Nothing In Particular

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Thermionic Idler
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#15331 Re: Nothing In Particular

Post by Thermionic Idler »

Bought a Topping E30 II DAC to go on the end of a Roonbridge (running on an old 2008 Macbook with Debian Linux, the MacOS it'll run is well out of support by now). Due to arrive today.

This is a temporary measure to quickly get Roon working with the hifi, as well as allowing me to exercise the DSD upsampling capabilities of the Roon server. I remember being really impressed with the sound of ed's system at Owston and I noticed at the time that a Topping DAC was providing the front end.

I promised Meredith that I would take a few months off from the hifi projects once the AMB/Quad stylee linestage project is done - to be honest that thing has been (and continues to be) such a difficult birth that I'm going to need a few months break anyway. So the Valve DSD DAC is some ways off still.
Deck: Garrard 301 - Audio Origami PU7 - NW Analogue DH3S
Phono: Pete Millett LR, Lundahl SUT, AMB σ22 PSU
Linestage: Bruno Putzeys Balanced Pre + Hans Polak relay mod, LCDuino control
Power amps: 300B PP 'Symmetric Reichert'
Speakers: FF225WK Big Mets
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Mike H
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#15332 Re: Nothing In Particular

Post by Mike H »

Greg wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 8:58 am
shane wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 10:22 pm I’ve been wanting to ask someone this for some time now because I genuinely don’t understand. Just out of interest Greg, what do you see as the advantage of the Y over the 3? As far as I can see the main differences are greater frontal area, greater weight, higher CofG, top-heavy appearance and higher price. Am I missing something?
The main factors is practicality. For sure, the Y does not handle as well as the 3, but that is within a range of performance I am unlikely to visit. The Y is generally a larger vehicle. The 3 is quite low so getting in and out becomes more challenging as I get older. The inside rear in particularly has a low roof making it difficult and uncomfortable for taller people. The conventional boot has a ridiculously small mouth making the loading of larger items difficult to impossible. We can get more into Amanda’s Renault Clio on a trip to the dump than is possible with the 3. Generally, the Y has taller seating, more leg room and height in the back and a hatchback with completely flat folding rear seats which is great for loading all you need for a long camping holiday which we like to do. From a subjective perspective, although the Y looks a bit top heavy (it isn’t), overall I prefer the appearance over the 3.
Very interesting!
 
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Thermionic Idler
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#15333 Re: Nothing In Particular

Post by Thermionic Idler »

Thermionic Idler wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 1:54 pm Bought a Topping E30 II DAC to go on the end of a Roonbridge (running on an old 2008 Macbook with Debian Linux, the MacOS it'll run is well out of support by now). Due to arrive today.

This is a temporary measure to quickly get Roon working with the hifi, as well as allowing me to exercise the DSD upsampling capabilities of the Roon server. I remember being really impressed with the sound of ed's system at Owston and I noticed at the time that a Topping DAC was providing the front end.

I promised Meredith that I would take a few months off from the hifi projects once the AMB/Quad stylee linestage project is done - to be honest that thing has been (and continues to be) such a difficult birth that I'm going to need a few months break anyway. So the Valve DSD DAC is some ways off still.
Well, it arrived, and I thought I'd test the DSD upsampling in Roon to see how my music server got on.

Barely breaks a sweat upsampling to DSD512. HQPlayer might be another matter but even so...

Sound-wise, I need to have the proper system up and running to assess it but it doesn't seem to be doing anything heinous.

Image
Deck: Garrard 301 - Audio Origami PU7 - NW Analogue DH3S
Phono: Pete Millett LR, Lundahl SUT, AMB σ22 PSU
Linestage: Bruno Putzeys Balanced Pre + Hans Polak relay mod, LCDuino control
Power amps: 300B PP 'Symmetric Reichert'
Speakers: FF225WK Big Mets
Ant
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#15334 Re: Nothing In Particular

Post by Ant »

I quite like my e30, i run the usb from the tablet into it to stream tidal so no hi res files. I dont have a single hi res anything. Also run the cd player into it. The teeny weeny form factor is a big plus for me because there is not the space for boxes, and it sounds great for the price
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Thermionic Idler
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#15335 Re: Nothing In Particular

Post by Thermionic Idler »

Ant wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 8:50 pm I quite like my e30, i run the usb from the tablet into it to stream tidal so no hi res files. I dont have a single hi res anything. Also run the cd player into it. The teeny weeny form factor is a big plus for me because there is not the space for boxes, and it sounds great for the price
I transferred it to the main system last night and played some stuff from Roon, also later on we had it doing DAC duties for the TV instead of the Cambridge Audio amp's internal DACs. Even with that amp and the Celestion speakers, I could hear very good things - it seemed to be separating out detail where there was a bit of 'fuzz' before and did not have any of that digital-ness that tires out my ears after a while.

The fact it supports DSD512 and the PCM rates it does for £149 is astounding. I can see why it's so well liked here.
Deck: Garrard 301 - Audio Origami PU7 - NW Analogue DH3S
Phono: Pete Millett LR, Lundahl SUT, AMB σ22 PSU
Linestage: Bruno Putzeys Balanced Pre + Hans Polak relay mod, LCDuino control
Power amps: 300B PP 'Symmetric Reichert'
Speakers: FF225WK Big Mets
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Ray P
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#15336 Re: Nothing In Particular

Post by Ray P »

There's a lot of flooding on the Somerset Levels at the moment and some concerns that more rain could make the situation as bad as it was in 2014 when a lot of properties were damaged and villages were cut-off for weeks. The pumping stations are running and extra pumps have been installed and the hope is that the current cold snap, which is dry, will help to bring the water levels back down.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-64315643

I took these pictures from the train this morning, a few miles outside of Taunton - in the summer I do quite a bit of cycling in the area of this flooding.

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Sorry, I couldn't resist!
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jack
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#15337 Re: Nothing In Particular

Post by jack »

Been playing with ChatGPT. Weird shit

https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/
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Mike H
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#15338 Re: Nothing In Particular

Post by Mike H »

:D



Do not spill tea into your laptop! :o

I think I might have got away with it, but had to go in there ... with screwdrivers...

It boogered up the mousepad, left-click was permanently active, presumably shorted with tea...
 
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brig001
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#15339 Re: Nothing In Particular

Post by brig001 »

Were you trying to make an infinite improbability drive?
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pre65
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#15340 Re: Nothing In Particular

Post by pre65 »

I use a wireless USB mouse with my laptop.
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Mike H
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#15341 Re: Nothing In Particular

Post by Mike H »

Yes I used to do things like that, but got fed up with having extra mouse and keyboard plugged into it. So I forced myself to get used to the lappy keyboard and mousepad. Nowadays I literally use it on my lap, or on a surface with no extra room for an external mouse and mat or separate keyboard, so impossible.
 
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Mike H
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#15342 Re: Nothing In Particular

Post by Mike H »

brig001 wrote: Sun Jan 29, 2023 10:45 pm Were you trying to make an infinite improbability drive?
It wasn't deliberate. :lol:
 
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andrew Ivimey
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#15343 Re: Nothing In Particular

Post by andrew Ivimey »

I don't think Mike's the kind of guy who gets invited to that sort of party.
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ed
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#15344 Re: Nothing In Particular

Post by ed »

lil ol' name dropper me....

my ex-wife was a friend of Martin Smith from Croydon..the real one
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andrew Ivimey
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#15345 Re: Nothing In Particular

Post by andrew Ivimey »

Never.....
Philosophers have only interpreted the world - the point, however, is to change it. No it isn't ... maybe we should leave it alone for a while.
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