redmedicine
pfm Member
Thought it might be useful to feedback my experience with the JKDAC32 I bought (thank you!) from Mongeddavid. It's being fed from my Vortexbox music server which is a Linux platform.
The JKDAC32 (http://www.johnkenny.biz/home-1/jkdac32) is a pure USB DAC. Set up wasn't exactly plug-and-play - I had to chase around the Net and run a few commands before the right drivers were downloaded and installed - but it's been working perfectly since then. The Vortexbox system sees it as a Hiface USB to spdif converter (apparently the USB interface is based on that chipset. The player is the Vortexbox player which provides gapless, bitperfect playback.
Sound? It replaced a Dacmagic (2009 model) and Vlink Usb to SPDIF converter II. After a week's listening, I'd say it's a considerable improvement. Vocals are definitely clearer and there's more instrumental separation. Everything seems to have more 'air' about it, especially tom fills and reverb. It also sounds a lot more like my record player than the Dacmagic did. The sound stage is wider - this really showed up in a tricky recording like Neil Young's recent (and marvellous) Psychedelic Pill. The Dacmagic was clearly struggling to put enough air around two guitar players with Young's guitar (with a focus around the right speaker and the centre) frequently swallowing up Frank Sampedro's in the left speaker. Via the new DAC, I can actually here the separate parts and the interaction going on for the first time without struggling.
Mp3s also sounded fine - in a previous thread, John Kenny stated that mp3s wouldn't play - wrong. They do and they sound great, much better than through an oversampling DAC.
The JKDAC32 (http://www.johnkenny.biz/home-1/jkdac32) is a pure USB DAC. Set up wasn't exactly plug-and-play - I had to chase around the Net and run a few commands before the right drivers were downloaded and installed - but it's been working perfectly since then. The Vortexbox system sees it as a Hiface USB to spdif converter (apparently the USB interface is based on that chipset. The player is the Vortexbox player which provides gapless, bitperfect playback.
Sound? It replaced a Dacmagic (2009 model) and Vlink Usb to SPDIF converter II. After a week's listening, I'd say it's a considerable improvement. Vocals are definitely clearer and there's more instrumental separation. Everything seems to have more 'air' about it, especially tom fills and reverb. It also sounds a lot more like my record player than the Dacmagic did. The sound stage is wider - this really showed up in a tricky recording like Neil Young's recent (and marvellous) Psychedelic Pill. The Dacmagic was clearly struggling to put enough air around two guitar players with Young's guitar (with a focus around the right speaker and the centre) frequently swallowing up Frank Sampedro's in the left speaker. Via the new DAC, I can actually here the separate parts and the interaction going on for the first time without struggling.
Mp3s also sounded fine - in a previous thread, John Kenny stated that mp3s wouldn't play - wrong. They do and they sound great, much better than through an oversampling DAC.
