Eastern Electric DAC

Gopher · « **Reply #640 on:** 17 May 2010, 09:40 pm »

Hope this isn't too off topic, but I know a bunch of you are looking for Siemens Silverplates. I'm willing to sell one of the NOS pair I picked up. Drop me a PM if interested.

Levi · « **Reply #641 on:** 22 May 2010, 03:54 am »

Just an FYI. I removed the tube and the DAC still works. Only with the SS circuit that is.

Big Red Machine · « **Reply #642 on:** 26 May 2010, 12:14 pm »

I've had the dac for a week but only got 15 minutes with it in stock form last night. For cold out of the box I was impressed with the possibilities. It throws a wide soundstage which I am happy to have. I need to dowse the midrange some so between the preamp tubes and the dac tube we have some work to do but I am encouraged.

Also very well built btw. A solid little package.

Levi · « **Reply #643 on:** 26 May 2010, 01:02 pm »

Don't go too crazy over it.

It is a great toy!

Gopher · « **Reply #644 on:** 27 May 2010, 09:52 pm »

OK, I love this DAC and paired with my old school philips 963SA it is probably the best, most engaging digital I've heard, but I've gotta ask.

Why the heck am I preferring music sourced by my philips over music sourced by my Squeezebox Touch? Everyone is doing backflips over how good the touches digital out is, yet the same CDs ripped in lossless don't sound as good as when I'm sourcing with my player...

I can't argue with having a source of sound thats exceeded every digital player I've owned (including some pretty high dollar ones) but I thought the Sabre32 was supposed to make everything pretty much even.

johsti · « **Reply #645 on:** 27 May 2010, 10:29 pm »

Quote from: Gopher on 27 May 2010, 09:52 pm

Why the heck am I preferring music sourced by my philips over music sourced by my Squeezebox Touch? Everyone is doing backflips over how good the touches digital out is, yet the same CDs ripped in lossless don't sound as good as when I'm sourcing with my player...

I can't argue with having a source of sound thats exceeded every digital player I've owned (including some pretty high dollar ones) but I thought the Sabre32 was supposed to make everything pretty much even.

I don't own the EE dac or the Philips transport, but I thought I'd chime about your comment because I had a similar experience comparing my htpc and squeezebox touch. You might want to double check your squeezebox settings and see if replay gain or any other type of volume normalization is affecting the files playing through the squeezebox.

The digital output on the touch measures very well and is supposed to output bit perfect. It's possible that the Philips does indeed sound better, but I would double check the squeezebox settings to be sure.

slee · « **Reply #646 on:** 5 Jun 2010, 05:12 pm »

Hello everyone, had my E.E. dac for a week now, sound really good. Just changed to mullard so it's still breaking in. For anyone connecting to a blue ray player, do you experience a drop in gain? I have a first gen blue ray Sony. When I connected the player w/the dac, the signal light lit, but no sound until I increased the volume. Anyone?

mchuckp · « **Reply #647 on:** 5 Jun 2010, 05:44 pm »

Quote from: slee on 5 Jun 2010, 05:12 pm

Hello everyone, had my E.E. dac for a week now, sound really good. Just changed to mullard so it's still breaking in. For anyone connecting to a blue ray player, do you experience a drop in gain? I have a first gen blue ray Sony. When I connected the player w/the dac, the signal light lit, but no sound until I increased the volume. Anyone?

Only watching movies or CDs as well? Blurays and DVDs have always had a lower volume comparatively speaking in any system I've ever owned. I always have lower volume levels on music. If your case is much more extreme, then not sure.

slee · « **Reply #648 on:** 5 Jun 2010, 09:47 pm »

Only tried a cd once. While the output was greater with the cd, it wasn't close to the level I get with my mac. I'm using aes with the mac and optical for dvds.

David C · « **Reply #649 on:** 12 Jul 2010, 04:57 pm »

Ordered my EE DAC this weekend from Bill
Cant wait to get it broken it!!!!!

Big Red Machine · « **Reply #650 on:** 12 Jul 2010, 05:08 pm »

Quote from: David C on 12 Jul 2010, 04:57 pm

Ordered my EE DAC this weekend from Bill
Cant wait to get it broken it!!!!!

Right out of the box it is sweat. I have so far settled on the Mullard Blackburn tube. Very close seconds go to the Mazda military tube and the Telefunkens.

Kinger · « **Reply #651 on:** 12 Jul 2010, 08:27 pm »

For those of you who are not using this DAC as a pre-amp so to speak (and are in fact hooking it up to a pre-amp), where are you placing the volume control knob? Full volume?

Gopher · « **Reply #652 on:** 12 Jul 2010, 08:35 pm »

right about three quarter volume for me. I never really played with it to see where it sounds best, but I liked how the gain matched with my preamp there.

satfrat · « **Reply #653 on:** 12 Jul 2010, 09:03 pm »

3:00 worked good for me in my system when I was demoing the EE Dac.

Cheers,
Robin

Steidl Guitars · « **Reply #654 on:** 13 Jul 2010, 01:15 am »

I keep it at full volume.

I'd push it to 11, if I could

David C · « **Reply #655 on:** 14 Jul 2010, 06:09 pm »

Big Red thanks for the note on the DAC. This will be my first time tube experience and I googled Mullard tubes and did not see one described as the Blackburn. Is it the miltary spec one?????

Audioclyde · « **Reply #656 on:** 14 Jul 2010, 06:24 pm »

The Blackburn reference is to that particular factory, located in Blackburn, UK, that produced Mullard tubes; I'm not sure how many different factories produced the Mullard tubes. The etched codes on the tubes indicate which factory the tube was produced at--I believe a B denotes Blackburn for Mullard tubes, but those with much greater knowledge than me can give you better guidance.

I'm seriously considering picking up the EE DAC to give it a try myself.

Randy

carusoracer · « **Reply #657 on:** 14 Jul 2010, 07:18 pm »

Quote from: Kinger on 12 Jul 2010, 08:27 pm

For those of you who are not using this DAC as a pre-amp so to speak (and are in fact hooking it up to a pre-amp), where are you placing the volume control knob? Full volume?

When I had the Demo DAC, I played around quite a bit with the Output settings. I set the dial at anywhere from 1:00 to 4:30 approximate position on the dial.
I think it is all personal preference and tube/equipment compliment.
Good Luck

Kinger · « **Reply #658 on:** 14 Jul 2010, 11:36 pm »

Thanks all. Pretty sure I'm going to order an EE DAC from Bill by the end of the week. I'm a tube newb so can anyone summarize what replacement tubes have sounded best in their system and where they can be found? Friend suggested The Tube Store, but there are a ton of tubes that fit this DAC and I have no idea where I should start.

roscoeiii · « **Reply #659 on:** 14 Jul 2010, 11:45 pm »

This thread is so long at this point, and many are interested in the sound of different tubes in the DAC. Perhaps a tube rolling thread for this DAC should be started? And when able, people can comb through this thread to get all the tube advice offered here and migrate it over to the tube-specific thread?

Worth doing?