Audio-Gd Master 7 - Discrete Fully Balanced DAC (PCM1704)

[upperbound]

Thanks drheadphone, I did not know I could do that. What is the difference of using the Audio gd driver as default sound driver to just using it as an output from foobar but not the default sound driver? Or is there any?

 

[291835]

Thanks drheadphone, I did not know I could do that. What is the difference of using the Audio gd driver as default sound driver to just using it as an output from foobar but not the default sound driver? Or is there any?

Making Audio gd driver the default Windows sound driver makes it the default driver for all applications, as oppose to setting it in foobar only.

 

[upperbound]

Sorry I made my question too simple. I noticed that while using Audio gd driver as the default Windows driver, there is no popping sound when skipping tracks with foobar. But when using it on foobar only, there is. I was just wondering what might cause this.

 

[r one]

@r one, certainly a tube amp would help. I have mine running through a Ragnarok so the highs are very extended. My ears have to take break sometime, even listening through darker headphone like the LCD3F.

Someone use a Master7 with a TH900 headphone ?

 

[wmedrz]

  If I recall correctly, Pink Faun card lacks official support for ASIO, which is quite important for extracting SQ out of a soundcard.

I reached out to PinkFaun and they said this: 
 
The Pink Faun I2S-bridge runs on the standard Windows HDA drivers, though you can select diffent outputdrivers in the playback software you use, for example in the Jriver media center software you can select WASAPI or ASIO4ALL as the output driver for the I2S-bridge.

 

[JAGS]

  I just bought a tentlabs XO 2.2 which has his own dedicated low noise power supply shunt regulated.

 
Did you install the XO board into the Master-7 and did you notice any difference? 

 

[falconcry]

I recently acquired a Master 7, and it's great. Couple questions for the group:
 
1) Do people have a general preference for dacladder's HDMI board vs. AGD's? I have both, and I'm having a hard time hearing a difference. 
 
2) Any general consensus on jumper pin settings? I've read through this whole thread and it seems to be varied. Right now I'm running as raw as possible and loving the sound. By "raw" I mean: dither disabled, pll disabled, 1x oversample, and 50db stopband. Massively more realistic sounding than the stock settings.
 
BTW I'm running a DI-2014 via HDMI out. 

 

[Articnoise]

  I recently acquired a Master 7, and it's great. Couple questions for the group:
 
1) Do people have a general preference for dacladder's HDMI board vs. AGD's? I have both, and I'm having a hard time hearing a difference. 
 
2) Any general consensus on jumper pin settings? I've read through this whole thread and it seems to be varied. Right now I'm running as raw as possible and loving the sound. By "raw" I mean: dither disabled, pll disabled, 1x oversample, and 50db stopband. Massively more realistic sounding than the stock settings.
 
BTW I'm running a DI-2014 via HDMI out. 

 

Congrats!

 

1. I don’t know have only had the AGD.

2. I liked PLL disabled, 1x oversample and 90db stopband the best. 

 

[falconcry]

   

Congrats!

 

1. I don’t know have only had the AGD.

2. I liked PLL disabled, 1x oversample and 90db stopband the best. 

 
Thanks for the input! Does dither matter if you're at 1x oversample?

 

[aive]

I recently acquired a Master 7, and it's great. Couple questions for the group:

1) Do people have a general preference for dacladder's HDMI board vs. AGD's? I have both, and I'm having a hard time hearing a difference. 

2) Any general consensus on jumper pin settings? I've read through this whole thread and it seems to be varied. Right now I'm running as raw as possible and loving the sound. By "raw" I mean: dither disabled, pll disabled, 1x oversample, and 50db stopband. Massively more realistic sounding than the stock settings.

BTW I'm running a DI-2014 via HDMI out. 

For true NOS remove the bypass jumper. I recently asked Kingwa re this jumper and his response was: "Yes this will bypass the DSP and filter and the PLL, so the source must had enough low jitter and good cable for transmit the signal."

I recommend up sampling your music via HQPlayer or equivalent - The filters available in these players are significantly more tuned/better than those in the M7 DSP.

 

[falconcry]

For true NOS remove the bypass jumper. I recently asked Kingwa re this jumper and his response was: "Yes this will bypass the DSP and filter and the PLL, so the source must had enough low jitter and good cable for transmit the signal."

I recommend up sampling your music via HQPlayer or equivalent - The filters available in these players are significantly more tuned/better than those in the M7 DSP.

 
Very good info. I wondered if that's what that jumper did, even though the website doesn't mention it. So if you remove that jumper, then do any of the other jumpers matter? I'm assuming not...

 

[aive]

I presume not. I'm waiting to receive my I2S transport before I try it. Planning to confirm NOS by confirming output waveforms via my DSO.

 

[evillamer]

For me, I still prefer 1x with DSP On and Dither ON and PLL OFF. This is in conjunction with Audiobyte Hydra X Usb converter as I2S source. Total bypass of DSP results in a way laid back sound that doesn't suit my listening taste(although some may like the clean and neutral sound DSP OFF offers).
 
PLL ON seems to have a mid bass bloat, switching PLL Off removes the bloat.
 
1x NOS is pretty important if you want the wider and deeper soundstage with enhanced stereo cue/panning presentation. A trade off as 8x has a more crystaline sound.
 
As for Dither settings,it's a subtle difference. Leaving it on seems make things less grainy.

 

[JAGS]

Interesting to read. So far I have been playing with stopband filter & oversampling only and differences were very little. Right now I use default settings. I will confirm the other settings later and am curious what DSP and PLL will change. Using Bluesound Node I2S streamer (modded by Magna Hifi) with Tentlabs XO.

 

[aive]

NOS at 44.1 kHz results in significant attenuationin the treble region as a result of zero hold sinc roll off at the output. My aim is to run the DAC in NOS but feed it at a higher sample rate eg. 192 kHz.