Burn-in is a real thing w/Audio GD DACs. When I got my NOS-19, I couldn't believe it when people on the DAC-19 thread said these designs need ~450 hrs of active burn-in before they settle down sonically. I thought that was insane.
And then I began burning in the NOS-19. And they were absolutely right: the sound changed rather ballistically from day to day. Finally at about 500 hrs it stabilized. The exact same thing happened with the DAC-19 I got the next year.
I think (as a non-EE) that, by their very topology, R2R DACs require extensive ‘burn-in’ compared to other DACs. That ‘burn-in’ should be with music, not pink noise etc. [I experienced definite improvement in the Mojo Audio EVO Mystique over the first several months.]
I ordered the upgraded version with those clocks and galvanic isolation. But seeing as I don't know how to turn it off without switching the power supply off completely, 500 hours burn-in shouldn't be a problem =).
It doesn't have power saving mode, so oscilators are operating continuously. The same with power supply, bypass capacitors and associated components. While burning resistors in R2R ladder require to play music, don't worry, it will receive partial burning when idle. Low jitter clocks are quite naughty during this period, regression happen, next day sound is opening up. When you come back and want listen to music, cycle power on a DAC, it is doing some recalibration during startup.
It doesn't have power saving mode, so oscilators are operating continuously. The same with power supply, bypass capacitors and associated components. While burning resistors in R2R ladder require to play music, don't worry, it will receive partial burning when idle. Low jitter clocks are quite naughty during this period, regression happen, next day sound is opening up. When you come back and want listen to music, cycle power on a DAC, it is doing some recalibration during startup.
Thanks for the insights! Overnight, I left Foobar outputting music to the r2r-11. I'll probably leave it like this for the next few weeks, turning it off only when I'm not home (and I'm almost always home these days).
Still surprised how neutral, clean, and accurate it sounds. Reminds me of a more neutral and cleaner sounding OG Bifrost 2, like the BF2 had a baby with a Topping DAC. I thought R2R/Nos was supposed to sound softer, but that's not what I'm hearing at all, and it sounds like it might even be a little on the dry side. At the same time, I am really liking how full bodied everything sounds.
I just turned on some oversampling in Foobar and surprised by that too. Things feel like they're just a little more relaxed, little more open sounding, little less forward and forced. Might need to play with HQPlayer a bit too.
Thanks for the insights! Overnight, I left Foobar outputting music to the r2r-11. I'll probably leave it like this for the next few weeks, turning it off only when I'm not home (and I'm almost always home these days).
Still surprised how neutral, clean, and accurate it sounds. Reminds me of a more neutral and cleaner sounding OG Bifrost 2, like the BF2 had a baby with a Topping DAC. I thought R2R/Nos was supposed to sound softer, but that's not what I'm hearing at all, and it sounds like it might even be a little on the dry side. At the same time, I am really liking how full bodied everything sounds.
I just turned on some oversampling in Foobar and surprised by that too. Things feel like they're just a little more relaxed, little more open sounding, little less forward and forced. Might need to play with HQPlayer a bit too.
I couldn't decide for few month on oversampling, even tried PGGB, the best off-line resampler available, it is very good indeed. There is also a real-time version of PGGB add-on for Foobar, worth to try if you have modern PC and it is free.
Yeah, it is not only burning of electronics, it takes a time to train our ears as well, Audio GD DAC is ideal for experimenting with sound.
Does the "warm" jumper setting just boost the lows? Or does it soften the sound as well? Guess I'll find the answer myself if I can find some jumpers, but I'm just curious.
Does the "warm" jumper setting just boost the lows? Or does it soften the sound as well? Guess I'll find the answer myself if I can find some jumpers, but I'm just curious.
I didn't realize jumpers were an option w/this unit. Just checked AGD's webpage for the R2R-11 MKII, and there it is.
I'll have to try that. I've owned 3 AGD DACs and must have jumpers around here. There also might have been a little pkg of jumpers in the unit's packaging, now that I think of it...
I didn't realize jumpers were an option w/this unit. Just checked AGD's webpage for the R2R-11 MKII, and there it is.
I'll have to try that. I've owned 3 AGD DACs and must have jumpers around here. There also might have been a little pkg of jumpers in the unit's packaging, now that I think of it...
If you get a chance to try it out, would love to hear your thoughts on what it does to the sound. While I'm still in the burn-in period, I'm realizing that I'm growing disappointed by the sound. While good, it just reminds me of a AKM DACs. I was expecting a softer and more relaxed sound from this r2r NOS dac.
That said, I'm finding the HD58x rather enjoyable out of the r2r-11 mk2's HP out. Headphones sound less relaxed, kinda like when I tried HD600 out of Jot2 balanced. Might have to upgrade these headphones to the real deal.
If you get a chance to try it out, would love to hear your thoughts on what it does to the sound. While I'm still in the burn-in period, I'm realizing that I'm growing disappointed by the sound. While good, it just reminds me of a AKM DACs. I was expecting a softer sound from this r2r NOS dac.
Found some jumpers (FWIW, I didn't get any jumpers with the unit). Used my masterful chopstick skills to carefully get them on. I'm pleased to report that it does in fact soften the sound. I probably should've waited until I've gotten more hours on it, but I found the stock sound a little fatiguing and was curious.
EDIT: Yeah, now it's more like the sound I was expecting from a NOS dac.
Found some jumpers (FWIW, I didn't get any jumpers with the unit). Used my masterful chopstick skills to carefully get them on. I'm pleased to report that it does in fact soften the sound. I probably should've waited until I've gotten more hours on it, but I found the stock sound a little fatiguing and was curious.
EDIT: Yeah, now it's more like the sound I was expecting from a NOS dac.
Damn, this is inspiring! I'm the laziest person on earth, but I'll have to do the same and check out the +jumpers sound.
Both headphone amps my R2R-11 MKII feeds signal to (I had Audio GD add a 2nd RCA output pair to it) are somewhat warm, so I never categorized the AIO's sound as fatiguing. When I inserted this unit as the DAC in my big desktop system (I have two systems ~5 feet apart; the larger one has speakers, sub & 2 other headphone amps) did I hear how neutral it is for a NOS DAC. It still didn't strike me as fatiguing, but it also wasn't particularly resonant & musical like the MHDT Labs Orchid.
Thanks for trying out the jumpers and reporting back...
Damn, this is inspiring! I'm the laziest person on earth, but I'll have to do the same and check out the +jumpers sound.
Both headphone amps my R2R-11 MKII feeds signal to (I had Audio GD add a 2nd RCA output pair to it) are somewhat warm, so I never categorized the AIO's sound as fatiguing. When I inserted this unit as the DAC in my big desktop system (I have two systems ~5 feet apart; the larger one has speakers, sub & 2 other headphone amps) did I hear how neutral it is for a NOS DAC. It still didn't strike me as fatiguing, but it also wasn't particularly resonant & musical like the MHDT Labs Orchid.
Thanks for trying out the jumpers and reporting back...
It changes the sound considerably. While stock sound of the r2r-11m2 was slightly brighter than Ares II in NOS, the jumper made the r2r-11 noticeably warmer than the Ares II. Transients are softened and rounds out those edges, and I no longer detect any dryness or hardness to the sound. It's so smooth that I'm a little taken aback. Never heard anything like this in my setup. I can see why people might not like this type of sound, but I'm finding it very pleasant and enjoyable so far. Firmly within my expectations of what I thought NOS DACs might sound like.
I like that this option exists, but I wish it was easier to access this setting. Turning off the unit, opening it up, and fiddling around with tiny jumpers in a cramped space is not what I would call user-friendly. Would've been awesome if this option were accessible on the fly via the front panel somewhere, kind of like the impedance switch on the Singxer SA-1 (on the other hand, SMH @ their gain switches). But unlike the Singxer SA-1, the change in sound is much more dramatic. It's cool that this has the option of sounding very neutral or very warm.
I don't need such jumper either, members talked about on the beginning, many liked it, now forgotten... Kingwa didn't forget, that's a wisdom to keep a jumper, once again.
I don't need such jumper either, members talked about on the beginning, many liked it, now forgotten... Kingwa didn't forget, that's a wisdom to keep a jumper, once again.
So I saw the Ares II's NOS thing a long long time ago. Don't know if I really care. I just want it to sound nice, and imo, it does.
I recently saw a thread on audiophilestyle where the site admin was in talks with Denafrips engineers. Engineers supposedly maintain that it is in fact NOS, but don't want to disclose their trade secret/proprietary design--or something to that effect--in order to prove it. They promised a 4 part write-up about their design philosophy, but only part 1 was published last year.
Again, don't know if it's NOS, and doesn't really matter to me except, maybe, insofar as they are making false marketing claims.
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