Will
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Post by Will on Jan 10, 2011 23:21:08 GMT
I can't believe just how badly serviced U.K. members are in general ! In Australia we have heaps of Jaycar stores for Electronics,Altronics over the counter in Sydney , Melbourne and Perth (kits too) , Element 14 (Farnell) and RS (free next day delivery for online orders) and others. In Sydney we have PC shops with such stuff over the counter, even a computer fair on the weekend in the grounds of a high school. Then there are quite a few online suppliers that are usually pretty prompt too. Alex To be honest, it's not normally as bad as it is at the moment. The recent bad weather (and it was the worst since records began a couple of hundred years ago) seems to have thrown a spanner in the works. It's also been bad in continental Europe. Mind you, Farnell managed to deliver the day after ordering the other day like they normally do. As for buying from computer stores in town, it depends if you want to spend 20% more than you can get it for on the net, which normally dleivers in a couple of days. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2011 7:19:42 GMT
Alex. I might have missed a previous post. Do you have a quide as to the software/setting etc you use to rip & burn CD's. My main DAC remians 16 bit. Hi I use E.A.C. which is freeware. Use the EAC option to configure your drives with their database. I have sent you an email with 4 lots of the settings that I use ,which may be different to the default settings. There are faster rippers around, but I personally believe that EAC is the best, and sounds better than others like dbpoweramp etc.. Sometimes it can read sections of unplayable CDs and allow you to burn a replacement copy. Alex |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jan 11, 2011 22:48:34 GMT
Leo, I enquired about my graphics card.... the seller said it had been delivered... gave me the tracking number..... it was delivered to some punter called J. HENSTIDGE on the Orkney Isles on Saturday morning...... ERM! something VERY strange going on with Royal Mail at the moment  Turns out this J. Henstidge geezer is a pensioner and the package he signed for contained a pair of trousers he was expecting and NOT my graphics card  My local sorting office went the extra mile and actually "phoned" him up..... an 89 year old man gets a pair of trousers delivered and signs for them.... I am awaiting a graphics card and I get the tracking number of the pair of trousers Something way iffy going on at the moment.... has the sun collided with the moon?  |
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leo
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Post by leo on Jan 11, 2011 23:17:29 GMT
Doesn't surprise me at all mate, can you imagine the look on the poor old guys face ? hey I got a Christmas card yesterday believe it or not  APE arrived today, Only just had chance to plug it in , It doesn't seem to be doing much though at the moment , locked onto main menu after boot up . Will have to have a look at it. Hope its not faulty |
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leo
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Post by leo on Jan 11, 2011 23:22:00 GMT
Its now literally going ape shit!! I wonder if its had a knock in transit, the panel may have been knocked against the control switches or something, the screen and menu's is flickering about .
We ok to open it up? hoping its just had a knock
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jan 14, 2011 0:12:18 GMT
Its now literally going ape shit!! I wonder if its had a knock in transit, the panel may have been knocked against the control switches or something, the screen and menu's is flickering about . We ok to open it up? hoping its just had a knock Sure thing, open it up.... no worries..... Mike. |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jan 14, 2011 20:21:28 GMT
Leo,
I have e-mailed HiFiDIY and made them aware there is a prob with it... hopefully it is only a loose connection or something... it was fine when I shipped it so maybe it has had a shunt in the post or something... don't worry about it, if you can find out what's wrong then it's just a case of sending it back to China.
Mike.
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leo
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Post by leo on Jan 16, 2011 23:45:39 GMT
Had it running in bits although its a little temperamental, the displays sometimes flickers and locks up, definitely a dodgy connection somewhere, could be one of those ribbon cables. I'll have a fiddle and put it back together and try again . Hopefully they wasn't playing football with it at the sorting office  |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jan 16, 2011 23:54:51 GMT
Had it running in bits although its a little temperamental, the displays sometimes flickers and locks up, definitely a dodgy connection somewhere, could be one of those ribbon cables. I'll have a fiddle and put it back together and try again . Hopefully they wasn't playing football with it at the sorting office Take your time Leo... no hurry, I trust your judgement 100% Mike. |
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leo
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Post by leo on Jan 17, 2011 0:06:51 GMT
Just need to get same music onto an SD card, USB stick and USB HD if the thing behaves, currently just trying a few songs on a SD card listening to analogue outputs
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2011 1:12:05 GMT
Just need to get same music onto an SD card, USB stick and USB HD if the thing behaves, currently just trying a few songs on a SD card listening to analogue outputs Leo Don't forget it can only do up to 24/96 .wav file playback from USB, even if the files there are 24/192 Alex |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jan 17, 2011 22:30:44 GMT
Had it running in bits although its a little temperamental, the displays sometimes flickers and locks up, definitely a dodgy connection somewhere, could be one of those ribbon cables. I'll have a fiddle and put it back together and try again . Hopefully they wasn't playing football with it at the sorting office Leo, If you could have a prod about inside and disconnect / reconnect the cables it may save a trip back to China. A real shame, it was working great (before I shipped it) but my "music collection" was offline due to the lightning strike.... oh well, shit happens |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jan 20, 2011 22:37:25 GMT
Everything ok Leo?
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leo
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Post by leo on Jan 21, 2011 20:39:47 GMT
I've had it running for a few days, it only went APE at that time once after tapping it but apart from that it seems ok for now. I've checked over the cables etc and those test out ok although a little flimsy. I need to go inside it again anyway to take a few pics
I'm hoping to have a good listen to it over the weekend , see what it'll play and what it won't. Anybody wants me to test anything just let me know
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jan 21, 2011 21:02:30 GMT
I've had it running for a few days, it only went APE at that time once after tapping it but apart from that it seems ok for now. I've checked over the cables etc and those test out ok although a little flimsy. I need to go inside it again anyway to take a few pics I'm hoping to have a good listen to it over the weekend , see what it'll play and what it won't. Anybody wants me to test anything just let me know You know Leo, I reckon it could have been down to the cold snap.... I had it out in the workshop and we are talking -24C at the coldest point.... even my old CD52MKllSE was struggling to spin a disc at those temperatures! From the warmth of the house to -26C it could have caused some of the connections to "move" (especially the ribbon cables).... anyways, glad to hear it's sprung to life again! Could you just confirm that is does NOT play Apple Lossless files? I had a few MP3 files Ian kindly sent me and it played them fine.... it would show the "menu" and all the all the Apple Lossless albums but wouldn't play any of them. I only have Apple lossless on my computer so could only listen to Ian's files.... if you have a spare SD card could you copy a few tracks over onto it so I could have a listen? I'd also like to know how the Mini APE performs as a standalone DAC and also how it sounds attached to the MP3 input of an integrated amp / loudspeaker combo (compared to CD as source)..... Take your time with it Leo.... I am "downsizing" my end so this year I will be able to concentrate on fresh blood.... I'm going to sell one item per day over the next couple of months, a real big "clearout" and then go back to evaluating "one" item at a time.... it's like a fckin' Hi-Fi shop in my house and it's pissing me off bigtime! Back to basics is one of my New Year's resolutions |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jan 27, 2011 0:32:56 GMT
How are you getting on with the Mini APE leo?
Mike.
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leo
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Post by leo on Jan 28, 2011 0:56:53 GMT
I'll update soon as my poorly pc gets back home, living with this tiny piece of crap makes even browsing online a pain in the arse No idea how anybody could use these things all the time, . Bet theres a pile of emails waiting for me |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Feb 3, 2011 22:53:40 GMT
Still eagerly awaiting your findings Leo Mike. |
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leo
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Post by leo on Feb 4, 2011 20:23:58 GMT
I wanted to take a few shots of the outputs on a scope etc but trying to upload pics with this netbook is a total nightmare so I'll have to do that later, I was hoping the main pc would have been sorted by now. Also can't test the digital input yet because I need the pc for that Anyway, heres some of the different files I've tried so far Obviously your limited with the USB but I tried it anyway. USB stick was a standard 8GB Corsair Voyager WAV files 24/176.4 stutters on playback WAV files 24/192 stutters on playback WAV files 24/96 stutters on playback WAV files 44.1 ok FLAC files 24/176.4 Some stutter on playback FLAC files 24/192 Some stutter on playback FLAC files 24/96 Some stutter on playback FLAC files 44.1 ok SD card was a 8GB Sandisk Ultra I borrowed out of my camera WAV files 24/176.4 mostly ok, just the odd stutter WAV files 24/192 mostly ok, occasional stutter WAV files 44.1 ok FLAC files 24/176.4 ok FLAC files 24/192 ok FLAC files 44.1 ok I only had standard 44.1 APE files to try, these played fine, I know Mike wanted to know if Apple lossless files (.m4a) work so I gave some of these a go, unfortunately the APE didn't seem to read them , I'll have a look into that . If theres anything else anybody wants me to test just let me know During use , the APE locked up a couple of times whilst I was browsing the SD card ,it was ok after a quick reset though. I don't know if the lock ups had anything to do with the previous problems caused by being knocked about (mentioned earlier) during delivery or is something to do with the current firmware. The remote isn't very responsive , be sure to read the manual though so you understand what does what, if not it gives the impression the controls are buggy . At first there was something a little odd with the sound, long story short an XLO test disc seem to confirm the left and right analogue outs are reversed so I changed the L&R interconnects around (right to white socket, left to red socket) maybe wired up wrong internally, I have not checked inside the circuitry for this yet) Once sorted I thought the sound was ok from the analogue outputs, compared to what I'm used to I found it a little flat , the high's sounded a little splashy at times but nothing too nasty and probably as good as a midrange cdp. It improved a little after a good warm up so I'd give it a good 30 minutes before properly listening. The lower midrange seemed a little heavy, at times I thought it was a little bloaty. Changing the external smps to a decent linear noticeably helped making the sound more tidy with less bloat to my ears, certainly proved worthwhile even if you try something cheap and simple. A well filtered LM317 based job would be better than the smps , you could even try adding a JLH ripple eater on the output too. Comparing the different formats using the analogue output I favoured WAV, I found it was cleaner , music was easier to follow, Flac seemed a little more muddy and less focussed . It wasn't a huge difference with the APE player but noticeable to me after directly comparing which is quick and easy to do. APE files seemed to sound a little better than flac and closer to WAV. There still doesn't seem to be a huge selection of available hi-res recording so I just used what I had, going from 44.1 to 24/96k material I noticed more extension in the high's and lows, more air and details. The sound was a little more solid. Going to 24/192k was similar to 96k but seemed to have more hf extension, again not a massive difference but noticeable if comparing direct. I still found the analogue out to sound a little flat and compressed . I tried the spdif out (co-axial) with three different dacs , the modified BuffaloII, Beresford Caiman and also Wills ES9022. In all honesty I thought all these was an improvement over the APE's analogue outputs. Sound still seemed a little compressed though. I then used the highly modified QLS550 for comparing spdif output .  I think the mini APE is a much better looking unit than the QLS550, in comparison the QLS looks like an 80's walkman . playbacks limited to 44.1 and it can only read WAV files, theres no USB input or analogue output so the APE wins on features too, the remotes range is about as good as the mini APE. Comparing 44.1 WAV files fed into the external dacs the QLS550 to my ears gave the best sound, it was noticeably clearer and more detailed. HF details was cleaner, things like cymbals was less splashy. The lower midrange of mini APE was thicker and heavier, some may prefer this. The thing to remember though is that QLS550 has had a lot of modifications which has really improved its performance so maybe not a fair comparison? Maybe the mini APE would be as good as the QL550 after some modifications . So far I like the mini APE player, the added extra's could prove useful. I don't know the price but I'd still say its on par with the average mid priced cdp regarding sound (as stock) , no doubt most would use it with an external dac anyway. Its about as user friendly as the QL550 which some people probably won't like where as it won't be a problem for others. The mini APE's internal Wolfson dac is quite capable and could probably sound great with a few good tweaks. If I had one of these units I'd mod the arse off it in a few area's , unfortunately this would add to the cost . I can add details on the internal dac section if anybody is interested. Do we have any price details for the mini APE? |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2011 20:30:09 GMT
Hi Leo
Unless the Corsair Voyager you used was the faster GT version, much of the stutter when playing high resolution files may be due to this. Most generic USB sticks are too slow for playback of high resolution audio, and it can take what seems forever to rip a DVD-A to them.
Alex
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leo
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Post by leo on Feb 4, 2011 20:34:31 GMT
Hi Leo Unless the Corsair Voyager you used was the faster GT version, much of the stutter when playing high resolution files may be due to this. Most generic USB sticks are too slow for playback of high resolution audio, and it can take what seems forever to rip a DVD-A to them. Alex Hi Alex, Would a GT offer better performance than say the SD card? I guess the question is could the Mini APE cope with faster speeds from USB even if the USB stick used is something faster like the GT. BTW if you think normal USB is slow, you should try transfering stuff with this Netbook Leo Edited because it looked pissy and certainly didn't mean to be |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2011 21:49:57 GMT
Hi Leo
Both good questions.
Ail I do know,is that with the Corsair Voyager GT , I get no stuttering on playback of 24/192 .wav files,, and ripping from DVD-A to it is almost as fast as with HDD, whereas I have had a few generic sticks take hours to rip a DVD-A to, instead of something like a little over a minute for an average length high res track. 24/192 does of course take longer than 24/96 to rip.
Alex
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2011 23:11:23 GMT
Not only but also; The SD cards come in different "classes", 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 & 1 (HC & HCX). So I guess you'd need to match similar speed and capacity of both for a price and performance comparison.  |
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mrarroyo
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Post by mrarroyo on Feb 5, 2011 0:07:02 GMT
Some players have problems using the higher speed SD cards. For example I have two Head Direct units and the best result is with the SD Class 4. Good luck.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Feb 5, 2011 11:33:27 GMT
The SD card that AUNE sent over with the Mini APE is the Kingston 4GB SDHC (class 4) card, this is the one they recommend.  |
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Turns out this J. Henstidge geezer is a pensioner and the package he signed for contained a pair of trousers he was expecting and NOT my graphics card 
