[hekeli]

  All i know is that it has no proper "zero sound" level, there is always a little bit of sound getting through, although perfectly balanced/centered at my unit.

 
Ah ok could be that I just never noticed it. The bleeding is very small, but kinda annoying when you want to mute stuff, of course normally I do it from player. The imbalance is minor if it's even there (maybe I'll try measuring it), but anything under 10-15 is too quiet for normal listening anyway so doesn't matter..

 

[HirschiAUT]

   
Ah ok could be that I just never noticed it. The bleeding is very small, but kinda annoying when you want to mute stuff, of course normally I do it from player. The imbalance is minor if it's even there (maybe I'll try measuring it), but anything under 10-15 is too quiet for normal listening anyway so doesn't matter..

I use it only in my Speaker setup as Pre-Amp, and there is no player i could mute, always some sound
Therefore i noticed this right from the start, and asked Kingwa.
He said it is totally normal for this kind of volume control design, just like the occasional pops from the relais when changing volume.
I can totally live with that because the sound of the amp is just awesome imo

 

[hekeli]

Ok I'm not imagining things. Somethings definitely broken.
 
Here's a video of monitoring 1khz sinewave directly from RCA output to my M-Audio Transit soundcard. Sorry about the quality, the Audacity scale you see is -60dBFS -> 0dBFS across the screen. You can see 6-10dB difference from right channel at bottom volumes.. and there's many fishy spots even at normal volumes where volume jumps very erratically.
 
(video removed, problem solved, audio-gd not to be blaimed)

 

[HirschiAUT]

  Ok I'm not imagining things. Somethings definitely broken.
 
Here's a video of monitoring 1khz sinewave directly from RCA output to my M-Audio Transit soundcard. Sorry about the quality, the Audacity scale you see is -60dBFS -> 0dBFS across the screen. You can see 6-10dB difference from right channel at bottom volumes.. and there's many fishy spots even at normal volumes where volume jumps very erratically.
 
https://vid.me/EQAJ

Well, that doesn´t look right at all...
I would contact kingwa, maybe attatch the video, and see what he says.
 
If you have to get it repaired and are outside fo the 1 year full warranty (no delivery costs) maybe consider contacting Magna-Hifi to safe a bit.
 
Hope all will work out for you, and keep us updated on the progress!
 
Edit sais:
The jumps you mentioned must be the occasional pops when the relais switch, this seems to be normal tho.
I noticed that most of the time they appear when you change from 10-11 , 20-21, and so on.
I guess the relais are seperated into groups of 10, and when switching between those groups you have those pops.
But they are only really there when there is a signal (like music playing).
When there is now or only a small signal they are not audible. The louder the signal, the louder the pop.

 

[hekeli]

Well I'm pretty sure I found the problem. Not to name names, but previous owners attemps at soldering the gain board looks absolute mess.

 When I nudge the cable live I hear it fixing the volume issues.. I think it's a quick 15 minute resolder job at a local diy shop..

 

[HirschiAUT]

Well I'm pretty sure I found the problem. Not to name names, but previous owners attemps at soldering the gain board looks absolute mess.  When I nudge the cable live I hear it fixing the volume issues.. I think it's a quick 15 minute resolder job at a local diy shop..

Good to hear you found the problem, hope it will be an easy fix!
Can you post a pic of what caused the issues?

 

[hekeli]

Good to hear you found the problem, hope it will be an easy fix!
Can you post a pic of what caused the issues?

 
It's just the 7-threaded cable solder connection on the gain boards.. no point continuing with this since it's human error, it wouldn't fault by itself thus nothing to blame Audio-GD for.

 

[Suopermanni]

Hello Headfi,

Just wondering if any member has heard the c2 11th anniversary amp with 2x 6.3mm outs. If i wanted to a/b headphones or have two people listen at same time, is this a option or are there alternatives?

 

[slex]

Hello Headfi,

Just wondering if any member has heard the c2 11th anniversary amp with 2x 6.3mm outs. If i wanted to a/b headphones or have two people listen at same time, is this a option or are there alternatives?

Yes there is a custom option for it.

 

[Suopermanni]

I assume if you do the custom option that it poowers both HP outs simultaneously when that output is selected.

 

[eschell27]

Please forgive this possibly silly question... I am still somewhat new to higher end audio equipment. I am curious if people have been using the preamp functionality on these middle of the line up AGD headphone amp/preamps very much. I have DAC-19 10th (bought it second hand, original owner had it configured with 2 rca outs instead of 1 rca 1 acss) which i use with an Uptone Regen with the solid adapter instead of short cable as i think it sounds better than the stock short cable, this blocks one of the rca outs. I have 2 amps, C-2 11th and Woo WA2. To solve my problem i run dac-19 to the C-2 then to the WA2 and use the C-2 as preamp when listening to the WA2. Just wondering if any of you have compared the preamp functionality of these amps as to a similarly priced dedicated preamp. I know the C-2 to be a fairly neutral sounding headphone amp so assume i am getting a pretty neutral signal going to the WA2. One of these days i will move my gear around or get some longer interconnects and go directly from the dac-19 to wa2 to compare but until then i was curious about some opinions in regards to how much coloration i may be getting from the c-2 as a preamp for listening with my WA2 in this configuration. It sounds really good, i have no reason to complain about it... yet i just got to wondering about this the other night and thought i would ask around in this thread.

 

[uelover]

Please forgive this possibly silly question... I am still somewhat new to higher end audio equipment. I am curious if people have been using the preamp functionality on these middle of the line up AGD headphone amp/preamps very much. I have DAC-19 10th (bought it second hand, original owner had it configured with 2 rca outs instead of 1 rca 1 acss) which i use with an Uptone Regen with the solid adapter instead of short cable as i think it sounds better than the stock short cable, this blocks one of the rca outs. I have 2 amps, C-2 11th and Woo WA2. To solve my problem i run dac-19 to the C-2 then to the WA2 and use the C-2 as preamp when listening to the WA2. Just wondering if any of you have compared the preamp functionality of these amps as to a similarly priced dedicated preamp. I know the C-2 to be a fairly neutral sounding headphone amp so assume i am getting a pretty neutral signal going to the WA2. One of these days i will move my gear around or get some longer interconnects and go directly from the dac-19 to wa2 to compare but until then i was curious about some opinions in regards to how much coloration i may be getting from the c-2 as a preamp for listening with my WA2 in this configuration. It sounds really good, i have no reason to complain about it... yet i just got to wondering about this the other night and thought i would ask around in this thread.

What is the USB module on your DAC19? If it is the Amanero then you might be better off connecting the usb input directly. I find the Uptone Regen to be detrimental to the sound on my DAC19.

Then, you can connect both amps directly to the DAC19.

I am using the NFB1-AMP as a preamp to my Focal speakers and they sounded brilliant though I'm connecting the NFB1-AMP to my DAC19 via ACSS. I do rate the preamp function of AudioGD AMP quite highly.

 

[eschell27]

Thank you for the quick reply... It is Amanero... The only thing that worries me, given my very basic understanding if i were to remove the regen from my chain is that i am running the dac without any oversampling which i enjoy... from the few people i have talked to about it and the things i've read have led me to believe that in order to run it this way over usb i would need a reclocker like the regen or W4S RUR... haven't tried NOS without it though... This is only temporary anyway as i plan on getting a usb to spidf converter along the lines of a Singxer SU-1 or F-1 in the next month or so as soon as i can afford it in order to use the spidf input Who knows i may end up continuing to use the c-2 as a preamp anyway. Before i got the WA2 i had a little dot mk ive se and at first i had it going directly to the dac, then with the c-2 as preamp and preferred it because i liked having the extra volume control depending on which headphones i was using... The WA2 seems to have plenty of power but might find myself in the same boat unless i find that i like the sound directly from the dac-19 as opposed to with c-2 as a preamp.
I like the idea of turning my dac-19 into NOS-19 but at this point i don't feel comfortable doing the mods myself and don't really want to send it back to china in order to have AGD convert it. Although i have toyed with the idea of returning it back to having 1 rca and 1 acss output since i have the c-2...seems i could benefit from the acss connection for not only the amp but also for it's preamp functionality. I've even seen a few people making their own upgraded acss cables to get another little uptick in SQ from the AGD acss cables.

 

[slex]

You have got tube WA2 and SS C2. Guess if i were you i will connect both rcas from the dac19 individually, depending on your taste of music and it it also save you less power to go through C2 as preamp. The new F1 DDC will outweigh the acss connection in SQ. its best to use BNC connection from DAC if possible for better transmission.

I have s C2 11A too, i use the preamp out to my vintange NAD3020 with no problem.

 

[eschell27]

Yah most likely that will be the plan as soon as I get either the F1 or Su-1 giving me access to all of the RCA outputs from the dac. (Regen blocking one) Won't be long. Not a huge deal just been curious. Thanks for the feedback!