[Articnoise]

   
Yes, I belatedly realized that.  It's what I get for trying to visit this forum on a "drive-by schmoozing" basis.
 
And yes, I also agree that current controlled analog signal transmission such as ACSS is superior to voltage controlled, which requires impedance matching.
 
The Studio is every bit as good as what I expected at its price point and probably more.  It really brings home the fact that the sound quality from your audio setup is usually limited by a single component "choke point", and that an upgrade of that component results in a tangible improvement that is easily heard and hugely appreciated.  In my case, the Studio feeding into my speakers changed that music output from incidental listening while engaged in apartment activities to superior soundstage breadth and positioning to my best headphone gear configuration.  It actually changed my listening preference.

 

Great, glad you are happy! I didn’t know it could drive speakers. 

 

[jacal01]

High efficiency only, being just 6W at 8Ω amp output.  Altho ≥95 dB is recommended, I manage to get by quite well with my 93 dB speakers, prolly because I have no incentive to crank them up to high volume in my small apartment venue.  Craig says he's using 94 dB JBL 4430 studio monitors in his lab.

 

[nLights]

@roberto2
Did you get any feedback from Audio-gd regarding the reversal issue with Amanero and DSP before 2015?

 

[1800yolk]

It is the only dac I have heard up to this point in my life that pulls that off without fail and without imparting a sort of sonic signature on everything.  I don't really "hear" this dac in my system.  FWIW all this is from a person who really didn't care for the Ref 7, 5, DAC 19 series.

i'm researching DACs, and I'm glad you could help me cross this one off my list. Some of my favorite albums are horribly, horribly mastered. Thanks!

 

[motberg]

  i'm researching DACs, and I'm glad you could help me cross this one off my list. Some of my favorite albums are horribly, horribly mastered. Thanks!

I would suggest a tube preamp with the particular flavor you require - but maybe a tube DAC would be worth checking.. some years ago I had a heavily modified Mhdt Laboratory Paradisea, which was tube and also NOS I believe.. beautiful sounding DAC

 

[jacal01]

  i'm researching DACs, and I'm glad you could help me cross this one off my list. Some of my favorite albums are horribly, horribly mastered. Thanks!

 
You want your DAC to faithfully reproduce the original recording in DA conversion in so much as it can, without adding color or artifacts or compromising fidelity for the sake of smoothness.  Save your color and euphonics for the end of your sonic chain, i.e. your amp and/or transducer (headphones) choices.  This gives you the most versatility in component selection for dialing in your favored listening preference. 
 
in your case you'd be best served with a soft rendering tube amp and maybe somewhat less resolving headphones for best engagement.
 
The M7 as a multibit DAC is very good for preserving audio fidelity, with maybe a bit of smoothness layered in, or more rather a lack of digital hash or glare.  Limiting factor on M7 SQ, ± criticism of the PCM1704 DAC chips used, seems to be the digital input connection format used between the DAC and its source, USB conversion being the most notorious.  This is not limited to just the M7 by no means. 

 

[qqqfunny]

Hi,there. According to the AGD website , a new NOS M7 will be released very soon! I expect a lot that how the difference or improvement it is !!

 

[DACLadder]

Hi,there. According to the AGD website , a new NOS M7 will be released very soon! I expect a lot that how the difference or improvement it is !!

Very interesting.  Kingwa is breathing new life into the PCM1704 products.  Soon will offer upgrades for older products.  Hard to believe that PCM1704UK DAC chips work at 384Khz or even 768 or 1536kHz without downsampling.  Think of the file sizes at 1536kHz/ 32-bit!    
 
"Base on a lot customers advise ,NOS version Master 7, Master 11 and DAC 19 will release in 1st April. 5 units of each model for pre-order get 5% OFF. (Before order you must learn the NOS DAC characteristic .)
new DSP software design built in ! two option NOS modes, support up to 768KHz input, asynchronous clock , FIFO data process
Please note : Limit by the Amanero USB input, support up to 384KHz now. In Simulation test  , it can support up to 768KHz even 1536KHz input . In future if had the new USB interface , users can easy replace in the unit even without soldering.
Will offer the upgrade for all Audio-gd product users who own the DSP + PCM1704 product  in near future!"

 

[Articnoise]

 
Very interesting.  Kingwa is breathing new life into the PCM1704 products.  Soon will offer upgrades for older products.  Hard to believe that PCM1704UK DAC chips work at 384Khz or even 768 or 1536kHz without downsampling.  Think of the file sizes at 1536kHz/ 32-bit!    
 
"Base on a lot customers advise ,NOS version Master 7, Master 11 and DAC 19 will release in 1st April. 5 units of each model for pre-order get 5% OFF. (Before order you must learn the NOS DAC characteristic .)
new DSP software design built in ! two option NOS modes, support up to 768KHz input, asynchronous clock , FIFO data process
Please note : Limit by the Amanero USB input, support up to 384KHz now. In Simulation test  , it can support up to 768KHz even 1536KHz input . In future if had the new USB interface , users can easy replace in the unit even without soldering.
Will offer the upgrade for all Audio-gd product users who own the DSP + PCM1704 product  in near future!"

 

If the PCM 1704UK really can do 8 x 192 KHz as Audio GD has stated, it’s in reality 1536 kHz in NOS (1x upsampling).

 

BB only confirmed the PCM 1704UK to be able to do 768 kHz

 

 

[Luckbad]

They've already proven it does 1536kHz. You can run 192kHz at 8x oversampling in their current dacs.

 

[Articnoise]

They've already proven it does 1536kHz. You can run 192kHz at 8x oversampling in their current dacs.

 

Maybe it’s been proven that the M7 can do 192 kHz at 8x oversampling. There do I find the measurements for that?

 

What I know is that the Master 7 can take a 192 kHz signal. It’s not necessarily the same as it actually playing at this sample rate and are not downsampling to 96 KHz or do it in 4x oversampling or whatever.

 

Please don’t interpret this like am saying that the M7 doesn’t do 192 kHz at 8x oversampling. Just that I have not seen any proof of it. If the M7 actually can do 192 kHz at 8x oversampling it can maybe be done by using multiple PCM 1704UK chip together in parallel like they have done in the TRINITY DAC or like the 21 bit from 20 bits dac chips in Yggdrasil. 

 

[DACLadder]

   

If the PCM 1704UK really can do 8 x 192 KHz as Audio GD has stated, it’s in reality 1536 kHz in NOS (1x upsampling).

 

BB only confirmed the PCM 1704UK to be able to do 768 kHz

 

Thank you and you are correct.  I only go by the PCM1704 datasheet which states the chip can work with 96kHz files at 8x oversampling.  I always assumed that at 192kHz oversampling was then 4x but could very well be 8x as implied.
 
"When used with a digital interpolation filter, the PCM1704 supports 8X oversampling at 96kHz."

 

[Luckbad]

 
Thank you and you are correct.  I only go by the PCM1704 datasheet which states the chip can work with 96kHz files at 8x oversampling.  I always assumed that at 192kHz oversampling was then 4x but could very well be 8x as implied.
 
"When used with a digital interpolation filter, the PCM1704 supports 8X oversampling at 96kHz."

 
I've been following Audio-GD stuff for a long time, and at one point there was information on the site that talked about how Kingwa discovered the PCM1704 could work at 1536kHz.
 
Whether you trust him is up to you. 
 
http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/Headphoneamp/Reference10/RE10EN.htm

Even though the PCM1704 PDF declare the PCM1704 supports up to 96KHz / 24bit, highest word clock input is 768KHz. In fact the PCM1704UK can support 192KHz / 24bit at 8X oversampling (USB or I2S model), the word clock input is 1.536MHz, as high as ESS9018.

 
Back when the PCM1704 was made, 96kHz was an absurd sample rate that nobody even used yet. Declaring 96kHz compatibility was well beyond the norm at the time.

 

[Articnoise]

I am aware of what Audio GD has specified. Then reading spec like this one can simply believe it or see what other manufacturers, which have used the same dac chip have declared to be the maximum sample rate on their DAC’s. Other well-known companies that have used the PCM 1704 are MARK LEVINSON, MCINTOSH, WADIA, AYON, KRELL and NAIM. As far as I have seen all of them have stated their maximum sample rate to be 96 KHz 8x oversampling.

 

To me the ability to play 192 kHz at 8x oversampling is not important anyway and got the best results on 2x oversampling. 

 

[Currawong]

  I am aware of what Audio GD has specified. Then reading spec like this one can simply believe it or see what other manufacturers, which have used the same dac chip have declared to be the maximum sample rate on their DAC’s. Other well-known companies that have used the PCM 1704 are MARK LEVINSON, MCINTOSH, WADIA, AYON, KRELL and NAIM. As far as I have seen all of them have stated their maximum sample rate to be 96 KHz 8x oversampling.

 

To me the ability to play 192 kHz at 8x oversampling is not important anyway and got the best results on 2x oversampling. 

Very likely those other companies were doing what Audio-gd did years ago, which is use an S/PDIF receiver that was limited in what sample rate it would receive. Since Kingwa uses a DSP, it is only limited to what the DSP can be programmed to receive, and the electronics can handle without errors.