Mine arrived this afternoon. 3 hours of warm up and I can already say this one is a keeper.
I absolutely applaud their generic packaging and lack of packaging waste. I don’t want to pay for the ‘crap’ like fancy bags and the like that add zero value to my ears and yet I have to store it somewhere for resale.
I am super interested in these and look forward to your further impressions!
Congratulations!
My Rega Aura came in a 100% Egyptian cotton pillow case. Queen size LOL.
Brett
Looking forward to your impressions as it breaks in as mine won’t be here for about another month.
I can tell you with just 5 hours run time that it’s leaving a very nice initial impression and this is with streamed CD NOS. It’s going to take some time to craft the words to describe the feeling I’m hearing. The depth is crazy already and something I was rarely able to achieve with the DS with upgraded transformers and external power supply.
Looking forward to it’s arrival as it’s going to have some stiff competition in the Aqua La Voce S3 which beat out the DS a couple of years ago. I don’t do DSD or upsampling so it’s NOS performance is what’s important to me.
You have complaints about the packaging the May DAC came in? Is it different from the pictures I posted? I have zero complaints with mine in regards to packaging. No manual seemed odd though. It’s a fantastic DAC.
I hope all companies would follow suit and stop printing of manuals. We can all read them online or downlead them to our devices!
Too right!
A $5000 DAC that involves two chassis should arrive with some documentation as to how to connect it and set it up for first use. Sure, we can download stuff but please, when you open the box the first thing you should see is a piece of paper saying THANK YOU! With instructions on how to ready the gear for use. Mine came with nothing, not a single printed word. This cannot be your preference, it sure isn’t mine. It didn’t slow me down but I would have appreciated the chance to have an included manual that I could choose to ignore.
As a side note, when I first powered it up one channel was dead. I unplugged it and moved it to a new location and then powered it up to find both channels working.
Ouch. 
That sounds / reads familiar! I hope it does not recur ever!
As a courtesy, some companies have added a quick start card. Others added a QR code to the inner flap, you simply point your device camera to it, and start reading. Others have stopped downloadable PDF manuals altogether, and now have their manuals integrated into the browser 
I think what really matter is how well a manual is written. There are manuals that confuse the user 
I like/prefer paper for reference materials. IME/IMO, it is much more convenient to be able to literally flip through the pages of a manual and readily skip back and forth among the content when setting up and shaking down kit. There are some things you just can’t do with electronic documents.
To each his own…
Yep.
And I respect that.
Not at all. I applaud their use of generic basic packing materials avoiding the waste and expense. My post above I inadvertently typed appalled when I meant applaud.
I don’t care for an out of date printed manual. I have already learned all about it from the pdf and reading on line.
You know how a $5k dac turns into a $15k dac? Add fancy packaging, color manual, distribution and dealers. Done.
I’ve had some sync issues with my AMD based Pink Faun USB ports but I2S works perfectly. It’s limited to 192PCM though so not ideal. I’ve got a couple inexpensive Asmedia USB PCI-e cards, two models using different generations of chips, on the way to see if I can get up to 1.5M PCM or I’ll ‘settle’ for 768k.
Is the free USB cable that came with it any good?
It seems well built but I’ve no idea how well it conforms to USB spec. I have an Intona cable with measurements that show it remains exceedingly close 90 ohms spec. Both cables behave the same regarding lock/unlock.
I’ve emailed Tim at Kitsune to get his recommendation for PCI-e boards that work well and I’ll share whatever he shares. Intel MB ports are preferred.
Back to the thread title, not maybe what you’d call an upgrade, but maybe an addition. My system is all boxed up waiting patiently for me to set it all up in my new house (a lot of other stuff to do first, including putting down a rug in the listening room). I’d used a pair of RCA Purist Audio Venustas cables between preamp and amp for years because my old amp was single ended only. With the recent addition of the Pass monoblocks I still liked what I heard, so I kept them there, waiting for the move to figure what what to do.
I happened yesterday upon a 12’ pair of BAV XLR ICs. Maybe they won’t be the last word in my IC solution for the amp, but for initial set up and positioning flexibility in the new space, it was hard to pass up.
May your new home be filled with accord, happiness, and good health. Congrats on the new monos too.
