Audio GD Master-11(Combination from Master 7 and Master 9)
Jul 6, 2015 at 9:43 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 2,556

doyouknowSBmean

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Hey there, Audio GD is offering a new powerful all in one setup from early this July. Master 11 seems originate from master 7 and master 9 based on A-GD description. 9w@40ohm(class A) and 4 pm 1704 UK from Texas instrument.
It looks like pair well with my he1000. A great bargain for he560s/ LCD series and even Abyss.





My master 11 has been shipped out today. I will post impressions later when I back to state.
 
Jul 6, 2015 at 3:24 PM Post #3 of 2,556
My question is though, how can one of these compare to having a separate Master 9 and Master 7? I mean, if the performance is even close to the same I wouldn't mind just having one device on my desk instead of two. 
tongue.gif

 
Jul 6, 2015 at 9:42 PM Post #4 of 2,556
My question is though, how can one of these compare to having a separate Master 9 and Master 7? I mean, if the performance is even close to the same I wouldn't mind just having one device on my desk instead of two. :p

Well. I believe Master 11 is actually not the same as M7 or M9 in terms of DAC or AMP. M11 just has 4 built in PCM 1704uk while M7 has 8 of those chips. There are, however I have no idea which combo is BETTER. They might be close. I even believe M11 would be better. But for those who have M7 and M9, they have a chance to change the analog interconnects for a better tune balance.
 
Jul 7, 2015 at 8:38 AM Post #5 of 2,556
Well. I believe Master 11 is actually not the same as M7 or M9 in terms of DAC or AMP. M11 just has 4 built in PCM 1704uk while M7 has 8 of those chips. There are, however I have no idea which combo is BETTER. They might be close. I even believe M11 would be better. But for those who have M7 and M9, they have a chance to change the analog interconnects for a better tune balance.

True, I think it would be interesting to see a comparison review between the M7/M9 stack and the new M11 though. The M11 seems very reasonably priced for what it is offering though. I will be excited to see the initial reviews.
 
Jul 7, 2015 at 9:41 AM Post #6 of 2,556
I'm pretty excited for the Master 11! I've have mine on order since June 26th. I'm sure there must be a lot of them on order. They said it was to ship out in the 3rd yet never got any notice. Hopefully it will ship soon! I just sold my DAC19 here on headfi! The master 11 will be he third piece of gear I've purchased from them in the last couple of months!
I'm keeping my nfb-28, which is awesome! Sold the DAC19, which was phenomenal. I just wanted a balanced pcm1704uk and amp in one unit. It should prove to be an unbeatable setup!
I just hope it ships soon as I thought I was one of the first orders, I literally ordered it the day the master 11 hit the front page! Looks like only one has shipped so far according to their webpage.

I will stay in tune on this post.
I'm interested to hear everyone's first impression!

I want to thank Audio-gd as a whole since they have been so kind to have had spent so much time with me in answering a ton of questions about their products over the last couple weeks. I might be one of hose customers that companies cringe over since I take up precious time. The difference is that I actually spend money when I use their precious time. So I hope it's worth it! I have spent well over 3500 in the last 6months with Audio-gd. I have probably sent 35 emails to them!
I didn't opt to wait for the Amanero combo 384. I just purchased two of them to be shipped when they arrive.
I'm ok to have the via and compare it once I get the Amanero later this month or so.
Did anyone order any special options?

I just chose to replace i2s rj45 to be hdmi,
7sec display go dark
That's it.
I was considering to have it ordered with (+3db gain) so +19 total. I find that with my nfb-28 that sometimes I'm maxed out on some recordings that are on the low side. I wish I had just a touch more volume. Only classical music seems to have this issue.
 
Jul 7, 2015 at 10:59 AM Post #7 of 2,556
I'm pretty excited for the Master 11! I've have mine on order since June 26th. I'm sure there must be a lot of them on order. They said it was to ship out in the 3rd yet never got any notice. Hopefully it will ship soon! I just sold my DAC19 here on headfi! The master 11 will be he third piece of gear I've purchased from them in the last couple of months!
I'm keeping my nfb-28, which is awesome! Sold the DAC19, which was phenomenal. I just wanted a balanced pcm1704uk and amp in one unit. It should prove to be an unbeatable setup!
I just hope it ships soon as I thought I was one of the first orders, I literally ordered it the day the master 11 hit the front page! Looks like only one has shipped so far according to their webpage.

I will stay in tune on this post.
I'm interested to hear everyone's first impression!

I want to thank Audio-gd as a whole since they have been so kind to have had spent so much time with me in answering a ton of questions about their products over the last couple weeks. I might be one of hose customers that companies cringe over since I take up precious time. The difference is that I actually spend money when I use their precious time. So I hope it's worth it! I have spent well over 3500 in the last 6months with Audio-gd. I have probably sent 35 emails to them!
I didn't opt to wait for the Amanero combo 384. I just purchased two of them to be shipped when they arrive.
I'm ok to have the via and compare it once I get the Amanero later this month or so.
Did anyone order any special options?

I just chose to replace i2s rj45 to be hdmi,
7sec display go dark
That's it.
I was considering to have it ordered with (+3db gain) so +19 total. I find that with my nfb-28 that sometimes I'm maxed out on some recordings that are on the low side. I wish I had just a touch more volume. Only classical music seems to have this issue.

Welcome to Master 11 club! Just two or three members right now though:) .
I ordered my master 11 on 24th June. No any other special options. I am also interested in Amanero 384 but I just pass it for a quick shipping out and planning on buying the kit later. Kingwa suggests me "upgrade" to higher gain version since I have a he1000. I am not sure if he has a he1000 . I had listened he500 on nfb28. It was well driven and he1000 is easier for driving from the impedance & sensitivity . So I believe the standard version is powerful enough for he1000.
Looking forward to your impression on master 11.
 
Jul 7, 2015 at 11:21 AM Post #8 of 2,556
Welcome to Master 11 club! Just two or three members right now though:) .
I ordered my master 11 on 24th June. No any other special options. I am also interested in Amanero 384 but I just pass it for a quick shipping out and planning on buying the kit later. Kingwa suggests me "upgrade" to higher gain version since I have a he1000. I am not sure if he has a he1000 . I had listened he500 on nfb28. It was well driven and he1000 is easier for driving from the impedance & sensitivity . So I believe the standard version is powerful enough for he1000.
Looking forward to your impression on master 11.


In using the he-560's and with the NFB-28 I find myself at max volume on certain recordings.
The master11 should be similar and may we just a tad louder. I was really considering doing a +3 db mod. After a long, and I mean long, discussion with kingwa I came to that conclusion. But for the sake of delaying the order more. I decided to pass on the +3db mod. It sounds subtle but literally would be perfect for my setup. Either way, it's 98% of the time it's enough power for my he-560's with the nfb-28. I expect less distortion with the master 11 of course.
When I had the dac19 hooked up to the nfb-28, it was with official audio-gd RCA interconnects. The volume/db was notably less than the USB input directly to the nfb-28. I had maybe 85-90% of the same volume/db.
I sold the DAC19. It was so impressive I had to get an all in one unit.
My nfb-28 is going on my fiancé's desk. It's an amazing dac too. But not as smooth as the R2R bicmos IC. Too bad Ti wants to discontinue this chip. They don't recommend it for new builds anymore. They choose to manufacture only to support current vendors who supply this, such as audio-gd.
It's likely we won't see anymore of these in the very near future.
I figured I would splurge and buy a for sure classic piece of gear.

The Yggdrasil is out of my price range. Considering it is ONLY a dac!
 
Jul 7, 2015 at 11:30 AM Post #9 of 2,556
Welcome to Master 11 club! Just two or three members right now though:) .
I ordered my master 11 on 24th June. No any other special options. I am also interested in Amanero 384 but I just pass it for a quick shipping out and planning on buying the kit later. Kingwa suggests me "upgrade" to higher gain version since I have a he1000. I am not sure if he has a he1000 . I had listened he500 on nfb28. It was well driven and he1000 is easier for driving from the impedance & sensitivity . So I believe the standard version is powerful enough for he1000.
Looking forward to your impression on master 11.

I would love to hear your comparison with the Yggdrasil!

Also curious how your he-1000's will pair. I'm looking at the he-1000 or Ethers.
I'm not sure if I should consider anything as I have the he-560's and they at pretty darn good already!
My fiancé has the Oppo pm3's and good lord those are impression cans. I want a nice sealed back actually? I've still not heard the Audeze closed back options.
I don't want anything that leaks.

Lastly, that makes sense if you ordered your master 11 on that date.
It took almost a week for them to reply to my order request though. they must of been super busy at that time. my order should ship today I would think. They may be backed up with requests. Seems that we will be some of the first owners of the new master11.
And you likely will be the first that also owns a Yggdrasil... So please do tell your personal opinion and comparisons of the two. Once you have had a good week or so to evaluate them side by side.
 
Jul 7, 2015 at 11:58 AM Post #10 of 2,556
In using the he-560's and with the NFB-28 I find myself at max volume on certain recordings.
The master11 should be similar and may we just a tad louder. I was really considering doing a +3 db mod. After a long, and I mean long, discussion with kingwa I came to that conclusion. But for the sake of delaying the order more. I decided to pass on the +3db mod. It sounds subtle but literally would be perfect for my setup. Either way, it's 98% of the time it's enough power for my he-560's with the nfb-28. I expect less distortion with the master 11 of course.
When I had the dac19 hooked up to the nfb-28, it was with official audio-gd RCA interconnects. The volume/db was notably less than the USB input directly to the nfb-28. I had maybe 85-90% of the same volume/db.
I sold the DAC19. It was so impressive I had to get an all in one unit.
My nfb-28 is going on my fiancé's desk. It's an amazing dac too. But not as smooth as the R2R bicmos IC. Too bad Ti wants to discontinue this chip. They don't recommend it for new builds anymore. They choose to manufacture only to support current vendors who supply this, such as audio-gd.
It's likely we won't see anymore of these in the very near future.
I figured I would splurge and buy a for sure classic piece of gear.

The Yggdrasil is out of my price range. Considering it is ONLY a dac!

Yup. Classical music always need a much higher volume. Did you confirm with Kingwa that master 11 is similar loud as nfb 28? My opinion is M11 would be much louder since M11 is in class A working. I find many amps have a small class A output power but turn out to be very powerful than other class AB amps which have a greater output power in specification.
Another reason for me to pass on the higher gain mod is I try to use M11 as a pre-amp for my speaker system. But Kingwa told me a minor volume pot change would change the volume/dB drastically if I made the higher gain mod...
Finally I believe the PCM 1704 UK wouldn't discontinue from Texas Instrument. You can consider it as a commercial promo methods for Audio GD. Kingwa also told me those chips would be discontinued two years ago which made me sold my pots in my kitchen for buying a Master 7 lol.
 
Jul 7, 2015 at 12:17 PM Post #11 of 2,556
I would love to hear your comparison with the Yggdrasil!

Also curious how your he-1000's will pair. I'm looking at the he-1000 or Ethers.
I'm not sure if I should consider anything as I have the he-560's and they at pretty darn good already!
My fiancé has the Oppo pm3's and good lord those are impression cans. I want a nice sealed back actually? I've still not heard the Audeze closed back options.
I don't want anything that leaks.

Lastly, that makes sense if you ordered your master 11 on that date.
It took almost a week for them to reply to my order request though. they must of been super busy at that time. my order should ship today I would think. They may be backed up with requests. Seems that we will be some of the first owners of the new master11.
And you likely will be the first that also owns a Yggdrasil... So please do tell your personal opinion and comparisons of the two. Once you have had a good week or so to evaluate them side by side.

Jealous that you fiancé share the same zeal for audio as you. My girl friend just doesn't give my set up a ****...I will do a comparison with YGG and posting it here when I back home later. I am personally not a hi-end DAC believer in terms of headphone. I tried many ultra expensive DAC directly onto my amp but I found they just don't worth that much $$. Headphones are less revealing than speakers but people always find reason for their "hi ends"
 
Jul 7, 2015 at 12:49 PM Post #12 of 2,556
Jealous that you fiancé share the same zeal for audio as you. My girl friend just doesn't give my set up a ****...I will do a comparison with YGG and posting it here when I back home later. I am personally not a hi-end DAC believer in terms of headphone. I tried many ultra expensive DAC directly onto my amp but I found they just don't worth that much $$. Headphones are less revealing than speakers but people always find reason for their "hi ends"

She isn't as passionate about it as I am, but she has amazing hearing and appreciates music more than most. She would never have bought any of the gear to be honest. They were my gift to her as a way to get her more into the hobby. She attends hifi meets with me and I ask her for her opinion as even though my hearing is good...her's is exceptional. I ask for her for opinion on a lot of things and let her do some critical listening a/b testing.
 
I am sceptical that the Yggdrasil is much better if at all better than the master11.  Just my gut feeling. And I can't speak what is actually true. I don't have them to compare right now. I will at least have the Master11 soon.  It's a steal a the price it's selling for now! 
Still extremely expensive, but not 2300 for just a darn dac!  Although the M7/M9 combo is just as insanely priced as the YGG/RAG combo.
it's about the two best setups imho.
 
It seems you had or have an OR5 too? sold it? did you not hear any difference? hmm TONS of money for potentially some kind of performance increase.
 
I just have a schiit wyrd for my fiance's NFB28(2015edition) and all pangea usb cable, and ac14SE pangea power cord, power conditioner/emi/rf filter.
exact same setup for my master 11 with cables etc.
only she has the PM3's and I the HE560
 
I "think" I hear something with the wyrd, and likely just the reclocking. NOT the power conditioning as Audio-gd doesn't use inline usb power.
 
 
i wonder how good the usb for the ygg really is, and how it compares with the Amanero combo 384 and the VIAUSB32
 
not sure if the adapticlock is a bunch of buzzword stuff. 

Listening will really help clear up the questions.
 
Anyhow, looking forward to hearing your impressions/comparisons of the two dac's. I'm curious to know which audio tracks you choose to do comparisons with and why you choose them. I will be having some time on a yggdrasil in the next week or so and want to bring the same songs and hear if I can compare to your experiences.
 
Jul 8, 2015 at 12:34 AM Post #13 of 2,556
She isn't as passionate about it as I am, but she has amazing hearing and appreciates music more than most. She would never have bought any of the gear to be honest. They were my gift to her as a way to get her more into the hobby. She attends hifi meets with me and I ask her for her opinion as even though my hearing is good...her's is exceptional. I ask for her for opinion on a lot of things and let her do some critical listening a/b testing.

I am sceptical that the Yggdrasil is much better if at all better than the master11.  Just my gut feeling. And I can't speak what is actually true. I don't have them to compare right now. I will at least have the Master11 soon.  It's a steal a the price it's selling for now! 
Still extremely expensive, but not 2300 for just a darn dac!  Although the M7/M9 combo is just as insanely priced as the YGG/RAG combo.
it's about the two best setups imho.

It seems you had or have an OR5 too? sold it? did you not hear any difference? hmm TONS of money for potentially some kind of performance increase.

I just have a schiit wyrd for my fiance's NFB28(2015edition) and all pangea usb cable, and ac14SE pangea power cord, power conditioner/emi/rf filter.
exact same setup for my master 11 with cables etc.
only she has the PM3's and I the HE560

I "think" I hear something with the wyrd, and likely just the reclocking. NOT the power conditioning as Audio-gd doesn't use inline usb power.


i wonder how good the usb for the ygg really is, and how it compares with the Amanero combo 384 and the VIAUSB32

not sure if the adapticlock is a bunch of buzzword stuff. 


Listening will really help clear up the questions.

Anyhow, looking forward to hearing your impressions/comparisons of the two dac's. I'm curious to know which audio tracks you choose to do comparisons with and why you choose them. I will be having some time on a yggdrasil in the next week or so and want to bring the same songs and hear if I can compare to your experiences.

My girl friend also listen to my headphones only if I ask her to do so. She prefers to make my headphones as mini speakers lol.
I owned OR5 when I have M7. It made my M7 sounds more fluid and stable. But the sound is notably changed in speaker system. Many Hi-End sources do not shine in a headphone system. But an analog cable or a tube amplifier sometimes brings you more in a headphone system.
I may choose Abbado's Mahler symphony No.1 movement 4/No.4 movement 4 and Bruckner's 8th symphony from Celibidache and Handel's music from DG for quick comparison since those huge organized artworks always tells me how revealing the system is.
 
Jul 8, 2015 at 12:55 AM Post #14 of 2,556
Kingwa said there is only minor difference between Master 11 and M7+9.

So Im infront of another tough choice. I had originally ordered NFB-1AMP but upgraded it to Master 11. I haven't paid rest of the sum yet as I wasn't prepared to shell out 2 grand. Waiting for my wage next week.

There has been used Master 7 for sale in local forum for some time. Now he has dropped the price to 1200€. That would mean used M7+M9 would cost slightly more than the Master 11. And my amp choice wouldn't even be limited to M9. tough choices.
 
Jul 8, 2015 at 1:29 AM Post #15 of 2,556
Kingwa said there is only minor difference between Master 11 and M7+9.

So Im infront of another tough choice. I had originally ordered NFB-1AMP but upgraded it to Master 11. I haven't paid rest of the sum yet as I wasn't prepared to shell out 2 grand. Waiting for my wage next week.

There has been used Master 7 for sale in local forum for some time. Now he has dropped the price to 1200€. That would mean used M7+M9 would cost slightly more than the Master 11. And my amp choice wouldn't even be limited to M9. tough choices.

I will go M7 directly if I were you since it seems like that you don't have any experience in those expensive DACs. I know I can't hold one's curiosity back. And it is also a regret not having that experience. You will itch for it as I did.
Another suggestion is waiting for the M11 and comparing it to M7 directly when you get it if you had the chance.
 

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