I hope to upgrade my master19 at some point.I just got a m9, replacing a m19.
The m9 is bigger and heavier and sounds a bit beefier compared to the m19.
I never had the time to do a proper comparison between the two. The M9 when I turned it one just sounded bigger than what I expected.
Love it
But I want the flagship he9le.
I wanted to try out more amps but everything I've tested dulls in comparison the master19. I suspect its partially because of the acss connection but even more than that, its so versatile as a preamp. Everything I have just runs through the master19 to make use of the acss connection.
If you own an audio-gd dac and amp, you're doing yourself a disservice by not using the acss connection.
And I recently discovered that by maximizing the volume on my master19 as a preamp then reducing the volume on my tube amp to the minimum, the sound just became alot more lively and vibrant.
So volume is at about 65 on high gain on the master19, in the past I used it at volume 34. Interestingly, it runs cooler with the higher volume.