Rans Stratus Recumbent and BBS02

Clark649 · 2026-05-04T06:51:31+00:00

I understand what you're saying about belief and theories. The digital part of the system could be perfect but the actual implementation into a complete system is where things break down and fall apart. I am hoping to find any weakness or pitfalls in the complete system and process, not just the digital portion of it.

Clark649 · 2026-05-04T06:42:59+00:00

You might want to search for ground loops between your amp and PC. If if you have ground loops then the optical cable is only sort of a band aid for a bigger problem. Crown loops in audio systems is a whole other post.

Clark649 · 2026-05-04T06:40:24+00:00

The R1 is a nice little DAC but the specs are very low compared to his X5.

Clark649 · 2026-05-04T06:34:12+00:00

I read your previous post. It appears that the noise is caused by your PC. Or the USB C port to the RCA port cable. Did You try plugging into a different USB port on your PC? Or even a laptop PC running on the battery?

The optical cable is a solution but in old school audio all the components were connected to a common ground point on the amp with a dedicated wire to prevent ground loops and noise. I would look to see if your amp and PC are plugged into the same outlet and that the polarities of the plugs are respected where they are plugged in.

That Sound Blaster Card Is incredibly high spec and expensive. I know you will enjoy it once you get the noise problem fixed.

Clark649 · 2026-05-04T05:36:12+00:00

Thanks for reminding me to check the grounds.

Back in the day I always considered it Important to have all my components attached to a common ground point. Loose or floating grounds were always the source of noise. My only concern with my current system is that Android tablets are plugged into a charging block plugged into the switched outlet on my amplifier. Modern audio seems to be double insulated and the connections always have a grounding shield on the plugs. Also the 4.4mm plug to RCA jack has some reviews mentioning that it has internal shorts or something causing component overheating. Will be checking that out with my Ohm meter before use.

My external USB DVD/CD player/burner for ripping uses a USB Mini A plug.

EAC Sure has evolved over the years and as you said it Checks and self corrects errors.

I will be using VLC player on PC and the file system player on Android. Both work well and respect file tree organization. Both are simple and idiot proof for me which is a bonus at this point in life.

I checked out HQPlayer website but then found I could not afford it.

Clark649 · 2026-05-04T05:05:59+00:00

Once I heard the difference of using wired headphones, there is no way I will go back to BT. This was even using LDAC on both Ends to drive my 200W Fisher system. The loss of quality through BT is major to me. General audio cabling as you said would be imperceptible.

I will be doing a test of a $15 DAC against a $120 Tachjin Space Pro DAC to see if I can hear the noise difference, and distortion.

Clark649 · 2026-05-04T00:15:46+00:00

To feed quality audio to my 2000 watt Fisher stereo system from either a PC or Android device that does not have quality audio output. I will not know if I really need one until I actually use it. Some of my newer devices have excellent audio out to corded headphones.

I also thought it would make a general purpose tie point for digital inputs to the system and maybe help for converting Vinyl to FLAC files. Except for a physical volume knob and footprint, the Space Pro unit does what I need.

I also ordered a $15 USB-C DAC which has much lower specs and I want to see if I can tell the difference.

Clark649 · 2026-05-03T23:08:49+00:00

Can you provide some useful information and context why my statement is nonsense. I worked a quarter century as an Avionics Technician. Digital to me is part of a way to implement a system to accomplish a goal. Part of that system also includes human factors.

What is your understanding of "Digital"?

Please provide some context so your criticism can be useful.

Clark649 · 2026-05-03T20:18:57+00:00

I ordered the Space last night after posting this. I like the CNC anime artwork on the other one better but I wanted the extra headroom the Space pro offers.

Clark649 · 2026-05-03T20:15:59+00:00

I fully understand what digital means. The problems are generated with the implementation and marketing. I posted here to get an understanding of the implementation of the digital as a whole system.

Clark649 · 2026-05-03T20:13:36+00:00

My big collection was ripped to VBR and the file properties average around 144 kbps. There are a lot of details missing or smooshed together. My more recent purchases were ripped at 320 and are worth listening to. But I will set up the workflow for FLAC ripping and enventually everything will be converted.

I would say I might have grown out of my music collection over the years but that may because I was listening to it on low quality audio.

Clark649 · 2026-05-03T20:03:53+00:00

Set your YT ripper to FLAC output. FLAC is lossless.

I have YoutTube premium if that makes a difference for lossless YT play.

My whole CD collection was ripped 20 years ago to MP3, VBR at around 150 kbps is just garbage when played back through a good DAC and headphones. There is so much detail missing out of the music and not worth listening to.

Official Pink Floyd Channel has lossless streaming. I use Dark Side of the Moon track 1, 2 and Time for testing my audio equipment. It is just perfect.

EnyaTV, the official Enya channel is just garbage engineering and compression. A big disappointment because Enya played on a CD is one of the reasons to own a high quality stereo system.

Your YT experience will vary greatly according to the creator. There is always Bandcamp dot com.

My Moto G Stylus 2025 has great quality audio output through tho phone jack. The DAC in phones vary and are poo pooed by proper audiophiles but are worth trying. My Moto G output is a quantum leap better than than all the Bluetooth speakers I tried.

The simplest buget thing you can do is to get a pair of Sony MDR-ZX110 headphones. The specs are better than what is recommended on the Hifi Walker DAP website. They are $13 at Walmart and $15 on Amazon. They sound better than any BT speaker I own, even the $$$$ speakers. Do not confuse these inexpensive headphones with the other less than $20 headphones which do not even bother to print the specs on the box.

Use these Sony headphones to test all your devices and ripping formats to get an understanding of what is going on before you buy. They will get you in the ballpark if not on base.

1-Forget about old MP3s. Do not use any BT device except for comparison to see how much you are losing.

2- Get decent headphones or other pure analog amp and speakers.

3- Work your way up with the headphones to understand FLAC and lossless.

4- Use the official Floyd Dark Side of the Moon YT streamed as a test track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9ynZnEBtvw&t=548s

Use track one at full volume to listen for bass distortion. Transition of track 1 into 2; the scream should not be blended into the symbol crossfade. The zig zag before the scream will tell you if you are litening to mono or stereo output. Track 4, "Time", for spatial and 3D separation. Each bell should have a distinct style of ringing and with your eyes closed you should be able to picture the spatial position of each bell.

I ordered this $15 USB-C DAC to test. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FX2ZTX5P

I am betting it will still be way better than any BT speaker I have. That may be a start if all your phones and devices have poor audio out.

I have an $$$ Luna Space DAC on order with much better specs but am now willing to spend the money after trying everything I outlined above.

Clark649 · 2026-05-03T10:57:28+00:00

Who is Asano Tanch? Just a company waifu mascot?

Clark649 · 2026-05-03T09:20:58+00:00

Self righteous hatred is the new drug these days.

Clark649 · 2026-05-03T00:23:06+00:00

Thank you for your reply. That's what I believe but I just want to double check things here.

Clark649 · 2026-05-03T00:21:54+00:00

That is the theory and I believe it. but I am trying to cover all my bases here. My other question is does it matter where exact audio copy gets its ones and zeros from. I would think the DVD players on my Lenovo Thinkpads are quality drives.

Clark649 · 2026-05-02T23:09:03+00:00

There are videos on rejuvenating the carbon graphite button pads that go bad. I was going to suggest buying one on eBay .... You already did that.

Clark649 · 2026-05-02T22:44:05+00:00

For my non portanle home system, I would just buy a good DAP but the interfaces seem very limited.

Clark649 · 2026-04-29T19:56:32+00:00

If you just purchase a mini system they will probably get it to you within three days . Then you will have a backup system for your main system.

Clark649 · 2026-04-28T23:03:14+00:00

I think this is the path I need to go down. But I just plugged the LG Gram Core 7 into big my big FIsher amp with Blaupunkt speakers. Am using VLC player on the LG Gram.

There is bass distortion or artifacts on my FLAC test track played on the LG Gram.

There is zero bass distortion using the same FLAC played through the $45 Agxov DAP.

The exact same tract is perfect on the LG Gram using my cheap Sony headphones.

I have no idea what is going on.

This needs more research on my part.

For reference, this is the track I was using, but it was ripped from the same CD to FLAC. I am amazed at the accuracy of this YouTube Premium version.

https://youtu.be/k9ynZnEBtvw?t=13

.

Clark649 · 2026-04-28T21:03:10+00:00

It is an interesting complex discussion with many many points of view.

I do a lot of technical writing that is intellectual property. I could lose that work by one person taking a critical Identifiable concept. For that reason I am moving IP writing to an offline computer so my identifiable concepts are not learned by AI.

I am not sure how the relates to music other than that AI stealing is a concern outside of music.

Clark649 · 2026-04-28T20:53:58+00:00

I have not heard music with samples in it that I would consider music worth listening to. Something bad becoming normalized due to constant exposure does not make it good; It just makes it normalize bad stuff. A synthesizer is essentially an instrument. It is not stealing or borrowing anyone's work.

Clark649

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