Quote: Originally Posted by IPodPJ What does "basically" mean? What was wrong with it? It was pretty minimal stuff. It had a sticky label on the top that left some goo. A little rubbing with water got it out. Oh, and when I opened the chassis, there was a slight scratch on the...

Quote: Originally Posted by IPodPJ Ah well, such is the way of the world I guess.... must..... stay..... happy...... I think that's the right spirit. Since you have a working temporary DAC, my personal recommendation would be to send it back to Kingwa and tell him that he...

Quote: Originally Posted by tosehee It's set to Digital Line out. The volume control gets disabled. I used to have CI Audio and it worked without any issue. That won't necesssarily tell you much. For example, the Ref1 will not accept a 192khz signal, whereas I think the CI Audio...

Quote: Originally Posted by tosehee Anything else I can try? Well, the first thing I would try is to test the components separately to figure out where the problem lies. Also, what settings is your digital output on the mac set to?

Quote: Originally Posted by les_garten The hardest part is getting the wires on the underside straight and soldering on the little side wires I guess. Yep, you need nice small pliers to get the little side wires, and a steady hand to get the soldering iron in there without...

Quote: Originally Posted by IPodPJ Again, what are you guys talking about? Basically, Kingwa made some upgrades/fixes to the Ref1 a few months back, and so he is providing an upgrade board to the people who bought the Ref1 before the update. The upgrade board is actually the...

Quote: Originally Posted by les_garten Bob, One of the transistors is sticking straight up on the edge the new board. It is soldered to the top of the board instead of the bottom like the rest that bolt down. What do you do with it? . Funny that you ask that question! That was...

Quote: Originally Posted by tosehee I guess your and my mileages vary. Most of my online purchase has been spectacular. If there is a reason for a delay or whatever, I was informed. I have also purchased many custom products (Woo), and it was spectacular. Hehe, I agree that...

Quote: Originally Posted by tosehee but wow.. From the support and communication perspective, this is the worst experience I've had in quite a long time. Hope his product makes up for it. Hehe. I have to say, if a two day delay in responding/shipping is the worst experience with...

FWIW, my Ref 1 was basically perfect. No scratches, fingerprints, loose screws or anything. Maybe my only complaint would be that the sticker on the top was a bit gummy, but it came off with a bit of rubbing. Also, I performed the DSP1 mainboard upgrade that he sent me for free (only paid for...

Quote: Originally Posted by IPodPJ I also would like to be able to change all the sampling options from the outside of the case without having to throw dip switches. FWIW, two points: 1) My unit has had 0 problems and runs perfectly cool, at least on the outside. I would...

Quote: Originally Posted by Currawong I'm glad though that the issue was caught early, before a lot of people bought them. For you and me, it's not a big fix. For the other couple of owners, if they aren't handy with a soldering iron, it'll be a matter of whether 24/96 is important to...

Quote: Originally Posted by Tachikoma Someone also mentioned that when the DAC got too hot, it produced skips in the playback. Clearly some of the components in there were not meant to run THAT hot. I would not say "clearly." All we know is that someone reported the unit was hot...

Quote: Originally Posted by Tachikoma 53 celcius on the chips? Thats the kind of temperature I'd expect to see on a CPU >.> Kingwa should be looking into reducing that, even if it isn't going to immediately cause failures it will probably reduce the lifetime of those chips...

Quote: Originally Posted by Drosera Remember that, in my experience at least, it takes up to an hour to fully warm up and sound its best. I usually have my Reference One switched on for about 16-17 hours a day, but I have not encountered the channel imbalance yet that Les talks about. I...

Quote: Originally Posted by les_garten Please watch for this and we'll see if anyone else notices this. I think it has to be running for a week or more for me to see it. There was a simliar issue that was attributed to having more than one output hooked up. This may be a similar if not...

Quote: Originally Posted by les_garten Later I will offer the free upgrade for RE1, We will ship the new board to customers.. Kingwa is just awesome.

I just downloaded the free 24/96 tracks from HDtracks, and can confirm that they play absolutely fine. This is using Mediamonkey ASIO with an X-prelude, so this is basically identical to Pete's setup.

Quote: Originally Posted by Pricklely Peete I know Les....it's a bit of a bummer to say the least although I'm sure there is a solution to the problem. It'll just take some time. It will play back 24/48 but no higher sample rate. Silly question, but are you sure you set the SPDIF...

Quote: Originally Posted by Pricklely Peete You are forgetting that not all ASIO drivers are created equal...yet the SQ difference between those 2 is very marked. That shouldn't be and yet it is. I am sure it is different. But, I maintain that if there is a difference, then one...

Quote: Originally Posted by Telstar PS: not only, but different software players, which all output bit-perfect, do sound different. Can you explain why? I cant but, having heard this with my ears (several A/B tests), i believe it's true. Well, without knowing exactly what...

Quote: Originally Posted by Telstar Coax transfer a LOT of the noise from the computer itself. It is hard to measure with the ears, some machine should be used. Do you have a link/citation to the data for that? I am very interested to see, as I do not fully understand on a...

Quote: Originally Posted by gregdee To be honest I can understand an advantage and massive saving when you are using just Flacs ,but there is no comparison between top class transport matched to top class dac really .Files supplied from server are usually affected with wireless noise...

Quote: Originally Posted by edselfordfong Do you know if you're getting hi-rez out with your mobo's coax out? What's the deal with onboard digital out? Is one more likely to get noise from a mobo than a sound card? Do they just usually lack drivers? My mobo can't do as high...

Quote: Originally Posted by edselfordfong EDIT: Anyone else compared computer to CD transport with the REF 1? I know currawong has a little USB device, and bobsmith has his rigged up to a sound card. Any thoughts, guys? I have not compared against a CD-transport, because I don't...