[Wynnytsky]

I'm going for 24awg. I'm afraid 26awg in silver may be to sharp in such an incredibly revealing system and a small amount of rounding is to my taste

FWIW WireWorld's platinum 7 uses 23 awg solid silver and as of platinum 8 they've got to 28 awg silver clad OFC, so even those guys couldn't commit to one thickness for their top of the line.

I just found out the Photon USB cable is also solid silver (no idea what gauge)
Silver clad cables have not lasted with me (neither analog or digital). The Platinum 7 and Photon have never once reminded me that silver is in the mix. Once I heard them I lost all desire to roll USB cables.

 

[FredA]

FWIW WireWorld's platinum 7 uses 23 awg solid silver and as of platinum 8 they've got to 28 awg silver clad OFC, so even those guys couldn't commit to one thickness for their top of the line.

I just found out the Photon USB cable is also solid silver (no idea what gauge)
Silver clad cables have not lasted with me (neither analog or digital). The Platinum 7 and Photon have never once reminded me that silver is in the mix. Once I heard them I lost all desire to roll USB cables.

We are talking analog cables. For digital, things are very different.

 

[Wynnytsky]

We are talking analog cables

I eventually rolled back all silver from my analog (the WBT solder stayed).

Power is cut and my system is disassembled. This evening I'll be on a brand new service, dedicated 10awg metal clad line, and two 8ft rods going into earth. Can't wait to see what this does to my noise floor.
I wonder what kind of break-in that needs? I'm twitching like a dog waiting for bacon (the maple kind)

 

[FredA]

I eventually rolled back all silver from my analog (the WBT solder stayed).

Power is cut and my system is disassembled. This evening I'll be on a brand new service, dedicated 10awg metal clad line, and two 8ft rods going into earth. Can't wait to see what this does to my noise floor.
I wonder what kind of break-in that needs? I'm twitching like a dog waiting for bacon (the maple kind)

You should. The upgrade should be significant from the start.

 

[DACLadder]

Power is cut and my system is disassembled. This evening I'll be on a brand new service, dedicated 10awg metal clad line, and two 8ft rods going into earth. Can't wait to see what this does to my noise floor.I wonder what kind of break-in that needs? I'm twitching like a dog waiting for bacon (the maple kind)

Adding another AC service ground was the most positive thing I have ever done for better AC power. When solar panels were installed, by code, I had to add a cold water pipe ground to my electrical upgrade. Afterward no more dimming lights when the A/C or fridge kicked on. The electrician said I had a better connection (neutral) to the center conductor of the split phase power transformer. Made a true believer out of me! What is amazing in the USA there is no 'neutral' wire from the house to the power transformer. The neutral connection is all earth. The grounding rod in my 50 yr old house was probably corroded by acidic soil.

Good luck with your upgrade! Looks like it will be massive!

 

[REAN1MAT0R]

has anyone tried cables from a Taiwanese manufacturer MPS ?
its not copy or fake it is standalone manufacturer
they have hdmi, usb, power cords
silver plated hdmi model HD-280

 

[motberg]

The configuring of settings/options through the buttons on the DI-20 as explained on the Audio-GD website need further detail and clarity, somewhat confusing as to what some of the options mean/do. Intially got "no sound" having installed into the my rig replacing the Gustard U16. Eventually worked out that I needed to lower the DAClink setting in the JPLAY control panel to 20mhz to get 44.1, 88.2, 96, 176.2 and 192mhz sample rates working. I typically ran the Gustard U16 with a DAClink of 45mhz. So the drivers Gustard/Amanero require quite different settings, what this will mean to the sound/stage too early to say
Frizzup

Yo frizzup !

Are you still using JPlay with the DI-20?

Any comments, problems, suggestions ?

Thanks !

 

[frizzup]

Hi motberg,

Yes still using JPLAY Femto on Windows Server Core 2019 in dual configuration (CPC and APC). Using a JPLAY Femto USB card in the APC, Double Helix USB cable to DI-20, Wireworld Platinum HDMI cable to Master 7 DAC. Just sourced a BNC 75ohm cable to try BNC/ACSS vs HDI/I2S. Also have been running DI-20 in serial processing mode will try parallel mode. Only 2 issues at the begiining, getting USB Driver installed into Windows 2019 Server Core and JPLAY DAClink parameter working to cover 44.1khz through to 192khz. DAClink = 20 seems to be the sweet spot.

frizzup

 

[Bech]

Hi Zachik, I can answer #1 based on my experience of owning both the U12 and a DI-20 (non-HE). Firstly, from a usability standpoint, the DI-20 is plug and play with the Amanero driver I previously installed for my R8. No issues with firmware, no glitches - just 100% music. The build of the DI-20 is much more robust and solid. I love the large display and the easy switching of functions. As far as the sound qualities, I find the U16 to be accurate, but dry in comparison to the DI-20. The U16 is quite good, but the DI-20 is much better and soundstage three-dimensionality, bottom-to-top extension, tightness of bass, musical flow, and body. I have about 500 hours on the DI-20 and the sound is still improving. I was listening to Autumn Leaves - Jacintha, and for the first time in my system, her voice was actually in front of the speaker plane. I had never experienced that before. Previously, I was able to get good depth and width of the soundstage, but all performers shared the same lateral plane. Last night was the first time on good recordings where the performer(s) were in front of the instruments, that I was able to get that 3-D realism of soundstage.

Hi

I had the first Audio GD DI for several years and consider the DI20 or DI20HE.​

Right now I have another USB/SPDIFF converter, which I have compared with the Gustard U16.
My currrent USB/SPDIFF is clearly better than Gustard U16 – but with external clock (oscilloquartz ocxo) the U16 becomes better!
Better in the same way as described in this thread between U16 without clock and DI20 / DI20HE.

Is there anyone who can describe the difference in sound between Gustard U16 with external clock and Audio GD-DI20 or Audio GD-DI20HE ???
Much better or slightly better? And in whay way. ?


By the way - I asked Kingwa this about the difference between the DI20 and DI20HE:
"As far as I can see, the DI-20 and DI-20HE are similar but the HE seems to have some kind of a Power Conditioner in addition.
I have an ExactPower EP15A Power Conditioner. Will a DI-20 with EP15a come close to the DI20HE?"

Answer:
I think the DI20 +EP15A Power Conditioner can close or equality to the DI20HE , maybe the sound flavor has some different, our regenerative power supply had tune the sound like analog feeling.

 

[Wynnytsky]

I recall that the recommendation is that the DI20HE be plugged into the wall

Same for the DI20?

Is the DI20HE more likely to survive a power spike than the DI20?
If not I may try getting more high current outlets from my conditioner by putting a splitter in series -- maybe that's not far off from the sound of going directly to the wall.

 

[Zachik]

By the way - I asked Kingwa this about the difference between the DI20 and DI20HE:
"As far as I can see, the DI-20 and DI-20HE are similar but the HE seems to have some kind of a Power Conditioner in addition.
I have an ExactPower EP15A Power Conditioner. Will a DI-20 with EP15a come close to the DI20HE?"

Answer:
I think the DI20 +EP15A Power Conditioner can close or equality to the DI20HE , maybe the sound flavor has some different, our regenerative power supply had tune the sound like analog feeling.

Have anyone tried either DI20 or DI20HE connected to an isolation transformer? Specifically, wired for balanced power?
I wonder if either model would benefit from the balanced isolated power... and still trying to decide if/when I upgrade my Gustard U12 - should I go with the basic model (with best clocks) at $550, or splurge on the HE model for almost $1000...
(as a side note, I am still waiting for one of the folks that own both the HE and non-HE to compare them.......)

 

[TitaniumDust]

I had two more questions/concerns about the DI-20 before I pull the trigger:

1. Has anyone tried the ACSS (BNC) output with a DAC not made my audio-gd? The documentation says that most DACs are compatible, but I didn't know if this is true in practice. Eventually I may be able to get an audio-gd DAC, but it will be a while.
2. I am using it with a Windows 10 PC, and the problem I have with my current U16 is playback issues like pops/clicks/etc when I use the driver. I want this device to be trouble-free. I want to use ASIO without issues for playback of PCM files <= 192kHz (and maybe DSD at a later time) using the ACSS or S/PDIF output. I've seen some reports of issues in this thread, so I wanted to know everyone's experience so far who are using ASIO and Windows 10 with their DI-20.

 

[Wynnytsky]

my current U16 is playback issues like pops/clicks/etc

I lived with that for a year or two -- the SU1's i2s port doesn't like my r2r7 and the xilinx/altera flashes didn't resolved it.
As of DI20HE that's all in the past!

In a week or so I'll get to test the ACSS output on some lampizators

 

[Zachik]

In a week or so I'll get to test the ACSS output on some lampizators

Looking forward to that one!!

Edit: I am curious especially how this ACSS output to the Lampizator compare to "normal" SPDIF (RCA) and AES/EBU.

 

[newabc]

I had two more questions/concerns about the DI-20 before I pull the trigger:

1. Has anyone tried the ACSS (BNC) output with a DAC not made my audio-gd? The documentation says that most DACs are compatible, but I didn't know if this is true in practice. Eventually I may be able to get an audio-gd DAC, but it will be a while.
2. I am using it with a Windows 10 PC, and the problem I have with my current U16 is playback issues like pops/clicks/etc when I use the driver. I want this device to be trouble-free. I want to use ASIO without issues for playback of PCM files <= 192kHz (and maybe DSD at a later time) using the ACSS or S/PDIF output. I've seen some reports of issues in this thread, so I wanted to know everyone's experience so far who are using ASIO and Windows 10 with their DI-20.

Dear TitaniumDust, when I bought the DI-20, Kingwa said the SPDIF ACSS is compatible to most of DAC's SPDIF coaxial input.

I am using an Audio-gd DAC produced 6 years ago. At that time, there was no SPDIF ACSS. DI-20's SPDIF ACSS output to my DAC works well.