Does anyone else use AES3 on their K50 & if so, what cable do you use?

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Hi Darmstadtium,

The Tubulus Concentus is sounding very natural, no glitching in the upper region, nice and accurate articulating of voices. Bass is deep and in step with the rest. In my setup (K50 – Terminator Plus = NOS) it is on core with Jorma AES and Sablon AES, although between the two AES the Sablon is preferred by me. Between the Concentus and the Sablon are minor differences, but that (perhaps) has the do with the fact that I do play Flac file with “lower” resolution (<= 24Bit 192KHz) so the full potential of I2S isn’t (perhaps) showing . But money wise the Tubulus Concentus is the best choice.
(Sorry for my English :blush:)
Succes.

Robert

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42

Thanks. Ordered a concentus today. Will ket you guys know my thoughts once it arrives.

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43

Hi @worknprogress, very interesting. I might have the same issue. I can see in my Player Output that it has changed to USB (I use Tellurium Q Black Diamond AES cable) I can’t seem to change it back to AES - do mind mentioning how you achieved this? My presentation has appeared to get a little flatter on my K50 also. Many thanks and kind regards

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Smiffy,

Does your Player Dashboard show both USB and Digital Audio as possible selections for Output? If so, is the Digital Output highlighted, showing selected? Even if it does, I would suggest selecting the SAVE button. If not, select Digital Output and select SAVE button. If still not able to play via your AES/EBU, suggest selecting the gear icon for settings on the desired Player App and restarting the Player application. After restarting, again confirm the Digital Output is highlighted and SAVE.

If still not playing, you may want to check Server Dashboard to make sure correct Server App is selected and compatible with Player App. Lately, I have been using Roon Server but using Squeeze Player–requires Roon Settings>Setup>Enable Squeezebox Support to Yes.

In my system, I have experimented disconnecting the USB cable from the K50. For me, it has produced more pleasing results when using my AES/EBU selection over playing AES/EBU when the USB cable is connected. Doing this removes the USB Output option on the Player Dashboard.

If none of these suggestions work for you, I would suggest shutting down your Antipodes unit via the front button of the unit and restarting again and seeing if that resolves the issue.

Best of luck

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Thanks for swift response @worknprogress. I’m outputting via my AES connection (USB is only connected to my DAC for occasional with my Laptop) however in the K50’s “Audio Output List” it suggests the device name is “USB Audio 2.0”. Do you know if this is normal ? Thanks again for your advice!

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My K50 Player Dashboard is also suggesting USB 2.0 on Audio Output List and Audio Diagnostics under the Audio Information area. I have refreshed without change. My usb cable is not connected to the K50 nor my DAC. Only Digital Audio option is being shown and highlighted/seleced. I am playing music using AES/EBU.

@MarkCole , can you provide clarification on what is being reflected here?

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The Re-Clocker is connected internally via USB

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Thank you Mark. For owners then, am I correct these Dashboard information areas for Output List and Audio Diagnostics are not routinely useful/informative, but may be useful for you and Antipodes remotely for issues with the Re-Clocker?

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I would assume all outputs are live?

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@Tintin ,

For me, I had previously had I2S, Directstream RJ45, USB, and AES/EBU outputs connected and managed via my preamp and Player Dashboard USB or Digital Audio Output selection. All worked. I recently took out the I2S connection, removing one of my DACs. I also tried removing my USB cable, a Wireworld Platinum Starlight, due to my preference for AES/EBU and can do higher resolution stored music via ethernet to 2 other DACs with excellent results. As noted earlier in this thread, removing the USB has seemed for me to increase SQ of my AES/EBU. It seems to have reduced an edginess that I associate with digital noise.

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I connected my K50 with an Ansuz D-TC digitalz cable for ethernet and digital connection as well to the xternal DAC which are activated with a suitable powerswitch/-box also from Ansuz. I am very happy to have that in my system.

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Hi Chilli,
What’s your take on MIT now?
It is a sublime cable.
I’ve been using an HDMI cable for several weeks now but I miss the MIT soundstage.
Glad to be back at MIT.

Best reagrds,
Harry

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Hi Harry,

Well it took an absolute eternity to run in, but after it had there was definitely no parting with it. It’s a terrific cable, but I’d absolutely hate to run in another. Even leaving Roon Radio feeding my DAC 24/7 it still took weeks before it settled fully. Even when I thought it finally had (which was early January), it transpired that there were still a couple of small surprises in store.

I did some brief experimentation with the articulation control, once the goal posts finally stopped moving, but to my ears & on my system the standard/middle setting sounds the most natural & I haven’t touched it since. Even then I only really tried it out of curiosity.

It was expensive, but made a huge improvement over the Audioquest Wild AES/EBU & Live Cable Xtreme USB cables I previously owned (particularly over the Wild) & it’s totally exceeded expectations.

Soundstage by comparison to my former options increased markedly in depth & by a couple of feet or so, but width slightly increased too, although to a lesser degree. There isn’t one area of presentation that appears to have taken a backward step compared to either of my previous cable options & there have been gains in multiple areas (dependant on which of my previous cables it’s compared to). Far more, against the Wild.

It was strange with my former Wild AES/EBU. It was a cable I’d owned & used for a few years & it worked really well between my old transport & previous DAC (both MBL), but between my K50 & N31 it just never really gelled & I didn’t like it. I’d fully expected the Wild to be the better out of my former cables, but my old Live Cable Xtreme USB was easily preferable & by no small margin.

They’ve both been surpassed with the MIT Oracle AES/EBU as the performance of that is on a different & greatly enhanced level. However, it does rather illustrate that you can’t just assume one connection type will be better over the other, even when using cables you’ve long been familiar with & when both have previously rendered very satisfactory results. The Live Cable Xtreme USB continued to perform at a high level but the Wild AES/EBU really didn’t sound that great & yet I know it’s not a bad cable. It should have by all rights sounded better, but in this particular case, the reality was rather different.

The MA-X was my last purchase of any significance & I’m not actively looking to make any further alterations whatsoever. I’m at that happy place where pretty much all I do with my system is listen to music. The MIT cable played a reasonably sizeable part in that & so despite the slightly steep ticket price, I personally feel it was worth every penny. :slightly_smiling_face:

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I recently compared the following AES/EBU cables between my K-50 and Bricasti M21.

Wireworld Platinum 8
Shunyata Sigma
Shunyata Omega
MIT MA-X
Nordost Valhalla 2

In the absence of any comparisons, each would have served me well. Being able to hear them with seconds of each other lead me on to the MIT MA-X and Valhalla 2 as the final competitors.

The Valhalla 2 was better by a fair margin. Not close. (And less expensive)

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In what ways was it better, if you don’t mind me asking?

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After the Valhalla 2 had 30-50 hours on it, it was simply more detailed with a huge sound stage and instruments all ‘visible’. It was the one I kept going back to when I switched another cable out.

The MIT MA-X was warmer and more detailed with a more believable sound stage than the other cables but it did not beat the Valhalla.

The Shunyata Omega was a close third.

No wrong answers in that group however. If I didn’t have the opportunity to listen back to back to back, I am not sure I would have made the same decision.

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If your Valhalla 2 works better for you than the MIT Oracle MA-X for you then fine, but that’s with your DAC & it doesn’t necessarily follow that it would be a better option for everyone else.

As I stated previously, I replaced what’s generally regarded as a decent cable (Audioquest Wild AES/EBU) but not because it wasn’t actually a good cable, but because it just didn’t work particularly well between my K50 & my current DAC. I thought it was really good between my old CD transport & DAC though & with that particular combo I didn’t feel the need to search for anything else.

I tried quite a few cables when searching for my ideal between the K50 & N31 & considerably more than mentioned. I just chose not to negatively comment on those that didn’t work particularly well within my own system.

I haven’t listened to any Nordost cables in a great many years, so it didn’t even cross my mind to do so now. Maybe I missed out by not auditioning the Valhalla 2 & I guess I’ll never know. But with the MA-X working so well within my system I lack the inclination to look any further. I honestly can’t fault it. :wink:

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Thanks for that. Congrats - it sounds like you made a great choice.

If you purchased this from a Nordost dealer, see if they have a VIDAR they can cook it on, if it’s yet to be cooked. MMF takes a ridiculously long time to burn in because of how well the conductors are isolated from the insulation. Dealers who carry the Reference series and above must purchase one of these. Even if a dealer requires you to pay to have it cooked, it will be worth it.

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I understand. My cable was shipped directly from Nordost.

The instruction manual (HA!) for the cable mentioned that step but my dealer is 7 hrs away by car.

I have run the Nordost setup and burn in disc a few times. The rest of the burn in, if needed will have to be done the old fashioned way, by playing music.

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i have been using the Tubulus concentus few months and happy with it . i recently got an offer to trial at home the audiomica consequence AES/EBU Cable. i dont wanna commit my opinion before it settles down, but all i will now say is , that its interesting :slight_smile:
Will keep you guys posted

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