[Solude]

  Considering to pair DAC-19 with AGD C-2 Class A headphone amplifier, but their faceplates are not matching... 

 
Team OCD FTW =)  Right there with you.  Kingwa... please release an NFB-19 so we can sleep at night

 

[sypderman88]

Hi,
 
 I have made the purchase. According to Kingwa improvement over previous DAC19DSP version is substantial. The changes according with my email exchange with Kingwa are :-
 
"
There are a lot different design on the DAC19.
1, The USB had support up to 192K 32bit (latest USB32 module)
2, The newer DSP software design (same as Master 7)  make the sound more detail and neutral.
3, The analog output had the parts assemble on board but the older version had the modules assemble.
4, The all parts had the class A power supply but the older version had the linear for the digital parts.

"
 
 The performance is close to Master 7 single ended output.
 
 Will post my impression.

 

[dukja]

 
1, The USB had support up to 192K 32bit (latest USB32 module)
2, The newer DSP software design (same as Master 7)  make the sound more detail and neutral.
3, The analog output had the parts assemble on board but the older version had the modules assemble.
4, The all parts had the class A power supply but the older version had the linear for the digital parts.
 
 The performance is close to Master 7 single ended output.
 
 Will post my impression.

 
I will be very interested in your impression.  I love my Ref-7 but now I used it mainly single-ended to Aleph 3 or my Stax setup.   While eyeing Master 7, I am very interested in this little brother.  If DAC19 (10th yr ed) can perform as well as M7 with SE, I will get it right away!  

 

[katariat]

I am in the same boat. would love to hear some impressions on dac 19. If it sounds similar to m7's (single ended) then dac 19 would be the cheapest r2r dac worth having.

 

[dukja]

I asked Kingwa about the comparison of DAC19-10yr and my existing Ref-7.  And his answer was pretty much what I thought.  The DAC19 may have some more details and dynamic range due to new design, but the bass quality will be strongly tied to solid power supply, which means Master 7 will be my answer.  

 

[sypderman88]

At 3 times of price , I wld expect it bettered dac19... If dac19 can deliver even 80 percent of master 7 perf... I am happy enough...

 

[snip3r77]

At 3 times of price , I wld expect it bettered dac19... If dac19 can deliver even 80 percent of master 7 perf... I am happy enough...

Some one has to AB this and Ygg

 

[Zaiki]

I'm also interest in this DAC. The previous DAC I use is NFB-11 and what suffer me most is it's sounding is too thin when comparing with Chord qute hd. Hopefully DAC-19 will have improvements compared with NFB-11 especially on the thin sound problem.

 

[sypderman88]

mine should be shipping out end of this week..they are still doing burn in..will post my impression....

 

[lukeap69]

 

[dukja]

At 3 times of price , I wld expect it bettered dac19... If dac19 can deliver even 80 percent of master 7 perf... I am happy enough...

 
That is the problem.  Maybe DAC19 is good enough.  Or maybe not.  One has to hear for himself to tell.  My concern is in the bass and sub-bass department.
 
And the complication factor is that some gear needs balanced input and DAC19 is not.  
 
No matter what DAC19 will not be thin.  That is one thing for sure.  

 

[sypderman88]

Yup.. My gears are all single ended... Hence my preference for dac19... As for the bass.. I will share how it sounds once Rcv it

 

[dukja]

Please do share your experience.  Thanks!!

 

[GenpattonJames]

(but the myth that tube amps are inherently better than SS died a long time ago)
Funny, I never heard a thing about that..in fact Tube amplifiers are making quite a comeback these days.
La Audio, Yaqin, Ming Da and Jolida to name a few Chinese lower priced tube amps. Then of course you have BAT, Audio Research, Conrad Johnson, Rogue Audio and of course Decware which is well respected for some of the best low powered tube amplifiers in the world. Then there are too many well made headphone tube amplifiers to list here or I would fill up the whole paragraph up.
Could all these companies be making a terrible mistake? My gosh I better get right on it and let them know! 

Each person is entitled to his or her opinion and I respect that, but making a blanket statement like that just just annoys me.
And by the way, I have owned several of both. Right now I have class A solid state amplifiers, but both my DAC and my preamp are tube based and after searching and comparing may other products before I made my decision, I would not trade them for any solid state device. At least I have not found one. I'm sure there out there. I just prefer the sound of tubes and the fact that I can fumble around in old basements and email people from all over the world searching for the "right" NOS tube for me has a certain charm to it.
However after hearing and owning several tube headphone amps I ended up settling on the C2 Class A headphone amp. Paired with my Audeze LCD v 1.2 headphones is a match made in heaven.
  I too am interested in the DAC 19 as well because my existing tube DAC (An MHDT Havana balanced that will only do 48k on the USB input) will not match up with my growing collection of 192k high res files. The DAC 19 uses a very good chipset and I have heard some very good implementations of the PCM1704UK chip. I believe Audio-GD is using one per channel as well. Personally, and I stress this "personally" I don't prefer the sound of the Sabre DACS. Does not mean they are not good, just not in my system. It's all about synergy when it comes to this hobby, right?
Too bad it will not do DSD, but then again who knows what will happen with that format. A friend brought over a NFB-1S, I did not like it until I heard the DSD off of it. Very analog sound and I liked DSD from that point on.
Then again I am from the generation that had to spin records so I like that analog type sound.
However the DAC 19 has a lot of well thought out features.
You can set the oversampling rate you can decide which digital filter attenuation you would like. Some people might not like that, but to me that means I can tailor the sound to my system and that gets me excited.
Almost as fun as swapping tubes.

 

 

[nigeljames]

  (but the myth that tube amps are inherently better than SS died a long time ago)
Funny, I never heard a thing about that..in fact Tube amplifiers are making quite a comeback these days.
La Audio, Yaqin, Ming Da and Jolida to name a few Chinese lower priced tube amps. Then of course you have BAT, Audio Research, Conrad Johnson, Rogue Audio and of course Decware which is well respected for some of the best low powered tube amplifiers in the world. Then there are too many well made headphone tube amplifiers to list here or I would fill up the whole paragraph up.
Could all these companies be making a terrible mistake? My gosh I better get right on it and let them know! 

Each person is entitled to his or her opinion and I respect that, but making a blanket statement like that just just annoys me.

 
Sorry but I have no idea what your post is all about!! 

 
Unless you are saying that Tubes are inherently better (not preferred) than SS (which is what a real 'blanket statement' is) the rest of your comments are just nonsence.
 
Where did I say tube amp were bad?
Where did I say SS is better?
 
There are many great amps tube and SS and while I prefer the SS sound I have heard and owned tube amp(s) and have been enjoyed what I have heard.