[hidehide]

Based on my experience, which is M11 as multibit and Vi DAC as the delta sigma sabre based, I would say multibit is hood for vocal centric tracks and the rest I preferred the slightly more transparent, and clearer more impactful bass of the Vi DAC. I listen to 90% vocals, so M11 is still my most used DAC. M11 amp is #1 imho, having compared between the built in amp in the Vi and ragnarock.

That sounds good. Seems getting either the M11 or NFB-7 will be a nice dac+amp. Now it should be down to whether to get the PCM1704UK or ES9018 DAC chip..
But I do notice the Schiit combo looks like an art, while the look of the M11 is meh....
 

As it always comes down to ones taste I can weigh in on how I hear things.
First off the M7 and 11 and the older ref 7.1 are all warm of neutral period and play PCM and down sampled dsd very well. It has a sound for me hat is pleasing in all formats. Now a word about sabre Dacs. For me they are not pleasing weather warm or neutral. I have a owned a few of them as well. Now some do sound better than others.
My point in this is what your taste is not mine or others who post hear. All of the audio gd line is musical but hi wit seems to you is your choice.
Lastly if I were you buy a used M7 or what ever and keep the amp a separate device. The why is simple a combo is locked in while two devices gives you more choices to find your taste. Hope this helps some and in no way am I being sarcastic for others views.

I got your point. And the M7 should be superior than the M11..  But that will be over my budget.. and if I have the money to buy M7, I probably will go for Schiit Ygg..
So I will probably stick with the combo unit.. And this will be my first and end game equipment..

 

[Khragon]

  That sounds good. Seems getting either the M11 or NFB-7 will be a nice dac+amp. Now it should be down to whether to get the PCM1704UK or ES9018 DAC chip..
But I do notice the Schiit combo looks like an art, while the look of the M11 is meh....
 
I got your point. And the M7 should be superior than the M11..  But that will be over my budget.. and if I have the money to buy M7, I probably will go for Schiit Ygg..
So I will probably stick with the combo unit.. And this will be my first and end game equipment..

To me the schiit combo looks like schiit... sorry can't help beauty is in the eye of the beholder of course.  Open up any Audio-gd product and you'll see the true art.
 
Maybe NFB-27H for the sabre dac and the great amp, and saved up for either M7 or Yggy as another option?
 
Just a reminder if you haven't read all the posts, when buying, remember to ask King-wa to give you the active MCU to eliminate chances of having volume spike.

 

[ALRAINBOW]

Sorry to rain on things but it's really how it goes.

 

[hidehide]

  To me the schiit combo looks like schiit... sorry can't help beauty is in the eye of the beholder of course.  Open up any Audio-gd product and you'll see the true art.
 
Maybe NFB-27H for the sabre dac and the great amp, and saved up for either M7 or Yggy as another option?

Lol, true. I asked for my wife's opinion and she picked the NFB-27H.. Thanks for the reminder of the active MCU.. Will take note of that.
 
One more thing about the Mjolnir 2 is that it is a hybrid setup, where I can choose to go solid-state or tube amp.. But I doubt I will be going back and forth..
 
NFB-27H is cheaper for me as I can get very low shipping fee from where I'm located.. as well as easier upgrade in the future. so probably go for NFB-27H and save up for later upgrade..
 
What makes you think sabre dac is better for the genre of music I listen to? Is there an general acknowledgement that sabre is for rock/metal? 
 
I'm interested in how you are inputting to M11? USB or I2S? I heard I2S is better, but I still have no idea what I2S is, and whether my macbook pro will be able to have I2S output..

 

[Khragon]

  Lol, true. I asked for my wife's opinion and she picked the NFB-27H..
 
One more thing about the Mjolnir 2 is that it is a hybrid setup, where I can choose to go solid-state or tube amp.. But I doubt I will be going back and forth..
 
NFB-27H is cheaper for me as I can get very low shipping fee from where I'm located.. as well as easier upgrade in the future. so probably go for NFB-27H and save up for later upgrade..
 
I'm interested in how you are inputting to M11? USB or I2S? I heard I2S is better, but I still have no idea what I2S is, and whether my macbook pro will be able to have I2S output..

I'm using USB, on that note, I highly recommend a the Supra USB cable, I just swapped it in and thought it opens up the sound to be even more enjoyable.  I2S is electrical spec I believes for internal IC to IC communication, it's good for when you want to use a different USB transport.
 
I say it again here in case you missed my earlier post:
Just a reminder if you haven't read all the posts, when buying, remember to ask King-wa to give you the active MCU to eliminate chances of having volume spike.

 

[hidehide]

  I'm using USB, on that note, I highly recommend a the Supra USB cable, I just swapped it in and thought it opens up the sound to be even more enjoyable.  I2S is electrical spec I believes for internal IC to IC communication, it's good for when you want to use a different USB transport.
 
I say it again here in case you missed my earlier post:
Just a reminder if you haven't read all the posts, when buying, remember to ask King-wa to give you the active MCU to eliminate chances of having volume spike.

Cool, I will take note of both. 

 

[defbear]

Hi all. I originally planned to get the Schiit Gumby + Mjolnir 2 combo for my LCD-3 and Adam A7X active speaker.

But after doing some further research, Audio GD Master 7 pops up and I have heard they sound better than the Gumby and close to the Schiit 's Ygg.. Then I saw that there are now Audio GD Master-11 (priced similar to my original planned setup) DAC+AMP combo, which they state is a combination from Master 7 and Master 9.. So what do you guys think about Audio GD Master-11 vs Schiit Gumby + Mjolnir 2? Looking forward to some insight from fellows.. 

I mainly listen to rock/metal, and occasionally pop and classical..

What Headphones?

 

[hidehide]

What Headphones?

LCD-3 (Non-fazor)

 

[patrikh]

I've been listening to this for about 2 weeks now and my initial impressions are that it sounds warm compared to my m9xx. I consider this a great feature since my Alpha Dogs tend to be a bit bright. A huge positive side I found out just now while doing some AB testing is that music is way more detailed, layered and involving with M11. In other words, it pushes the Dogs to their limits in imaging. I haven't done that much AB with my HEK since they don't seem to be too keen of the m9xx, not that it's bad but M11 can deliver way more with them. Also running them balanced is very noticable. Only downsides I would point out are a slight lack of punch with bass I'm used to with the m9xx and the immense heat this monster emits; summer heat is creeping day by day and my room is going to turn into a sauna with my computer and the M11. PS. If you happen to own a 980ti, turn off your overclocks in Summer if you don't have an AC.

 

 

[patrikh]

I read that in Europe there are standards for flexibility in power cables??? The Supra cables certainly are supple.

Do you find the supra cable better than pangea? They are both about the same price in EU.

 

[defbear]

Do you find the supra cable better than pangea? They are both about the same price in EU.

I forget the models. I have a Pangea Elephant Gun cable which I think was $99.00 and you can use it as a club. I also bought the "Smaller" $49.00 one. Both sound fine. The big stupid one made a noticible improvement in sound to my HDVD800. With my Master 11 things sounded more solid but not as golly gee. It has a lot of power supply. Both Supra and Pangea sounded the same. I use the big Pangea with the Master 11 as it is the only device the Pangea can't lift off the floor. People see the Pangea into the Master 11 and go 'Wow!' And I say 'Yep!' To be serious, you do not understand the Pangea cables until you have held one. I prefer the Supra cable when combined with their 'Distribution Block'. I use Supra from the wall to their block and then Supra from the devices. I had some bad interference problems which the Supra cables solved that the Pangea cables didn't. I believe both cables are an Audio Upgrade. I'm enjoying the Supra USB and Toslink cables as well. They make me feel as if I have done something Audio.

 

[patrikh]

I also have supra usb and optical but I ended up ordering the badass phat cable

 

[patrikh]

I just got an intona to the mix. My initial impressions are that using the intona alone clears out the music very nicely and adds some lost texture and separation, however, stepping back from my Wyrd took away some of that bass thump. Now I'm testing jitterbug>supraUSB>intona>standardUSB>Wyrd>lavriUSB>M11 and the thump is back, oh boy it's back! However, this time it has more force and better separation from the other sounds. All of my impressions are naturally subjective.

 

[defbear]

I just got an intona to the mix. My initial impressions are that using the intona alone clears out the music very nicely and adds some lost texture and separation, however, stepping back from my Wyrd took away some of that bass thump. Now I'm testing jitterbug>supraUSB>intona>standardUSB>Wyrd>lavriUSB>M11 and the thump is back, oh boy it's back! However, this time it has more force and better separation from the other sounds. All of my impressions are naturally subjective.

Have you tried the Jitterbug by itself?

 

[bimmer100]

Have you tried the Jitterbug by itself?

I have tried the Jitterbug. thank god I bought it from amazon.com!
it was returned after a good week of testing. It was the least effective device of all of them that i'd tested. It definitely wasn't an upgrade to the sq. did little to nothing. sold the uptone regen, ifi usb3.0 and the wyrd (had two, but actually kept one wyrd for my wife's rig which actually worked fairly well with the nfb28).
 
the intona was definitely the best of ALL those "types" of devices...yet the intona does much more than the typical reclocker and power cleaner...I believe the data/power isolation was a big key reason for it's sonic improvements. Also it's ability to remove the 8khz packet noise that everyone is plagued with 99% of usb devices. 
 
I sold my intona industrial version....and miss it already. I'll likely get another one soon. But all my money is funnelled into my dual soekris dam1021 project now. 
 
 
 
for fun.... i'm actually bypassing my paul pang v3 usb card and paul hynes sr3 psu. I'm using my m11's amanero and directly connected to my motherboards standard usb 3.0 output. no filters, no reclockers, nada damn thing. 
 
it's been a week now and I hate it. It's noisy!!!! lots of buzzing, pops, clicks, random electrical noise etc.  typical of a pc, and even worse on a laptop.  but the intona cleaned up ALL of that by itself...but my good old PPA V3 and SR3 remedied all those issues too. big price difference though!
 
 
 
I am shipping my M11 back to china for repairs. I have a faulty COAX port...actually both of them don't work properly. Kingwa said he will repair them at his cost once I ship it to him he will pay to have it shipped back. We've determined it's faulty so should be a quick repair though. 
While it's there i'm having him convert it to the NOS11 and have him install some other things too new connectors (EiZZ XLR and RCA's), wires (norne silvergarde) etc. I will update everyone once it's back! Hopefully a month from now.