[idunno]

I know the C2C stuff was OT, but I received a follow-up email from Kingwa, and have edited my post above accordingly.

 

[Patu]

I received confirmation from Audio-gd that the shipping date for DAC19Mk3 (and DAC200 also) is about middle of May. They also said that I can make the payment closer to the shipping date if I want and that's what I decided to do.

 

[Dat_Dude]

Patu, definitely interested in hearing your impressions when you get it mid-to-late May. If I were you I would pay now. That way you are high on the list in case there are a ton of orders. I paid early for my Compass and it was shipped out during the first big batch.

 

[ttnl]

can someone with knowledge about how DACs work explain this to me? Does the number of processing channels determine how well a DAC perform? The DAC19MK3 has only 2 chips which I think correspond to 2 channels, while DACs like Valab has 8 chips. Also, I don't think power supply in DAC is not as important as in amp. If it is correct, then the more sophisticated PSU in DAC19MK3 may not be the big selling point of the DAC

 

[Drosera]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ttnl /img/forum/go_quote.gif can someone with knowledge about how DACs work explain this to me? Does the number of processing channels determine how well a DAC perform? The DAC19MK3 has only 2 chips which I think correspond to 2 channels, while DACs like Valab has 8 chips. Also, I don't think power supply in DAC is not as important as in amp. If it is correct, then the more sophisticated PSU in DAC19MK3 may not be the big selling point of the DAC

It's not about the amount of the power, it's about the quality. And that's far more important in a DAC than in an amp, because you're dealing with very delicate signals in a DAC. It's about getting the most clean and well regulated power to the DA circuits that determines for a major part the quality of a DAC.

 

[Currawong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ttnl /img/forum/go_quote.gif can someone with knowledge about how DACs work explain this to me? Does the number of processing channels determine how well a DAC perform? The DAC19MK3 has only 2 chips which I think correspond to 2 channels, while DACs like Valab has 8 chips. Also, I don't think power supply in DAC is not as important as in amp. If it is correct, then the more sophisticated PSU in DAC19MK3 may not be the big selling point of the DAC

The Valab is a NOS (Non-Over Sampling) DAC. Instead of using oversampling to overcome issues with digital to analogue conversion, they stack a bunch of chips in parallel instead. The PSU in a DAC is extremely important, as it has to filter the power so that it's as clean as possible. The Reference 1, for example, is something like 80% power conditioning circuitry.

 

[iron_gr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patu /img/forum/go_quote.gif I received confirmation from Audio-gd that the shipping date for DAC19Mk3 (and DAC200 also) is about middle of May. They also said that I can make the payment closer to the shipping date if I want and that's what I decided to do.

I did exactly the same!

I'm very pleased to see that the 2 most expensive Dac's out there use the same chip (PCM1704)!!

One example of the PSU importance

I think the R-core transformer is the best of all and I don't know why Kingwa doesn't use this in Reference 1! --> I asked him and he said RF1 uses both r-core and toroidal trans! He also said that R-core is not necessarily the best and he uses toroidal mostly in his gears!

 

[JohnD]

Who is Kingwa, you ask about Audio-gd? I am going to buy Compass, so I need a point of contact

 

[tim3320070]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnD /img/forum/go_quote.gif Who is Kingwa, you ask about Audio-gd? I am going to buy Compass, so I need a point of contact

Kingwa is the owner and designer (someone correct me if I'm wrong) of Audio-gd. Very responsive and helpful person. I've had him respond a 1:00am his time. You have to work around his english but it's fine.

 

[JohnD]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tim3320070 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Kingwa is the owner and designer (someone correct me if I'm wrong) of Audio-gd. Very responsive and helpful person. I've had him respond a 1:00am his time. You have to work around his english but it's fine.

Thank you.

Does he have a separate e-mail or just what listedon the Audio-gd website (audio-gd@126.com)?

 

[tim3320070]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnD /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thank you. Does he have a separate e-mail or just what listedon the Audio-gd website (audio-gd@126.com)?

Just that one.

 

[squall343]

i already pre order this dac a few weeks ago

awaiting for their shipment, was told it will be in May

 

[iron_gr]

Hmm... seems that it's ready, but it has 2 modes that you must choose:

Quote:

[size=medium]Mode A:[/size] HDCD 24Bit DAC, because the PMD100 so only support to 32-55K. PMD100 sound better than DF1704, though playing normal CD format (Redbook CD). [size=medium] Mode B:[/size] Support 24Bit/96KHz , apply DF1704 as digital filter, can't support HDCD.

Dunno what to choose...

 

[squall343]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iron_gr /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hmm... seems that it's ready, but it has 2 modes that you must choose: Dunno what to choose...

i guess so since the coming soon is removed

oh no..i did not indicate a mode when i order last time, guess i will need to send them an email again

 

[Patu]

So does Mode A mean that you can't play regular FLAC files through the DAC, only HDCD? I thought that it had both options automatically but it seems that it's either HDCD or not.