Audio-gd DAC 3SE - Arrival! - Page 14

Yes you're right Tim, it may seem that the RCA input is indeed softer sounding than the BNC input.  Impedence imbalance?

Kingwa can explain- he did for me a while back.

This unit has a automatic switch that gives priority to the BNC if a signal is present there.

Now when I try to measure the BNC resistance I get 25 ohms,  I am assuming this is because the switch isn't engauged when I am measuring.

Has anyone opened their 3SE and confirmed a good 75 ohm termination on the BNC input?

The issue is if you are using the BNC input you should make sure the coax input is unplugged,  the inputs are in paralell,  other than that the BNC input uses a proper 75 ohm connector and has a correct 75ohm load at the input to the DIT9001.

Quote:

Originally Posted by regal 

This unit has a automatic switch that gives priority to the BNC if a signal is present there.

 

Now when I try to measure the BNC resistance I get 25 ohms,  I am assuming this is because the switch isn't engauged when I am measuring.

 

Has anyone opened their 3SE and confirmed a good 75 ohm termination on the BNC input?

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoupRKnowva 

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimmychan You should go for REF 1 or 7, because it was designed for 8 DAC chips.

he wanted a single ended dac that uses 8 chips, not a balanced one. using the ref 1/7 single ended would only be using 4 chips.

According to Audio GD, that is not true. When asked, he replied that the Ref 1,7,8 would still make use of all the 8 chips with RCA output and sound a bit better than the Ref 9.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orangecrush 

 

 

According to Audio GD, that is not true. When asked, he replied that the Ref 1,7,8 would still make use of all the 8 chips with RCA output and sound a bit better than the Ref 9.
 

Thats not what he told me.  I doubt there is a blanced to unbalanced transform circuit in the Ref series.

Thanks Regal, below is exactly what I asked and the actual reply from Kingwa:

1. Would there be any sonic benefit of the Reference 8 or 7 over the Reference 9 if I plan to use only RCA output?
 

Answer: The RE7 is neutral sound flavor but I don't think its sound ligh. But RE7 and RE8 is balance design, so if applied RCA output, even though all 8PCM1704 work but the half analog output did not work for output. And the sound level, RE7 and RE8 sound a little better than RE9 at RCA output.
 

2. If I am using RCA Output, would the Reference 8 use only 4 of the 8 Dacs or would it still use all 8?
 

Answer: 8 pcs all work for RCA output.

Could somebody clarify this for me?

BTW - I know very little about technical stuff. Is Ref 7/8 a waste of money if I only plan to use RCA output?

Depends how resolving your gear is. What are you planning to use it with?

If you use SE and don't want to go balanced, Ref9 would clearly be better price/performance than ref 7 and 8. Extra money could be spent elsewhere for more sound quality improvement compared to getting the ref 7 and 8 and not using half of the analog circuitry. When Kingwa says "a little" better he means it :p, he uses much bigger words to describe the difference between his lower and higher tier gear.

That makes sense. I will be using it with a Decware Zen TORII Mk III. Even though it is a tube amp, it seems like the Audio GD Reference Dacs share similar sound characteristics.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bastet 

It's here...finally
The long customs delay even paid off in the end: the charges were much lower than I had originally anticipated....a first for me!

Since I came home late today, I didn't manage to plug it in yet, so you'll get no initial impressions from me just yet.
Probably not even in a few days or a week, I will need some time to compare and verify my findings.
Instead, just some quick shots of its arrival:



P.S.: I hope the OP doesn't mind me hijacking his thread like this!
Otherwise I can also fabricate a title for yet another audio-gd thread...it's just that I feel there are far too many of them already.

Shamelessly bumping this thread, but how much did you pay for customs? I'm considering the 3SE as a DAC upgrade and need to take customs into the consideration as well.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by reiserFS 

Shamelessly bumping this thread, but how much did you pay for customs? I'm considering the 3SE as a DAC upgrade and need to take customs into the consideration as well.

 

You got PM

Can we have an update on the changes in 3SE after 100-200 hrs?

Was interesting to see shootout of OPPO vs 3SE. Do you have further comments for us?

Thanks guys

Uriah