[ALRAINBOW]

Thus is just my subjectivism in this.
The presentation for me was too up close
It's just my thoughts as the pwd mkii is giid DAC
Al

 

[Benny-x]

 

Yes I have every device you just listed hahaha. It's great with headphones and speakers. Where the Pwd mkii was not cool for headphones and good with speakers.

Al

 



The Pwd mkii isn't good for headphones?????

I've heard this as well, in comparison to the further out presentation on the M7, but it's really just splitting hairs. When you've got them side by side and you're looking for differences, so to speak. The PWD MkII has an upfront presentation and it's a neat thing on speakers. With headphones it does feel closer, but I've not had any issues with it so far. Sounds like gold to me, really. I like the kick in the pants it gives, and the bass is to die for.
 
In fact, I'd been meaning to ask Al, or any other new DS owner, how they felt about the DS and it's bass department. The PWD MkII has something really special down low; it's really impactful, dynamic, palpable, and full. It's tough to say exactly, but my inner basshead craves what its got on tap. It's not something I've heard on any other DAC and I found many reviews reported this as well. I'm very worried that the DS, being so different in approach, wasn't able to carry this attribute over. 
 
Anyone have anything to report back about the DS in the bass department? Whether from their own experiences or something they read in one of the many threads on the many different forums?
 
In the end it was this bass mojo in the PWD MkII that edged out the M7 for me, though the M7 was said to better it in several categories...

 

[ALRAINBOW]

Your view is correct regarding the bass. The direct stream is bass light in comparison to the M7 or pwd mkii.
But what you get us so much more detail and in much more relaxed sounding musical experience .
What this means the music is somehow slowed down for you to hear much more into the music then before.
And I know I sound like a stupid salesman . You I am not , the only thing I sell is my feeling for audio.
I found this out long before the direct stream .
Al

 

[Dragon Leader]

Hello together,
 
I recently (quite late, shame on me) got aware of the Master 7 and I'm seriouly thinking of purchasing on in the next two month. Especially Currawongs review made me more enthusiastic about it.
 
I'm planing to use it for my headphone setup, Self Build Audio PC  --USB-->  DAC --Balanced--> Malvalve Headamp 3 -> Audeze LCD 3 / Stax 009
 
You all seem to have great experience with the Master 7 therefor I wanted to  ask if you could give me some guidance.
 
Alternatively the Resonessence Labs Invicta Mirus  and the Lampizator L5 are appealing though they are much more expensive.
 
Currently I'm using a Violectric DAC V800. I have no personal experience with Kingwa's products but I think the build quality is good.
 
Can anyone give me some more impressions about the Master 7 and it's qualities / strong points / weak points maybe in comparison to the DACs mentioned above. Further more I have heard the PS Audio PWD MKII via USB for several hours on a my headamp, therefor a comparison with the PWD would be also very much apprechiated.
 
I'm opend to any other kind of advice you can give me about Master 7 , Kingswa's products and DACs of this category.
 
thanks
 
Dirk

 

[Dragon Leader]

Hi again,
 
In my last post I forgot to mention that I'm using an Audiophilleo 1 + PP in combination with the Violectric V800.
 
Regards
 
Dirk

 

[blitzxgene]

Finally just got the ppa usb card and linear power supply and drivers installed without incident. Listening to a dac i haven't spent time on in a few months though, so hard to tell what improvement there might be. Still waiting for the house to burn down though...

 

[ALRAINBOW]

When I tested it , for me it was close to the offramp improvement . Although the offramp bests it but together with it . I am sure it's all that, can be had from the dac . With headphones the M 7 dac is very good .
Al

 

[blitzxgene]

The ref 10 now has a punchy bass close to the m7, but not quite there. Soundstage is still relatively restricted as well. I read the ppa card needs like 200 hours though, and i'm more excited for the effect of clean usb power on the mk2 than anything now. Certainly a nice improvement although i'm not sure by how much yet. 

 

[blitzxgene]

New usb-32 driver on the site.

 

[ALRAINBOW]

For the M7 or ef 10 ? Also I bought my M7 last year is there a new firmware for the USB chip In the dac ?
Al

 

[mowglycdb]

It's for the us32 input , the DAC doesn't really matter.  Though the improvements may only be for DSD or DXD support (Sabre chip DAC's), we have to check that.
 
"Applied the full new advantage algorithm , much improve the data transmit performance"
 
Woah, dunno what that means. But I'm going to try it.

 

[ALRAINBOW]

The other day I downloaded the new driver even though I mostly use the offramp and HDMI I out from dacladder. The HDMI bests the pants off the USB anyway. But I did notice with the USB it played dsd over dop. I thought this was odd. Did it play SSD before . I never tried it before the new driver. . The chips inside are PCM and they do not do dsd . So the driver must be doing a conversion . For me I would rather trust jriver to perform this conversion. Am I correct in what I saying ?
Al

 

[blitzxgene]

The other day I downloaded the new driver even though I mostly use the offramp and HDMI I out from dacladder. The HDMI bests the pants off the USB anyway. But I did notice with the USB it played dsd over dop. I thought this was odd. Did it play SSD before . I never tried it before the new driver. . The chips inside are PCM and they do not do dsd . So the driver must be doing a conversion . For me I would rather trust jriver to perform this conversion. Am I correct in what I saying ?
Al

The master 7 shouldn't be capable of that, dsd is only for sabre dacs in the audio-gd lineup. Jriver was probably doing the conversion in that case as the 1704uk can not.

 

[ALRAINBOW]

That is What i thought but why does king way say on the website dsd :64/128 and dxd. Maybe he ment the other dacs with sabre chips. Later I will try the dac again to see . I am sure it will,not play dsd .
Al

 

[blitzxgene]

New via firmware buffer is represented in a range of 1 millisecond to 200, with warnings on either end. Can't tell much about the sound yet though.