Yes, I did. No difference for me. Perhaps with decent headphones it would be audible. I’m not really chasing subtle differences but rather more significant once. Unfortunately, this usually requires more invasive procedures (soldering iron haha). Opamps that are siting in DIP8 sockets just begging to be experiment with, and it is very easy.
I think @afa2022 was being a little bit sarcastic. Yes, me too, lol.
Surge protection in place - always.
Honestly, I didn’t spend much(none) time analyzing the circuit board of the output stage. Logic: if they put MUSES in here it has to be more important that elsewhere - hence there Bursons goes.
From what I know, I/V stage in all commercial DACs is being design rather cheaply (opamps). I bet significant $$$ in RD160 went to manufacture top cover (20lb of alu?) haha. If you’re into serious modding there are options: discrete, Tube, Output Transformers…For me, maybe some day, if I have time. For now I’ll stay with my modified Oppo 105 because I’m a sucker for multi channel. RD160 and RS130 will be secondary and main for 4K video and of course for streaming convenience.
Music: Prog Rock, Jazz and Classical. Most of my recordings are SACD converted to DSD and I wish someone eventually come up with multichannel DAC - hence I don’t see myself separating from the old good OPPO.
Well I’m going to wait a year until I know I’m well out of the warranty period before I decide to open up my RS520.
Instead, I ended up getting DCA Aeon Cores, DITA Preludes, and now a replacement pair Eris.
Next, I’m probably going to look into a new dongle DAC, which I think will be the Schitt Vestri.
[Edit]
The interesting thing is that using a dongle dac and connecting to the RS520’s output USB tends to work well and give you the ability to have either single ended or 4.4mm balanced headphones.
Just got to make sure that you don’t have the output volume too high. That will blow out the headphones.
Hello everyone,
I’ve been following the discussions here on the Rose Forum about tuning, cable swaps, and amplifier replacements for that “evening sound” with great interest. However, I’d like to offer a slightly more pragmatic, technical perspective.
In my opinion, the golden rule still applies in high-end hi-fi: “Keep it simple.” The fewer devices, filters, and additional components in the signal chain, the less the signal can be distorted. When we stream in high resolution from Tidal or Qobuz, we want to deliver the original signal of the recording to the speakers as unaltered as possible. Every additional box and every permanent modification often only increases the risk of making things worse.
On the topic of “it sounds better in the evening”: Yes, this is measurable (a cleaner power grid because industry is asleep) and proven psychoacoustically (less ambient noise, the brain relaxes). But the solution to this isn’t to swap out the amplifier in the evening or make the chain even more complex!
And that brings us to the elephant in the room, which everyone in hi-fi forums likes to ignore: Our hearing ages. I’m over 55 myself. Biologically speaking, it’s a fact that at this age, our hearing no longer perceives the very high frequencies (above 10,000–12,000 Hz) at all. Many of the nuances being debated here in the context of extreme fine-tuning occur precisely in these frequency ranges or in the realm of minute measurements that a lab microphone might detect, but certainly not a human ear past the age of 50—we have to be that honest with ourselves.
Don’t get me wrong: a well-designed amplifier and good room acoustics make all the difference. But you can also overdo it with tuning and lose sight of what really matters: relaxed enjoyment of music.
What do you think? Is it better to keep the signal chain short and clean, or do you eventually get lost in tuning voodoo?
Best regards!