mrrom92 Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Great post, I had no idea about this. What's the best way to resolve this? The instructions for setting up my Meridian Explorer tell you to go to the sound options and set the sound scheme to "none." Then in the actual settings for the DAC you disable all enhancements. Is this enough or is there more to it?That is definitely part of it, you'd want to disable any and all processing. That includes volume control - leave both the driver and the software at 100%, disable replaygain, EQ, any sort of effects, etc. just control volume in the analog realm at your power amplifier. But there is a bit more to it than that. Essentially you'll want to configure your device/software for WASAPI push. I can't say for sure if that is appropriate for all devices though. And of course, that is only relevant to windows - no idea how to achieve the same on Mac or Linux. There is a downloadable WASAPI component which can be installed and then configured in foobar 2000 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidney Crosley Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 Sorry to bump an old thread, but figured it was relevant to my question. I've gone way up the headphone chain in the last few years - now running Audeze LCD-3F with a Burson Conductor (ESS9018). It's a really sweet sound, but I'm thinking I'm ready to take the leap into balanced DACs. I have a Cavalli x Massdrop Liquid Carbon coming in a few months, and I'm thinking I'd love to pair it with a balanced DAC. Anyone have any experience with them? Thinking about the Schiit Gungnir, but not sure if I'll just want a Gungnir Multibit within a year. Was considering going for broke on a Wyred4Sound DAC 2DSDSE (one came up on Canuck Audio Mart), but it's hella pricey. Are there any really worthwhile balanced DACs in the $500-1000 range that folks have tried that might be worth considering? I know that most DACs have a limited shelf-life due to rapid changes in technology growth, so I've been a bit more reluctant to buy endgame if it might be irrelevant in 3-5 years (the Wyred DAC2DSDSE has already been replaced by a more powerful newer model). Part of me also wonders how much of a different a balanced DAC might make compared with unbalanced - I've never actually had a balanced amp, so don't really know what I might be missing.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dethrock Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 I don't know a ton about DAC's but take a look at a Cambridge Audio DacMagic Plus. It's balanced, comes in at the low end of your budget and you should easily be able to find one in Toronto to try it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EquinoxDesignLab Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 Take a look at the offerings from Benchmark. You can usually find them for a bit less than 1k for the USB models. Additionally the BMC PureDAC is quite nice as well, but a bit redundant considering it already has a headphone amp built in. There are a couple benchmarks on USAM and CAM at the moment but most have single ended amps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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