[wappinghigh]

Ok. Done some initial reading.

I was convinced my next upgrade was to a Linn poweramp and then go "active" to Linn speakers.

..Till I got onto this. So I have some questions:

1/ Does a DEQX PDC with active crossovers do the same as a Linn amp (say an akurate 4200) wired up "actively" to a set of their speakers (4 amps are needed to go "active")?

2/ Is the PDC3 basically a PDC2.6 with 4 additional hypex class D amps?

3/ If so, I assume both devices can basically act as a DAC and preamp (both seem pretty reasonable quailty) so how does the DAC stack up against say a northstar 192? Or even the "spoiler" for that matter?

3/ I understand Steve's mod of the 2.6P concentrates on the analogue side...but on the digital in side what is done?...add a I2S input say for a pacecar??

I assume I could go sonos->DEQX PDC3P (+/- modded)->Legend Audio big Reds. And hey unreal, even support local Aussie manufacturing! I have found out I could do all this (unmodded) including DEQX/speakers/amps for around $13,000 US..not real bad and competitive against Linn...

4/ Given the modd of the 2.6P is so expensive, what gives value? I assume keep it simple. Just have one modded digital input (an I2S) for the pace car and modd the RCA outs. Is that correct?

5/ Do you need to be an audio engineer to set up a/ active crossovers? b/ room calibration....?

Thanks guys for your help

AB

[audioengr]

Ok. Done some initial reading.

I was convinced my next upgrade was to a Linn poweramp and then go "active" to Linn speakers.

..Till I got onto this. So I have some questions:

1/ Does a DEQX PDC with active crossovers do the same as a Linn amp (say an akurate 4200) wired up "actively" to a set of their speakers (4 amps are needed to go "active")?

Yes, but the crossovers are in the DEQX rather than the active speakers.  This way you can "tune" the crossovers.

2/ Is the PDC3 basically a PDC2.6 with 4 additional hypex class D amps?

I believe so.  At the show, they showed me a 4-channel amp, but it didnt have the crossover in it.  Maybe this new thing hass both.

3/ If so, I assume both devices can basically act as a DAC and preamp (both seem pretty reasonable quailty) so how does the DAC stack up against say a northstar 192? Or even the "spoiler" for that matter?

The DAC will never be as good as these, however when you factor in the preamp, it pulls ahead of the Northstar.  The Spoiler is still a lot better, even through a preamp.

3/ I understand Steve's mod of the 2.6P concentrates on the analogue side...but on the digital in side what is done?...add a I2S input say for a pacecar??

I dont list all of the mods that I do to the DEQX.  There are a lot of digital mods, including 2 I2S interfaces, one for USB and one for SB3 for instance.

I assume I could go sonos->DEQX PDC3P (+/- modded)->Legend Audio big Reds. And hey unreal, even support local Aussie manufacturing! I have found out I could do all this (unmodded) including DEQX/speakers/amps for around $13,000 US..not real bad and competitive against Linn...

I have less and less time for doing custom mods like this.  My Off-Ramp and Pace-Car have me busy 24/7.

4/ Given the modd of the 2.6P is so expensive, what gives value?

The sound quality pretty much beats everything except for the Spoiler, providing it has the preamp option.

I assume keep it simple. Just have one modded digital input (an I2S) for the pace car and modd the RCA outs. Is that correct?

Yes, that's what I would recommend.

5/ Do you need to be an audio engineer to set up a/ active crossovers? b/ room calibration....?

It's like learning any other program.  If you understand a bit about speaker and room physics, this definitely helps.  There are so many variables that you coudl spend years tweaking and never get it perfect.  I would recommend careful speaker placement and room treatments first and only then use the DEQX to do room tuning or crossovers.

Steve N.

[wappinghigh]

Thanks for that Steve.

Understand completely. (I think)!

Have since asked the designer of Legend Speakers DEQX/BigRed combo exactly what he is on about.
This combo apparently is all digital crossover(unlike Linn's)

Will try and get in to a demo of the new gear in couple of weeks.

I guess whether or not the new PDC-3 has the extra amps doesn't really matter. Could still use a modded DEQX 2.6 and add a 4 channel amplifier. It's getting the digital jitter issue sorted on the dac side that is important....

Then the choice comes down to what you road you go down...1/ a spoiler or formulae one into a power amp(ie a passive crossover system) 2/ a spoiler/formulae one into a linn power amp with active cards ( ie an active system with no control) or 3/ a modded DEQX 2.6P into a power amp ( ie an "active" crossover system with control)

Is there any audio gain to be made with a 4th option...a spoiler/formulae one into an unmodded DEQX into a power amp.....or would the DEQX also have to have a pacecar?....

[fu_man]

2/ Is the PDC3 basically a PDC2.6 with 4 additional hypex class D amps?

I believe so.  At the show, they showed me a 4-channel amp, but it didnt have the crossover in it.  Maybe this new thing hass both.

Congratulations  Steve!  It  seems  you may have known more  about  the PDC3  than you thought...  you inspired it!

The HDP3 is the culmination of a lot of experimenting regarding sound quality
> through the PDC¹s ADC, op-amps and DACs, as well as power supply and related
> issues. The unit is based on the PDC-2.6/P Rev-6 PCB that many of you have,
> where there are changes to main PSU, grounding, EMI filtering, op-amps and
> capacitors. The results have been stunning, and frankly I had not believed
> would have been possible were it not for the initial work of Steve Nugent of
> Empirical Audio, who was the first to achieve these type of results with even
> earlier Revisions of the PDC main board (where earthing issues were
> particularly tricky to improve on) so thank you Steve!
>
> While the changes we have made are not as entirely full on as Steve Nugent¹s
...

[JoshK]

DEQX's thread on the beta forum made it sound like Steve designed the innovations in grounding and decoupling and then they ran a bit with it in terms of opamp upgrades, etc.