Corona Workplace

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slinger
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Re: Corona Workplace

Unread post by slinger »

Perhaps the government who, let's face it, own and run the BBC, could have Steve Wright co-hosting an all-channels, 8-hours-a-day, 5-days-a-week show with Chris Evans. People would be fighting each other to get back to work to escape from it.
Amps - NVA P50, AP30, A40, Stanislav Palo Tube Headphone Amp BB 85
Speakers - Monitor Audio Silver RX2
Cables - NVA LS1+LS3, SSC, Gotham S/PDIF, IBRA Optical
Digital - NAD C516BEE, SONY ST-SDB900 DAB TUNER, TEAC UD-H01 DAC
Analogue - Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Esprit SB, Graham Slee Gram Amp 2 Phono
Cans - Grado SR80, ATH-M50X

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Fretless
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Re: Corona Workplace

Unread post by Fretless »

With my usual music-room completely unuseable due to the unrelenting heatwave here, I have altered/upgraded a couple of audio installations in (slightly) cooler parts of the house.

I was frustrated by the fact that my workplace setup of RPi - Oehlbach Masterclock - AQ Dragonfly Red wouldn't let me switch sources when I wanted to play audio from the laptop. So in comes the Topping D30 DAC and the Allo DigiOne Signature streamer. Meaning that I can switch from the streaming unit on coax to the USB from the computer. Whoopee!
Playing through active computer speakers this is a very pleasing set-up and fine for working to. I'd say that the Topping sounds fuller, richer and more controlled than the Dragonfly.

One place I can sit relatively cooled is in the lounge, where the stereo has been on non-active for a while. Now I have put a Metrum Musette DAC in, fed via coax by a Sonos Connect and with the ancient NVA pre/power combo running my much-loved, venerable Arcam One loudspeakers.
This might actually be the best performance I have ever heard from this rig. Pity that the geography of the furniture means I cannot get the stereo set up optimally - but it is just nice to be able to relax with some good sounds.

The Oehlbach Masterclock has been shifted to the bedroom installation with Tinkerboard and a Teradak V4.1 DAC. Probably unnecessary - but sounds excellent there.

The hot weather has meant that I have been shutting down a lot of digital audio gear when not in use. Teradak PSU's especially produce quite a lot of heat, even when idle. Luckily NVA amps don't have that problem.

Okay - enough chatter for now.
I'm off for a swim. :character-sebastian:

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 & AudioQuest

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Fretless
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Re: Corona Workplace

Unread post by Fretless »

Image

The new desktop mini-PC in my home-office has been joined by an Asus 24" monitor which was a bargain at only €99.

HDMI link and great picture quality for TV and films. Seems that the PC works faster than with a VGA connection too.

If you can't spot it, the PC is the tiny box on the right under the monitor. :grin:
These users thanked the author Fretless for the post (total 2):
savvypaul (Mon Sep 07, 2020 11:07 am) • CN211276 (Mon Sep 07, 2020 11:55 am)

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 & AudioQuest

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Fretless
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Re: Corona Workplace

Unread post by Fretless »

Anyone for some Spaghetti Carbonara? :grin:

Image

The temporary workplace in the living-room is now becoming semi-permanent and I was missing a good headphone connection. There is a headphone socket in the active Creative speaker set, which is pretty acceptable, but I have a Cambridge DacMagic Plus that has an inbuilt headphone amp and decided to swap that with the Topping D30 that has been sat next to my laptop.

The DacMagic is powered by a large-ish SBooster LPSU, combined price more than 5x that of the Topping DAC. It shows. The sound is weightier and the soundfield starts to shake itself loose of the speakers. Detail and imaging are better. One noticeable diference is that the SPDIF input now has far better SQ than USB - despite the addition of an Oehlbach Masterclock on the USB connection. Different DAC's give priority to one or the other, it seems.

So the installation here is now:

Cambridge DacMagic Plus with SBooster LPSU
Allo DigiOne Signature streamer with Weiliang LPSU
Profigold Oxypure digital coax interconnect
Oehlbach XXL Masterclock with DH Labs Silver Sonic USB cable
NVA Sound Cord (vintage 80's) interconnects.
Creative Gigaworks T40 active speakers
AudioQuest NightHawk headphones.

There is no apology here for the scrunched-up mess of cabling as this table is regularly used for the dumping of day-to-day necessities such as cat-food, tea-trays, laundry, what-have-you. I tidied it just to take the photo.

Survival of the fittest. :whistle:

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 & AudioQuest

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Fretless
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Re: Corona Workplace

Unread post by Fretless »

The Topping D30 has now gone into a headphone rig fed by the old Acer PC running Volumio as a streamer, via Schiit Wyrd USB reclocker and outputting to a Schiit Magni3 headphone amp and AQ NightOwl Carbon cans.

Surprisingly, the SQ has not suffered significantly, the USB processing in the budget Topping DAC is not far off that of the Cambridge unit (in fact it may be marginally better!) and the lack of a serious power supply makes you wonder what the Topping could do if it was hooked up to an LPSU.

Loadsafun! :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 & AudioQuest

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Fretless
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Re: Corona Workplace

Unread post by Fretless »

Neat, sweet, petite. :guiness;

Image
These users thanked the author Fretless for the post:
slinger (Wed Dec 23, 2020 3:47 pm)

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 & AudioQuest

User avatar
Fretless
Posts: 9290
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Re: Corona Workplace

Unread post by Fretless »

Image

Seeing as my temporary Corona-workplace now seems to have become a permanent site - I decided to re-jig the audio set for something a bit heftier. So we now have:

Kenwood KA-4010 amp. Serious power and great sonics. Thrift-shop find.
Mission 760 speakers. Doc-Mod steel lining turned these into fantastic mini-monitors, also found in a charity shop for peanuts.
Cambridge DacMagic Plus with SBooster PSU. An excellent headphone amp as well.
Allo DigiOne streamer with RPi2B in Dalek casing
AudioQuest NightHawk Carbon headphones.
and an AudioQuest Dragonfly Red hidden in a corner.

For the cabling fans (I know you're out there):
NVA LS5 speaker cable
MIT Matrix 6 interconnect
Supra USB
Profigold Oxypure digital coax
AudioQuest Forest ethernet link

This is a wonderful near-field setup which completely enfolds me in music when I'm working or writing my customary nonsense on a certain Hifi forum.

:dance: :guiness;
These users thanked the author Fretless for the post (total 2):
savvypaul (Fri Jul 23, 2021 10:42 am) • antonio66 (Sat Jul 24, 2021 2:25 am)

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 & AudioQuest

antonio66
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Re: Corona Workplace

Unread post by antonio66 »

I know I enjoyed a Kenwood amp I owned, can't remember the number, but it was a serious amp, so you got a good buy with yours Fretless
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Fretless (Sat Jul 24, 2021 11:01 am)

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