@kingoftown1 I used to use the Neotech solid copper, but then moved to VH Audio hookup wire. It has the foamed soft teflon instead of the hard teflon, and was an improvement over the Neotech (which is still good).

To go even further, I have to tell you jumping the fuse with solid core UPOCC wire always sounds best, but I would not risk it with gear priced at this level.

@Diet Kokaine It would be great if you could markup that internal image, so others can follow exactly where you bypassed.

@Diet Kokaine I'm presuming you are bypassing each pair of black and blue caps? But what is occurring on the right hand side? Are you bypassing each bank of caps with a Duelund. Would be great to see a picture of the underside before you fitted it back together. And you removed the fuse holder...

There was some early talk that the SE output of this device was not very good sounding at all, then others said it was fine. Do you guys think this may have been the v1 version of the mainboard, while the v2 version fixed something? As a SE user myself, one must always be on the lookout for...

The Topping D10s is a worthwhile upgrade over the HRT music streamer. It really sounds its best if you can set your media player to WASAPI exclusive mode, and just serve the DAC native bitrate content. For example feeding it native 44.1k sounded much better than feeding it the same music...

I have the V5i coming, so an interested to hear how it compares to the stock Topping D10s op-amp. The extension leads is a good idea by Burson, but I suspect they are adding their own coloration to the sound and its probably not ideal to use them. But at the same time there is no choice on such...

The late Charles Hanson of Ayre once said single ended versions of their amplifier circuits always sounded better than balanced. This was coming from a company that would not even sell a component with single ended input/outputs, it was XLR or nothing. But once you take it off the testbench and...

I just ordered one, intrigued to hear it. I don't need balanced so got the D10s. At that price you cant go wrong. Also it seems these DAC's can accept op-amp rolling. The Burson V5i (Dual x1) look like a good match for this level of product. There is a lot of DAC's in the sub $200 price range...

He is talking about the USB-C to 3.5mm cable? Or going directly to an iphone ?

I like it when people do product comparisons but rating things across 30 categories is a bit absurd.

Its a defective unit, the crackling sound. I tried to recreate it with ANC on various modes and vigorous movement, no crackling.

I read the Superbestfriends thread on the Wavelight and saw a common complaint that the SE output seemed so bad (compared to the XLR) they thought something was wrong with it. But it could have been a bad unit, and they send the same unit on tour to each other. So what have you guys found...

Imagine your wife comes home and a bunch of audiophiles are sitting round a table with lines of white powder and plastic gram bags, talking giddily about the increased transparency.

That sucks to hear about the earpads, as the leather on them looked very decent for $30 replacements.