Conrad-Johnson HD3 USB DAC

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by Rafale

Guys i'm serious, Eric or Kevin ?

Sorry, my bad, Kevin Halvorson, not Eric, I mis-spoke, or mis-typed.

PC aka Stephen.

[Puma Cat]

192 is tough to do asynchronously right now...might not have met C-J price point for development costs.

[cmalak]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

192 is tough to do asynchronously right now...might not have met C-J price point for development costs.

Stephen...why do you say that doing up to 192Hz is tough to do via asynchronous USB at this price point? Many lower priced USB Dacs that can do it. Just curious as to the rationale. Thx

[Rayooo]

Originally Posted by cmalak

Stephen...why do you say that doing up to 192Hz is tough to do via asynchronous USB at this price point? Many lower priced USB Dacs that can do it. Just curious as to the rationale. Thx

I guess there could be some philosophical argument stating no-need for 192 and beyond..but on the other hand, it seems all or virtually all newer DACs these days support USB Asynchronous at 192 or even greater...right?????

My trusty W4S DAC-2 has done this for a year now, and I've got probably a dozen or so 192k flac albums. I'd hate to have to re-sample or re-sample on play via PC to adapt now to a 92k max DAC.

I must be missing something obvious here??? right???

[rthomeint]

I had the HD3 for 3 days this week. All I can say is I'm buying one. The unit I used maybe has 150 hours on it so it's not fully burned in. I am currently using the Oppo BDP95. My preamp is the McCormack MAP1, amp Premier 11a,speakers Martin-Logan Electromotion ESL. The first I noticed was the bass extension seemed to go about 10 hertz lower. The soundstage was wider with greater front to back depth. Images were better layered within the soundstage. The top end was smoother yet more detailed than the Oppo. It also has that CJ midrange magic. My previous digital front end was an Arye D1 feeding a CJ DA2b. I also have a Cambridge Audio Dac Magic. The HD3 is the best digital sound I've heard in my system. Every CD I ripped or file that I downloaded sounded better than I've ever heard them.

[Elberoth]

Any specs ?

Does it use tubes ? If so, how many ? Output stage only, or PSU as well ?

[rthomeint]

Originally Posted by Elberoth

Any specs ?

Does it use tubes ? If so, how many ? Output stage only, or PSU as well ?

No tubes, I talked to someone at CJ They are think about making a tube version. It has lot's of teflon caps, so if the decided to do an SE version the tube output stage might be the upgrade. It's a very simple to connect their is one USB input, an IEC power socket, left and right outputs and a power switch on the back. There is one slight difference on the front panel from the picture in this thread. There are three yellow LEDS indicators on says SD one say HD and I forgot what to other said. There are on the left side of the unit, there is a yellow LED on the right side for power.

[Rafale]

Finally on the official c-j's website...
conrad-johnson designs inc.

[Rayooo]

'sure wish it did 192.

[goone]

Anyone else have listen to the DAC?