[munce31]

I just unboxed and plugged my master 11 in.
 
First impression: Wow!! This thing is huge and so solidly built!
 
I've just only began listening to it, probably 15 minutes now, and wow! Sounds great already!!!!
 
More impressions to come!

 

[Ivan303]

  I just unboxed and plugged my master 11 in.
 
First impression: Wow!! This thing is huge and so solidly built!
 
I've just only began listening to it, probably 15 minutes now, and wow! Sounds great already!!!!
 
More impressions to come!

ENJOY!!!

 

[Ivan303]

QUESTION:
 
If you visit the AMANERO web site or spend a bit of time reading the HiFi D U I N O web site is is obvious that the Audio-GD AMANERO card as now shipped in our Audio-GD Master 11 is a licensed product not the one supplied by AMANERO (large caps, layout, etc.)
 
So has anyone looked closely to see the brands of the chips being used?  Is it still the MEC TXCO chip as on the Italian sourced boards?
 
Have yet to popped the top on mine and wish to not be tempted to mess with the jumpers for at least a few months of listening.
 
.

 

[munce31]

  QUESTION:
 
If you visit the AMANERO web site or spend a bit of time reading the HiFi D U I N O web site is is obvious that the Audio-GD AMANERO card as now shipped in our Audio-GD Master 11 is a licensed product not the one supplied by AMANERO (large caps, layout, etc.)
 
So has anyone looked closely to see the brands of the chips being used?  Is it still the MEC TXCO chip as on the Italian sourced boards?
 
Have yet to popped the top on mine and wish to not be tempted to mess with the jumpers for at least a few months of listening.
 
.

I'm going to put the 8 sec screen off jumper in mine soon, so i'll have a look in mine and let you know.

 

[john57]

It is a good idea when you take the cover off to take many pictures with the camera at the highest resolution. I do this when I take the cover off on any amp which a good reference to have at a later date.

 

[munce31]

Hey guys im having a bit of a problem with playing via usb to a Mac.
 
I am getting no sound. Initially I thought it was my usb cable, so I tried the Audio GD supplied cable - same.
 
Tried my android phone with my old USB cable - works perfectly fine. Tried android phone with new USB cable - works perfectly fine.
 
So the problem must be with my Mac.
 
Anyone have the same experience? I've tried rebooting my Mac - no dice....

 

[Ivan303]

  Hey guys im having a bit of a problem with playing via usb to a Mac.
 
I am getting no sound. Initially I thought it was my usb cable, so I tried the Audio GD supplied cable - same.
 
Tried my android phone with my old USB cable - works perfectly fine. Tried android phone with new USB cable - works perfectly fine.
 
So the problem must be with my Mac.
 
Anyone have the same experience? I've tried rebooting my Mac - no dice....

Open MIDI player and see if you see "Combo384 Amanero" in the left hand vertical panel and if so click on it.
Open System Prefernces - then open 'Sound' and you should see an option 'Combo384 Amanero' again and click on it.
 
If not seeing 'Combo384 Amanero' as an option in these two places the perhaps something else is wrong?

 

[munce31]

 
Open MIDI player and see if you see "Combo384 Amanero" in the left hand vertical panel and if so click on it.
Open System Prefernces - then open 'Sound' and you should see an option 'Combo384 Amanero' again and click on it.
 
If not seeing 'Combo384 Amanero' as an option in these two places the perhaps something else is wrong?

 
Excellent. Sound playing now. 
 
At the same time I was reading your post, I also found: http://www.head-fi.org/t/759872/new-audio-gd-dac-19-10th-anniversary-edition/990#post_12026215
 
Thanks.

 

[munce31]

Wow this amp has breathed some more life into the bass of the LCD-2F's.
 
So far i've listened Black Sabbath -> Anne Lennox -> Kanye West -> Phil Collins -> D'angelo -> Radiohead
 
Absolutely fantastic!!

 

 

[munce31]

Well, I've done about 4+ hours of listening with the LCD-2Fs.
 
My impression, in comparison to my old set up (Schiit Lyr2 + Bifrost Uber), is blacker background. The bass is deeper and hits harder which I believe is faster. The treble is just perfect - no sparkle - just smooth. The mids are fantastic. The higher signal to noise ratio allows for lower listening levels without a deterioration to detail. It definitely has a much wider soundstage in presentation - makes me wonder what Sennheiser HD800s would sound like with this amp. 
 
Note: I'm using balanced cables. The Lyr2 is a single ended setup.
 
The biggest problem for me now is the size and heft of the thing. I need to completely re-arrange my desk to accommodate for the Master 11...
 
Was thinking of buying a table top from a local hardware store, cutting it to the same length as my desk and installing some legs, so the Master 11 can sit underneath it and the computer, monitor and printer can sit atop. Going to have to do a bit of research on this, as I haven't done any woodworking before.

 

[johnzz4]

Ok!!! I will have a USB ifi 3.0 thingamabobber on November 7th to test out. Another fellow headfi'er has one that he will be bringing over. I'll test it out vs the USB regen Amber. Honestly I don't have high hopes as I believe it will work with crappy USB cables but likely won't do much with a supra or LH Labs 10g cable... Which he also owns and conducted the a/b test with me. He is now going to sell his 10g cable and buy a supra cable... No surprise there. Anyhow... The m11's amanero combo 384 is very good, and your laptop is NOT A GOOD source for USB but would likely be better if running on pure battery than being plugged in... Either way, the USB in most laptops are super noisy, specifically when plugged into their switching power supplies. A device like your ifi USB purifier likely would help with your noise issues.


My PC has a pretty high end power supply in it along with many eifidelity pcie power filtration cards. Not to mention pretty high grade motherboard. I'm not a fan of laptops really, but they are fine with these things I have that I refer to as paper weights for me. They are made for a reason. And sounds to me your laptop is that reason you should continue using it. But it's not the master11's amanero's fault. Just my opinion. But what do I know I'm not trying to sell anyone fancy cables, but hopefully blow that myth out of the water about digital cables not making any difference at all. There are so many variables that can cause noise with USB. Just consider all options. Sounds to me your source might be less than clean.

What kind of difference in sound do you notice with higher end USB cables?

 

[bimmer100]

What kind of difference in sound do you notice with higher end USB cables?

Your money is best spent elsewhere. Digital cables are silly to waste too much money on. USB simply needs to be 90ohm and very close tolerances for the best results. But still no USB cable should cost very much. I prefer the supra cables as they are tight tolerances for USB spec 90ohm and almost the same as the 10g LH labs cable. Supra is about 40-50bucks. That's pricey ? LH labs is 1000usd.

Spend your money on some fancy headphone cables from norne audio! That would be a much wiser way to spend your money to get results you can hear. But that also depends on which cans you are using. I've tried tons of cables and spent a lot of money, but USB is the biggest waste. Power cables make more of a difference than USB for sure. But even that is just subtle changes. Buying a new amp or new cans/transducers will give you ultimate bang for buck. Then a good Dac would be under those.
I have a pair of he560's I didn't really like because of the sibilance they had with the stock crystalline cable, or the same type the he1000's have too... But upgraded to the norne Zoetic cable and all the issues went away and the sound was much improved, bass was very tight and detailed in layers. Sibilance was tamed significantly and now I actually like the he560's! I've tried the he1000's and didn't like the stock cable, even tried them with the silver silver cable and didn't like them with that cable, but the Zoetic does the trick with most hifiman headphones. Worth buying imho.

Meh, spend more time listening to your master 11 and less time tinkering. I'm not one to talk. I just spent a lot of time and money to learn that. Some things were worth paying for, and some not. My previous posts in this thread will explain a lot. Maybe the dac19 thread too. (Had one before the master11)

 

[johnzz4]

Your money is best spent elsewhere. Digital cables are silly to waste too much money on. USB simply needs to be 90ohm and very close tolerances for the best results. But still no USB cable should cost very much. I prefer the supra cables as they are tight tolerances for USB spec 90ohm and almost the same as the 10g LH labs cable. Supra is about 40-50bucks. That's pricey ? LH labs is 1000usd.

Spend your money on some fancy headphone cables from norne audio! That would be a much wiser way to spend your money to get results you can hear. But that also depends on which cans you are using. I've tried tons of cables and spent a lot of money, but USB is the biggest waste. Power cables make more of a difference than USB for sure. But even that is just subtle changes. Buying a new amp or new cans/transducers will give you ultimate bang for buck. Then a good Dac would be under those.
I have a pair of he560's I didn't really like because of the sibilance they had with the stock crystalline cable, or the same type the he1000's have too... But upgraded to the norne Zoetic cable and all the issues went away and the sound was much improved, bass was very tight and detailed in layers. Sibilance was tamed significantly and now I actually like the he560's! I've tried the he1000's and didn't like the stock cable, even tried them with the silver silver cable and didn't like them with that cable, but the Zoetic does the trick with most hifiman headphones. Worth buying imho.

Meh, spend more time listening to your master 11 and less time tinkering. I'm not one to talk. I just spent a lot of time and money to learn that. Some things were worth paying for, and some not. My previous posts in this thread will explain a lot. Maybe the dac19 thread too. (Had one before the master11)

Thanks - thought the USB cable was more.  I might grab the supra at that price.  I have the Forza Audio Works Noir HPC Mk2 balanced cable coming in this week for the LCD-X.  The highs have been harsh on the LCD-X and the M11 and it seems you nailed it on the head earlier since it's much smoother sounding when the laptop is running off battery.  I just ordered the ifi iUSB 3.0 since I likely have my fair share of noise coming from the laptop.  No more tinkering after this for a while!!

 

[Luckbad]

People seem to really dig the Belkin Gold USB cables as the best bang-for-the-buck USB cable. http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-F3U133V-06-GLD-6-Foot-Hi-Speed-Cable/dp/B000621N26
 
I have one of these and an AudioQuest Cinnamon and I can't tell any difference at all. I can tell the difference between both and a crappy USB cable that came with some random component years ago. That thing sucks.

 

[cans4dessert]

i was playing around with the jumper settings for the first time and noticed that when i switch from the default x8 OS to lower OS, vocal sound shifts to the left channel more on my headphone. i notice this shift the most at x1 OS. I cannot tell whether this is due to channel imbalance or not (don't have a SPL meter)....  I tried with different vocal tracks and different headphones and i get the same result every time. To make this worse, i felt that the DSP bypass jumper did nothing for me so i took out my multimeter and found that the pins are already shorted without the jumper on.... i guess i have a faulty M11??? i'm so frustrated