[spacelion2077]

I don't go on the Denafrips thread and trash their DACs, they have good DACs but since you're here @spacelion2077 I need to mention this again - the best of Denafrips don't come close to best of Audio-GD. It sort of goes like this:

Terminator (original) > R7HE >> Terminator Plus > R7HE + DI20 = Terminator Plus + Gaia > R7HE + DI20 + 10Mhz clock

I imagine it is similar with Ares and Pontus to comparative Audio-GD DACs. I've heard from others that Denafrips' lower-end models are tuned to have more color, possibly to hide their technical flaws, while Audio-GD sounds pretty consistent in their entire lineup. The R7HE also sounds better than dCS Vivaldi and Esoteric D02x.

Is anything better than the R7HE? I think possibly the Esoteric Grandioso + Ext clock or Rockna Wavedream Signature bal, which I've had multiple opportunities to audition but lockdowns kept getting in the way. So much time has gone by and now I'm just happy with what I have Alternatively there are plenty of DACs that offer a different type of sound, i.e. TotalDAC, Lampizator, MSB.

Sometimes I do wish Audio-GD looked better, i.e. thicker exterior, brushed aluminum, comes in silver not just black for their flagships.

Thank you for your input Jackula. I'm going to give Audio GD dac a shot despite ASR's disheartening review. I'm a current owner of M19 and very happy with the purchase. I've only owned non R2R dacs so far (D90 and Rme-Adi 2), they are pretty good but can't hear much differences in them. R2R dac does have a good reputation among the community. You mentioned the best of Denafrips don't come close to the best of Audio GD, but is Terminator a Denafrips dac?

 

[Articnoise]

I don't go on the Denafrips thread and trash their DACs, they have good DACs but since you're here @spacelion2077 I need to mention this again - the best of Denafrips don't come close to best of Audio-GD. It sort of goes like this:

Terminator (original) > R7HE >> Terminator Plus > R7HE + DI20 = Terminator Plus + Gaia > R7HE + DI20 + 10Mhz clock

I imagine it is similar with Ares and Pontus to comparative Audio-GD DACs. I've heard from others that Denafrips' lower-end models are tuned to have more color, possibly to hide their technical flaws, while Audio-GD sounds pretty consistent in their entire lineup. The R7HE also sounds better than dCS Vivaldi and Esoteric D02x.

Is anything better than the R7HE? I think possibly the Esoteric Grandioso + Ext clock or Rockna Wavedream Signature bal, which I've had multiple opportunities to audition but lockdowns kept getting in the way. So much time has gone by and now I'm just happy with what I have Alternatively there are plenty of DACs that offer a different type of sound, i.e. TotalDAC, Lampizator, MSB.

Sometimes I do wish Audio-GD looked better, i.e. thicker exterior, brushed aluminum, comes in silver not just black for their flagships.

I get what you mean and the order of improvement. But normally we use the > to mean that whats on the left side to be better/greater than on the right side.

Better/greater > Worse/smaller

No biggie thou

 

[PeterCraig]

HE9 MK2 released last week.

http://www.audio-gd.com/HE/HE9MK2/HE9MK2EN.htm

No silver yet unfortunately. The R-27HE was just a tease I think.

 

[sajunky]

I'm a current owner of M19 and very happy with the purchase. I've only owned non R2R dacs so far (D90 and Rme-Adi 2), they are pretty good but can't hear much differences in them. R2R dac does have a good reputation among the community.

There is more. When ordering remember to add the ACSS cable, it is not expensive. While some users may advice better cable, I need to add that a stock ACSS cable sounds better than $2k RCA or a balanced cable.

 

[sajunky]

He bashes on Audio GD but maybe the amps would fair better with measurements.

I am sorry to disappoint you in this case. Audio GD amps are fully discrete and each active stage is linearized individually. There is no feedback between individual stages, it means that harmonic distortions are kept just below perceived level, but not to shine in tests. It is called zero-feedback amplifier. If we add a feedback, it looks much better in labs, but a lab equipment do not pickup dynamic distortions, only a static sine wave (or a few). It also sounds more smooth, pleasant, but a main problem with feedback is that for a short moment during transients the amp stops responding to the grass, only a large signal is passed. This is only a short moment, but our brain is able to pick up that something is missing in sound. In an extreme case of nested feedback opamp based amplifiers, people report completely black background.

Such amplifiers only work well with Delta-Sigma DACs, because sound is already simplified. Audio GD amps work equally well with DS and NOS R2R DACs, the last combination gives the most natural sound.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I would like to share my observations about his reviews regarding Audio GD. It seems like he only has reviewed integrated DAC/Amp and I have been curious eversince about his measurements for standalone Audio GD amps. He bashes on Audio GD but maybe the amps would fair better with measurements. Having said that, being a non technical (cause I work in medical field), I wonder if the measurements will make any difference without the DAC or he already has done it before?

TL;DR We don't care.

The main thing is that Audio-gd's customers don't care. We don't believe in audio scientology, we listen to music. Kingwa's gear is unbelievably musical, it's built like a tank, the support is the best you can get and the prices are fair. There's nothing to be improved.

 

[Currawong]

Two things:

Firstly, as I originally wrote when I made the Posting Guidelines for Head-Fi, please do not post impressions of gear you don't own or have significant experience with.

The second is: The whole measurement thing is a deception. They focus on THD, and ignore other types of distortion for the most part, such as IMD. Even-order harmonic distortion is pleasant, and doesn't harm the music. In fact, it is added to a lot of music for this reason! So, the irony is, people buying low-THD gear because of the hype around them, are doing so to listen to music with distortion added a lot of the time...

It's the types of distortion that they don't measure, including things such as noise floor modulation (where the noise level moves with the signal) that obscures details in the music.

 

[Lazyboy_sg]

Looking for some review of the Master 9P S & N....

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Reviews?! Ahahahaha, we don't need no stinkin' reviews...

 

[Articnoise]

Reviews?! Ahahahaha, we don't need no stinkin' reviews...

Reviews yes, home cooked measurements not so much .

 

[spacelion2077]

Reviews yes, home cooked measurements not so much .

Depends on the source. If the review is coming from ASR, I can already tell it's not gonna be very favorable.

 

[dougms3]

Looking for some review of the Master 9P S & N....

Gonna be difficult to find reviews for that, maybe kingwa posted links on his site.

Probably gonna be the same as the rest of the gear he sells. Amazing value for the price, sound great, 10 year warranty, crapped on by asr because of some squiggles that have no relation to sound.

 

[spacelion2077]

Gonna be difficult to find reviews for that, maybe kingwa posted links on his site.

Probably gonna be the same as the rest of the gear he sells. Amazing value for the price, sound great, 10 year warranty, crapped on by asr because of some squiggles that have no relation to sound.

I wonder why Audio-GD is not as popular as chifi brands ,like topping or smsl. To my ears, Audio-gd amps are more detailed and resolving than Topping lines, this is coming from a current Topping A90/D90 owner. M19 pretty much trumps A90 in all the aspects but there is literally not many favorable reviews for this Audio GD on the internet.

 

[dougms3]

I wonder why Audio-GD is not as popular as chifi brands ,like topping or smsl. To my ears, Audio-gd amps are more detailed and resolving than Topping lines, this is coming from a current Topping A90/D90 owner. M19 pretty much trumps A90 in all the aspects but there is literally not many favorable reviews for this Audio GD on the internet.

Probably because he doesn't really market to anyone. He just makes awesome equipment and says if you want it, its here.

He would really benefit from some marketing or selling through a distributor but then that would mean higher prices for us.

I wouldn't necessarily group him with the other chifi brands, he's an audio enthusiast that happens to be chinese. Topping and SMSL market their products heavily, sponsorships on this and other sites, sell through distributors or marketplaces like Linsoul, shenzenaudio, Amazon, aliexpress, etc. The only distributor audio-gd goes through is LSA and 1 euro vendor I believe.

I mean if you look at the internals of the amp not knowing anything, you call tell theres a big difference between his amps and other similarly priced amps. Lot more going on in audio-gd gear. If just judging audio quality going by part count, he will always win lol.

 

[sajunky]

I wonder why Audio-GD is not as popular as chifi brands ,like topping or smsl. To my ears, Audio-gd amps are more detailed and resolving than Topping lines, this is coming from a current Topping A90/D90 owner. M19 pretty much trumps A90 in all the aspects but there is literally not many favorable reviews for this Audio GD on the internet.

SMSL and Topping are supermarket brands. A90 is a special case of a mass market engineering type. There are two sealed SMPS's for generating +/gnd/- power lines. Such arrangement is ignoring any design rules for protection from switching noise, as far I can tell you. In result A90 spreads high frequency ground loops to any interconnected devices. If you read A90 thread, you will see my posts about (some you can't, as had been removed) where I wrote that it was a defective design. However time is passing and there are number of reports of a noise on RCA port making single ended connection unusable, this is a confirmation on my assessment.

SMSL also has the amp or a DAC with similar solution. It is all in order to reduce size and cost. The money these companies saved on design is redirected to the marketing, pushing the product.

On the other side, Audio GD is an audiophile company focusing on sound quality, they would never commit such malpractice. Kingwa don't spend money on marketing, it is why there is no many commercial reviews. As a product you get is not taxed by marketing, it is always a real bargain. And company support is a first class, no matter you bought a product directly, from the authorised dealer or second hand, you won't be rejected.