Negatron II

[NBPK402]

New addition coming the end of the month. I am getting the flagship Denafrips Athena preamp for 2 channel listening. I have a Nobsound Little Bear XLR switcher coming in so I can play stereo through the Athena and Multichannel through the 8805A. We will soon see what if any differences there are in the sound of my 2 channel music.

 

[ddude003]

I take it your comparing your U1 mini streamer -> Pontus II DAC -> Athena Pre with your Marantz Pre/Pro by placing the Little Bear between your Pre stages and your Amp(s)... Wonder what DAC chip(s) is in the Marantz? ESS? Sounds like an interesting comparison...

I did something like this a few years ago, although RCA connection based... My U1 mini -> Qutest DAC -> PremaLuna Pre won over my Yamaha Pre/Pro/Amp by a long shot... I eventually tossed the RCA switch and attenuated a pre output of the Yamaha and went direct into another input channel on the PremaLuna Pre... Mostly because the PremaLuna has a remote to switch between input channels and it does make the Yamaha signal sound a little better because tubes... No HT bypass for me...

 

[NBPK402]

I take it your comparing your U1 mini streamer -> Pontus II DAC -> Athena Pre with your Marantz Pre/Pro by placing the Little Bear between your Pre stages and your Amp(s)... Wonder what DAC chip(s) is in the Marantz? ESS? Sounds like an interesting comparison...

I did something like this a few years ago, although RCA connection based... My U1 mini -> Qutest DAC -> PremaLuna Pre won over my Yamaha Pre/Pro/Amp by a long shot... I eventually tossed the RCA switch and attenuated a pre output of the Yamaha and went direct into another input channel on the PremaLuna Pre... Mostly because the PremaLuna has a remote to switch between input channels and it does make the Yamaha signal sound a little better because tubes... No HT bypass for me...

Yup...the Marantz has the ESS chip, and it definitely had a much warmer sound than my previous Yamaha cxa5100 preamp. I was originally going to plug the Athena (when it arrives), but I was told in the Denafrips FB group that it will cause problems with dynamics in the Marantz due to the Athena volume settings. Now the Athena is a active preamp with zero gain. I then remembered that reviewers and others use the Nobsound little Bear XLR switcher and it had no sound difference to being straight through. Interesting thing with the Pontus ii is it has (not sure how to describe it) a tube like cloud sound, but then on some recordings certain instruments will pop out of the black and being crystal clear...just like someone just put the spotlight on the instrument. This is not like it is closer or the volume is louder but just snapped into the spotlight and so very realistic. The other night I was listening to a track on Yelle and at the end of a track a sound appeared right next to my left ear...like inches away. I sit 12' from the center channel speaker (just for reference and I was listening to a stereo track through the Pontus to the Marantz (in Pure Direct Mode). my left and right channels are on the 19' wide wall and in the corners angled at my MLP to where the center of the k402 horn throat is aimed directly at the appropriate ear. My room def needs a lot more treatment to get it properly tuned, but that will have to wait a few years until we move to Portugal...for now I am just trying to get it all setup properly the best I can. I am very surprised how good it already sounds and can't wait to hear how good it will sound once I get the surrounds done so Ii can calibrate and then tune the whole room with Dirac. Of course when we move... I hope to have a room that can be fully tuned properly and have it be a dedicated music/HT room.

I cancelled the Little Bear and would like to try it as I originally had planned. I just need to learn how to properly set up the Athena with the Marantz plugged into the Athena input. If you would be so kind as to explain how you set the levels...it would be appreciated.

 

[ddude003]

As each AVR and AMP have different requirements/specs for output of one and input of the other, I can only give you some general direction to head in... I will also take a look at the output from your Pontus II DAC and the input requirements of your Athena AMP... The trick is to get a pair of PREouts on your AVR to match what your Pontus II DAC outputs and what your Athena AMP wants as input... There are devices that are called attenuators which come in various levels of attenuation that can be added to reach the levels your AMP works well with... Google "XLR attenuator"...

One thing to look at on your AVR is if you have a Zone 2 output... Also, look for the ability to set channel volume/gain on power up, as well as, max volume... You may be able to set both to the same value to get a fixed gain output...

 

[NBPK402]

As each AVR and AMP have different requirements/specs for output of one and input of the other, I can only give you some general direction to head in... I will also take a look at the output from your Pontus II DAC and the input requirements of your Athena AMP... The trick is to get a pair of PREouts on your AVR to match what your Pontus II DAC outputs and what your Athena AMP wants as input... There are devices that are called attenuators which come in various levels of attenuation that can be added to reach the levels your AMP works well with... Google "XLR attenuator"...

One thing to look at on your AVR is if you have a Zone 2 output... Also, look for the ability to set channel volume/gain on power up, as well as, max volume... You may be able to set both to the same value to get a fixed gain output...

My Athena is the stereo preamp with remote, and the Marantz av8805a is my AVP...my Amplifiers are Icepower50ASX2BTL, and Icepower 125asx2BTL. I know the Marantz is currently setup for turn on is set at previous level, but I think I can also set it to where when it is on it would come to a specific level.

Stereo Flow would be Denafrips balanced to one input on the Athena preamp to the Xilica to the icepower amps.
HT flow would be AVP main XLR outs to another input on the Athena preamp to the Xilica to the ice power amps.
I am assuming this would be the correct way, but how do I set the levels on the Athena so that my AVP has equal levels when it is used for HT? I am assuming you would set the HT setup to get that equal...so how do I know where to set the Athena...max volume on Atena or some mid point?

 

[ddude003]

My bad @NBPK402... I did mean Athena PreAmp everywhere I said Athena AMP above... I would listen to your Pontus II and your Athena PreAmp to what ever you normally listen to at what ever level you think is the max you would listen at... Note that level on the PreAmp... Now turn down the PreAmp to zero... Turn your AVP to zero... Switch your PreAmp input to the AVP and set the PreAmp to that Noted level from before... Next _slowly_ turn up the AVP until you hear distortion or you reach that max listening level from before with the Pontus II connected... I had found that the less gain you have on the AVR/AVP the less distortion you get in the end... On my AVR 200mV was a great match for my PreAmp... This is on a single ended RCA "line level" connection... I am guessing on your AVP utilizing XLR about twice that might be the sweet spot for your kit...

 

[NBPK402]

Thanks I will try that as soon as I pick up the Athena.

 

[NBPK402]

Today I installed the new Denafrips Athena into the rack....plenty of volume with the level set in the picture...95db on peaksat the MLP. For some reasonI cannot get the 8805a to work when routed from the preouts to a Denafrips input. I do have to say that straight out of the box the denafrip has a more natural, tighter bass. The mids on up are even clearer than they were going from the Lontus to the 8805a. Later today I will see if the sound continues to get even better...I say this because I had the Lumin, and Pontus unplugged for about an hour. I did this because I replaced all 3 power cords with some new affordable power cords from Amazon(Denafrips does not include a power cord, but does inc.ude a remote milled out of a solid block of aluminum

), plus some Worlds best cables XLRs.

 

[ddude003]

I bet it sounds pretty sweet... And with horns too... Wow... What is the difference between the output of your Denafrips Pontus II DAC and the output of your Marantz 8805A? Volts and ohms... Double check the pinouts of the XLR connections also...

 

[NBPK402]

I bet it sounds pretty sweet... And with horns too... Wow... What is the difference between the output of your Denafrips Pontus II DAC and the output of your Marantz 8805A? Volts and ohms... Double check the pinouts of the XLR connections also...

Thanks, I will look at the specs for the voltage outputs of the Marantz and the Athena. I am pretty sure the pin outs are ok, as the Pontus was plugged directly into the Marantz and worked fine and now the Pontus is plugged into the Athena and no problems.

I stayed up listing to the new setup until I fell asleep at 1 am. LOL

I would love for someone to get a demo to do a review on. These Denafrips kits are a bargain and sound great!

 

[NBPK402]

Ok, I got it to work, but now I question whether this is the best way to do it. To get it to work I raised the volume on the Athena to the max (+60), and then raised the volume on the Marantz until I could hear the tone from the Marantz. Then I went in and lowered the center channel, and raised the left and right channels...then I played with the level on the Athena and lowered it to +40. This gives me 80db at the MLP. I believe the level was +23 on the Marantz volume control when I was checking the levels.

Now I am wondering if it would be better to have the Marantz hooked up like it was before (with the pre outs going to the crossover) instead of running the Marantz pre outs to the Athena inputs, and the Athena Outputs going to the Xilica... run the XLR outputs to the Marantz XLR input and use the direct play settings on the Marantz to bypass all digital conversions...

 

[NBPK402]

Igot the Athena setup now to where I set its volume at 44 once I am on the correct input for the Marantz and then I can watch movie and listen through the Marantz for center and the Athena for stereo. works great!.

Now today i decided to try out wrapping my old Bluray ripper case, but first I took it all the way apart and replaced the internal drive with my LG 4k UHD ripper. I reassembled it to make sure it would work properly with the 4k drive hooked up to the SATA convertor and USB, and power, and it works fine. So next I disassembled it and did a first time wrap with black anodized aluminum wrap. I wanted to use the curved front faceplate and drawer, but I was worried about ruining the drive. I think it came out ok for a first time wrap, and no one will even see anything but the front and from a distance it looks great.

 

[ddude003]

What!!! No Tuck-N-Roll or Fur... Actually @NBPK402, it looks pretty Kustom... As in GREAT!!!

 

[NBPK402]

What!!! No Tuck-N-Roll or Fur... Actually @NBPK402, it looks pretty Kustom... As in GREAT!!!

If I decide to redo it...I think I will paint the edges black, and then rewrite. We have a place locally that I saw applying decals or silkscreen on the local busses. I might go over there and see if they do wraps...might cost $10.

 

[NBPK402]

I redid it...this time I primed it with grey primer and then sprayed flat black over it. I then used a heat gun to bake it. I will post up pics tomorrow.

 

[ddude003]

I redid it...this time I primed it with grey primer and then sprayed flat black over it. I then used a heat gun to bake it. I will post up pics tomorrow.

Pix or it didn't happen...

 

[NBPK402]

Pix or it didn't happen...

Here ya go. The back actually looks better in person. I am thinking of using a pinstripe seperating the wrap from the vented area.

 

[ddude003]

Wow, always amazed by your workmanship... A pinstripe will definitely make it go faster...

 

[NBPK402]

After listening for some time now, I have discovered that at least one of the tracks intro was very low and not noticed before the Fiber Network switch. I noticed this the other night when I was listening to my playlist... I was listening at the same level on the Athena as always, so I know it was not audible before the fiber.