[RAZRr1275]

  @RAZRr1275 Maybe go halfway into the warmth scale and see if you perceive a difference after an hour of listening.
 
IPS0 On would give you 2x oversampling without monkeying with stopband attenuation at all.
 
Or you could go nuts and just put jumpers on both IPS and ATT pins to go with non-oversampling and minimum stopband attenuation.
 
If your system doesn't give the Master-11 a clean enough signal, you might get channel imbalance going NOS. That's why the NOS settings aren't even shown on the Audio-GD site at all. It's an advanced setting that isn't for the faint of heart.
 
But I compiled all of the info I could on this page: http://www.basshead.club/audio-gear/master-11-info/

Sounds good! I'll give it a go tomorrow. 15 mins or so enough for everything to discharge? I guess what I mean is say I try one setting, and want to try something else, I shut it off and open it up again -- how long before I can start monkeying around without running the risk of getting shocked from whatever's left in the caps?

 

[Luckbad]

 
Sounds good! I'll give it a go tomorrow. 15 mins or so enough for everything to discharge? I guess what I mean is say I try one setting, and want to try something else, I shut it off and open it up again -- how long before I can start monkeying around without running the risk of getting shocked from whatever's left in the caps?

 
You aren't touching the caps, you're just putting a jumper on a pin. I just turn it off, open it up, and immediately put a jumper on.
 
Don't bother putting the top back on until you're doing messing around with the jumpers or you might get annoyed with yourself (or at least don't put the screws back in).

 

[RAZRr1275]

   
You aren't touching the caps, you're just putting a jumper on a pin. I just turn it off, open it up, and immediately put a jumper on.
 
Don't bother putting the top back on until you're doing messing around with the jumpers or you might get annoyed with yourself (or at least don't put the screws back in).

Gotcha thanks. Just wondering as I had a piece of kit like this that you could change jumpers on and was told to give it some discharge time before monkeying about with it.

 

[Articnoise]

  A very good computer, Itunes, Windows Audio Session. Power can't be disabled on my mobo but it's a very good one. CMX-6 on the M11, nothing for the computer. Stock power cables for both. Blue Jeans cable USB. I want to do an evaluation with my full system but while I'm very much enjoying the M11 I am curious if I'd prefer the Yggy and Master 9 combination. If I were to have minor quibbles with the M11 I'd say that I'd like the same amount of bass but a tad tighter, keeping the tone but perhaps a bit more open and I think it could use a bit more treble. Cymbals seem a bit far back to me. Occasionally I think it could be a bit more vocal forward but that's not as consistent. Really I feel like if I'm using stereotypes of the DAC's I'd want something in between the two. The Yggy seems a bit aggressive but at the same time I want a bit more aggression/openness out of the M11. 
 

 

I think that no matter which route you chose to go (M11, Yggy+M9, Yggy+Glenn, etc.) your system will benefit from an audio grade USB card. They are not cheap, but make a big difference, so good bang for the bucks IMO.

 

Like Luckbad said even an inexpensive power cable is better than a stock one. Stock power cords has limiting the SQ of all audio gear I have tried. A better power cord is also something that Kingwa keeps recommending. 

 

[RAZRr1275]

   

I think that no matter which route you chose to go (M11, Yggy+M9, Yggy+Glenn, etc.) your system will benefit from an audio grade USB card. They are not cheap, but make a big difference, so good bang for the bucks IMO.

 

Like Luckbad said even an inexpensive power cable is better than a stock one. Stock power cords has limiting the SQ of all audio gear I have tried. A better power cord is also something that Kingwa keeps recommending. 

What would that do specifically? I read the pp audio description and that reads like a lot of snake oil for a big price.
 
Luckbad hasn't tried the stock power cable for the M11 and most people who mention power cables cite nothing except saying that the stock one seems a little loose so there seems to be little evidence that changing the power cable would actually do anything. Where has kingwa recommended a better cord and what specific benefits would getting a different one have?
 
I'm not an objectivist "you can't tell the difference between dacs and solid state amps are wires with gain" type but I'm not going to throw money at something just to convince myself that it did something.

 

[Luckbad]

What would that do specifically? I read the pp audio description and that reads like a lot of snake oil for a big price.

Luckbad hasn't tried the stock power cable for the M11 and most people who mention power cables cite nothing except saying that the stock one seems a little use so there seems to be little evidence that changing the power cable would actually do anything. Where has kingwa recommended a better cord and what specific benefits would getting a different one have?

I'm not an objectivist "you can't tell the difference between dacs and solid state amps are wires with gain" type but I'm not going to throw money at something just to convince myself that it did something.

Kingwa has actually suggested power cord changes for sound impact on some of the product pages before. Power is more important to audio than I ever realized.

That said, with all of the nice things I've purchased, I've only ever noticed an improvement if what I had before was bad.

Bad USB has made me think my dac was broken. Replacing my motherboard after discovering all of the usb ports had problems made a huge difference. But they were so bad that data was being lost to external hard drives.

Bad power gave me grainy sound, clicks, and pops. I discovered the outlet I was using was not grounded (which also explained why my usb was shot: surge protectors can't work if ungrounded). I used a surge protection power strip to go from the next closest outlet and an Emotiva CMX-6 and it fixed it.

Everything else has seemed like a waste of money. USB cards have proven worthless on my setup. Better than 14 AWG Monoprice cables seem to make no difference.

I do hear a difference between a crap usb cable and decent one. Belkin Gold gives a slightly thicker but clean sound and Schiit Pyst or Audioquest give a clean neutral sound. But it's barely a difference.

Most of the snake oil stuff either only makes a difference if what you're replacing sucks, or it's snake oil.

Most people can't perceive differences between good dacs, much less cables or audio software.

 

[RAZRr1275]

Kingwa has actually suggested power cord changes for sound impact on some of the product pages before. Power is more important to audio than I ever realized.

That said, with all of the nice things I've purchased, I've only ever noticed an improvement if what I had before was bad.

Bad USB has made me think my dac was broken. Replacing my motherboard after discovering all of the usb ports has problems made a huge difference. But they were so bad that data was being lost to external hard drives.

Bad power gave me grainy sound, clicks, and pops. I discovered the outlet I was using was not grounded (which also explained why my usb was shot: surge protectors can't work if ungrounded). I used a surge protection power strip to go from the next closest outlet and an Emotiva

Okay so is there anything to suggest that Kingwa sent the M11 with a bad power cord?
 
I don't get any grain, clicks or pops so I don't think I have any tangible problems there. My motherboard has filter caps, and all the caps are Nichicon so I dont think $400 on a usb card would do anything for me. If I'm going to include the buzzwords my motherboard has pcb isolated shielding and an emi shielding cover over the sound stuff as well and has a 115 db signal/noise ratio.

 

[bimmer100]

  What would that do specifically? I read the pp audio description and that reads like a lot of snake oil for a big price.
 
Luckbad hasn't tried the stock power cable for the M11 and most people who mention power cables cite nothing except saying that the stock one seems a little loose so there seems to be little evidence that changing the power cable would actually do anything. Where has kingwa recommended a better cord and what specific benefits would getting a different one have?
 
I'm not an objectivist "you can't tell the difference between dacs and solid state amps are wires with gain" type but I'm not going to throw money at something just to convince myself that it did something.

 
each to their own. I'm not going to tell you that you're wrong.
 
the testing i've done from stock power cable, SR tesla t1SE, Maze audio, Cerious Graphene Extreme, PS audio lab cable (6guage) cryo'd, Pangea AC14SE and Pangea AC14SE cryo'd.
each cable has it's own sound signature. They all are similar, but some have more detailed highs (ie: SR tesla), some have full range and deep bass (Graphene Extreme and Lab Cable) etc etc. They are audible and not just a placebo. Our local audio group has done numerous blind tests and proven power cables do indeed make a difference. But it's more a subtle tweak than a dramatic change. 3-5% etc. I strongly advise doing these upgrades after KNOWING the sound of your system and what you want to improve or tame etc. Matching cables is not for beginners as it can be really expensive if you don't know what to do.
types of connectors, types of wire, shielding/sleeving all make differences.  
 
Personally I found the most cost effective cable was the pangea Ac14SE as it's really cheap and gives good overall performance.  
 
so, USB cards is another issue. They also do make a difference. the amanero combo 384 fortunately is galvanically isolated, yet some usb noise still makes its way into the m11 through the crappy pc/mac usb ports that are stock and being powered from smps. Noise still gets from the ground plane of the usb power to the usb phy chip thus creating the common 8khz packet noise issue. SO... getting a better usb card does improve sound. Isolating it from the PC/mac helps quite a bit. A cheaper Paul Pang V2 card and a linear psu to pair up will help.
 
and the intona high speed isolator is pretty awesome as it improves SI or signal integrity and also is galvanically isolated for power and data at full 480mbps! not the typical 12mbps cheapo models you see that also are high latency.  Anyhow, the intona outputs 60uV of noise which is dramatically better than the typical 10-20mV of noise from a pc/laptop/mac etc.
 
consider the average stock pc/mac/laptop has 8khz usb packet noise around -105dB
a corning usb optical cable will get you around -118dB 
also that regen amber from uptone is about the same
and the intona has the lowest recorded packet noise i've ever seen @ -145dB! basically eliminating the usb noise issue entirely. For the first time, usb is clean.  I think it's cool anyhow. You still have the right to your own opinion and you don't NEED anything.
 
I would put money down on it that you'd hear a difference with my setup than with a stock M11, stock cables and plugged directly into the wall. As many have heard it and agree it's quite an improvement. And by no means am I saying the stock M11 sounds bad, but.... it has room for improvement. More than you might imagine. I was and still am shocked how much more performance i've squeezed out of this system. My specs of my build are all in my profile. Yes, kinda crazy to some extent. I like to test everything and report back to people to let them know if they are wasting money or not. I've surely wasted some money, but overall I've added a lot of great upgrades I can't live without now.

 

[RAZRr1275]

I think the farthest down the rabbit hole I'll go is maybe a Pangea power coard at some point since those look to be like $50 which I wouldn't regret throwing down the toilet should I find it doesn't do anything.
 
I am planning on a Regen so I suppose the follow is if I were to do one of the two, Regen or Paul Pang V2 USB?

 

[borrego]

  I think the farthest down the rabbit hole I'll go is maybe a Pangea power coard at some point since those look to be like $50 which I wouldn't regret throwing down the toilet should I find it doesn't do anything.
 
I am planning on a Regen so I suppose the follow is if I were to do one of the two, Regen or Paul Pang V2 USB?

 
Make sure you pay a serious consideration of the Intona USB Isolator over the Regen. I am having very obvious improvement pairing the Intona with my Reference 5.32's Amanero input.

 

[RAZRr1275]

   
Make sure you pay a serious consideration of the Intona USB Isolator over the Regen. I am having very obvious improvement pairing the Intona with my Reference 5.32's Amanero input.

Have you tried it against he Regen?

 

[Luckbad]

Ultimately you might hear slight improvement with a bunch of tweaks and additions. Everything adds up.

But to squeeze the last 5 to 10% out of any system, you're likely to spend as much or more than it originally cost to do so.

bimmer100 is super handy with diy and has a lot of experience, so he gets better bang for the buck than most of us do.

But still, is it worth it to you personally is the question.

For maximum performance out of any setup you need...

- An excellent computer or cd player
- A great usb transport (internal or external)
- Great cables to everything
- Great source material
- Tweaked software settings and optimized computer configuration
- Linear PSUs for everything
- Power filtration

Everything has a tiny impact. What are you willing to spend?

I'd advise you to only go down the rabbit hole if you love what you're hearing and want even more out of the system. Don't even go in that direction in the hope that you'll go from sound you don't love to one you do.

The only tweaks I ever recommend are to fix problems unless you already love your setup.

 

[RAZRr1275]

Ultimately you might hear slight improvement with a bunch of tweaks and additions. Everything adds up.

But to squeeze the last 5 to 10% out of any system, you're likely to spend as much or more than it originally cost to do so.

@bimmer100 is super handy with diy and has a lot of experience, so he gets better bang for the buck than most of us do.

But still, is it worth it to you personally is the question.

For maximum performance out of any setup you need...

- An excellent computer or cd player
- A great usb transport (internal or external)
- Great cables to everything
- Great source material
- Tweaked software settings and optimized computer configuration
- Linear PSUs for everything
- Power filtration

Everything has a tiny impact. What are you willing to spend?

I'd advise you to only go down the rabbit hole if you love what you're hearing and want even more out of the system. Don't even go in that direction in the hope that you'll go from sound you don't love to one you do.

The only tweaks I ever recommend are to fix problems unless you already love your setup.

Oh yeah if I were to get any of this stuff I'd wait to do it after I got all of my setup  in and made sure the M11 is the move I want to make. The farthest I'm willing to go is about $300 so that essentially means a power cable + Intona or Regen and then calling it a day. I'm of the mind that if you're going to spend as much as you did on the gear to surround it with new stuff you're probably better off just buying new gear.

 

[bimmer100]

Have you tried it against he Regen?

I sold my regen as it did nothing for my setup. If that doesn't say enough...

 

[bimmer100]

Oh yeah if I were to get any of this stuff I'd wait to do it after I got all of my setup  in and made sure the M11 is the move I want to make. The farthest I'm willing to go is about $300 so that essentially means a power cable + Intona or Regen and then calling it a day. I'm of the mind that if you're going to spend as much as you did on the gear to surround it with new stuff you're probably better off just buying new gear.

Even the most expensive gear has room for improvement. Almost no company gives you good cables ever!!! I have yet to see it... Always generic! Why? Because they know most users will have their own preference on high performance cables.
I find a headphone cable a better investment than a power cable. No question there. Oddly I found a good gain from changing my outlet! My AC regenerator was my best upgrade imho. The intona is good if you don't want to do all the power upgrades. It only outputs 60uV of noise and doesn't have all the jitter people say... Adding a regen or wyrd after it didn't help for my situation. But I did get s noticeable improvement of eliminating 8khz packet noise. It was subtle on my system since I have some many high performance upgrades. But when using the intona on other machines like dirty power laptops, it was quite dramatic!
Forgive me for being truly passionate about music, I tend to go all out with my gear. I love to tweak and get ever last bit of performance to be had. Even the 3M AB5050s emi/rf film was really good for my m11. I will be upgrading the wire to the 4pin xlr too. Oddly the 3Pin XLR's should be better than the 4pin. Just look at the way it was wired. Sadly, at least my m11, is only getting some tiny gauge occ copper wire jumped off the 3pin XLR's. Yet the 3pin XLR's appear to have larger gauge canare cable with shielding and everything. I may gut that cable and wire in some good beefy silvergarde S with metal shielding and ground leads to match the level of the canare yet increase the potential performance.
The lease I'm doing is adding 4cores of occ silver therium wire per terminal from the xlr 3pin to the 4pin connector. I will report back with my results.

I never believed in cables until I met Trevor @norne cables. After hearing a draug2 on hd800's I was a believer. It was so dramatic. Clearly better in every way.
And some of our local guys are hardcore modders and know power cables. We have done blind a/b/x testing of many power cables and have the whole process down really well. Cables do matter.
All these upgrades matter, and with any fancy high end gear there will be room for improvement.
The master11 is a perfect, I'll say it again... PERFECT!!! Dac/amp to begin with and mod up from there. It's an insanely good performance level for the price. You can get even more out of it, if you want.
I just do it over time. I was the second person to ever order the m11 from kingwa. I have had it long enough to know I have no plans to ever upgrade. It's my end game, and especially after all my mods.
I'm basically ruined and have yet to hear another setup that sounds better. IMHO of course