[FredA]

I read all these horror stories about di20's coax output so I was preparing myself for the worst when this Mystique v3 visited today


It ran every bit as reliable over a cerious technologies graphene matrix coax as it does over a belden hdmi.
My baseless hunch is that my di20he+4.07b is no better than those exhibiting issues, but perhaps my computer is behaving better.

The mojo dac is mature and forgiving in that it allows me to play certain tracks louder than my r2r7 could play w/o fatigue. It also has an unusually low gain, so when I compensate with my passive volume @2pm I'm expecting to hear the noise floor emerge, but all I get is a double dose of r2r magic. "Power supply is what makes the difference between the DAC playing the music vs. the music playing the DAC", Benjamin Zwickel

Low noise is key. Hence how good the HE gears.

This Mojo dac is definitely all about psu quality.

 

[PLGA]

Last night I did a short test between Serial and Parallel on my DI-20 with 4.07 firmware.
When first I tried Parallel, I felt it had more resolution, but last night I found Serial to be more analog and natural sounding. Parallel felt more digital to me, with more sibilance that can be interpretated as "air" between instruments, but I believe it's not. I think it's noise and I think it also affects the tone, making the sound more "digital".

This weekend I will try again my W4S USB Reclocker (RUR) as some of you say that the Uptone USB Regen before the DI-20 can improve the sound. Nevertheless, I didn't like it when I tried it some months ago. I felt it made things worse. Has anyone tried the RUR before a DI-20? How was it?

 

[ProLoL]

Parallel vs series, it really depends what you hook it up to. For me the parallel is more natural, the series is slower and "dreamy" sounding in comparison.
By slower, it's probably just a longer sustain and the parallel a quicker decay.
It's great to have two choices to choose from.

 

[Wynnytsky]

Has anyone tried the RUR before a DI-20? How was it?

I removed it after I got the new firmware, external clock, new LPS, removed wall warts, power cord replacements, etc
I'm don't know which change/s addressed the issue my RUR was treating but I would guess it was powering my computer with a Keces P8, adding the Morion, and replacing a DIY power cord on my R2R7 with a Triode Wire Labs Seven Plus.

 

[interweb-tech]

Received my DHL notice that my DI-20HE has begun its slow journey to my listening station. I also ordered a Maze Audio Ref4 SE 10-AWG power cord (matches the 3 I have in use now for R-27 & ADAM Audio speakers) as well as a Wireworld Chroma 7 HDMI cable (read somewhere kingwa had recommended it for this use).

Any tips for a new owner? I understand it needs upwards of 500 hours of burn-in. Is there a recommended method to speed that up? I also has a PS Audio LANRover that I have between the Dell laptop and the R-27. My understanding based on reading here is that it may or may not provide any benefit going forward. Should I leave it out until burn-in is done?

 

[PLGA]

Received my DHL notice that my DI-20HE has begun its slow journey to my listening station. I also ordered a Maze Audio Ref4 SE 10-AWG power cord (matches the 3 I have in use now for R-27 & ADAM Audio speakers) as well as a Wireworld Chroma 7 HDMI cable (read somewhere kingwa had recommended it for this use).

Any tips for a new owner? I understand it needs upwards of 500 hours of burn-in. Is there a recommended method to speed that up? I also has a PS Audio LANRover that I have between the Dell laptop and the R-27. My understanding based on reading here is that it may or may not provide any benefit going forward. Should I leave it out until burn-in is done?

Kingwa told me that burning can be done just leaving the DI-20 on. So it should take about a month or si to reach it's full potential.

 

[DecentLevi]

I thought it was supposed to be burned in with music playing, though I may have my 'wires crossed'.

Also another issue I've been having with the 4.07 Beta firmware is reversed channels. I didn't always notice it until I starting doing either a manual sound test on the Windows playback device properties that does a 'ping' in the left channel first then the right channel, or by playing a song which has a sound on the right or left channel that you're familiar with, revealing it starts up with the channels reversed a good percentage of the time.

 

[Wynnytsky]

starts up with the channels reversed a good percentage of the time

if you were on i2s then I'd say it's likely swapping on either pcm or dsd (not both), but I never heard of coax swapping channels
what you're up against sounds insurmountable -- and you think it's 4.07b to blame?

 

[PLGA]

I thought it was supposed to be burned in with music playing, though I may have my 'wires crossed'.

Also another issue I've been having with the 4.07 Beta firmware is reversed channels. I didn't always notice it until I starting doing either a manual sound test on the Windows playback device properties that does a 'ping' in the left channel first then the right channel, or by playing a song which has a sound on the right or left channel that you're familiar with, revealing it starts up with the channels reversed a good percentage of the time.

Yes, I had reversed channels or weird soundstage issues, but they happened few times, as also the strong static issues.

And yes, Kinwga says that you can burn it only leaving it on.

 

[DecentLevi]

Yes the 4.07 beta is definitely to blame for the reversed channels, which didn't occur beforehand.

I just spent 20+ minutes swapping between S(eries) and P(arrellel) modes on the DI-20 with 4.07 firmware and literally about 75% of the time out of about 30 times going between the two modes they were the opposite of each other. It was usually R/L on P mode then L/R on S mode, then after giving it a 10 min. 'disciplinary' time out, it decided to switch the other direction on me, still both P / S modes being usually the opposite channel as each other. The reversed channels also made it difficult to get a handle on the differences, but my impression from the rare times where both modes were actually in the same channel orientation is that S mode on this firmware version has a modestly harsher treble presentation while P mode is more natural with possibly a nuance better dynamics.

A lot of the difference you may be hearing between P / S modes with 4.07 may be down to swapped channels between the modes. Yup this is with the RCA coax cable (my only option), and I'll report this also to Kingwa. Despite these huge nuisances with this and loud hiss about 30% of the time I'm still keeping v4.07 because the sound is significantly improved enough to still deal with it for now.

 

[PLGA]

Well, it happened to me with other firmwares and with HDMI and AES/EBU connections. I haven't tried Coax.

 

[DecentLevi]

I've just conceded to dedicating 1-5 minutes each boot-up of the DI-20 for 'trobleshooting' for any R/L reverse or hissing noise. But at least the issue doesn't come back until touching any buttons or turning it off.

 

[myshark]

Yes, I had reversed channels or weird soundstage issues, but they happened few times, as also the strong static issues.

And yes, Kinwga says that you can burn it only leaving it on.

I also have the same issues using aes/ebu output in serial mode.
But i2s output is ok.

 

[myshark]

I've just conceded to dedicating 1-5 minutes each boot-up of the DI-20 for 'trobleshooting' for any R/L reverse or hissing noise. But at least the issue doesn't come back until touching any buttons or turning it off.

It happens when changing parallel to serial or vice versa on the fly.

 

[DecentLevi]

It often starts up with either issue on boot-up, so I have to troubleshoot it every boot-up by cycling between P / S modes unless I'm lucky