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Just received my Grace m903 Unit!

post #1 of 12
5/1/12 at 1:57pm
Thread Starter 

Very excited...ordered from B&H photo online and just arrived this morning! Only had it hooked up to the HD800's for about 30 minutes so far but i'm already thrilled! review to shortly follow. What an amazing unit this far.Screen shot 2012-05-01 at 1.49.28 PM.png

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post #2 of 12
5/1/12 at 2:31pm

If you use Foobar2000 with the unit be sure to switch the software to 24-bit mode.  The noise floor will be lower and I found better overall performance there.  If you run Windows XP there is a special driver to download to get bit rates over 44.1kbps.  With Windows 7 and a true USB 2 port it supports up to 96kbps without any tweaking.

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post #3 of 12
5/1/12 at 2:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NA Blur View Post

If you use Foobar2000 with the unit be sure to switch the software to 24-bit mode.  The noise floor will be lower and I found better overall performance there.  If you run Windows XP there is a special driver to download to get bit rates over 44.1kbps.  With Windows 7 and a true USB 2 port it supports up to 96kbps without any tweaking.

 

Yes, with a Mac it will go all the way up to 192kHz - on a PC you need a special driver (downloadable from the Grace website) to go to 192kHz.

 

Though, personally, I only go to 24/96.

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post #4 of 12
5/2/12 at 1:13pm

Congratulations on this superb dac!

 

Have any of you tried the crossfeed function yet? I did yesterday, with my Sennheiser HD25, and didn't hear much of a difference to be honest. Bass did increase somewhat, as expected, but spaciousness did not. I was just trying it out to see what crossfeed would sound like. With my Stax SR-007 I cannot use it (external amp required), but now that I tried it with a dynamic pair of headphones I don't feel like missing out.

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by NA Blur View Post

If you use Foobar2000 with the unit be sure to switch the software to 24-bit mode.

On my machine (XP) this isn't necessary. Foobar says 'output data format will be chosen automatically for the selected device' when using ASIO and the TUSBAudio driver.

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post #5 of 12
5/2/12 at 4:36pm

The crossfeed function is very subtle which is a plus for me.  Some of the headroom crossfeed implementations are over powing and introduce a sense of noise and calamity rather than a subtle expanse in the soundstage.

 

I did a test between the Ultra Desktop Crossfeed and m903 and the m903 was the only one I could tolerate, but I leave it off.

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post #6 of 12
5/5/12 at 3:15pm

Congrats, I've had this unit for about 6 months now and use is with T1, I'd like to try the HD800 at some point. Although most of my listening is now with my Neumann monitors.

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post #7 of 12
5/8/12 at 7:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by third_eye View Post

Congrats, I've had this unit for about 6 months now and use is with T1, I'd like to try the HD800 at some point. Although most of my listening is now with my Neumann monitors.

 

The m903 does work well with the HD 800.

 

It should also work well as a controller for the Neumann HK120 as well - it certainly worked well with my K+H O100D (the forerunner of the KH120) and now with my new Geithain RL906 biggrin.gif

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post #8 of 12
5/18/12 at 1:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by feedme07 View Post

Very excited...ordered from B&H photo online and just arrived this morning! Only had it hooked up to the HD800's for about 30 minutes so far but i'm already thrilled! review to shortly follow. What an amazing unit this far.Screen shot 2012-05-01 at 1.49.28 PM.png

 

 

OK - you have had it a few weeks now.  How are you liking it?

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post #9 of 12
6/1/12 at 6:31am

There is a 3-page review of the Grace m903 in the latest (July 2012) issue of Hi-Fi World that was in the shops yesterday.

 

Excellent, top 5-star review that includes an interview with the designer who describes the whys and wherefores of the design.

 

I scanned the review to pdf.

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post #10 of 12
6/1/12 at 8:19am

Can you post a link to pdf. Thanks

M

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post #11 of 12
6/1/12 at 8:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcullinan View Post

Can you post a link to pdf. Thanks

M

 

It's not on-line.

 

You can read the magazine on-line for about £1.90, or send me a PM with an e-mail address and I'll send the scan to you - unfortunately I can't add an attachment to a PM.


Edited by John Willett - 6/1/12 at 8:23am
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post #12 of 12
7/17/12 at 11:07am
Crossquote:
Originally Posted by CDWMcInSpots View Post

I started a separate thread on the Norwegian forum Hifisentralen for "Grace Design m903" on 17 January 2011. It is now part of the forum's new headphone section. I think we've collected most of what we've written regarding Grace Design m903 in the thread even when first published somewhere else, although it steadily keeps being mentioned in replies in other threads as well.

 

The early adopters have had Grace Design m903 since 3 March 2011 when the first batch arrived in Norway.

 

Several owners have posted listening and other impressions, user tips etc. using different headphones and also as a DAC. We consider it very good.

 

We write in Norwegian, but we quote text and link to web pages in other languages. Norwegian is also readable for those that read Danish (very similar) or Swedish. The rest will (probably) have to use Google Translate or something similar. If you visit, feel free to write a reply in Norwegian, Danish, Swedish or English.


Edited by CDWMcInSpots - 7/18/12 at 6:54am
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