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Audio-gd Reference 1 DAC (56 K warning) - Page 10

post #136 of 2415
4/4/09 at 9:14pm
Quote:
It is usual with upgrades to talk about how your new purchase lets you hear certain things in your recordings that you hadn't heard before. That's not the case here, because I actually often have a hard time recognizing recordings that I thought were very familiar to me. They sound that different and new.
My thoughts exactly! I very much wanted to avoid clichés when writing, as it's kind-of obvious. The word that came to mind was "absolute".

I tried the Northstar again last night. As it's wide and shallow, where my Stax amp is narrow and deep, I had to completely re-arrange everything, with the Stax amp sitting sideways on top of the Northstar. This works thankfully as my rig is in a wooden rack next to my computer table. Anyway, the Northstar sounds rather wooden, with more forward mids, rather like the Compass with the Sun HDAM in it. All the delicacy in the music that the Ref 1 is capable of revealing just isn't there with the Northstar, which is rather more in your face with the sound.
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post #137 of 2415
4/5/09 at 2:05am
Just to confirm: the units that are currently being reviewed here are the same as those currently in production, correct?
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post #138 of 2415
4/5/09 at 2:11am
How long until people who paid for their units get them?
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post #139 of 2415
4/5/09 at 2:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Monkey View Post
Just to confirm: the units that are currently being reviewed here are the same as those currently in production, correct?
Yes. Audio-gd's best DAC used to be the DAC 8, which was superseded by Ref 1 which is identical except for the better DSP.

I understand your question though. The new products created on the prompting of people from head-fi are the Compass, Phoenix and Panther. The rest of their products, as I understand things, were already being developed and sold in China and Taiwan and have been for some years.
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post #140 of 2415
4/5/09 at 4:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by grawk View Post
How long until people who paid for their units get them?
In my case there was slightly less than a month between ordering and the Reference One arriving on my doorstep. And that was at a very busy time for Audio-gd. (Curra and Peete pre-ordered it as far as I know, so for them it would have taken longer) I would say it will take Audiog-gd close to three weeks to build a Reference One.
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post #141 of 2415
4/5/09 at 5:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pricklely Peete View Post
Good job Dro of trying to explain what the RE1 doesn't bring to the table.....I know it may seem rather odd to view this DAC in that light but I agree with Curra's methodology for this DAC as it represents a very different way of trying to describe this DAC, since the RE1 does not present in a classical sense, any of the traits of current or past DAC sound qualities we have become used to listening for, and as such makes it really tough on the end user to come up with meaningful words to describe the RE1's abilities.
Thanks, and yeah, it is very hard to describe what I'm hearing. Certainly also because I haven't heard anything in my setup before that comes even close to this.

The ability of not being there. Sounds rather Zen, doesnt it?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pricklely Peete View Post
I think the DSP1 chip is one of the keys to this unit's success the other keys being fairly obvious I would think (PSU build, DAC chip selection, analog output stage etc...). That being said I still feel the Cyclone II is the critical factor as it does away with aspects the other chip types struggle with when making sense of the data stream. The technical aspects one need not have a complete grip on to appreciate but it does explain (in part) why the RE1 may have a critical advantage over other DAC's that relates directly to SQ results.
I don't think I'm the only one that would be very interested in a direct comparison between the DAC-8 and the Reference One. The original DAC-8 was already a venerated achievement by Kingwa's Chinese customers. I do wonder, if you would switch of all the reclocking and filtering features, would that come close to completely bypassing the DSP-1?
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post #142 of 2415
4/5/09 at 6:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by grawk View Post
How long until people who paid for their units get them?
You'd need to email Kingwa now and asked him what the wait would be after you placed an order and/or paid. When I first looked at getting a Ref 1, months ago (I forget now, but it was mid-Jan I got to try the Nakamichi and then took an interest) he hadn't even finished testing the design with the DSP completely. I think it was something like a month for building and shipping that it took to get it, but it arrived with 200 hours of burn-in.
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post #143 of 2415
4/5/09 at 6:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Drosera View Post
That's it for now. Did you really expect it to be anything less than gushing?
No !.... Very nicely expressed impressions Dro.. I envy all the Ref1 owners for the quality of music they are hearing, at the same time I am enjoying to see you'll getting lost for words to describe REF1..
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post #144 of 2415
4/5/09 at 5:04pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Drosera View Post
In my case there was slightly less than a month between ordering and the Reference One arriving on my doorstep. And that was at a very busy time for Audio-gd. (Curra and Peete pre-ordered it as far as I know, so for them it would have taken longer) I would say it will take Audiog-gd close to three weeks to build a Reference One.
Yeah I made up my mind back in Oct 08 to place an order for the DAC8 and told Kingwa but he sent me news of the new DSP interface which intrigued me greatly (having a tenuous grip on the technicalities). The caveat to that being (at that time) the wait until Mid Mar 09 before it could be released from testing etc....so for me the near 6 month wait was worth it.

Peete.
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post #145 of 2415
4/5/09 at 5:12pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by grawk View Post
How long until people who paid for their units get them?
I think the average is around 3 weeks but it depends on how busy things are. If I had to guess I'd say 1 month from order to arrival which includes an extensive test period/burn in at Audio-gd before shipment. As always it's best to email first to see what Kingwa has to say.

Peete.
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post #146 of 2415
4/5/09 at 5:43pm
Ok, so there are some paid for units in the field now? That wasn't apparent. Thanks
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post #147 of 2415
4/5/09 at 5:49pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Drosera View Post
Thanks, and yeah, it is very hard to describe what I'm hearing. Certainly also because I haven't heard anything in my setup before that comes even close to this.

The ability of not being there. Sounds rather Zen, doesnt it?
Sort of like what is the sound of one hand clapping ?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Drosera View Post
I don't think I'm the only one that would be very interested in a direct comparison between the DAC-8 and the Reference One. The original DAC-8 was already a venerated achievement by Kingwa's Chinese customers. I do wonder, if you would switch of all the reclocking and filtering features, would that come close to completely bypassing the DSP-1?
From what I understand the really big news with the DSP1 is the ability to keep the data stream 100% phase accurate which means in my mind complete rejection of cabling or transport irregularities. AFAIK this is the first time such a DSP front end can claim such a thing and could be a major part of the reason why it will perform with anything it's connected to (within reason). Until this can be tested further (many different CDP's, computer SC's etc) I remain somewhat skeptical that transport quality and cable quality don't have a crucial part to play still. Then again the RE1 seems to be giving all of us the exact same impressions which lends credence to the spinner serving the data has little influence over the RE1's abilities claim....time will tell but so far so good.

I would certainly like to be proven wrong in that regard since a DAC having that kind of ability would be news indeed never mind the SQ aspects (for now at least)...


Peete.
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post #148 of 2415
4/5/09 at 5:52pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by grawk View Post
Ok, so there are some paid for units in the field now? That wasn't apparent. Thanks
AFAIK none are gratis.

Peete.
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post #149 of 2415
4/5/09 at 6:00pm
Ok, so "customer units" vs "review copies sold for a great discount"
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post #150 of 2415
4/5/09 at 6:07pm
Has anyone tried the Ref 1 with and without a power conditioner? I bet it is less susceptible to unclean electricity because of its nice psu. I know the difference between my cheap home's outlet and a power conditioner for the compass is night and day though.

I'm not sure where you got the idea of review copies, grawk.
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