Line Magnetic 502CA DAC is on the way...

RGA

Super Member
After weighing the 515 CD player and the 502CA the DAC made more sense since the 515 and the 215 have the exact same transport mechanism it made no sense to buy the transport again. Will be delivered next week. So much music on the computer and have been itching to play it.

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:D
 
I'm itching to try some good tubed DAC...this and that Minimax Plus DAC along with Audio Note DAC seem interesting.
 
The LM dealer here sells the Eastern Electric Minimax DAC as well. Apparently it sounds better in solid state mode.
 
I was able to give this DAC a listen to today. It sounded good but my experience with DAC`s is very limited so i`m unable to make comparisons to other DAC`s. In person it`s very well built and nice looking with many functions, you can even hook up your Apple TV to it ect. ect.
 
Making comparisons is always tough unless you have them in the same system to compare. For reviewing purposes I like it because it is current enough in technology and also has tube and solid state mode. This way I can compare future tube and SS Dacs and have a pretty fair comparison. The tunes are inexpensive to roll which is a plus. It also has all the major connection types.

Hopefully it will arrive soon. They had black in stock but Gold had to be ordered.
 
A conundrum.

I have an Oppo 95 which is highly rated, but there are also those who think it is more clinical. Hard to tell as it is the only decent CD player (yes, it is labelled as Bluray player) that I have owned. There are audiophiles that has purchased the Oppos just to use as a CD player so I assume it is at least decent.

But I am looking at the 515.

However, I understand that the 502 DAC is the same DAC as the 515 without the transport.

If I use the Oppo or any other CD player as a transport, and input the digital signal to the 502 DAC, would it not produce a very similar audio result as the 515?

Or is there something about integrating a CD drive and DAC that makes the 515 more 'special' than using a 3rd party transport and input the signal to the 502?

Incidentally, how much is the 502 and 515 in the USA? I can't find a price.

Thanks again for any insight into this conundrum...
UL
 
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A conundrum.

I have an Oppo 95 which is highly rated, but there are also those who think it is more clinical. Hard to tell as it is the only decent CD player (yes, it is labelled as Bluray player) that I have owned. There are audiophiles that has purchased the Oppos just to use as a CD player so I assume it is at least decent.

But I am looking at the 515.

However, I understand that the 502 DAC is the same DAC as the 515 without the transport.

If I use the Oppo or any other CD player as a transport, and input the digital signal to the 502 DAC, would it not produce a very similar audio result as the 515?

Or is there something about integrating a CD drive and DAC that makes the 515 more 'special' than using a 3rd party transport and input the signal to the 502?

Incidentally, how much is the 502 and 515 in the USA? I can't find a price.

Thanks again for any insight into this conundrum...
UL

The only way that your really going to know is to take your OPPO to your LM dealer and hook it up to the 502 and spend some time listening to familiar CD`s. That way you can determine if the 502`s $1500 price tag is worth any improvement for CD play. Remember that with the 502 you can stream hi rez music off of your lap top and depending on what and how the music was uploaded to your lap top you can get better play back then you ever could off of your CD player, master tape quality is possible. You can also hook up your Apple TV to the 502.
 
A conundrum.

I have an Oppo 95 which is highly rated, but there are also those who think it is more clinical. Hard to tell as it is the only decent CD player (yes, it is labelled as Bluray player) that I have owned. There are audiophiles that has purchased the Oppos just to use as a CD player so I assume it is at least decent.

But I am looking at the 515.

However, I understand that the 502 DAC is the same DAC as the 515 without the transport.

If I use the Oppo or any other CD player as a transport, and input the digital signal to the 502 DAC, would it not produce a very similar audio result as the 515?

Or is there something about integrating a CD drive and DAC that makes the 515 more 'special' than using a 3rd party transport and input the signal to the 502?

Incidentally, how much is the 502 and 515 in the USA? I can't find a price.

Thanks again for any insight into this conundrum...
UL

The 515 is $2500 and the 502 is $1800 and the 215 is $1500

The 515 uses a rather common but good Sony 213KSS metal transport and is used in many fine players. The 215 also uses this mechanism - they're abundant and so if they break should be fixable or easily replaced..

The 515 CD player can also be used as a DAC from your computer so if you had no CD player it makes sense because in a way you would be getting the 502DAC and getting the 215 CD player for $700. So I think the 515 is fairly priced taking this into account.

Since I already have a CD player the 515 ultimately made less sense to me. The OPPO players I believe play SACD - this is an advantage over the LM players that do not. Still I think you'll like the sound of the LM over the OPPO's. There is a company in Hong Kong that modifies the OPPOs with tubes. He then lets you do a direct comparison with the two players. He does a good job and it does sound better with the tube modifications - but the price skyrockets and the 215 still sounded better to me.

I'd like to tell you more about the DAC but I'm still waiting. The "it will be in next week" has turned into 3 weeks - next week will be fourth. Eesh. All for the Gold finish - I should have just ordered the white one.
 
RGA, thanks.

So sound like you compared the Oppo to the 215? May I ask which model for the Oppo?

And if you are finding the 215 even better than a modded Oppo (if it is model 95 or 105 with their best DAC), that is saying a lot. There are people with five figure systems (US dollars) who are using the Oppo as their CD player. Hard to believe but I've read more than a few.

The key question for me is if a basic CD transport with the 502 will sound better than the 215, and as good as the 515. I guess we will have to wait for others to review.

Thanks again! Great form and great thread.

UL

The 515 is $2500 and the 502 is $1800 and the 215 is $1500

The 515 uses a rather common but good Sony 213KSS metal transport and is used in many fine players. The 215 also uses this mechanism - they're abundant and so if they break should be fixable or easily replaced..

The 515 CD player can also be used as a DAC from your computer so if you had no CD player it makes sense because in a way you would be getting the 502DAC and getting the 215 CD player for $700. So I think the 515 is fairly priced taking this into account.

Since I already have a CD player the 515 ultimately made less sense to me. The OPPO players I believe play SACD - this is an advantage over the LM players that do not. Still I think you'll like the sound of the LM over the OPPO's. There is a company in Hong Kong that modifies the OPPOs with tubes. He then lets you do a direct comparison with the two players. He does a good job and it does sound better with the tube modifications - but the price skyrockets and the 215 still sounded better to me.

I'd like to tell you more about the DAC but I'm still waiting. The "it will be in next week" has turned into 3 weeks - next week will be fourth. Eesh. All for the Gold finish - I should have just ordered the white one.
 
The 502CA arrived today! The one week turned into 4 weeks but they finally made it. One guy bought the 211 (lucky him) and I asked about several products like the 512C preamp but I was told they will not be selling either the 512 or the 519 for a year because they are field testing them for a year to be sure there are no problems before they roll them out. Holy Overkill? No price information on any of the new stuff

The owners are Chinese not Korean so that matter is settled.

One brother sells the classic series of products (everything that is a Western Electric remake you can kind of see the different - the LM212 that is as big as the Chinese girl etc). He runs a plant in an entirely different city. The other brother runs the plant where the Silver and Gold series are made that most of us are likely to be able to purchase - there is a BIG price difference between the two plants.

I opened up the box and the Gold finish is really nice in person and I am pleased but the overall build construction and quality of the finish. The DAC comes with a 13amp fuse power cord but no other cables so you have to have your own cables. It would have been nice to be supplied a cheapo USB cable and COAX and RCA cables because it may be someone's first DAC. Perhaps US models will have these cables included.

My instruction manual of course is all Chinese so it will take me some time to figure out how it works or if there are any sneaky modes like SHA and SLO but I doubt it. Why? Cause the 502CA does not come with a remote.

Switch on and a the read out says waiting (to allow the tubes to power up - about the same time as the LM 215). I am using the coax out to in and a fairly pedestrian cable. Right out of the box the first notes on the Japanese Re-Master of Schindler's List and it is right - so very right.

I tried the SS mode for about 20 seconds went back to tube and pretty sure that is where it is going to stay. SS is SS but I will try it again at a later time. Both transformers are in play at the same time and you can switch back and forth immediately at the push of a button (cool). There are input buttons left and right (the usual high quality steel press button not the crappy plastic buttons found on the majority of stuff out there. The switching feature is nice because you really can hear why SS is hated so by tube fans - when you push the tube input you immediately hear the reverberation and ambiance of the hall Perlman recorded in. It's not added distortion or noise - the result is dead quiet - no hum no hiss no noise or spurious mush.

There is body and soul - SS from 20 seconds gutted all that for a caricature of leading edge and sterility. But before I rant I must remember to let the thing break in and it may be that the SS side takes longer to break in (different output transformer in a Torroid as opposed to the EI used for the tube section).

So far it's doing a beautiful job on this recording. The AX Twos absolutely love acoustic instruments.

I highly recommend the K2 HD Remasters - they are utterly superb. I wish they were around 15 years ago - they would have likely stopped SACD in their tracks and would have really hurt vinyl's biggest advantage which has generally been ambiance. The Remasters are fairly expensive though running $40 each. But many are numbered with only 1000 copies. I was browsing today and the lower numbered prints were selling for 4-5 times the higher numbered copies. Which is kind of bizarre since I can't imagine they would sound the least bit different - but I am sure some audiophile will tell me that the first out of the print has the best pit imprints or whatever.

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RGA, wondering if you have any pedestrian CD players in addition to the CD215. I wonder if the CD215 with the 502 is an improvement over the CD215 alone. And then if a pedestrian CD player with the same coax out, and if the sound is the same as using the CD215 as the CD player.

Also, I wonder if the gold color sort of goes along with the copper colored LS50 drivers...

Thanks,
UL
 
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Nice looking unit. Maybe the solid state side will improve after it's been left powered on for a couple of weeks?
 
The process to set up the USB was very very easy. Put in the CD - run 1 minute to install XMOS - and play. The whole thing took maybe 4 minutes. Probably 2 if you're good with computers. I am running FooBar2000 which is free on the internet and use my 37 inch Samsung as my "screen."

The tube mode is so far still vastly superior to the SS mode. Indeed, I wish LM would just make a tube only model to lower the price. OTOH having SS is a nice way to show your friends how sucky Solid State sounds in comparison :whip:

So far still on 44.1Khz recordings so I have to pull out my other hard drive with my hi-res recordings. The SS isn't terrible - seems a bit better than the $500ish KingRex I reviewed recently but the tube mode just seems to beat it to death at this point.

Currently playing a fairly poor recording https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZnlUge5C68 and it is holding up really well in fact.
 
I think a side by side comparison with the LM and the Minimax would be very interesting. I'm thinking that may be my next upgrade.

But those Woo Audio WA7 looks interesting as well. And all 3 in the same price range.
 
Agree. I did have the Minimax Plus. Sold it a while ago. Very good unit with a well deserved reputation. But widely acknowledged to be better solid state than tube. Indeed, would be interesting to see how how the LM 502 compares.

UL

I think a side by side comparison with the LM and the Minimax would be very interesting. I'm thinking that may be my next upgrade.

But those Woo Audio WA7 looks interesting as well. And all 3 in the same price range.
 
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