I find everything sensitive to everything. Power cords, line conditioning, AC sockets, using Mad Scientist black discus on AC plugs, dedicated lines, the feet you mount it on, removing the cover (what, you have not tried this?), eliminating or putting super fuse in it, etc. etc. etc. I use a tractor tire inner tube (with very little inflation) and on top of that I have a thick maple slab and then I use the Mad Scientist ceramic feet between the maple block and the component.....very nice combo. Everything matters.
Chinese DAC shames a few heavy hitters
- Thread starter nc42acc
- Start date
You forgot expectation bias. That's one very powerful tweak the cost's nothing. Well actually maybe not, the more expensive the better it works
I am assuming post #249 is referring to the posts that got deleted. If so, then you should delete #249 as well, since it now looks like you are talking about the Gustard. BTW, the posted DAC that got deleted was AC powered. You could delete post this as well.
Hi
If the price of mods for it to rival a costlier DAC becomes that of the pricier DAC then we are entirely defeating the purpose.. The OP was :"a Chinese DAC shames a few heavy hitters". I didn't anticipate it needing profound and un-cheap
mods to do so ... Oh Well...
Hi
If the price of mods for it to rival a costlier DAC becomes that of the pricier DAC then we are entirely defeating the purpose.. The OP was :"a Chinese DAC shames a few heavy hitters". I didn't anticipate it needing profound and un-cheap
His goal is to make it sound like a $10000 DAC instead of a $5000 DAC with about $1000 worth of mods.
I am the OP and the X20 has not needed anything to keep the Vega or Yggy out of my system. I have switched AC cords with great results.
Hi
If the price of mods for it to rival a costlier DAC becomes that of the pricier DAC then we are entirely defeating the purpose.. The OP was :"a Chinese DAC shames a few heavy hitters". I didn't anticipate it needing profound and un-cheap
Which clocking mode do you prefer? I don't remember you sharing this information.
Frantz the Vega just leaves too much information out. I prefer a more detailed and pinpoint imaging system and the X20 has delivered.
What's your impressions between the auto clocking and the normal clocking? It uses a completely different way of clocking, and different clocks in the DAC. Most prefer the auto.
Normal has a more focused image, Auto is more open and livelier sound. Both settings are excellent and neither I would consider "wrong". Hope that makes sense.
Yeh, looks like Dan deleted his posts. I was commenting on the link he provided which says it is USB powered: http://en.auneaudio.com/index.php?s=Home/Article/detail/id/83.html
Looks like it's probably a good value.They cheaped out on the Xmos driver through. This is why it only supports DSD 128 over DoP. However it should support DSD 256 with Linux. I wonder if you can but the chip in DSDdirect mode?
Last edited:
Anyone who is trying the X20 needs to experiment with it driving your amp direct. In my system it seems it was made for driving an amp with its higher output voltage. I noticed a very slight loss in dynamics. Again YMMV.
Similar threads
 | Steve Williams Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator |  | Ron Resnick Site Co-Owner | Administrator |  | Julian (The Fixer) Website Build | Marketing Managersing |