[Gambitek]

then swear they can hear the difference

Narrator: They can't.

 

[sumpao]

Narrator: They can't.

Some people really can.
So if there no different why the business still on.

 

[sumpao]

Oh you’ll be surprised...some guy was talking about buying custom ACSS cables for upward of $500 on another thread! And don’t get me started on power cables...some people go all out an isolate their amps from the grid in an effort to supply ‘clean’ power, then swear they can hear the difference. Not that I’m throwing cold water on good science, but the cost-for-benefit ratio must be off the charts!

I agree that benefit ratio is not That high though.

But some people are perfectionist

 

[wietschebehr]

Oh you’ll be surprised...some guy was talking about buying custom ACSS cables for upward of $500 on another thread! And don’t get me started on power cables...some people go all out an isolate their amps from the grid in an effort to supply ‘clean’ power, then swear they can hear the difference. Not that I’m throwing cold water on good science, but the cost-for-benefit ratio must be off the charts!

I like to measure sensible spending against other areas of life (non-audio related) that would give me much more pleasure spending the same money on. For me personally the value is very difficult to justify at the levels beyond the R28 for a single piece of audio equipment. Cables should be adequate for whatever you use them with, definitely not close to the same price of the main unit for sure. And this ties in with your previous comment about having a balance. All the pieces must be almost at the same level of performance and quality. The items in your signature is a perfect example of balance and synergy for me. Nothing is out of its place. Well done sir!

For instance at this moment I would rather use the time and money it would take to rewire my home to get micro audio quality upgrades (that everyone frowns upon anyway as you can't replace the power grid...), and rather go travel and see the world with my wife... Some people needs to get perspective of what they miss out on in life. That does not make you less of an audio enthusiast or expert, but it definitely earns more respect in my books. Music is about life and living anyway. Just my honest opinion.

Cheers,
W

 

[Gambitek]

So if there no different why the business still on.

People spend money on healing crystals and aligning their chakras; it's all placebo. Just because a company stays in business doesn't mean the science behind their claims are true. In fact, I'm pretty sure I just read an article about an "audio power cable" company getting busted shadow manipulating the volume when doing their A/B tests for members of the public.

 

[gLer]

I like to measure sensible spending against other areas of life (non-audio related) that would give me much more pleasure spending the same money on. For me personally the value is very difficult to justify at the levels beyond the R28 for a single piece of audio equipment. Cables should be adequate for whatever you use them with, definitely not close to the same price of the main unit for sure. And this ties in with your previous comment about having a balance. All the pieces must be almost at the same level of performance and quality. The items in your signature is a perfect example of balance and synergy for me. Nothing is out of its place. Well done sir!

For instance at this moment I would rather use the time and money it would take to rewire my home to get micro audio quality upgrades (that everyone frowns upon anyway as you can't replace the power grid...), and rather go travel and see the world with my wife... Some people needs to get perspective of what they miss out on in life. That does not make you less of an audio enthusiast or expert, but it definitely earns more respect in my books. Music is about life and living anyway. Just my honest opinion.

Cheers,
W

So true! For me the endgame was always about having a level of equipment I could trust to deliver superb audio quality with the music I listen to with minimal fuss and minimal mess, and just being able to lose myself in the music.

Sure I love the gear and will continue reading about and listening to new equipment when I get the chance, but I’m glad the days of fretting over every little variable over and over again, then starting again when something new came along, are over.

Long may this newfound peace last! Now I’ve just got to find new and exciting ways to fill up the time previously spent obsessing about audio gear

 

[sumpao]

People spend money on healing crystals and aligning their chakras; it's all placebo. Just because a company stays in business doesn't mean the science behind their claims are true. In fact, I'm pretty sure I just read an article about an "audio power cable" company getting busted shadow manipulating the volume when doing their A/B tests for members of the public.

Even on Audio GD they still mention in some of there products need matching cable.
Diminishing returns might not be big but I think below tell something.


The HE series products have better detail and dynamic reproduce ,blacker backstage ,better focus and larger sound stage , but the sound is better analog .
The right saddle must is set on the right horse ,if you had not enough good system units, and had not enough cable match experiences, don't waste the money on HE series products.
Please note the HE series products are upgrade from Master series, even though the price had a big rate increased but the sound quality had not same rate improved.


http://www.audio-gd.com/HE/HE-9/HE-9EN.htm

 

[sumpao]

I like to measure sensible spending against other areas of life (non-audio related) that would give me much more pleasure spending the same money on. For me personally the value is very difficult to justify at the levels beyond the R28 for a single piece of audio equipment. Cables should be adequate for whatever you use them with, definitely not close to the same price of the main unit for sure. And this ties in with your previous comment about having a balance. All the pieces must be almost at the same level of performance and quality. The items in your signature is a perfect example of balance and synergy for me. Nothing is out of its place. Well done sir!

For instance at this moment I would rather use the time and money it would take to rewire my home to get micro audio quality upgrades (that everyone frowns upon anyway as you can't replace the power grid...), and rather go travel and see the world with my wife... Some people needs to get perspective of what they miss out on in life. That does not make you less of an audio enthusiast or expert, but it definitely earns more respect in my books. Music is about life and living anyway. Just my honest opinion.

Cheers,
W

Rewire your home is the cheapest thing and the first thing to do in Audio investment.
I plan to rewire my audio listening room too due to my system use electric from 1 plug to outlet and it go to many equipment.
Sometime when I open my TV or PS4 the song get disrupt.
I heard from many people that this bring a lot of improve to the system more than cable haha.
And it cheap.

 

[Currawong]

For sure, I assumed interconnect cables are standard equipment for most people. But yes, some people believe in some serious snake oil cables and if you have to buy new magic cables it is definitely something to consider as some cost more than the R28... Although, I think @Currawong stated in his NFB1 review that the ACCS connection between the two seperate units would make the connection much less sensitive to cable quality, so potentially you just need 2 extra cables of reasonable quality and price to connect the two units with no issues and an additional power cable for the second unit.

The main benefit is bypassing current-to-voltage and voltage-to-current stages in the DAC and amp respectively. If you really wanted to be hardcore about it, you'd solder some good, shielded wire from the DAC board to the amp board and bypass using connectors altogether.

Oh you’ll be surprised...some guy was talking about buying custom ACSS cables for upward of $500 on another thread! And don’t get me started on power cables...some people go all out an isolate their amps from the grid in an effort to supply ‘clean’ power, then swear they can hear the difference. Not that I’m throwing cold water on good science, but the cost-for-benefit ratio must be off the charts!

I've decided if I ever can afford to spend a lot of money on audio, I'd invest in an oscilloscope so I could test the effect of different tweaks. But anyway...

I got the alternate firmware versions from Kingwa, and from my quick listening impressions:

V3: Most balanced between "smooth" and "accurate"
Accurate: Most dynamic and clear (though the R28 is still smoother-sounding than other DACs I have) but the least sense of front-to-back depth
Smooth: Narrower soundstage but greater depth.
Smooth2: Much of the same, but possibly even deeper.

 

[gLer]

I got the alternate firmware versions from Kingwa, and from my quick listening impressions:

V3: Most balanced between "smooth" and "accurate"
Accurate: Most dynamic and clear (though the R28 is still smoother-sounding than other DACs I have) but the least sense of front-to-back depth
Smooth: Narrower soundstage but greater depth.
Smooth2: Much of the same, but possibly even deeper.

Look forward to trying them on my own system. Which do you prefer?

 

[xenithon]

Just an aside from all the talk of firmware and OS/NOS modes - I personally am not a fan of having all these options. One reason I generally prefer SS over tube is to get away from continuous and confusing tube rolling. Save for the cost aspect, this is the same and can easily lead to too much second guessing and experimenting rather than listening to music.

 

[gLer]

Just an aside from all the talk of firmware and OS/NOS modes - I personally am not a fan of having all these options. One reason I generally prefer SS over tube is to get away from continuous and confusing tube rolling. Save for the cost aspect, this is the same and can easily lead to too much second guessing and experimenting rather than listening to music.

I tend to agree with this. Don’t get me wrong, while I appreciate having the options, maybe a simple smooth/accurate tuning would have been enough. Should be easy enough to host both on the chip and switch between them like you can NOS and OS modes. And while we’re at it, let’s make it user-selectable from the front panel buttons

That said it should be easy enough to experiment with the new firmware, and quickly pick one that works best with your headphones and music taste. The differences shouldn’t, ultimately, be ‘night and day’ (and if they are that’s another topic for discussion...).

 

[sumpao]

I tend to agree with this. Don’t get me wrong, while I appreciate having the options, maybe a simple smooth/accurate tuning would have been enough. Should be easy enough to host both on the chip and switch between them like you can NOS and OS modes. And while we’re at it, let’s make it user-selectable from the front panel buttons

That said it should be easy enough to experiment with the new firmware, and quickly pick one that works best with your headphones and music taste. The differences shouldn’t, ultimately, be ‘night and day’ (and if they are that’s another topic for discussion...).

I can live with the option provide.
Stock one is already good.

Jumper between mode is not hard.
Spftware update is kind of scary due to if the net is cut we might get ban

 

[normanl]

Is there any review on R-28?

 

[sumpao]

It seem Audio GD have pull the software update out.
Did anybody try the new software?