As some of you know I bought Doc B's ALIX computer to use as a Linux Voyage MPD music server. I've had the system running for a month now and I couldn't be happier. I find that I listen to a lot more music now due to the convenience of having access to a huge library and awesome sound. I'm so happy with it that I might be putting my modified CD player up for sale. I never use it anymore. And honestly, the ALIX along with a VA Labs DAC sound better than my CD player that cost 3X more.
I had a few CD's in my collection that were un-listenable on my CD player. They were 1970's rock CD's so I figured the analog to digital transfer didn't go well. I tried them on a couple of different CD players and they never really sounded right. Just for grins I ripped a couple of these CD's to WAV and FLAC files on my file server hard drive. Now when I play them (either format) through the ALIX system they sound great. I cant explain why but its true.
Due to my odd listening schedule I do a lot of listening with headphones. This way I can enjoy my listening sessions without bothering anyone else in the house. I own two bottlehead headphone amplifiers. A tricked out SEX amp and a Crack OTL. Since the SEX amp is being used in my office for nearfield listening at the moment the Crack amp has been doing all the headphone duties. The crack amp is stock except for the fact that I built the amp with a 6SN7 voltage amplifier instead of the 12AU7. I had worked with 6SN7's in a couple of DIY projects and I really like the way they sound. Since I had a cache of 6SN7's I figured what the heck. I'm glad I did because I really like the sound. Unfortunately, I never heard the amp with the 12AU7 so I cant compare the two. I do have a speedball upgrade kit but its not installed yet. Honestly, it sounds so good in stock form that I can't imagine it getting much better. But I know from experience that the bottlehead,
