Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Reset Pioneer DVD players without a display or remote

1) Switch the player into standby and empty the disc tray.
2) Using the front panel buttons, hold down the STOP button and press STANDBY/ON to switch the player back on.

From

http://www.pioneerfaq.info/english/dv400.php?player=DV-400V&question=Extras

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Squeezebox Duet Duel

Due to a missing power supply and not reading the amps rating of power supplies, I happen to have two Squeezebox Duets.

So I used most of http://lampizator.eu/lampizator/Squeezebox/squeezebox.html on one and they had a duel.

Before this, I also compared the RCA SPDIF output of the modified player and a Squeezebox touch, piping the signal to a Sony DA7100ES, headphone output. I couldn't tell the difference.

On to compare the analog outputs of both Duets. They fed the analog inputs of a Grace Designs Model 901 headphone amp. I used my Focal spirit one pro.

The test was a single blind, I did not know which was which. But I did know that they were different and I was switching between them. I wrote down my thoughts and the modified one won.

My first thought was that the unmodified one sounded like most other DACs. The modified one had more natural sounding instruments and had nicer layering of vocals. Drums sounded nicer too.

Next up, comparing digital outputs to each other.

2014/10/29
There is a difference between the modded player and the unmodded player. Both were feeding a the digital input of Grace Designs Model 901 headphone amp. I used my Focal spirit one pro.

I only used two songs. Faith and Hand to Mouth by George Michael. The unmodded player sounded fuller, boomy. The modded player revealed more details and instruments sounded more natural. Overall, more pleasant.

These were different. Some may prefer the sound of the unmodded player.

To throw a kink in the works, I also used a Pioneer DV38A. To me, that was the winner. Somewhere in the middle full sounding. And exquisite highs. All those transformers and parts help.