zzzap;613998 Wrote: > > After 'ttinit' and reboot sound is now more laybacked and relaxed. Not > so edgy as it was stock. I did't listen very long but *'is it dull?'*
This initial observation of yours was interesting. It somewhat coincides with my some of my impressions. I installed (almost) all of the mods, including 100% volume mod. I only left the screen unmodified. Wireless, USB and analog outs are disabled, only the digital out is left on. Buffer is set to recommended value of 4000. Flac files are transcoded to PCM on the PC side. PC is running last version of SBServer on Win XP. Everything is wired through the Belkin N+ hub with Bandridge VL unshielded CAT 5e wire. I'm using my Touch with Naim DAC, which has an unique option to play PCM wav files stored on USB memory sticks. This is not USB DAC. There is no USB connection to computer - you just plug an USB memory stick in it and it starts playing. This way, we have an option of avoiding influence of transport quality, SPDIF interface, cabling, etc, thus having the closest thing to the pure sound of the DAC as the reference sound. ;) My SPDIF cable is Stereovox XV2, with BNC connection on DAC side. When I compare the sound of modded Touch / Naim DAC combination with the sound of Naim DAC alone (playing PCM wav directly from the USB memory stick), Touch/Naim combination sounds somewhat *duller*. Naim DAC alone, in memory stick mode, has greater dynamics, transients are sharper, there is more attack, bass has greater slam and kick, mids and highs are more detailed, treble is more extended, there is more air around instruments. Imaging is wider and deeper. Everything is more vivid. Difference is not (it never is :) ) night and day, but it is very obvious. Enough for me to worry about it, since I'm not using the full potential of this excellent DAC. :) BUT...!!! When I did put a SD card with the same music in the Touch, I was very surprised! The sound became much closer to the real sound of Naim DAC. Something I could live with. :) In this scenario all the mods are still present, but the internal Tiny SBS is running and FLAC decoding is done inside the Touch. This is supposed to be the bad thing, but the sound is better and it is very close to the "real" sound of the DAC. So, I guess that these mods might give you a *different* sound. Judging from this (still limited) experience, I'm not convinced that they will always bring sound quality improvement in absolute terms. They only may bring you the sound you will *like* more, depending on your personal preferences and/or the rest of your equipment. . -- Kuja ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kuja's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=32935 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=84742 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
