[ajeepham]

Hello all, Darrell here with a few questions on my  "New to me" setup with a mix of Old School and some New Tech.
I have played in the Audio World for some 50+ years and retired 17 years ago. Went heavy in my other passion
in life Ham Radio, fishing and riding the dunes. But now, getting OLDER and SLOWER - QUICKER' . .. ... ....
The other day, My wife and I met a nice couple and it turns out he was an AF also. I had a chance to hear his
Magnepan 1.6's with Emptiva electronics. I was truly amazed and thrilled that I could actually hear Glorious Audio
that I had Not heard in 17 years. Well, as you can guess - here we go again.

OK, here is direction I decided to go:
(PC) Amazon HD (USB) - Topping E30 DAC - AudioQuest King Cobra's - Threshold 44A amp - Thiel CS 1.6
Just picked up the amplifier and have a couple of questions for the group.

 * I hear pros & cons on leaving amp powered on 24/7 or power on/off every day?
 * With Win10 output to DAC via USB my gain is excessive. I have to run with
      (Win - volume Mixer) level at less than say 10%. awfully touchy. Also have concern that if any
      pops or problems might arrive from computer would be excessive levels and cause big-problems?

Good News, I was up most of the night (OK midnight) listening to stuff that I have not heard or Enjoyed for 17 years.
I am Very, Very happy to - Be Home Again'
Cheer's and Good Listening from the Oregon Coast,
Darrell


 

[FullRangeMan]

Welcome to AC 
Always liked Ham Radios but never owned any receptor, now the great thing are passive radars 

* I hear pros & cons on leaving amp powered on 24/7
I am against this procedure, totally unsafe, if there is a storm the equip can be damaged, your electricity bill will increase, the life span of the equip will be reduced, the equip has to be designed to run 24/7, if it is a tube equip it can not run many hours on.

The only benefit are a marginal better sound when you will listen, but you can warm up the equipment for 30 mins before each audition and its the same IMO.

[Phil A]

Welcome!

[mresseguie]

Welcome to AC, Darrell.

When I saw 'dunes', I immediately wondered if you were near Florence. [I'm in Beaver country.]

Doesn't the E30 DAC have volume control? If not, it may be worthwhile to consider adding a dedicated preamp.

My SS amps have two on/off switches. The rear mounted switch prevents the amp from powering down completely. When I flip/press the front power switch on, the amp sounds better right away, and warms up much more quickly.

Michael

[newzooreview]

The biggest improvement might come from getting a Bluesound Node to stream Amazon Music directly to the DAC. A general-purpose computer is running a ton of background processes and has a big power supply with lots of noise kicking around in the system. A dedicated streaming device will almost always improve the sound, and the Node has apps for phones and tablets.

I suggest the node because Amazon music seems to be supported on far fewer streaming boxes than Qobuz, for example. If you use Qobuz, you could run it from a Raspberry Pi with an Allo USB HAT running Volumio, which is a bit cheaper than the Node.

[newzooreview]

If not, it may be worthwhile to consider adding a dedicated preamp.

Also a very good upgrade. I have tried on many occasions to convince myself that I can just use a digital volume control, but it always degrades the sound compared to a good preamp. For casual and cheap and cheerful listening it can't be beat. It definitely depends on how much one wants to spend and how much convenience is a consideration.

Happy listening

[ajeepham]

Great stuff guys...
Keep in mind I'm 73 and still on that computer ladder, about the middle from my view 
* I think there are still many Pro's & Con's for power off/on and I am listening to all reasoning with interest.
* Yes, the Topping D-30 has a volume, but I was (and like) using the "Volume Mixer" Win10 as I
   run both my Ham Radio and Audio through this system. / Just the main power on front.
* As far as a different stream, let me ask this. The Topping is powered with dedicated low noise 5vdc PS so
   only thing from the computer (via USB) is digital? Should that be a pretty decent signal?
* On the volume control, I wonder if someone makes a DAC that has manual output levels?
Thanks Everyone for your replies...
 

[Doublej]

Welcome.

Try using the Topping remote turn down the volume down on the Topping to match the level of the ham radio output. Then you might be able to use the Windows volume mixer to adjust the volume form the DAC up and down as you desire. It's easy to try and see what happens.

Using a separate 5v power supply will likely give you better sound quality. An external one should cost you less than $20.

Happy listening.

[toocool4]

Welcome to AudioCircle ajeepham

With regards to leaving your system on I never turn mine off, I just had a look and my system has been on for 1018 Days 18 Hours and 57 Minutes in fact since I moved into this flat. It's always ready to go when I need it and it's used everyday plus it sounds better when it's warmed up.

With regards to shortening the life span of the equipment, you have to weigh-up the fact that every time you turn something on it's under more stress at that point in time and usually that's when they break. Against leaving it on all the time not stressing it out, yes it ages slowly but everything ages anyway whether you use it or not.

As long as you are not using valve equipment or motors that are going to burn out, I say leave it on.

[Mag]

  With Amazon HD I use two different setups, I sometimes use Leawo Media Player with usb out, same. Find the usb setting in Windows 10 and change it to dvd quality, which I believe is 24bit/48k, your sound will be slightly better and noticeable. As far as I know when using usb you are bypassing the computer's soundcard and there's no noise, I certainly don't hear it and I know what it sounds like.

Okay Usb out to external dac, pretty straight forward, external dac output to pre-amp. With Amazon HD you can control the volume out with slider control. Also go into your computer sound settings and adjust the Master Volume, it maybe under advance sound control.

With my other computer I have VoiceMeeter installed, which is a mixer software, which you can adjust to your liking. I had to play around with it for half an hour or so to configure the correct output and adjust the mixer settings. Sounds real good to my ears through my wireless earbuds.

Thought of installing VoiceMeeter on my other computer with external dac but I'm already am using a Yamaha MG-10 mixer in that setup. I was just wondering if VoiceMeeter might actually sound better.

Anyway give it a try it a free download and works well to my ears with Amazon HD.