Hey guys, long time no see. In short, I want to know how the R-28's DAC compares to the R7, to Denafrips products and to other Audio-gd D/S Dacs? (I've been reading this thread, but there's a lot.)
In less short, here is my whole rant. I started on Head-fi back in high school, around 2001. Made my way as far as a set of HE-5LE and an Audio-gd NFB-10SE. I bought both used from other Head-fi'ers. Wound up losing touch. I was so happy with my gear, I didn't want to know about anything else. There was an account wipe at some point, after I trailed off, here.
How I went down the rabbit hole: My HE-5LE kept dying. I finally gave up and got HE-560, but didn't really like them. At Canjam 2018, I heard LCD-4 on a Violectric stack. I was blown away. Didn't have $8k though, so I bought LCD-2c. Later, I did find the Violectric stack (V281 and V850) used and thought it was a step up. More resolution and more refined than the NFB-10SE. Then I got a THX-789 to see what the fuss was about and it showed me that I was still missing some resolution and low bass, even though I liked the Violectric class A signature better. Canjam 2020, I stumbled into a floor model Audiovalve Solaris. Tried to flip it, failed, fell in love. Something had to go. So I sold the Violectric gear, refinanced my house and bought a Denafrips Venus and LCD-4. Next I bought a Topping A90 and gave the 789 and LCD-2c to my little brother. The last thing I bought was a Furman power conditioner and then some Amazon garden hose "audiophile" power cables DMS recommended. The cables actually helped the A90 a little bit.
Now we're caught up, here's my problem. I love my system, but I keep longing for slightly more resolution, slightly more forward vocals and better, stronger deep bass. I think I was missing the original signature of the NFB-10SE. So what did I do? I done screwed up. I pulled it off the shelf and gave a listen. I think it must really like the power conditioner.. Resolution no longer seems to be lacking and it really kicks up the dynamics over the Venus. Vocals are back in front and have that natural tone I missed. Low bass is more satisfying. The Venus still takes the cake in sound stage and refinement, but it's just too relaxed for me, I think. The Venus picks up spacial ques better though and the Solaris really runs with them. Perhaps it is a difference in decay? So, I'm kind of split down the middle. I would say the NFB-10 DAC has more resolution in the truest sense, but they pick up different things differently. The Venus is maybe more composed in complex passages, but it's close.
I went back and just read Sound News' review of the R7 and he holds it up over the Venus in all the ways that matter most to me. I think Sandu has the exact same taste that I do. I bought the Venus on his recommendation, but before that R7 review had been out. That and I heard my friend's Ares and liked it better than my other DACs at the time. It occurs to me, that the Violectric stack never lived up to the impression that it made on me at Canjam and I wonder if the power condition would have helped? Meh.
ANYWAY. The R7 freakin' is huge... And if the 10ish year old NFB-10SE is this good, I bet Audio-gd's bigger products are over kill. So, my real question is: How good/similar is the R-28's DAC compared to the R7? Will it have a similar signature and tonality to my old NFB-10? Can it really nail the low bass and dynamics like a modern D/S? If in real life, R-28 vs R7 is splitting hairs and Sandu isn't full of crap, then I could easily see the R-28 displacing the Venus and A90 for me. The Solaris would be tougher, but I'm open to it. I would so like to simplify my stack, especially if I had money left over, after selling some of my current gear.
I wondered if perhaps a Master 19 plugged into the Venus would inject some of that Audio-gd house sound? After spending more time comparing the DACs , I don't think that's a safe assumption. The NFB-10 has no analog inputs, but the NFB-10 driving the A90 is very close to the NFB-10 by itself.. Beside, I don't want to buy another straight solid state amp unless it can oust the Solaris and I don't know if that's going to be a thing. The NFB-10 into the Solaris is more punchy and vocal forward with a smoother, deeper sound stage and more clarity to certain things. The Venus like I said, picks up more spacial ques that the tubes really feed off of to make a wonderful, 3D stage. But laid back a bit, vocals often still recessed and lacks very deep bass. Also, while rare, certain mid to high pitch reverberations or vocal highs can be too much on this combo. My current system kicks ass with most acoustic stuff, but I listen to a lot of metal and electronic. Very well suited to this as well, but still looking for just the slight extra resolution, vocal forwardness and detail retrieval.
Anyone near Mass with modern Audio-gd products wants to have a mini-meet?
Use what sounds best to you!
