Well, I've been living with the R2R 2 for almost two months now and maybe now is the time to share my impression of it.
This isn't a full review as I don't have any other gear to compare it with, just the headphone out of my nettop, MSI Cubi.
So, the changes I noticed are:
1. Timbre quality.
It's become easier to single out one particular instrument in the mix, the best example is the sound of a bass guitar: I used to hear mostly just the note it was playing, but the R2R 2 makes it alive by recreating the timbre and the pedal effects almost to such extent that you imagine or even feel the bass player presence in the room. Same goes for both electric organ and electric guitar. The acoustic guitar is also definitely better.
2. Resolution and detail.
As much as I can call it the result of the previous point, there is one more thing to add: you do really hear new things listening to the music you know. Of course, it depends both on the track you are listening to and on the headphones or speakers you use. Mine are not the champions in revealing all the detail, but nevertheless I've noticed this aspect on many occasions. There are some tracks in my playlist that have most of the vocals coming out of the left speaker and most of the backing vocals coming out of the right one. But I didn't even know this before I got the R2R 2: the channel separation wasn't that much clear or in some cases wasn't clear at all. Now it most certainly is.
3. Tonal balance.
It moved to the dark side. Well, it's not that much dark, it's more neutral in fact. But the things you should know are: A) There isn't much "air"; B) There is plenty of sub-bass.
As for the "air" and "spaciousness", I've never noticed that my stereo system could recreate this kind of sound anyway, so no big deal here. But the improvement I got in the sub-bass department was huge. Now I worry about my neighbours in the apartment below literally every time I turn the volume up a tiny bit higher than usual. This isn't a bad thing, though. The amount of bass doesn't ruin anything at all. There is plenty of it, but it isn't too much. And the DAC won't give you lots of bass if the artist didn't intend to make a bass-heavy track.
Anyway, these are my initial impressions of the R2R 2.
Take it with a grain of salt because I am really no audiophile, just a music lover.
The DAC didn't seem like a miracle out of the box, but neither did my new speakers 4 years ago.
The thing is, I have come to love the speakers and I feel like the same thing is going to happen with the R2R 2.
! There is big shortage of reviews/impressions by R2R 2 / R2R 1 owners. 2 positive reviews so far and 1 from an owner who cannot campare it to other gear. It is a little disappointing that while R2R11 get so much attention, the R2R 2 / R2R 1 thread is so much slower... Will be on the lookout, even though we are looking for several weeks until you receive and burn-in the unit .
