kstich

I am an engineer and have a few tools I have collected over the years... If you are interested in purchasing a handheld oscilloscope, don't. You can get a USB oscilloscope with better quality for cheaper:

BITSCOPE MODEL 100 vs
381295A - 5MHz Dual Channel MultiScope™

These two are the same price, but the USB scope has way more features, and being a student, I am sure you must have a laptop available. With USB, you can more readily transfer the files to Matlab (or what-have-you) for processing. Or better yet, build your own in your project course...

I don't think the DACs are the issue since the sub signal path (deck's DACs and Kenwood X1R amp) are consistently lower. However, I could see that an IC amp with a PWM output stage could have this effect on the distortion (just a thought). The decks manual states that the internal amp should be turned off when the DACs are driving an external amp, which would make sense in this case if it was a PWM amp internally since it would be unnecessarily injecting noise into the audio circuit.

Also, I have gotten high quality AAC and WMA files to work now, bringing up the sound quality further. I am going to use Q98 files since they will preserve as much of the original track as possible (still wish the lossless files would play though). The tracks are larger, but that is a price I am willing to pay.

ndinadis

iTrader: (2)

can you make any suggestions on cheap (under 100) usb scopes to either build as a kit or purchase? I just brought home an older grundig scope so that I can play around with a couple op-amp'ed based headphone amps (300mw max), but would love to try the usb scope. I dont need it to go too high in frequency which I know will keep the price lower.