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May
and June Newsletter
The weather is finally getting nice in
Washington after a really cold winter. Business in the audio world
has been sluggish to say the least but then I guess much of the economy is
in the same situation.
Shunyata Research has just released their Sky series of interconnects and speaker cables and I am closing out their Helix line - so contact me for some excellent clearance prices.
I have been watching my web girl's dilemma in dealing with the cost of graduate school - she just got accepted to our state's only School of Veterinary Medicine - and I can sympathize with how expensive getting an education has become. It is madness to begin your career heavily in debt, weighted down by all the student loans.
I guess there are many segments of our population that are suffering at this time. Those of us who can still afford to pursue our passions are fortunate indeed....
Dream State Audio
I have been trying to find a power cord that I love as much as the long discontinued Shunyata King Cobra V 1 on digital. It is now here by Dream State Audio, am so excited to announce the release of a stunning new product, the Epic Gold Dream, the most delicate and refined cord that I have ever put in my system. I will admit that this limited production cord at a price of $3495 is not inexpensive, but gosh, it is so good.
 |
The Epic Gold Dream is an
artisan effort reflecting months of development and testing intended
to incorporate gold conductors into the Dream State Audio
proprietary blend of silver and copper foils. It embodies everything
that Dream State has learned about manufacturing power cords that
deliver the ultimate in performance , regardless of cost.
The Epic Gold Dream exhibits dead quiet backgrounds while illuminating “life and color” into a wholly musical presentation. Due to the continued escalating cost of precious metals, especially gold, only sixteen Epic Gold Dream cords will be produced. Standard length is 4 ft. 9 in. Retail is $3495 |
The Description of an Epic Dream (Also known as Great or Cosmic Dream):
These dreams are so huge, so compelling and so vivid that you cannot ignore them. The details of such dreams remain with you for years, as if you dreamt it last night. When you wake up from such a dream, you feel that you have discovered something profound or amazing about yourself or about the world. Epic Dreams feel like a life changing experience.
Berkeley Audio
It seems that the future of digital might become servers with a state of the art DAC. I know many of my customers have been going in that direction using inexpensive USB DAC’s. There is no doubt that the convenience of having all your music on hard drives is enticing but there has always been a sacrifice in sound quality. Even though this is the case once a customer embarks on that road they seem to never turn back to a traditional CD player. Imagine the convenience, you print an artist name and all his music is displayed on the screen and you choose what to listen to. Your music collection becomes a huge Juke box and you can turn around and sell all your CD’s that then are just taking up space. Many customers find that once they have all their music stored on hard drives, a process that takes about 3 minutes a disc, then the CD collection is no longer needed. Selling your CD's helps pay for the new set up.
Till now the disadvantage was that the sound quality though good was not extraordinary. With the new Alpha DAC that has changed. You can now have the best of all mediums, the most user friendly format available to listen to your musical collection and at a realistic price.
The Alpha DAC by Berkeley Audio Design is a true audiophile component with a retail price of $5000. Here is how they suggest setting up their unit and they even spec out the perfect computer to use with their DAC. We have done it all for you. For a very reasonable price you can have the best digital you have ever heard.
Granted our set up for the new Alpha DAC is lengthy but we thought it was prudent to be as complete as possible.
Setup of the Server
First you need an appropriate computer. XP is required, Vista isn't going to cut it. We are using a Dell Inspiron 530 - configured to function as a music server for only $979. A large hard drive, 750 GB or more, is ideal to hold your music. We're using an Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600 (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB), 3GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM, and opting out of any pre-installed garbage that comes on computers these days.
You will need to obtain and install a good soundcard - the Lynx AES16 card is the best. The version you want is the AES16-XLR which includes breakout cables. You want the PCI version not the PCIe version. Here are links:
http://www.lynxstudio.com/aes16.html
http://www.lynxstudio.com/product_detail.asp?i=13
For us, audio quality is what it‘s all about and the AES16’s re-clocking results in very low output jitter – under 20 picoseconds. When the AES16 is set up properly in a music server and used in conjunction with the Alpha DAC the resulting reproduction of up to 192 kHz, 24-bit PCM recordings is astonishingly good. We are using the AES16 in a garden variety Dell desktop running XP Pro and the free MediaMonkey player app with excellent results.
There are some tricks to setting up the AES16, primarily related to using the right driver to keep the audio stream out of any imbedded OS SRC’s, volume controls or EQ’s.
Below are specific suggestions for a system running Windows XP (Vista is a non-starter) and using the free MediaMonkey player. Verifying data integrity from the hard drive to DAC is easy if you have any HDCD recordings and an Alpha DAC. When playing the file the HDCD light on the Alpha DAC should illuminate. If it doesn’t there is a problem causing data alteration.
Lynx Studio Technology AES16 Installation for music servers running Windows XP
1) Install AES16 card in computer running Windows XP
2) Boot up in administrator mode
3) Cancel New Hardware Found Wizard, which should pop up (It installs the wrong driver, which confuses everything.)
4) Run 'Version 1 Driver Installer 57g' program found in the '\Windows\LynxTWO L22 AES16' directory on the disc that came with the AES16 card. It can also be downloaded from the Lynx web site: http://www.lynxstudio.com/support_downloads.asp (check ‘Search Archives’)
5) In the Lynx Mixer, under the Mixer Menu, select 'Restore Defaults' and check version numbers under 'About' menu. Verify that Driver: LynxTWO Version 1.30 Build 057g and either Firmware Rev 22 or Rev 23 are installed.
6) If Firmware Rev 22 or Rev 23 is not installed, use this link to download the correct firmware updater. Save it to the desktop.
7) Double click on the ‘L2Update21o.exe’ icon and follow the prompts. Repeat step 5 to verify that Firmware Rev 22 is installed. Note: if another AES16 driver version was previously installed, it must be manually uninstalled and the system rebooted before installation.
Now that the sound card is setup, you need to install Media Monkey.
MediaMonkey Installation – Note: Install AES16 first
Go to: http://www.mediamonkey.com/index.htm
Download ‘Standard’ version and follow installation instructions
Media Monkey setup:
1) Select ‘Tools’ - ‘Options’.
2) Select ‘General’.
3) Uncheck ‘Pop-up track info in tray’ to avoid alert tones.
4) Select ‘General-File Types’
5) Check ‘extensions to be associated with Media Monkey’. Include at least FLAC and WAV
6) Select ‘Player - Output Plugins’.
7) Select ‘waveOut’.
8) Click on ‘Configure’ button
9) In ‘Device’ window select AES16.
10) Under ‘Buffering’ set ‘Buffer-ahead on track change:’ slider to 0 ms. The 200 ms default causes noise problems with high-res material.
11) Check that ‘Prebuffer:’ slider is also set to 0 ms.
12) Leave ‘Buffer length:’ at 2000 ms default.
13) Under ‘Volume control’ uncheck ‘Enable’.
14) Click on ‘OK’ in ‘waveOut’
15) Click on ‘OK’ in ‘Options’
So now you've got your server set up with a good sound card and are running Media Moneky. Rip your favorite CD. You're good to set up to the Alpha DAC and enjoy some good music!