savoy014

Introduction Totaldac is a company based in France that has been creating a lot of buzz lately with its DAC designs. The founder of Totaldac is Mr. Vincent Brient, a professional engineer who has worked in a variety of industries before founding Totaldac. Looking at the hand built R2R circuit (utilising 0.01 % precision Vishay resistors) inside his DAC, a certain amount of respect is due for Mr. Brient. Description The Totaldac USB cable / filter is stated to improve the sound of any DAC or music server utilising a USB connection. A sealed aluminum box contains more than 30 components, to provide filtering for digital pollution coming from a computer or music server. The box will even protect your DAC from an over voltage situation. The Totaldac USB cable will operate under both USB 1.0 and 2.0 modes, and transmits bit-perfect data. No drivers were needed in my tests, under both Windows and Mac environments. Mr. Brient kindly agreed to answer...

Introduction The Astin Trew Concord Powered USB Cable System (hereinafter referred to as the "Concord USB") consists of a high quality 5V power supply design based on the patented Never Connected circuit (as seen on Trichord Research and Michell Engineering products), and a cable of your choice to split the data and power lines. You can read more about the Never Connected Circuit at http://www.never-connected.com/concept.html Two cable options are offered. The first option is a complete USB cable solution - the source end has two heads - one end plugs into your computer / streaming device, and the other end into the power supply box. The destination plug goes into the USB socket of your DAC. The second option consists of a USB B type plug with a piggy back female socket (to use your USB cable of choice), and a second cable to connect to the power supply. According to Astin Trew, the Concord USB boosts performance to your computer music setup by supplying your DA...

Introduction JCAT (JPLAY Computer Audio Transport) is the hardware division of JPLAY, the company responsible for bringing you the well-known and highly regarded PC music player software of the same name. At the time of writing, JCAT offers a number of products, namely a USB card, LAN cable, SATA cable and the product on test here - a USB cable. Marcin Ostapowicz of JPLAY kindly offered to send me the JCAT USB cable for my evaluation and comments. After making all necessary arrangements, a compact cardboard box arrived at my doorstep by courier service. It took less than a week to arrive from Poland to Singapore ! Description The JCAT USB cable really does look the part. The solid aluminium connectors are both the finest looking and finished USB connectors I have come across, and connect with a reassuringly firm and tight fit. The braided sleeve should provide a suitable degree of protection and ensure that the cable provides reliable and trouble free service. JCAT is quite open about ...

Introduction Pop Pulse is a small Hong Kong based company that offers a small but interesting offering of audio products. The T-AMP180 ("T-180") is a nicely sized integrated amplifier. Based on Tripath chips, the T-180 joins a plethora of similarly equipped electronics available in the market. Bearing in mind that many of such examples are available very cheaply off the internet, the T-180 would need to distinguish itself to stand out to attract audiophile attention. Features and Specifications The T-180 is neatly packaged, measuring just 41.2 cm wide, 34 cm in depth and 17.7 cm in depth, and weighing in at 8 kgs. The black aluminium face plate sports two identical knobs, one for selecting input (via a spring loaded knob), and the other for controlling the volume. A small plastic remote control is provided. Turning to the rear panel reveals 3 pairs of line level inputs (one of which is 3 pin XLR balanced inputs), WBT style binding posts, an IEC mains i...

Introduction Interconnects are a nice introduction to the world of DIY. The difficulty factor can vary according to your preference, and very little electronics knowledge is required. All you need are the raw materials, a soldering iron, and good soldering technique. You can easily make good interconnects that can perform well beyond your investment in material costs. RCA Plugs Your choice of plugs should have decent construction quality, precious metal plating to prevent corrosion (e.g. gold, silver or rhodium), and easy to use solder tabs. My favourite low cost RCA plugs are the Neutrik / Rean NYS-373. If you are willing to spend a little more, consider the Canare F-10 or the Neutrik Pro-fi. For cost no object experiments, I have been very impressed by KLEI Innovations' Harmony plug. I have found the Neutrik / Rean NYS-373 to be a little tight fitting on some RCA sockets, necessitating a bit of adjustment of the ground blades with needle nose pliers (protect the plated surface wi...

I spent a week with two bagfuls of top drawer cables. OK, some may argue that there are far more expensive and better cables out there, but not every audiophile is comfortable with cables priced with a whole string of zeros in all the wrong places. The ever enthusiastic Ivan Cheng of Norman Audio wanted me to try these cables as an alternative to my usual cabling, which is a mix of Acoustic Revive and Acrolink. Well, being the typical audiophile, I absolutely hate to try new things (with absolutely no strings attached I may add), or to tinker about in my system. If you believe the preceding statement, you obviously are not an audiophile. Maybe you believe in Unicorns and Leprechauns too ? I left Norman Audio with two plastic bags full of cables. The original plan was to outfit me with enough cables to wire up my whole system. Unfortunately, we had to omit the MIT speaker cables as there simply was not enough space in the two very full plastic bags. After ensuring that no suspicious cha...

How do you look after your CDs ? I usually wash them once in a while in a basin of tap water with a drop of dish washing liquid added. It is effective to get rid of any fingerprints, dust, and fungus. I've not used an professional cleaning kit before, although I do admit to resorting to brasso and toothpaste in an attempt to remove deep scratches from damaged discs (neither worked by the way). The Essence of Music Kit comes in a simple cardboard box. Open the box, and you will find two spray bottles of 20ml each, which look dangerously similar to some of my wife's cosmetic products. Two microfiber cleaning cloths are provided too, as well as finger cots to protect your precious digits from the overall nastiness of the liquid solutions. The manufacturer claims that the kit can treat up to 400 discs. Application is straightforward. Spray on the first liquid and rub the disc surface for one minute with your cot protected finger. Then apply the second liquid and rub again for one m...