Gamers, What's Your Audio Set Up?
- Thread starter Random Guy Esq.
- Start date
I do think the concept of the swappable DAC chips/cards is neat in theory, although maybe not there in practice. Xduoo does their small cards that can plug into a few of their desktop and portable DAC/AMPs. Similar to Geshelli's product; so a AKM 4499EX one, ESS, R2R etc. But I guess it's a niche market for those that truly wish to switch between DACs. And those that do probably buy multiple DACs anyway, particularly if you look at the likes of Head-Fi etc. and some of the collections.
Again Geshelli are one of those cool companies, like APOS (and formely Drop) where it sucks to be a European becuase the costs go up so much.
Also as an aside I did see the outcry when the HD 6XX sold out on Drop over the weekend. It looks like the HD 58X & 6XX are consigned to the history bin.
Again Geshelli are one of those cool companies, like APOS (and formely Drop) where it sucks to be a European becuase the costs go up so much.
Also as an aside I did see the outcry when the HD 6XX sold out on Drop over the weekend. It looks like the HD 58X & 6XX are consigned to the history bin.
Yea, it definitely seems like a niche product. I'm not sure how many people care enough to buy new DAC modules as new revisions of chips are released, that seems pointless to me, as I can barely notice a difference between chips made 15 years apart. And it seems easier to just have two separate DACs on your desk if you want say an R2R and an AKM DAC for example, rather than having to swap modules each time.
Last edited:
Yep. I think Geshelli used to (may still do) allow you to choose the DAC chip upon order. Which might be appealing, but even probably only works because they're more of a boutique/small quantities maker.
Their website reads as if they do ship to the international shipping and they offer European plug as an option. Not sure if that includes the UK. Although their DACs get very expensive when you start kitting them out.
The did do that collab with APOS for the Merlin DAC built around the AKM 4493 chipset, albeit that's more entry level.
Last edited:
This is what I priced up before:
Then when you go to checkout the shipping country list only has USA, Canada, NZ etc.
That would look amazing as the Oak wood style matches my speakers lol. I'd have then sell something to make some cost back.
Yea, you're right. Their shipping-returns page feels incomplete in this regards - that's what I was going from. Also did a quick reddit search and people seemed to be ordering to the UK, but this was 5 years ago.
That sucks. At least with APOS you can ship to the UK.
Last edited:
I've sent a message to APOS on headfi about the Druid with Sparkos OpAmps, see if I can get my hands on one 
The same 0.1% tolerance ladder as on the FiiOs so not expecting the pure DAC sideof things to sound any different but the OpAmps will certainly add oomph and soundstage like what I saw with the Aiyima A80 after rolling those.
The same 0.1% tolerance ladder as on the FiiOs so not expecting the pure DAC sideof things to sound any different but the OpAmps will certainly add oomph and soundstage like what I saw with the Aiyima A80 after rolling those.
Last edited:
Anyone know if the APOS DAC driver for Windows exists and if it has the streaming option on by default to remove the short delay that has been discussed previously?
Need to know before I decide if an APOS is the way to go about the adventure.
Need to know before I decide if an APOS is the way to go about the adventure.
Last edited:
Going by this thread; https://www.head-fi.org/threads/gaze-upon-the-merlin-launching-soon-on-apos.976579/page-5 - there were some issue with the APOS Merlin's Windows drivers. This was Gershelli's collab and they seem to use the Combo384 USB chipset (I've seen that referenced in their products).
The Druid R2R wasn't a Gershelli collab - not sure if like the Gremlin they didn't disclose who the OEM was. So I don't know the situation with that one. I can't see talk of how it works on Windows in the Head-Fi thread.
Looks like the module in the Druif is also the 384, I downloaded the latest driver from Amanero's site which is from 2024 (!!!) and checked if it comes with a control panel... It does not, just barebones driver so yeah that's not confidence inspiring.
This little idea has now been binned.
Last edited:
Caporegime
- Joined
- 20 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 78,542
- Location
- Wish i was in a Ramen Shop Counter
I want more headphones and toys but it is also time for new glasses....boooooooo
I did look at the Druid (and Merlin) as I have a Gremlin sitting here redundant. Not sure I can sell it, given the brown stain on the main resistor. I think Druid would make it a more interesting DAC, but limited to USB, balanced and headphone out only sort of makes it a more niche set-up. And whilst Merlin has coaxial input, I already have R2R and AKM DACs plus the other limitations from the Gremlin. Also the USB driver issues flagged in that thread are a real-put off.