the COAXIAL input (since I use the TOSLINK for connections) and 5K1 resistors for the plugs to the RCA INPUT jack.

3. Use some Blu-Tack and made a small ring around the plug head of the TOSLINK cable connecting to the unit as well as the cables at the DAC output to reduce micro-vibrations travelling via the cable from the PC to the Unit.

The overall result of these tweaks resulted in a very clear (analytical) natural organic and most importantly CLEANER sounding Compass. There's a bit more air noticeable around the instruments and performers, and more sense of the recording's acoustic space. Also there's more variety of textures to the highs, mids, and bass.

Overall, what is already quite good with the COMPASS, I felt is further enhanced. Highs are extended yet airy, bass is tight and whomping....soundstage has widened and increased with a bit more 3D depth to it...More PRAT I suppose.

These tweaks were meant to isolate the unit from micro-vibrations or stray interference leaking in from the unused RCA jacks which apparently affect the sound quality.

One thing I did try earlier and then discarded was using blu-tack on the ICs chips and capacitors of the unit. At first it sounded good but then I realised that too much air and dynamics of the music is gone so I removed them.

Also I did try the Marigold VTS tuning Dots for Electronics on the ICs only. These works, and do change the sound quality but I didn't like them because it make the sound compressed and thin so I removed them as well.

It was better I supposed to isolate the whole unit .

The FLACs from CDs which I used as reference during tweakings are:

1. Sheffield Drive - Sheffield Lab
2. James Newton Howard & Friends (Using this to test the difference is quite interesting. Drums and cymbals sounded much more realistic compared to
earlier.
3. Tutti [Reference Recordings] Orchestral Sampler
4. Beethoven - Symphonies - Karajan (SACD rip) Massed violins sounded great...more like a whole bunch of violins playing

Oh yeah....it seems good practice to use a proper power supply unit. I didn't realise that my voltage regulator was a factor here until I got an APC voltage regulator... the improvement in sound quality is simply dramatic. Before this, there's an odd hollowness, grey sounding to the overall sound. Once I switched to a good voltage regulator, the sound is fuller sounding, airier in the highs, and the soundstage seem more 3D. I am using Copper Colour Penny II Power Cord at the moment, but I am thinking of getting Audio-Gd's Power cable with the Compass to the see if it actually works better since Kingwa did develop the unit with the cable in mind....

I know that there have been many arguments about the effectiveness of cables, etc and power supply affect audio reproduction. It's up to an individual. I was skeptical but I tried them out. Works for me, and I do hear differences, so no problem.


UPDATE (10 September '09):

I didn't realise that the optical connection from Prodigy HD2 to the Compass was not set-up properly. In the control panel of the HD2, there is a tab that switches the control bit of digital connections from Consumer to Professional. I accidentally used the Professional setting, which adds pre-emphasis to the audio signal.

Once I switched it back to Consumer, the audio sounds much more neutral and better.

This means that of all the tweaks I applied to the above, the one using RCA plugs is now redundant. I tried them on and off and now prefers them not on the RCA sockets at all.

As of now, the Compass is really showing its true colors, good soundstage and dynamics.

This post has been edited by damieneo: Sep 10 2009, 12:34 PM