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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 23, 2011 22:43:49 GMT
Red is always "right" and white is always "left" but, for some reason, it's the opposite way round with the Mini APE It's not a "biggie" as long as you know the score but, yeh, could be confusing
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2011 22:46:35 GMT
Well spotted Mike!! It didn't occur to me to READ the back!!!!! It was quite funny when the digital restored left/right so I just assumed crossed wires inside.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 23, 2011 22:53:29 GMT
Well spotted Mike!! It didn't occur to me to READ the back!!!!! It was quite funny when the digital restored left/right so I just assumed crossed wires inside. Always read the label...... especially the bit about "this product may contain nuts".... I love nuts, I wish everything contained nuts.
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leo
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Post by leo on Mar 23, 2011 23:03:12 GMT
Red is always "right" and white is always "left" but, for some reason, it's the opposite way round with the Mini APE It's not a "biggie" as long as you know the score but, yeh, could be confusing Glad somebody else noticed it too As you say though, its no problem
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2011 23:06:21 GMT
Red is always "right" and white is always "left" but, for some reason, it's the opposite way round with the Mini APE It's not a "biggie" as long as you know the score but, yeh, could be confusing I had to check that last night after the talk about it. It seems I read the labeling when connecting and ignored the colours, so I'm OK. Anyone who has not tried a better PSU and has access to one, slap it on now, it responds very well to it. Mick has, I assume Mike has and I have, it's very worthwhile. That's a good idea of recording albums as one chunk, especially if the tracks normally merge or are linked somehow.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2011 6:44:53 GMT
Especially with better quality files Chris. It can still be noticeable if you use high quality files. However, at lw bit rates it doesn't seem to present a problem.
The ape's relay will still kick in if you use gapless as well so a whole album ripped gets rid of it.
Ian
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2011 8:31:09 GMT
Crikey, Mick, no wonder you guys like it so much ;D ;D Oh Yes!! I am very pleasured with the mini-Ape, lovely the way these little things appear in translation, "on the other hand" i would also be "much pleasured" ) if i had the same level of knowledge regarding the Chinese language, as Candy has of English. Yes Chris, done some A-B tests with Pinkie and supplied PSU last night and L. Pinkie won. Mick.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 24, 2011 9:01:05 GMT
Funny thing is....... I didn't know I made a PSU for the Mini APE, this is a new one on me I will make one today and see how it goes.... Mick, did you change the connector on your V-CAN PSU?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2011 9:08:51 GMT
Funny thing is....... I didn't know I made a PSU for the Mini APE, this is a new one on me I will make one today and see how it goes.... Mick, did you change the connector on your V-CAN PSU? Yes Mike, sounds great. Mick.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 25, 2011 23:17:05 GMT
I made a couple today, one for freddypipsqueek and one for myself.... yep, a definite improvement all round.... listening through loudspeakers there is a greater sense of space and much the same through headphones.... I am experimenting with a 1nF LCR polyprop cap across the 12V output, it seems to give it a tad more detail across the spectrum.... will listen extensively over the weekend and report back on Monday.
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chris1967
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Post by chris1967 on Mar 26, 2011 10:42:20 GMT
Should i post founding s and listening test observations here or on the "exclusive" thread?
In any case i will post a few more here...
I am truly amazed by the sound quality... sorry that i am repeating myself but this is really something of an audio bargain...
The difference between the MFM1 DAC is there but it is MINIMAL, beeing less space between the instruments/voices and a very little,... well previously I said roll off,... now I am saying smoother... It is i repeat very minimal, and i am listening through amplifiers and speakers that do bring out even the slightest nuances...
This has been confirmed my numerous A/B tests, i have put some serious hours of listening...
Does anyone that have a DacMagic confirm that the differences are minimal? (I know it is a different DAC but in the same price/performance category than the MF).
As far as the fase difference i forgot to mention that at first i also cnnected wrongly, following the colours and not the labels... this should be fixed in the future though...
I am gathering the things i need for a PSU... what amps should i have available? the switched supplied unit says 12V 2Amp... should i stay with the 2 rating?
Mike, this 1nF polyprop what does it do electronically i mean (sonically i am sure you will tell us)?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2011 12:21:25 GMT
I find the sound really full once you move into wavs and the edginess of compression goes. I ripped an orchestral CD this morning, really slowly with high error correction and it sounds absolutely fantastic with the digital out going straight into the lovely little Aune amp. It makes a great mini set up actually, so I'm going to put a portable drive onto it and rip wavs onto the drive rather than use CD's. Less space and a really good sound. I have been ripping images on EAC so that there is one huge wav file for classical stuff, so you don't get the relay clicking in and there is actually something rather satisfying about the click on/off - a bit like a stylus on an lp!! This is a really good little player and it sounds really smooth with high quality files. If you have Alex's example of the Beach Boys, it's stunning. I can't believe I'm enjoying The Beach Boys!!!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2011 12:26:32 GMT
the 1nF CR (not LCR) normally is used for damping sparks in circuits where inductive (the L) loads are switched with a relay or switch to prevent/reduce sparking between the contacts. Nowadays more commonly a MOV is used. The C is there to conduct the induced current from the coil at the moment a coil's power supply is interrupted and the R to limit the current but mostly as NOT to create a tuned circuit (L with C in series or parallel) by damping this 'tuned circuit'. The spark is thus limited and the lifespan of the contacts greatly prolonged. This is where they are intended for. It's also called a 'snubber' ( I can't say that word often enough, just like 'grommet') it makes technical jargon FUN ;D
Ofcoarse they can be inserted in other applications too. And the sonic benefits.. I will leave to others...
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2011 13:00:01 GMT
I didn't understand a word of that!! I presume it's some kind of safety device? Or are you learning Chinese Frans? I was just looking at the unit while listening to some heavy Mahler stuff and was thinking, the next move that the company could do would be to put the Aune and Player into one box, with the digital connection internal and a nice fat hefty power supply to feed both. It makes those silly mini music systems sound daft!! It plays wavs with ease from an SD card or even from a usb memory stick. The relay doesn't bother me too much since I'm sitting 25 feet away from the unit because my front room is like a park. It develops good bass on speakers though!! I can imagine that with classical pieces where movements run into each other, the click might bother some or on a concept album where there are no gaps, but ripping a big wav is a good solution to get round it if it bothers you. Mike, it won't play lossless ipod stuff. MPG4? I will have to convert stuff. I presume mpg4 is Apple lossless? I'm so lost in all these formats now that I don't even bother to look at what they're called!! BTW - does anyone know of a right angled usb lead so that the plug doesn't stand so proud of the machine if left in? Ian
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2011 13:31:37 GMT
Ian,
Would you rate that combo "better" than, say, using the analogue out of the Ape into your fully Mikied XCans?
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 26, 2011 13:43:03 GMT
the 1nF CR (not LCR) normally is used for damping sparks in circuits where inductive (the L) loads are switched with a relay or switch to prevent/reduce sparking between the contacts. Nowadays more commonly a MOV is used. The C is there to conduct the induced current from the coil at the moment a coil's power supply is interrupted and the R to limit the current but mostly as NOT to create a tuned circuit (L with C in series or parallel) by damping this 'tuned circuit'. The spark is thus limited and the lifespan of the contacts greatly prolonged. This is where they are intended for. It's also called a 'snubber' ( I can't say that word often enough, just like 'grommet') it makes technical jargon FUN ;D Ofcoarse they can be inserted in other applications too. And the sonic benefits.. I will leave to others... eh?........... The capacitor I am using is an "LCR" (that's the brand name ) 1nF type..... I am fitting it ACROSS the 12VDC output (+/-).... I think you have misunderstood me Frans. LCR capacitor: 1kv / 1nF I am using.......
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2011 14:57:43 GMT
Ian, Would you rate that combo "better" than, say, using the analogue out of the Ape into your fully Mikied XCans? Hi Chris, I haven't tried that yet. I kind of automatically associated the Aune with it - they seem a good match and the Aune is very good. It's a difficult one because I normally prefer the sound of the X-Can against the Aune, but the digital out from the Ape seems to be very good and imo a tad more focussed. Easy to do with a simple coax lead and I had a posh one lying around just waiting to be fed into the Aune. I haven't really taken ripped music as a serious format except for travelling tbh, but the option of using wavs and digital output to an amp kind of ramps the quality somewhat. If you have an Aune, it's a good idea to try the digital in. However, the X-Cans has more guts than the Aune so if there is a 'dirtier' kind of signal coming out of the Ape but it's given more guts, it's a difficult one as to which I prefer. The phono out from the Ape is very quiet though so I would say there's not a lot in it. If I a/b'd (Frans style) I'd be hard pushed to pull them apart. I have the X-Cans on the end of a good CD player and I love the combo so much that I'm loathe to pull it apart for digital files so I have been looking for another combo and the Aune amp suits the Ape well. Listening to Symphony 8 by Mahler from a BBC recording shows all kinds of low level things on the wav - the organ wheezing and mic faders up and down. (The BBC love to fiddle) The room acoustics show well too so I'm very pleased with the detail coming from the Aune amp. The system is definitely pleasuring me. ;D I must like the Aune amp though 'cos I stuck a gold knob on it so it looks a bit posh now. (And the Neco!!) Gosh, everything I have is turning to gold......
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2011 21:19:00 GMT
Has anyone had a problem with the end of mp3 files being cut out and it moves to the next track, or am I doing something wrong here?
It plays mp3 files fine but just skips to the next track before the track you're listening to has finished!!
Same files play fine on the ipod.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 29, 2011 21:45:36 GMT
Has anyone had a problem with the end of mp3 files being cut out and it moves to the next track, or am I doing something wrong here? It plays mp3 files fine but just skips to the next track before the track you're listening to has finished!! Same files play fine on the ipod. Ian, some of the MP3 files you sent me were a bit "random" on the APE but they seem fine on itunes..... I'm no expert with these gadgets, maybe someone who knows about MP3 files will chip in.
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Post by JohnnyBlue on Mar 29, 2011 23:23:07 GMT
Has anyone had a problem with the end of mp3 files being cut out and it moves to the next track, or am I doing something wrong here? It plays mp3 files fine but just skips to the next track before the track you're listening to has finished!! Same files play fine on the ipod. You're not alone: I've had exactly the same problem. Sometimes it's just the first track on an album, but on one particular album ripped to FLAC it does it to every track, and since the tracks are mostly very short (it's a version of the Goldberg Variations) it makes it all but unlistenable (especially when combined with the relay click and ensuing gap in playback). I shall try to rip the CD as an image file, to see if this gets round the problem...
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Post by candyhifidiy on Mar 30, 2011 5:10:45 GMT
Hello rabbit , about the MP3 file, we suggest you should use the high file , the one which is blow 8K may be will have a problem, the file we suggested were this :
WAV+CUE APE+CUE FLAC+CUE
by the way, the APE had a limited for the file above the C3000, Compress (fast): '-c1000' Compress (normal): '-c2000' Compress (high): '-c3000' Compress (extra high): '-c4000' Compress (insane): '-c5000'
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Post by JohnnyBlue on Mar 30, 2011 6:00:31 GMT
Hello rabbit , about the MP3 file, we suggest you should use the high file , the one which is below 8K may be will have a problem, the file we suggested were this : WAV+CUE APE+CUE FLAC+CUE by the way, the APE had a limited for the file above the C3000, Compress (fast): '-c1000' Compress (normal): '-c2000' Compress (high): '-c3000' Compress (extra high): '-c4000' Compress (insane): '-c5000' Did you mean 8KB or 8MB? The FLAC files I have which cut off before the end are all around 4 - 7 MB.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2011 7:04:59 GMT
Hello rabbit , about the MP3 file, we suggest you should use the high file , the one which is blow 8K may be will have a problem, the file we suggested were this : WAV+CUE APE+CUE FLAC+CUE by the way, the APE had a limited for the file above the C3000, Compress (fast): '-c1000' Compress (normal): '-c2000' Compress (high): '-c3000' Compress (extra high): '-c4000' Compress (insane): '-c5000' Hi Candy, Yes, they are low bit rate mp3 files that seem to do this. (I think around 192kbs) Not a big deal because the Ape is so revealing that it does seem to highlight how poor these rips are. Mike tried some old rips I had and he mentioned the sound and on checking with the Ape, he was right. Ipods don't show this at all. The Ape shows flaws very easily, down to engineering sounds such as noise on the recording or even mic faders going up and down. Listening to some BBC radio recordings reveals how careless the engineers were in the making of the recording itself, probably due to the fact that it was going out on DAB radio which is dreadful quality in the UK. (low bit rate) I think all of the low bit rate stuff will come off the Ape.
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Post by JohnnyBlue on Mar 30, 2011 7:11:38 GMT
I'm not sure if Candy was referring to bit rate or file size. The small FLACs (around 4 - 7MB) I have which cut off before the end are all at 1,411 kbps, of course.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2011 7:20:35 GMT
IMO the player should be able to play any MP3 file without any problems if it plays well on other players. Except for those that are corrupted or do not comply with certain standards perhaps.
Maybe it could be solved with new firmware ?
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