[Builder Brad]

quick q to all those Paridisea modders.

what is the largest out-put cap you have managed to fit to replace the standard 1.5uf part, both in terms of value, and dimensionally.

I am considering fitting v cap OIMP 4.7uf caps which measure 1" diameter x 1.7" length - It looks like I will just be able to squeeze these in, but it would be good to know what other ACers have managed before I shell out and order these caps.

Brad

[tanchiro58]

Brad,

It sounds like Vintage NOS PIO caps are the best candidates like West-Cap, Vitamin Q, Gudeman... In my opinion and taste they are the best analog sound in the league. I replaced the stock with West-Cap 1.5uF/600V and perfectly fit into that place of my Renaissance II. They best out the Mundorf, Auricap, Sonicap...which are the best among metallized polypropylene. Good luck.

[drmike]

hey tan,
where did you get the west caps?
thanks,
drmike

[tanchiro58]

drmike,

I got on ebay. The West-Caps are coming up very rare and going fast. You do not need to have 1.5uF. They can be 2.0 or 2.5uF/400-600V fine too. Good luck.

Tan

[Builder Brad]

thank-you Tan,

I already have fitted some low value teflon v caps to by-pass the existing 1.5uf and was considering the complimentary high value OMIP caps from v cap which are larger than than the standard caps in the Paridisea. Do you know where I can get the westcaps in the UK? ebay is only showing very low value types.


Brad

[GHM]

Well I finally got my friend setup with his Mac Mini And USB+Paradisea. Boy I'm accustom to Windows, it took me a while but finally got it licked. He's ecstatic about the sound of the combo! This is his first foray into PC audio. From his call today..there's no turning back now! We integrated it into his HT system as well. No more silver disc spinners going in that room.
He told me if he'd known he could achieve the sound he has now with PC audio and the USB+Paradisea, he would have done it years ago.

[kbuzz3]

Anyone who has played around with power cords on this unit have any thoughts? My system tends to slightly slighty grainy at the moment. All opinions (from those who agree about the different sound of cords) welcome. Id like to venture a guess that a smooth sounding coper cord like the signal cable would be a nice match....

thanks. I have new usb version but dont have the older odel to compare.

[GHM]

Anyone who has played around with power cords on this unit have any thoughts? My system tends to slightly slighty grainy at the moment. All opinions (from those who agree about the different sound of cords) welcome. Id like to venture a guess that a smooth sounding coper cord like the signal cable would be a nice match....

thanks. I have new usb version but dont have the older odel to compare.

Not that I don't think the cords make a difference,but sounds like something else is wrong here. What do you use as a source and what input do you use? Grain normally comes from a bad connection in the chain...well at least IME.

[tanchiro58]

Brad and drmike,

If you could not find any West-Cap NOS 1.5uF/600V you can bypass any NOS like West-cap, Vitamin Q or Gudeman 0.1uF/1000V to the stock or V-caps (Brad). They will bring to the sound of your system more defined details and dynamic. 

Tan

[jaspal kallar]

Well I finally got my friend setup with his Mac Mini And USB+Paradisea. Boy I'm accustom to Windows, it took me a while but finally got it licked. He's ecstatic about the sound of the combo! This is his first foray into PC audio. From his call today..there's no turning back now! We integrated it into his HT system as well. No more silver disc spinners going in that room.
He told me if he'd known he could achieve the sound he has now with PC audio and the USB+Paradisea, he would have done it years ago.

Was curious if it's upsampled to 48 khz?

And can you say, briefly, what was so difficult about doing it on a Mac (compared to a PC) ?

  - jaspal.

[GHM]

Well I finally got my friend setup with his Mac Mini And USB+Paradisea. Boy I'm accustom to Windows, it took me a while but finally got it licked. He's ecstatic about the sound of the combo! This is his first foray into PC audio. From his call today..there's no turning back now! We integrated it into his HT system as well. No more silver disc spinners going in that room.
He told me if he'd known he could achieve the sound he has now with PC audio and the USB+Paradisea, he would have done it years ago.

Was curious if it's upsampled to 48 khz?

And can you say, briefly, what was so difficult about doing it on a Mac (compared to a PC) ?

  - jaspal.

Hi jaspal...right now he's running it at 24bit/44.1 kHz. I'm going to get him to drop the USB-AUDIO driver in and see what happens.
It was just a little difficult for me since I haven't touched a Mac in 19 years. Once I figured out where to go in and make the adjustments it was easy. I just changed to Vista myself less than a month ago. I was just starting to get familiar with it when I had the little Mac drop in my lap.

Other than that the Mac sounds great. I don't have a preference for either PC or Mac . They both sound fine for audio when setup properly.

[jaspal kallar]

Was curious if it's upsampled to 48 khz?

And can you say, briefly, what was so difficult about doing it on a Mac (compared to a PC) ?

  - jaspal.

Hi jaspal...right now he's running it at 24bit/44.1 kHz. I'm going to get him to drop the USB-AUDIO driver in and see what happens.
It was just a little difficult for me since I haven't touched a Mac in 19 years. Once I figured out where to go in and make the adjustments it was easy. I just changed to Vista myself less than a month ago. I was just starting to get familiar with it when I had the little Mac drop in my lap.

Other than that the Mac sounds great. I don't have a preference for either PC or Mac . They both sound fine for audio when setup properly.

I dropped in the demo USB-AUDIO driver and when I plugged in my external creative mp3+ soundcard it shows up on my mac in the System Preferences/Sound under the tab "Output" as another  port called "USB" and the name is "USB Audio DEMO 1-0.9.1:Line".

Then my dac says that it 48Khz and basically after you can play any music (iTunes, internet radio etc..) on the mac and it's upsampled.
Granted of course I'm connecting an optical out from the external mp3+ usb sound and you just have the straight usb connection his paradisea+.  However, should be interesting to see what happens.

Suffice to say if it works then upsampling on a mac would be very easy - just install the USB-AUDIO driver and connect via USB.

What did your friend use for playback (iTunes?) and how did he import using Apple Lossless or Wav or some other?

    - jaspal.

PS. When are getting the Promitheus Audio Solid State DAC?

[GHM]

Was curious if it's upsampled to 48 khz?

And can you say, briefly, what was so difficult about doing it on a Mac (compared to a PC) ?

  - jaspal.

Hi jaspal...right now he's running it at 24bit/44.1 kHz. I'm going to get him to drop the USB-AUDIO driver in and see what happens.
It was just a little difficult for me since I haven't touched a Mac in 19 years. Once I figured out where to go in and make the adjustments it was easy. I just changed to Vista myself less than a month ago. I was just starting to get familiar with it when I had the little Mac drop in my lap.

Other than that the Mac sounds great. I don't have a preference for either PC or Mac . They both sound fine for audio when setup properly.

I dropped in the demo USB-AUDIO driver and when I plugged in my external creative mp3+ soundcard it shows up on my mac in the System Preferences/Sound under the tab "Output" as another  port called "USB" and the name is "USB Audio DEMO 1-0.9.1:Line".

Then my dac says that it 48Khz and basically after you can play any music (iTunes, internet radio etc..) on the mac and it's upsampled.
Granted of course I'm connecting an optical out from the external mp3+ usb sound and you just have the straight usb connection his paradisea+.  However, should be interesting to see what happens.

Suffice to say if it works then upsampling on a mac would be very easy - just install the USB-AUDIO driver and connect via USB.

What did your friend use for playback (iTunes?) and how did he import using Apple Lossless or Wav or some other?

    - jaspal.

PS. When are getting the Promitheus Audio Solid State DAC?

We imported using Apple Lossless. Thanks fro the tips. I will try this tomorrow. Well for me, the Promitheus dac will be on hold for a while. I initially planned to buy one. And still might..I'm enjoying this unit so much now I really lost interest in pursuing another .

We used Itunes for playback. I've read that the VLC media player could be better for sound quality. We'll probably drop this program on the Mac tomorrow also.

[jaspal kallar]

We imported using Apple Lossless. Thanks fro the tips. I will try this tomorrow. Well for me, the Promitheus dac will be on hold for a while. I initially planned to buy one. And still might..I'm enjoying this unit so much now I really lost interest in pursuing another .

We used Itunes for playback. I've read that the VLC media player could be better for sound quality. We'll probably drop this program on the Mac tomorrow also.

I compared a track with Apple Loseless to to a straight copy of the track from the CD (was in aiff format) and I thought the Apple Loseless was not as good. It wasn't a huge difference but still I could tell. I also read about this in another forum - that Apple Loseless is not quite good as a straight bit to bit copy which I suppose the aiff format is although I'm not sure. Mind you I compared the one track, so harldy conclusive but I wanted to bring this to your attention.

To honest I even did some flac comparisons and the aiff sounded better although perhaps I encoded the flac wrong on the mac. I couldn't find a mac version of the EAC.

  - jaspal.

PS. I have VLC on my Mac, will give it a whirl when time permits.

[anubisgrau]

Sorry for a slight off topic: I was offerred a 2 years old Dialogue II, no USB port.

I don't have a DAC and frankly not sure if I need it at the moment but I can try setting up a small music server along my CDP that doesn't need an extrenal DAC. Also, if the price is OK, why not.

As far as I can see Dialogue II is a 16-bit machine - that seems OK with me as I am currently using a CDP with 1641 turned NOS which is also a 16-bit. I am used to the sound of these babies, a bit less resolution but more listening pleasure.

Apart from that, what are the general thoughts about Dialogue II - any users out there?

Last but not least what do you reckon to be an OK price for a 2-years old piece.

Any known mods that would elevate its performance furthermore?

[Loftprojection]

I never heard the Dialogue II but it probably sounds a bit different then the Paradisea, it's not based on the same chip.  You might want to check on head-fi.net, you will find plenty of feedback and help on pricing there.  It used to be a popular DAC but has lost a lot of popularity when other Asian DACs started appearing, like the Zaolu, Citypulse and so on.  The forum on head-fi.net is full of talks about cheap DACs.  When I bought my Paradisea I spent several hours/days of reading before deciding!   

[NewBuyer]

Sorry for a slight off topic: I was offerred a 2 years old Dialogue II, no USB port.

I don't have a DAC and frankly not sure if I need it at the moment but I can try setting up a small music server along my CDP that doesn't need an extrenal DAC. Also, if the price is OK, why not.

As far as I can see Dialogue II is a 16-bit machine - that seems OK with me as I am currently using a CDP with 1641 turned NOS which is also a 16-bit. I am used to the sound of these babies, a bit less resolution but more listening pleasure.

Apart from that, what are the general thoughts about Dialogue II - any users out there?

Last but not least what do you reckon to be an OK price for a 2-years old piece.

Any known mods that would elevate its performance furthermore?

I have heard both the Paradisea and the Dialogue II (and the Constantine) and I think you would really enjoy the Dialogue II. All these DAC's are great, the Dialogue II is not in any way worse than the others. If you try it, please post your impressions, it would be really good to hear back from you about what you think.

[jaspal kallar]

I have heard both the Paradisea and the Dialogue II (and the Constantine) and I think you would really enjoy the Dialogue II. All these DAC's are great, the Dialogue II is not in any way worse than the others. If you try it, please post your impressions, it would be really good to hear back from you about what you think.

I see that the Dialogue II is not suitable with passive pre but does anybody know what the actual output is? My current DAC outputs 2v.

Also it says on the ebay page tha the Dialogue II has higher impedance (1.6K). Not sure what this means but my current DAC has an output impedance of 100 Ohms. Can someone explain this to me?

 - jaspal.

[GHM]

I have heard both the Paradisea and the Dialogue II (and the Constantine) and I think you would really enjoy the Dialogue II. All these DAC's are great, the Dialogue II is not in any way worse than the others. If you try it, please post your impressions, it would be really good to hear back from you about what you think.

I see that the Dialogue II is not suitable with passive pre but does anybody know what the actual output is? My current DAC outputs 2v.

Also it says on the ebay page tha the Dialogue II has higher impedance (1.6K). Not sure what this means but my current DAC has an output impedance of 100 Ohms. Can someone explain this to me?

 - jaspal.

My Audio Sector was built the same way..no op amps. You would need a buffer to get the most out of this Dac using a passive preamp. I would definitely stick with a unit using op amps or buffer stage with the TVC.

[jaspal kallar]

I have heard both the Paradisea and the Dialogue II (and the Constantine) and I think you would really enjoy the Dialogue II. All these DAC's are great, the Dialogue II is not in any way worse than the others. If you try it, please post your impressions, it would be really good to hear back from you about what you think.

I see that the Dialogue II is not suitable with passive pre but does anybody know what the actual output is? My current DAC outputs 2v.

Also it says on the ebay page tha the Dialogue II has higher impedance (1.6K). Not sure what this means but my current DAC has an output impedance of 100 Ohms. Can someone explain this to me?

 - jaspal.

My Audio Sector was built the same way..no op amps. You would need a buffer to get the most out of this Dac using a passive preamp. I would definitely stick with a unit using op amps or buffer stage with the TVC.

Thanks for your answer,GHM. It's just someone in the UK is selling his Dialogue II 2nd hand for around $160. I thought it would be a cheap option to try out an NOS Dac.

  -jaspal.