Do the Jitterbug !

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terrybooth
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Re: Do the Jitterbug !

Unread post by terrybooth »

Bit of thread drift here - may need to move this to another thread - but here's goes.

I've used JRiver on a PC which I think I controlled with Gizmo on an Android platform but since then gone more minimalist with a Raspberry Pi and a Dac board (various types) which I've used with Volumio and sound@home remote. The new version of volumio (2.0) does away with the need for separate remote software by having a 'responsive' web interface (which means it adjusts to the size of the screen on a smartphone or tablet).
Pioneer PL71/DL103/ Phono2/HiFiPi/P90SA/TIS/CubixPro

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Re: Do the Jitterbug !

Unread post by Fretless »

This rig is Volumio 1 on the Pi with USB output. Works well. Might try v2.0 again now.

For PC use I prefer a simple application called Apollo 37zz. Which has very good SQ. There is a thread about Bug Head Emperor here on HFS from Johanjongstra who has it running.

As for headphones - I never really got on with Sennheisers. Best cans I ever had were Audio-Technica ATH-7 electrostatics and a pair from MB Quart. Until now, that is.

Might have to start considering an AP10H though ....

Upstairs:
Vinyl
Pro-Ject 1.2 + Grado Sig Jr + Cambridge Alva Duo
DigiVolumio PC + Kiss DP-500 + Sabaj A20d
NVA: P50sa - Cube2 - SSP - LS6+ Sabaj A10a (x2)
Downstairs:
Vinyl
Logic DM101 + Syrinx LE1 + Grado Sig MCX
DigiDenafrips Ares II + Volumio PC + Cambridge CXC
NVA: P50 - BMU+ Aiyima A07 MAX (x2) + Arcam One
HP: HifiBerry Digi+ PRO + Sabaj A10d
Office:
Allo DigiOne SIG + SMSL M300se + Douk G4 (x2)
Mission 760 + Monolith THX AAA 887
Headphones: German Maestro, Monolith & AQ

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Re: Do the Jitterbug !

Unread post by Fretless »

Note to other audiophile electric-bass players - finally there's a headphone that makes a bass sound like you're playing it yourself. Big,fat meaty, cuddly - name it. You know how it's meant to sound. These Nighthawks are a marvel. It is an acquired taste and I've been at the vino but I have had many cans through the years and there are a few that just 'get' to you - these are one of those.

More comments when I've sobered up. A bit. :guiness;

Upstairs:
Vinyl
Pro-Ject 1.2 + Grado Sig Jr + Cambridge Alva Duo
DigiVolumio PC + Kiss DP-500 + Sabaj A20d
NVA: P50sa - Cube2 - SSP - LS6+ Sabaj A10a (x2)
Downstairs:
Vinyl
Logic DM101 + Syrinx LE1 + Grado Sig MCX
DigiDenafrips Ares II + Volumio PC + Cambridge CXC
NVA: P50 - BMU+ Aiyima A07 MAX (x2) + Arcam One
HP: HifiBerry Digi+ PRO + Sabaj A10d
Office:
Allo DigiOne SIG + SMSL M300se + Douk G4 (x2)
Mission 760 + Monolith THX AAA 887
Headphones: German Maestro, Monolith & AQ

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Re: Do the Jitterbug !

Unread post by Fretless »

I think I have been unfairly critical about the NuForce uDac3.

Just come back from a holiday touring around various locations in Europe (Italy - yuk, Croatia - nice, Germany - okay) and amongst other things I took an Asus netbook PC along. At the last minute I chucked in the uDac3, a Jitterbug and a couple of pairs of headphones. Glad I did.

In the evenings I got to fire up the netbook, with a load of albums on the hard-drive, plugged in the DAC and some headphones and amazed myself by enjoying some serious, high-quality sounds. It would seem that the pairing of the Nuforce unit with a Raspberry Pi isn't too successful - and I think the reason lies in the Pi not being able to push enough juice into the DAC to run the headphone amp section properly. It seemed to run out of steam and sound somewhat brash and brittle.

The Asus Eee PC that I have is a compact 10" screen device but acts like a grown-up laptop. It has 3 USB ports and would appear to run a full-scale power output to the USB-attached devices. With my aged Grado SR80's the soundstage and detail were clean and wide, truly excellent bass and nice, sweet highs. Switching to closed-back Sony MDR 100AAP (for those moments when someone else is watching TV or asleep) the bass is tight and clear and everything sounds 'just right'. The Jitterbug sitting in-between was doing its usual job of making everything that little bit more 'musical'.

I had a Richard Sinclair fixation so spent most of the time listening to various Caravan / Camel / Hatfield & the North albums featuring his pleasant vocals and supple bass-work. Especially on the newer, remastered version of Camel 'A Live Record' which now contains a series of previously unreleased numbers from the 'Rain Dances' tour (recommended).

So I amend my judgement on the Nuforce uDac3 to: a bizarrely good little DAC / headphone unit, when paired with a proper PC and good headphones. :dance:

Upstairs:
Vinyl
Pro-Ject 1.2 + Grado Sig Jr + Cambridge Alva Duo
DigiVolumio PC + Kiss DP-500 + Sabaj A20d
NVA: P50sa - Cube2 - SSP - LS6+ Sabaj A10a (x2)
Downstairs:
Vinyl
Logic DM101 + Syrinx LE1 + Grado Sig MCX
DigiDenafrips Ares II + Volumio PC + Cambridge CXC
NVA: P50 - BMU+ Aiyima A07 MAX (x2) + Arcam One
HP: HifiBerry Digi+ PRO + Sabaj A10d
Office:
Allo DigiOne SIG + SMSL M300se + Douk G4 (x2)
Mission 760 + Monolith THX AAA 887
Headphones: German Maestro, Monolith & AQ

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Re: Do the Jitterbug !

Unread post by Fretless »

"And how are things in headphone land?" I hear you all asking, or not. Well, I'm going to tell you anyway.

There have been a couple of changes and a nice discovery. The removal of the Hegel HD12 from my system left me without a headphone option there and I was wondering what to do. Remembering that HFS'er George Hincapie had a couple of DAC/headphone units for sale I checked with him and was able to get his Cambridge Dacmagic Plus.

Mint condition, nice price, speedy delivery (to Holland!). Thanks George ! :guiness;

Image

The Plus is a very different animal to its little brother, the Dacmagic 100. It has a pre-amp function, various filter options, a wider choice of input/outputs, twin Wolfson DAC chips AND a headphone amp. Looks neat, cool and expensive.

What I wanted to do first was just hook it up via the unused Toslink output from my CXC CD transport and run a pair of Grado SR225e's, this sounded really, really good and I was immediately forced to admit that the headphone section on the Hegel had not been all that wonderful. On further listening I began to suspect that the Dacmagic Plus would have given the Hegel a hard time all round (3x the price) - but it's gone now, would have been an interesting experiment.
I was so impressed by the authoritative detail and control of the Plus, using its own wall-wart PSU that I decided to plug it in to the SBooster linear power supply that the I had got for the 100. Then things went through the stratosphere. The combination of supercharged Dacmagic Plus with my Nighthawk headphones really pushed the MF X-CanV3 and Dacmagic 100 into the shadows. So much more grip and insight, relaxed but powerful.

The decision was made. The Plus stayed in the lounge with the SBooster and Nighthawks. The other gear is now the headphone option for the NVA system. one handy feature of both the CXC and DM100 is that they both switch off automatically if unused for an hour - as I regularly use this setup for 'snooze' music.

Verdict: the Cambridge Dacmagic Plus is a stunner (I believe Richer Sounds are discounting it at the moment). Straight out of the box it gives a cool, detailed performance with a load of options. Sound will rival far more expensive (oversampling) DACs, put a better PSU on it and it will really impress. And the headphone amp section is remarkably good.

Upstairs:
Vinyl
Pro-Ject 1.2 + Grado Sig Jr + Cambridge Alva Duo
DigiVolumio PC + Kiss DP-500 + Sabaj A20d
NVA: P50sa - Cube2 - SSP - LS6+ Sabaj A10a (x2)
Downstairs:
Vinyl
Logic DM101 + Syrinx LE1 + Grado Sig MCX
DigiDenafrips Ares II + Volumio PC + Cambridge CXC
NVA: P50 - BMU+ Aiyima A07 MAX (x2) + Arcam One
HP: HifiBerry Digi+ PRO + Sabaj A10d
Office:
Allo DigiOne SIG + SMSL M300se + Douk G4 (x2)
Mission 760 + Monolith THX AAA 887
Headphones: German Maestro, Monolith & AQ

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Re: Do the Jitterbug !

Unread post by George Hincapie »

Great write up. It was reduced for Black Friday, but back to full price now. Someone did well :guiness;

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Re: Do the Jitterbug !

Unread post by Fretless »

Well I haven't been too much involved with improving the hifi for a while. But then an itch of curiosity get to me and I decided to try a second Jitterbug in the Pi2 + Hifiberry Digi+ PRO unit. Grabbed one out of another Pi and plugged it in next to the one already there - not a difficult operation.

Having already bored the pants off everyone by praising the Jitterbug's sonic effects, I won't repeat myself - but AudioQuest claim that adding a second unit to a spare USB port on a PC/Laptop will benefit the audio performance. Goes for a Pi as well.

So - in goes Jitterbug Nr. 2 and my test disc for the day was Manfred Mann Chapter Three (the amazing first album by the pre-Earth Band lineup that is a mix of bluesy, laid-back psychedelia and experimental Jazz). If you haven't heard it - give it a go.

Image

Manfred Mann Chapter Three - I (1969)

But I digress - what the extra J-Bug did was to sharpen up the focus on the soundstage, tighten the bass better and create more definition and space around instruments. On a complex album like Chapter Three this was quite noticeable. Vocals came over as more natural and lifelike and the 3D effect improved a bit as well.

All fairly subtle influences - but taken as a whole a genuine step up in SQ. Apparently a third J-Bug in a PC won't give any additional benefits.

Trouble is I now have to get a couple more for the other installations. :grin: :dance:

Upstairs:
Vinyl
Pro-Ject 1.2 + Grado Sig Jr + Cambridge Alva Duo
DigiVolumio PC + Kiss DP-500 + Sabaj A20d
NVA: P50sa - Cube2 - SSP - LS6+ Sabaj A10a (x2)
Downstairs:
Vinyl
Logic DM101 + Syrinx LE1 + Grado Sig MCX
DigiDenafrips Ares II + Volumio PC + Cambridge CXC
NVA: P50 - BMU+ Aiyima A07 MAX (x2) + Arcam One
HP: HifiBerry Digi+ PRO + Sabaj A10d
Office:
Allo DigiOne SIG + SMSL M300se + Douk G4 (x2)
Mission 760 + Monolith THX AAA 887
Headphones: German Maestro, Monolith & AQ

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Re: Do the Jitterbug !

Unread post by CN211276 »

I bought my second jitterbug not long after the first and experienced similar improvements to those described above. A cost effective upgrade.
Main System
NVA BMU, P90SA/A80s (latest spec), Cube 1s, TIS, TISC(LS7)
Sonore OpticalRendu, Chord Mscaler & Qutest, Sbooster PSs
Network Acoustics Eno, ifi iPurifier3, AQ JB FMJ, Cisco 2940 & 2960
DH Labs ethernet, BNC & USB cables, Farnells cat 8 ethernet cable

Second System
NVA P20/ A20, Cubettes, LS3, SSP, SC
Sonore MicroRendu, Chord Mojo 2 MCRU PSs, AQ Carbon USB cable & JB FMJ

Headphones
Grado SR325e/Chord Mojo, Beyerdynamic Avetho/AQ DF Colbat

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terrybooth
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Re: Do the Jitterbug !

Unread post by terrybooth »

Fretless wrote:my test disc for the day was Manfred Mann Chapter Three (the amazing first album by the pre-Earth Band lineup that is a mix of bluesy, laid-back psychedelia and experimental Jazz). If you haven't heard it - give it a go.
I remember this being pushed as 'what we always wanted to do'. Manfred Mann and Mike Hugg freeing themselves from pop and the associated commercialism. Pity then that they chose to include the tune they'd written for the Manikin advert using a theme nicked from Jimmy Hendrix, but I'm being too cynical. A fine album indeed. :grin:
Pioneer PL71/DL103/ Phono2/HiFiPi/P90SA/TIS/CubixPro

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Re: Do the Jitterbug !

Unread post by George Hincapie »

So how do these Jitterbugs work precisely? Would them be any advantage to using one in my Aries?

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