| Author |
Thread: Bel Canto Dac 2 |
    
Silver Member Username: Wattsssup
Barrie,
ON
Canada
Post Number: 242
Registered: Aug-06
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| Posted on Monday, May 05, 2008 - 10:07 pm: |
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Just bought one off of Audiogon, and now the wait... |
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Silver Member Username: Dmitchell
Ottawa,
Ontario
Canada
Post Number: 905
Registered: Feb-07
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| Posted on Tuesday, May 06, 2008 - 08:45 am: |
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Nice. What are you hooking it up to? |
Silver Member Username: Wattsssup
Barrie,
ON
Canada
Post Number: 243
Registered: Aug-06
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| Posted on Tuesday, May 06, 2008 - 12:42 pm: |
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I'm going to start with using my Rotel as a transport and see how that works out, but sometime down the road, I want to use a laptop as the source. |
Silver Member Username: Dmitchell
Ottawa,
Ontario
Canada
Post Number: 907
Registered: Feb-07
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| Posted on Tuesday, May 06, 2008 - 01:17 pm: |
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Cool. I sorta have the same setup, I have a server in my basement with (mostly) FLAC files that I stream to my system via this DAC:
http://www.obadimports.citymax.com/catalog/item/4377355/5226912.htm
Mind you, the Bel Canto is tad better... lol. |
Silver Member Username: Wattsssup
Barrie,
ON
Canada
Post Number: 244
Registered: Aug-06
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| Posted on Tuesday, May 06, 2008 - 05:55 pm: |
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That's cool. I will be going FLAC in the not so distant future. How do you like the DAC you have? |
Silver Member Username: Dmitchell
Ottawa,
Ontario
Canada
Post Number: 908
Registered: Feb-07
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| Posted on Tuesday, May 06, 2008 - 10:10 pm: |
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It's actually really good, especially considering the price. I liked it so much I bought 2 of them - one for my main system, and one for my system in my gym. |
Silver Member Username: Wattsssup
Barrie,
ON
Canada
Post Number: 245
Registered: Aug-06
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| Posted on Wednesday, May 07, 2008 - 06:39 pm: |
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That's cool. Do you move your music server around? Or can you connect from varrious points in the house? |
Silver Member Username: Dmitchell
Ottawa,
Ontario
Canada
Post Number: 910
Registered: Feb-07
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| Posted on Wednesday, May 07, 2008 - 09:11 pm: |
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My music server is in my rec-room, directly below my living room where my main system is. I run a long USB cable through the floor to my DAC, which is then connected to my system. I have a laptop in the living room from where I can control the music on the server with a remote winamp program. My music server is fed the tunes from a file server in the server with a big-@assed hard drive. |
Silver Member Username: Wattsssup
Barrie,
ON
Canada
Post Number: 246
Registered: Aug-06
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| Posted on Friday, May 09, 2008 - 09:18 pm: |
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The Bel Canto arrived today. Was desperate for a Coax cable, so I burried my head between my legs and went to Future Shop (Best Buy for you American folk) and picked up a Monster. Don't know if this cable is going to work out for me. Any suggestions?
I have great music lined up for the weekend... |
Silver Member Username: Dmitchell
Ottawa,
Ontario
Canada
Post Number: 919
Registered: Feb-07
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| Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 08:25 am: |
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Don't see why the Monster wouldn't be ok in the short term.
How does it sound? |
Silver Member Username: Wattsssup
Barrie,
ON
Canada
Post Number: 247
Registered: Aug-06
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| Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 11:02 am: |
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It's sounding good. Very good. Cable needs break in time and sounding better by the hour, so I'll wait before posting a full review, but I'll say this, it completely undresses my Rotel. Whole new league. |
Platinum Member Username: Nuck
Post Number: 10224
Registered: Dec-04
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| Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 04:40 pm: |
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and the setup really should!
Great going, Marc.
Run the cable for a while, then see if your dealer has a demo to loan out Sun/Mon. |
Silver Member Username: Wattsssup
Barrie,
ON
Canada
Post Number: 248
Registered: Aug-06
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| Posted on Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 05:54 pm: |
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Thanks. The cable is sounding better and better (been running non-stop since I hooked it up). The improvement the DAC is making in overall sound quality is really unbelievable. |
Silver Member Username: Dmitchell
Ottawa,
Ontario
Canada
Post Number: 921
Registered: Feb-07
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| Posted on Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 06:58 pm: |
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I found the same thing too when I switched to an outboard DAC.
It really was remarkable. |
Silver Member Username: Hawkbilly
Nova Scotia
Canada
Post Number: 310
Registered: Jul-07
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| Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - 10:40 am: |
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Same experience here. Congrats Marc. It will continue to get better for weeks.....or at least mine did. It was the slowest most excruciating break-in of any component I've ever owned. 100 hrs to really relax and open up, and then kept getting better almost with every listen for weeks.
Biggest single improvement I've ever made in a system. |
Silver Member Username: Wattsssup
Barrie,
ON
Canada
Post Number: 250
Registered: Aug-06
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| Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - 09:25 pm: |
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Thanks Chris. I'm liking the improvement I hear everyday. It's giving me cable upgradeitis though, and don't know where to start. |
Silver Member Username: Dmitchell
Ottawa,
Ontario
Canada
Post Number: 922
Registered: Feb-07
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| Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - 09:32 pm: |
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I recently bought AudioQuest. When I used them from my CD player, I didn't care for them. But when I connected them from my receiver to my Bryston mono's... holy cow. |
Silver Member Username: Wattsssup
Barrie,
ON
Canada
Post Number: 251
Registered: Aug-06
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| Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - 09:56 pm: |
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Yeah, a friend of mine says some of his cables are better with certain components than his other cables and vice versa. Looking for synergy with each individual component is a scary thought. |
Silver Member Username: Dmitchell
Ottawa,
Ontario
Canada
Post Number: 923
Registered: Feb-07
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| Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - 10:02 pm: |
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Trial and error...
Luckily I found a place in my system for the AQ's. Plus I got them on ebay for super-cheap. |
Silver Member Username: Hawkbilly
Nova Scotia
Canada
Post Number: 311
Registered: Jul-07
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| Posted on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 - 07:17 am: |
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I had Kimber cables, but have recently replaced everything with Zu cables. They are not fully run in yet, but were as good as the Kimbers right out of the packaging. The Digital cable (the Ash) between the transport and the DAC was the most noticeably better actually. The interconnects and speaker cables less so. Once I get a few more weeks on them I'll switch back to the Kimbers and get a better feel for what the differences are. |
Silver Member Username: Wattsssup
Barrie,
ON
Canada
Post Number: 252
Registered: Aug-06
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| Posted on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 - 08:30 pm: |
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Chris,
What kind of Kimber cables did you have?
My friend has mostly Heros and also has a Select for interconnects. The Select is far better in both our opinions.
His cables seem to provide much more "space" and "openess" than the ones I'm currently using. Which is something I'm after, but I don't want to buy the same cables as his, as dumb as that may sound (I already bought the same DAC...lol).
I know that the Zu's need breaking in time, but I'm interested on your impression on how they compare to the Kimbers that you had. |
Bronze Member Username: Myself
Post Number: 25
Registered: Jan-08
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| Posted on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 - 11:16 pm: |
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marc,
congratulations! Bel canto dac 2 is one of the best(price performance)!
the best price performance 75ohm digital cable that i have tried is tara labs "the one"
it might worth looking for one from Audiogon. |
Silver Member Username: Hawkbilly
Nova Scotia
Canada
Post Number: 314
Registered: Jul-07
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| Posted on Thursday, May 15, 2008 - 07:20 am: |
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Marc, I had the DV-30 digital cable, the PBJ interconnects and 4VS speaker cables. The differences are a little harder to pinpoint as I changed all 3 cables over a 1 month period, and put everything up on Isonodes. So, with all of the changes it's difficult to pinpoint what is attributed to what. That's why I want to switch each component back to Kimber individually to hear the differences.
Prior to putting the Isonodes into the mix, the 3 things that seemed improved to me were;
1) I had noticed a slight brittleness to the treble, most noticeable on cymbals. People had suggested to me this was possibly the PBJ's. This has improved greatly with the Zu's.
2) More detail in the bass, less bloom.
3) A slight improvement in transparency.
After another couple of weeks I'll switch things back one at a time and confirm the differences. One other note; the connectors on the Zu cables are top knotch. Very nice design that lets you loosen the ends for attachment, and then tighten them down for a perfect connection. I had found my Kimber interconnects slid on and off a little to easily. I also got a good deal on them, having won them on an ebay auction direct from Zu. Paid less than half price for all 3 cables. |
New member Username: Dcarlson
Post Number: 1
Registered: Aug-07
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| Posted on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 - 10:42 am: |
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Marc, you should buy some cables for me to try. Lol.
I was searching google for DAC2 systems to get an idea as what people run with it and came across your thread.
The "but I don't want to buy the same cables as his, as dumb as that may sound " quote made me laugh.
Maybe it's time you strike up a relationship with a dealer in TO and see if you can borrow some cables to try out.
Anyway, I'm glad you're liking your DAC after all my leg work. Lol. |
Silver Member Username: Wattsssup
Barrie,
ON
Canada
Post Number: 258
Registered: Aug-06
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| Posted on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 - 12:10 pm: |
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LMAO!!! |
