Mike Lenehans Evaluation Of John Kenny I2S Hiface

[bhobba]

Hi Guys.

For those that didn't read it over on SNA Mike Lenehan just completed the results of his evaluation - the John Kenny won out.  His write-up will be attached at the and of the post.  I will look into getting a JK I2S over for you guys in the west to check out on your Killers - can't promise anything but will give it a go.  I suspect Mike will be getting a bulk order for fitting into the PDX and may be able to get something piggy-backed onto that.

Thanks
Bill

Hi All I have just finished over 9hours of comparitive listening using the standard Mac Mini with standard USB cable as source into the following Audiophilleo2 ! Audiophilleo2 battery powered by 4 of 1.2volt NiMH ! KennyHiFace direct to I2S. ! Wadia WT3200 CD Transport.

We all conducted the initial comparative listen on Friday night using ML3Reference which were fitted with Mundorf Silver oil capacitors which were brand new ! (Silver oils don't sound good when their new they need to be hit pretty hard for about 3 to 400hours before that they produce a strange combination of sweetened presence range and lower treble coarseness ! some people love the sound and get hooked on it then when they run in and improve many audiophiles have changed their system sufficiently to not notice.) In any case I swapped to ML1Reference and Tunestands which were in a run in and more neutral state.

I would liken the results ! and in this order to be just like walking up a flight of stairs . first step MarantzCD95 disc transport ! Wadia WT3200 disc transport ! Audiophilleo2 ! Audiophilleo2 Battery ! JKennyHiFace I2S.
For SPIDF input comparisons we can only compare directly the disc spinning transports with the Audiophilleo2 which also ran on the same CS8416 reciever chip . (more on another higher performing reciever chip from Clay Geisler the PDX designer in the form of an attachment at the bottom of this post)

The CD95 was just wonderfull untill I heard the AP2 (remember both on SPDIF) lay down mezzere I'm afraid ! the smoothness, resolution and bass articulation of the AP2 made me question why I loved the CD95. The Wadia WT3200 closed the gap about one third of the way toward the AP2 but still had saw tooth distortion on the leading edge of heavily struck middle C and above piano notes. Bass from the disc spinners is to my mind indistinct slow and just unable to keep up with the signal. Vocals also seem to have a mild ragged bloom to them (could we just use a larger countershaft sprocket and spin the disc at higher RPM ? silly Joke )

The AP2 on batteries sounds a tad faster and more tactile ! less bloomy if you like ( sometimes that bloom sounds goooooood though !! is this a touch of jitter being sent down the USB cable on the non battery powered AP2 doing this ? )

The JKenny Hiace on I2S rules ! I'm saying this not so much because of the comparo on Friday night where we were using the Mundorf Silver Oil equipped ML3Reference(the new Silver Oils were slightly skewing results) but because over the next two days with the Duelund equipped ML1's the I2S device showed it's true character !! in other words None !! No bloom no lean mids no slow bass just JUST music. This new technology is just what my ref system requires because it is neutral NEUTRAL with a capital N You will of course be required to set your system up so it has even less glitches than before ! less leeway for errors brothers ! With these new source devices the audio world is your oyster just dont cut yourself whilst shucking. This new experience may be like jumping out of a hot

I hope we don't start getting posts like ! I don't like accurate sound it's too clinical for me ! or I prefer a more tonally fleshed out mid or a bit more bass. I've always believed in making an audio system sound as much as possible like live unamplified acoustic instruments and vocals not the way I may have subjectively prefered the sound at any given time. Kdoot pointed out to me on friday night that I had said to him last year that I tune a system to sound like real live music and not nessessarily something that is true to the source ! I guess thats true ! but then last year the source was not up to it in many ways and perhaps ! just perhaps ! I saw no other options at that time. Well I'm here to tell you fellow OCD's that paradigms have changed. Best Regards Mike Lenehan
LenehanAudio

[kajak12]

i have asked jkenny for a demo of this jkenny via pm no answer since sunday
i guess i will have to wait for yours

[bhobba]

i have asked jkenny for a demo of this jkenny via pm no answer since sunday i guess i will have to wait for yours

Hi Mario

John Kenny sent an evaluation one out to John Darko and possibly feels he has done that already.  I will send him a note explaining the Killer is one of the best DAC's out our way and really deserves to be checked out on his product.  If necessary I will pop for the cost since I am really keen to find out what the go is with the Killer.  If it doesn't work out I will send it to Mike and he will put it in one of his PDX's.

Thanks
Bill

[tuyen]

Interesting report from Mike.

Would be keen to give the jkenny I2S unit a test against the dddac usb I2S converter I am using now.


Please keep us informed if you do end up sending one down Bill?

Cheers mate

[ozmillsy]

this is good news.    If it equals or comes close to a cd94 modded i2s ,  then it's a no brainer.   

Out of interest,  How much do these Kenny modded hiface units go for?

[kajak12]

this is good news.    If it equals or comes close to a cd94 modded i2s ,  then it's a no brainer.   

Out of interest,  How much do these Kenny modded hiface units go for?

i think about $500 oz

[bhobba]

i think about $500 oz

If you get the built in variety like I did about $350.00.  For a DAC like the Killer that's probably the way to go - a very short path from the Hiface to the DAC chip.

Thanks
Bill

[bhobba]

this is good news.    If it equals or comes close to a cd94 modded i2s ,  then it's a no brainer.

It easily bested the cd94 SPDIF version and the even better Wadia.  I was there for a very careful comparison with the Wadia and it was no contest.  I specifically asked Mike who has heard the I2S versions how he thinks it would compare and he thinks the Hiface is better.  The only thing he thinks could give it a run is a specially setup battery powered I2S version - and that is a maybe - but in his opinion the mucking around in setting it up is probably not worth it - this is where the convenience of computer audio wins hands down.

Anyway right now John has temporarily discontinued orders.  He is however aware of the Killer and is working on a way to see if an I2S version can be trialed on one.

Thanks
Bill  

[kajak12]

this is good news.    If it equals or comes close to a cd94 modded i2s ,  then it's a no brainer.

It easily bested the cd94 SPDIF version and the even better Wadia.  I was there for a very careful comparison with the Wadia and it was no contest.  I specifically asked Mike who has heard the I2S versions how he thinks it would compare and he thinks the Hiface is better.  The only thing he thinks could give it a run is a specially setup battery powered I2S version - and that is a maybe - but in his opinion the mucking around in setting it up is probably not worth it - this is where the convenience of computer audio wins hands down.

Anyway right now John has temporarily discontinued orders.  He is however aware of the Killer and is working on a way to see if an I2S version can be trialed on one.

Thanks
Bill  

question is bill will mike do the right thing with the wadia and cd95 its not just bits but the right ones to suite a system,not to mention the caps on the clock.
as for hiface $350 plus a laptop and a back up hard drive soon it hits the $1000+ plus mark.

[bhobba]

question is bill will mike do the right thing with the wadia and cd95 its not just bits but the right ones to suite a system,not to mention the caps on the clock.as for hiface $350 plus a laptop and a back up hard drive soon it hits the $1000+ plus mark.

Well I am not privy to exactly what Mike did but I trust it was his best upgrade.  The general feeling up our way is the writing is on the wall and computer audio is the future.  The thing that is being looked at to possibly knock over the JK is the Edel:
http://www.abc-pcb.com/?page_id=187

Thanks
Bill

[Jehuty]

this is good news.    If it equals or comes close to a cd94 modded i2s ,  then it's a no brainer.

It easily bested the cd94 SPDIF version and the even better Wadia.  I was there for a very careful comparison with the Wadia and it was no contest.  I specifically asked Mike who has heard the I2S versions how he thinks it would compare and he thinks the Hiface is better.  The only thing he thinks could give it a run is a specially setup battery powered I2S version - and that is a maybe - but in his opinion the mucking around in setting it up is probably not worth it - this is where the convenience of computer audio wins hands down.

Anyway right now John has temporarily discontinued orders.  He is however aware of the Killer and is working on a way to see if an I2S version can be trialed on one.

Thanks
Bill  

question is bill will mike do the right thing with the wadia and cd95 its not just bits but the right ones to suite a system,not to mention the caps on the clock.
as for hiface $350 plus a laptop and a back up hard drive soon it hits the $1000+ plus mark.

Almost everyone has a laptop/computer nowadays Mario, cheap netbook like Asus or Acer will cost you as low as $300 or could be even lower with at least 200GB of hard drive, plenty of space to store music there. I agree computer audio is the future, but only if they sound as good as or even better than conventional spinner. Your effort in searching the holy grail of computer audio is much appreciated Bill as it will benefit everyone, win win solution, cheap and convenient! 

Cheers,
William

[zenelectro]

question is bill will mike do the right thing with the wadia and cd95 its not just bits but the right ones to suite a system,not to mention the caps on the clock.as for hiface $350 plus a laptop and a back up hard drive soon it hits the $1000+ plus mark.

Well I am not privy to exactly what Mike did but I trust it was his best upgrade.  The general feeling up our way is the writing is on the wall and computer audio is the future.  The thing that is being looked at to possibly knock over the JK is the Edel:
http://www.abc-pcb.com/?page_id=187

Thanks
Bill

This company (abc-pcb) is formerly (or has taken over work from) Anagram Technologies, Switzerland.

They do very high quality work. I have one of their older Q5 based DAC's with the Anagram asynchronous upsampler and it is very good.

T





 

[bhobba]

This company (abc-pcb) is formerly (or has taken over work from) Anagram Technologies, Switzerland. They do very high quality work. I have one of their older Q5 based DAC's with the Anagram asynchronous upsampler and it is very good.

Yea we all have high hopes for it and think investigating it is well worth it.  It it knocks off the JK is another matter - that has set a high bar.

Thanks
Bill

[kajak12]

question is bill will mike do the right thing with the wadia and cd95 its not just bits but the right ones to suite a system,not to mention the caps on the clock.as for hiface $350 plus a laptop and a back up hard drive soon it hits the $1000+ plus mark.

http://www.abc-pcb.com/?page_id=187

Thanks
Bill

now your talking bill i will buy one and modd it move over jkhiface kajak12 product coming soon   
ps:anybody putting some $$$ towards the first one for modds?

[zenelectro]

question is bill will mike do the right thing with the wadia and cd95 its not just bits but the right ones to suite a system,not to mention the caps on the clock.as for hiface $350 plus a laptop and a back up hard drive soon it hits the $1000+ plus mark.

http://www.abc-pcb.com/?page_id=187

Thanks
Bill

now your talking bill i will buy one and modd it move over jkhiface kajak12 product coming soon   
ps:anybody putting some $$$ towards the first one for modds?

I'll speak to you offline WRT this.

T

[tuyen]

I'll post the messages I got from jkeny regarding his i2s module:

Here's what the user of Doede's USB module said:

It was immediately obvious that the Hiface is distinctly better than the dddac.de USB-I2S convertor (which has a Guido Tent X02 reclocking 12Mhz into it) in several ways:

Far more transparent - I was able to detect many subtleties in recordings I had not heard before, like felt pedal action on a piano and other instrument interplay previously obscured
Improved tonality and expression - related to the above, better ebb and flow, more dynamic shadings and expression heard in voices, and instruments
Slightly better top end resolution - again related to transparency, and making shakers sound like shakers
Improved pace, rhythm, and timing - not expected, but very much welcomed.

and another PM:

Sorry Tuyen,
No evaluation units in Oz or anywhere at the moment. Ordering is suspended for a couple of weeks too.

Here's what the guy finally finished his email to me with:
Conclusion - I expected I would struggle to hear the difference between the dddac.de USB-I2S converter and the Hiface. On the contrary, the differences are bleedingly obvious. This is perhaps the best bang for buck I've ever experienced in hifi - a truly amazing sonic improvement. Thankyou.


Interesting!   I thought doede's usb module sounds amazing already!   The future of solid state/computer transport looks promising

[ozmillsy]

It easily bested the cd94 SPDIF version and the even better Wadia.  

Well,  a stock cd95/4 is a very different beast to a hot-rodded unit running i2s - it really is chalk and cheese I've found.

So what we need to do is compare  cd94-i2s out to killer,  to jk-hiface-i2s out to killer.    Any other comparison is largely meaningless.

I have a music-pc fully loaded with all my cd's ripped to flac, ready to go.   So, I've got everything in place to perform the comparo,   just need 1 of these jk's to do it.
 

this is where the convenience of computer audio wins hands down.

I'd certainly love to have the convenience of my music pc,  with the performance of a hotrodded cd94.  That would be sweet !  

[gamve]

Am I missing something here. Computers piss me off. Why would anyone bother to mix the things they love with the things they hate.
For me to go to PC based audio they would first have to make a bloody reliable PC that does not need upgrading/updating every 15
minutes and that did not have a oriental power supply that f**ked up every six months. Show me a PC that starts as fast as a good
CD player and does not need a virus checker, Microsoft and a net connection and regular checkups by a spotty faced 17 year old
technician to keep the bloody thing going. Convenient and the future of audio....I think not. Just my opinion and my 2 cents worth

[tuyen]

LOL Graham!!   From working with computer systems for many years, I know where you are coming from!

On the flipside, my experiences and opinions are:

- the $350 ASUS eeePC netbook that I currently use in my system has never crashed
- takes 10 seconds to wake-up from sleep mode (I am using Microsoft Win7 Ultimate though)
- don't use it to web-surf so no antivirus software or regular updating needed, doesn't even need internet access
- gives me the ability to access all my music by just typing in the name of a track, artist, album
- my mobile phone can be used as a full remote control with album details & covers + lyrics + custom playlists + more (although I can already vision some 'oldies' finding it even more frustrating.. modern touchscreen mobile phones and some Generation X don't mix!!) 
- has saved be so much space in the room with no more hundreds of CDs laying everywhere, including not needing to worry about CDs getting scratched/damaged (either by heat/sunlight/accidentally stepping on the CD)

And the most important point is sound quality!

[gamve]

Some body needs to come up with something like a QLS 550 that has a large RAM memory that can load tracks into said memory directly from a large connected sata hard drive. Playback should be from the RAM Memory only. A small touch screen or similar and a dedicated simple operating system would be much better than a poxy PC. Remote control should also be achievable as per QLS 550.  The hard drive should also be in a dock so its easy to change or add content via your PC. Choice of output type would be a nice feature. This type of setup gets rid of both the crappy USB component and the microsoft bloatware which seem to be the biggest obstacles to PC Audio