[fob69]

How much burn - in does it get ?
Amanero clocks need more than 200 hours to work well ...

B.

 

[xenithon]

How much burn - in does it get ?
Amanero clocks need more than 200 hours to work well ...

B.

Kingwa recommends up to 500h for this unit

 

[fob69]

And how much do you get now on yours ?

 

[xenithon]

It's been on around 24h; had about 5h of playtime

 

[spacequeen7]

It's been on around 24h; had about 5h of playtime

How about short -initial impression vs. R2R 11,congrats !

 

[wietschebehr]

Three months shy of 13 years ago, I officially joined this wonderful hobby by signing up at Head-Fi. It has been an incredible journey filled with joys, tears, wonderful surprises, heart-wrenching disappointments, and unending experimentation of different components, systems, accessories, and so forth.

It warms the heart to finally be able to say that I have reached my audio nirvana. Excessive for some, far from TOTL for others, but ultimately for me it ticks all the boxes.

The final leg of this journey commenced about a year ago and resulted in finding my trifecta of headphones. The last piece of the puzzle was finding and all-in-one that did not require a material compromise in terms of the characteristics I appreciate in audio reproduction. That search culminated in the R-28.

Having fallen in love with the R2R-11's synergy both with my headphones and my ears, the announcement of the R-28 was like a cherub singing. I swiftly placed my order and waited anxiously for it to be assembled. Once it was finally picked up by DHL, it took all of 48 hours to arrive at my doorstep, halfway across the world.

It is still early days in terms of burn-in, and I have not even touched any NOS mode settings, but it is truly a glorious achievement. Well done to Kingwa and the team, and thank you for this masterpiece which now completes my quest.

Below some photos, shot gloriously by @gLer.

WOW WOW WOW!

WHAT A BEUTIFUL SETUP!!!

I hope and believe it sounds a good as it looks!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

 

[capetownwatches]

Congrats X!
Enjoy.
Looking forward to you waxing lyrical on this beauty in due course.


PS Great pics @gLer

 

[ProLoL]

How much does it weigh? I might purchase one.

 

[gLer]

What you meant by "Still has true high gain mode" ? Usual High Gain mode or anything else since Super SE mode is no longer available.

The nfb-1's high gain mode is actually a different configuration for the volume knob. In high gain is skips volume steps and ramps up the volume sooner. There's no electrical change to the signal.

What ^^ said. The NFB-1 has a single gain mode, except 'H' gets you to full volume faster. The R-28 has low gain (7db) and high gain (17db) modes, as well as an F mode that gets you to full volume in high gain faster. 'S' mode was going to match the SE output power to balanced (4x the output power of standard SE), but apparently after some negative user feedback this was withdrawn from the shipping product. I've been listening to the R-28 for the past day in SE mode and I can tell you it still has PLENTY of power for SE headphones - more than most will ever need. Balanced just pushes this to the max, with more headroom and (according to Audio-Gd) better instrument separation and soundstage. HTH.

 

[gLer]

How much does it weigh? I might purchase one.

7.5kg. Not quite Master weight, but very substantial indeed.

 

[gLer]

Three months shy of 13 years ago, I officially joined this wonderful hobby by signing up at Head-Fi. It has been an incredible journey filled with joys, tears, wonderful surprises, heart-wrenching disappointments, and unending experimentation of different components, systems, accessories, and so forth.

It warms the heart to finally be able to say that I have reached my audio nirvana. Excessive for some, far from TOTL for others, but ultimately for me it ticks all the boxes.

The final leg of this journey commenced about a year ago and resulted in finding my trifecta of headphones. The last piece of the puzzle was finding and all-in-one that did not require a material compromise in terms of the characteristics I appreciate in audio reproduction. That search culminated in the R-28.

Having fallen in love with the R2R-11's synergy both with my headphones and my ears, the announcement of the R-28 was like a cherub singing. I swiftly placed my order and waited anxiously for it to be assembled. Once it was finally picked up by DHL, it took all of 48 hours to arrive at my doorstep, halfway across the world.

It is still early days in terms of burn-in, and I have not even touched any NOS mode settings, but it is truly a glorious achievement. Well done to Kingwa and the team, and thank you for this masterpiece which now completes my quest.

Below some photos, shot gloriously by @gLer.

What a trip! I have to thank and congratulate @xenithon for not only generously sharing his vast experience with me over the past 18 months, but also helping get me up to speed on the ways of the head-fi world, with invaluable advice and plenty of shortcuts that - like him - have got me to my own personal endgame. And like him, the R-28 was the last piece of my puzzle, bringing together in perfect harmony the sound signature, features and flexibility I want from a dac, and the power, transparency and resolution I need from an amp for the headphones I use and own.

I'll be spending much more time with the R-28 once it's done burning in, although I'll pop in from time to time for a listen like I have been doing since it first left its well-packed and provisioned box. For now, I'll say it's incredibly smooth, surprisingly resolving (coming from an R2R-11), and very listenable indeed (to use Currawong's words). I've only had a brief listen with Xenithon's Auteur, HD800 and LCD-3 (all three easily driven using balanced out, and each superbly articulate), and a longer listen with my SE-connected Elear, which I found even more resolving and layered than I previously heard it on my ex-R2R-11.

Keep an eye on this thread as I post more measured impressions when I get to listen some more.

Big shout out to Kingwa and the Audio-gd team for making such an incredible product - and indeed family of products; for always being so responsive and generous with feedback and advice, and for being an absolute pleasure to deal with. While my search for the head-fi 'sweet spot' ends here, I've always believed the real joy is in the journey, and my journey through audio nirvana - with music new and old - is only just beginning.

 

[PopZeus]

I’m genuinely excited for you guys and I don’t even own an R-28.

 

[thebkt]

I’m genuinely excited for you guys and I don’t even own an R-28.

Here I am reading the glowing comments thinking 'my, that'd be nice to hear'. Mind you, I have this thought while listening to tunes on my R2R-1/NFB-1 combo... At that point I realize I'm most likely hearing damn near the same thing and just grin. A few months in and I'm still completely stoked on this stack, especially with my Clear's. Glad to hear you guys thoroughly enjoying yours!

 

[sumpao]

Here I am reading the glowing comments thinking 'my, that'd be nice to hear'. Mind you, I have this thought while listening to tunes on my R2R-1/NFB-1 combo... At that point I realize I'm most likely hearing damn near the same thing and just grin. A few months in and I'm still completely stoked on this stack, especially with my Clear's. Glad to hear you guys thoroughly enjoying yours!

Mine will come in this weeks very exciting to try this one

 

[Currawong]

I've been listening via the R-28 both directly and through the Master 9. The latter brings out more space to the music, which is to be expected. Now I have had the R-28 on for a few days it is indeed very pleasant to listen with -- a touch mellow and not the most dynamic, but good for just enjoying listening.