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SA-2 Musical Dac (Audio-gd)

post #1 of 44
9/30/12 at 12:53am
Thread Starter 

Hi,

 

Any thoughts? http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/SA/SA2/SA2EN.htm

 

Seems to be great tongue_smile.gif

 

Danutz


Edited by Danutz - 10/4/12 at 11:36am
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post #2 of 44
9/30/12 at 1:03pm

I'm just breaking in a Ref 5.32 right now and am loving the "musical" side of its sound so much that I have a serious eye on the SA-2 now.

 

The Ref 5.32 maybe loses some detail and separation over my previous dac, but responds by bringing out the feeling of the instruments instead.  In a way it is more detailed, responds with more feeling.

 

The SA-2 promises to deliver more of that.  Very enticing....

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post #3 of 44
9/30/12 at 1:17pm
Thread Starter 

Great to hear that you love the signature!

 

What was your previous dac?

 

Have you tried using the Ref 5.32 it with a good usb/spdif converter (jkenny, audiophilleo...)?

 

beerchug.gif

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post #4 of 44
9/30/12 at 1:33pm

I have had Theta and Audiolab in the past....and was using the inboard Burson HA-160DS dac. 

 

I'm using the USB input only.  Do I spend $400 or $500 on an outboard usb/spdif converter or buy a better dac?  Not sure about that one,

 

Do you have Audio-gd today or??

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post #5 of 44
9/30/12 at 1:52pm

I might pick this up shortly. Being the successor to my old Ref 9 has me wishing to hear this. The Ref 9's musicality, tonality, blackground, and bass qualities were to die for. Would love to see how this compares to my current Eximus.

 

-Daniel

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post #6 of 44
9/30/12 at 2:19pm

Does Kingwa ever sleep? Any idea why it doesn't have balanced outputs?

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post #7 of 44
9/30/12 at 2:26pm

I believe his diamond-differential designs can only be SE, by design.

 

-Daniel

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post #8 of 44
9/30/12 at 2:35pm
Thread Starter 

Yes, I am running the NFB10WM (Wolfson 8471 Dac) with jkspdif Mk2 from a Win8 PC and would like to upgrade... Nad M51 or another Audio-Gd like the SA-2 would hopefully be a big step up, or?

 

Amp: ASR Emitter II Exclusive Akku  LS: Tannoy DC10T

 

Looking to have great and big soundstage, transparency (not sterility), more 3D and spatiality... and don't want that less good recordings become unlistenable (therefore no master7 I suppose)

 

beerchug.gif

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post #9 of 44
9/30/12 at 2:39pm
Thread Starter 

By the way, I read that mostly every Dac with coax input could be pushed up a level or two, when delivered with an accourate spdif signal, but perhaps this new usb32 from Kingwa is at the top confused_face_2.gif

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post #10 of 44
9/30/12 at 2:48pm

"and don't want that less good recordings become unlistenable"

 

Hmmmm...yes.  I have an acquaintance with a $50K reference system.  He pretty well can't listen to anything.  Jazz at the Pawnshop is always on ;)

 

Yes, I would love someone to post some comparison to the usb32 and an outboard converter. 

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post #11 of 44
9/30/12 at 3:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by PeterCraig View Post

"and don't want that less good recordings become unlistenable"

Hmmmm...yes.  I have an acquaintance with a $50K reference system.  He pretty well can't listen to anything.  Jazz at the Pawnshop is always on wink.gif

Yes, I would love someone to post some comparison to the usb32 and an outboard converter. 

I have compared the USB32 against an AP2 and think that the USB32 is as good. The USB32 is an use to i2s converter so it feeds the digital stream direct to the dsp1 .
The AP2 does that but converts the stream to spdif as the output and the spdif input on the dac converts it again before sending it to the dsp1. For the sake of purity the USB32 is the better option
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post #12 of 44
9/30/12 at 3:46pm

"For the sake of purity the USB32 is the better option"

 

Nice.  Thanks for your thoughts and comparison. 

 

Saving $$ on not having the extra unit and cable (and power cable) is just fine with me even with a slight depreciation in sound quality. 

 

I'm willing to invest if there is an improvement that justifies itself though.

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post #13 of 44
9/30/12 at 5:43pm

Also, the asynchronous driver for the USB32 is quite mature and I've tested this on my I7 laptop, no crashes so far..

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post #14 of 44
9/30/12 at 5:45pm

I hope Kingwa re-releases the Reference 8 dac or SA- ?? (big brother of the Ref9) as this is one hellova dac that is on par with the Ref7.1

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post #15 of 44
9/30/12 at 5:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by PeterCraig View Post

"For the sake of purity the USB32 is the better option"

 

Nice.  Thanks for your thoughts and comparison. 

 

Saving $$ on not having the extra unit and cable (and power cable) is just fine with me even with a slight depreciation in sound quality. 

 

I'm willing to invest if there is an improvement that justifies itself though.

 

The SPDIF connection is showing its age and there are better options available such as the USB-I2S.  Now all I hope for is that Kingwa releases an I2s transport that will be pin compatible with the Master7.

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