How did the Amanero work for you in the Ref 5 ? I also order one for my Master 7 to replace the USB32 board so curious.
I have to begin with a caveat here, or two :
I have noticed some changes (mostly good ones) in the sound-signature, but I could not immediately tell which of them to attribute to the DSP upgrade, and which to attribute to the Amanero combo installation, since both upgrades were done around the same time, and I never got to audition the unit after the DSP upgrade, before installing Amanero.
The other small issue is that owing to some temporary changes in household circumstances (especially room-sharing arrangements), I have not been using the Ref. 5.32 rig as often as I used to, about six months ago, so my memory of the previous sound signature of that rig is fuzzy at best.
Now with all of that said, I hear a little more liveliness and forwardness in the mids, and highs than before... Detail retrieval and general resolution are is slightly more improved. If I am not mistaken, the sound stage appears to be a little more wide and spacious. On the flipside, the bass impact sounds a little less prominent, but it seems that is more of a side effect of the improved liveliness of the mids and highs, than anything intrinsic that has happened to the bass per se. The bass still extends as far down the scale as it used to do: it is just its relative quantity that seems slightly reduced, on balance. I think the overall dynamism of the soundfield has been enhanced owing to the changes, but the top end has gotten more sparkle than before, but that means that on some rigs, with some songs, and with some headphones, that sparkle might occasionally stray into "treble-glare" territory, which is not to say that the new Ref. 5.32 is necessarily too bright or etched by nature. I just remember having to replace my old emotiva USB cable with a totaldac d1 usb filter in an attempt to filter out some of the perceived harshness at the topend of the frequency spectrum during playback of some songs, when using my He-6, and I do not remember being ever bothered with upper-end harshness, when using the He-6 with this same rig about 6 months ago. On the other hand, listening to the same songs on the same rig with the Hifiman He-1000 hooked up with a Norne Silvergarde S cable seemed to remove any hint of occasional harshness, and smoothen things all over the sound scape.
I guess what can be said, in sum, is that these changes (DSP/Amanero) have altered the sound of the Ref. 5.32 mostly for the better, in terms of its technical capabilities, and that the benefits in sq might be system dependent.
System:
Mac mini (Amarra/itunes)==>>Totaldac d1 usb==>> uptone Regen==>> AGD Ref. 5.32 ==>>ACSS ==>>AGD NFB1amp ==>>hifiman he-6/he=1000
