audio mirror dac

Islandflyfisher,

Consider talking to TRL about modding your Marantz (check out the SA14 thread here on Audiogon and contact Jes45 who has a modded SA14). Based on what I have read for their standard fee of $550 they could make your Marantz really sing. Perhaps their mods will also improve the digital stage so it makes for a better transport. I am having them modify one of my D1s. Also, I bought a CDP/CDR/HD where they modded the digital stage and I use it as a transport for my D1. The sound is fantastic. This transport replaced a 17k CEC unit in the previous onwers system.

Just a few thoughts...

Dennis,

The TRL mod is a leap of faith in some respects. They do not list their mods as they are somewhat proprietary (they also do not publish schematics for the amps they build). All I can say is my Alesis ML9600 modded by them is an amazing transport for the D1. I do know for instance that they disabled the error correction circuitry and dampened the chassis. Other than that Paul was mum (except to say their work with Intel on a non-audio related project contributed to the mods), but having dealt with him on more than one occasion I know that he is incredibly trustworthy and the TRL house sound is to my liking.

So, with that I'm going to take $550 and send it along with the D1 and see what Paul Weitzel and his team can do with it. I know one thing for sure and that is I'm going to request that the digital input be moved from under the IEC. My Flavor 4 PC pushes down on it. I don't know what Vlad was thinking there, but I'll give him that considering what a bargain this DAC is and the sound it produces.

Then on to comparing the two...

Can anyone compare the sound of the Ack 1.2E to the Audio Mirror, i'm considering both. Thanks, Alan

Clio09:

I agree with you about the position of the Coax input on the D1. It's tight on my unit as well with the Zu Bok PC. Please let us know when you have some listening impressions of your modded unit. Sounds very promising, not that the "stock" unit sounds bad at all... (:

Dennis

Dennis,

I'll probably start another thread when I get it back. Probably a few months off. I love the sound of the stock unit. However, I'm just curious to see how close Vlad comes to the TRL house sound.