[alxw0w]

Hello Guys,
Have anyone compared the Audio-GD R2R-1 DAC to any Chord DAC (Hugo, Hugo 2, Mojo, Qutest, etc)?
If so, what are your impressions?
Thanks,

Yup r2r1 and mojo user here. At first when r2r1 was not burned in, it was close. Details and micro details was pretty close. Bas was a bit better on mojo but highs were not so present. Scene was a bit narrower on mojo but a bit deeper. But that being sad, after burn in r2r1, now it's clear that there is no contest with mojo.
AGD sound better, it's not like day and night different, but still scene is wider also now it became deeper. Bas quality is better on r2r1 - there is more micro details. Highs definitely are better. Especially when you are using ACSS connection.
Still mojo hold its own
I would like to hear
AGD NFB 1 - amp + chord qutest/hugo2
vs
AGD NFB 1 - amp + R2R 1 with ACSS
that would be really interesting

To sum it up:
r2r1 vs mojo - for me no contest here (both nfb1 amp)

 

[sarang-i]

Hello Guys,
I have the R2R-2 DAC, but I understand is the same DAC as the R2R-1 but with out the balanced outputs.
I haven't done the firmware update yet because I'm lazy and I'm ok as it is today.
I also feel that the OS mode has more air, detail and relaxed sound than the NOS mode, wich I feel drier and with a smaller soundstage.
It was a surprise for me because I was expecting the opposite.

R2R 2 has two da-8 modules while R2R 1 has four modules.
When you run by RCA on R2R 1, it uses only two modules so that it does same performance as R2R 2 doing.
When you run by XLR on R2R 1, it uses four modules.

Also i see the way of your feeling, OS is more refined but very slightly less organic than NOS - however this is not implemented in bad way.

 

[sarang-i]

Hello Guys,
Have anyone compared the Audio-GD R2R-1 DAC to any Chord DAC (Hugo, Hugo 2, Mojo, Qutest, etc)?
If so, what are your impressions?
Thanks,

I was using mojo at the time of 1.5 years ago, and after comparing it with bimby, i chose schiit.
While bimby sounds not thin as much as mojo does, but it excels in organic presentation and being 3d dimension.

And 1 years later i got a chance to try mimby to get direct comparison to R2R 1, So it might not be a right comparison, I figure the most organic and resolving to the least as below.
From two reason, the one is because i think mimby is more warm sounding product and slightly less refined than bimby based on my memory and the second is most people concur that mimby is as good as bimby(formally each have almost same architecture and their multibit chip is same).

R2R 1 > Bimby >= Mimby > Mojo

 

[PLGA]

Thank you guys for sharing your experiences!

It would be interesting to hear someone who has compared the R2R-1 or the R2R-2 to the Chord Hugo2 or Qutest DACs!! Anyone???

 

[bruiselee]

I'm currently using a calyx 24/192 dac..
It's on es9018 chip .



Thinking of doing a upgrade for it, and a switch to a r2r dac.
Some of the shortlisted are
Denafrips Pontus
Audio gd r2r 7
And then, when I'm considering the audio gd r2r 7, might as well compare the denafrips offering at similar price range - Venus..

I can't seem to really get some proper comparison no matter how hard I search..
So hope you gets can help to chime in.

I'm using it for speakers (2.1) set up BTW..

 

[jasoun]

I'm currently using a calyx 24/192 dac..
It's on es9018 chip .



Thinking of doing a upgrade for it, and a switch to a r2r dac.
Some of the shortlisted are
Denafrips Pontus
Audio gd r2r 7
And then, when I'm considering the audio gd r2r 7, might as well compare the denafrips offering at similar price range - Venus..

I can't seem to really get some proper comparison no matter how hard I search..
So hope you gets can help to chime in.

I'm using it for speakers (2.1) set up BTW..

Hi
I have no experience with the R2R7 or the top of the line Denafrips . But I do have the Denafrips Aries and the Audio gd R2r1 . Out of the box the Denafrips was the King , more Dynamic , More separation , More bass just really very good , but the recent Firmware update for the R2R1 brings it much closer to the Denafrips and it's much easier to listen to , the Denafrips is so vibrant that for me it can be a little tiring , it's like the band is in the room with me beating the hell out of me . I can only imagine that if their entry level dac is this good then the ones at the top must be something else . I am however an Audio gd fan . I like the fact that their dacs are adjustable and are periodically updated with improved Firmware and I can email the owner whenever I have a question and I get a pretty straight and very honest answer , they also have a 10 year warranty . The Denafrips is really good but I would not know where to turn if something goes wrong with it . For me it has to be the Audio Gd . .
Hope that helps

 

[Chopin75]

I'll add to the impressions I posted initially.

TL;DR - The R2R 2, C-2, and PS1000 or HD800S is the best and most enjoyable head-fi I've experience I've had. Hands down.

Since the digital conversion will have more of an impact on my experience than the amplification circuit, I'll start with the R2R 2. I've owned a slew of DAC's in my head-fi journey, including Neko D100 mkII, MHDT Pagoda, Schiit Gumby, Auralic Vega, Chord Hugo. Granted each of those were paired with different amplifiers and mostly different headphones, I can say with certainty, that the DAC implementation in the AGD hits way above it's price point. It's competitive with anything in the above list, and to my ears, more realistic than most. After hearing the Denafrips Ares a few months ago, I'd knew I'd never go back to a delta-sigma DAC, the R2R experience is just too natural to ever forego. The R2R modules in Mr. Kingwa's design are exceptional. I find the depth, imaging, and timbre from this DAC more true-to-life than any other piece of digital gear I've laid ears on before!

The low end is rich and full - I'm very much reminded of vinyl. Nothing ever feels light or wispy. From sub-bass lines to kick drums, to lower male vocals, the tonal foundation that the R2R 2 portrays is in a word, exceptional.

Midrange is what first hooked me with R2R/multibit conversion. It's just... right. From Norah Jones to Dave Matthews to Pavarotti, vocals are rendered with such clarity and richness, that I've taken headphones off to see if someone has entered my apartment multiple times over the course of three weeks!

The top end is also very well-done. It's got the smooth, non-fatiguing nature of vinyl but without the syrupy, overly-smooth sound of poorly done NOS designs. The detail retrieval is top notch - revealing things in my 'usual' recordings that I've honestly never heard before. The balance between detail and smoothness is really just striking. Better than any of the aforementioned DACs to these ears.

And just a quick word about the soundstage/separation/imaging experience. This is what really solidified my preference for the R2R 2. In a word, things are just immersive. With some of the other R2R DACs I've had, soundstage is usually a little small and sometimes congested. The AGD opens up nicely, without seeming artificial or overblown. After A/Bing a few of the other DACs I've got on hand, the R2R really just takes things to a different place in the way of three-dimensionality. With others, I feel like I'm watching a concert, while the R2R really makes me feel (or sound) like I'm there. I've not been impressed with a single facet of a converter's sound like this in a long time!

Being able to swap between NOS and OS conversion is just icing on the cake at this point. The only other DACs I know off that even offer that option are the Holo Spring and Denafrips Venus and Terminator - both of which retail for at least double what the R2R 2 does. Almost all of my listening was done in NOS mode, as that's the part about R2R designs that usually make the magic happen, but at some point I'll get to comparing the sounds between the OS and NOS settings.

I'm happy to say that this setup is completely satisfying to me and I've no more desire to ride the head-fi merry-go-round of constant gear auditioning and upgrading! I was losing hope that this day would come (especially at a reasonable cost!)

I am usually on the R2R7 post and have a R2R7 now. Most folks there are using OS x8. So far since you last reviewed this which mode do you prefer OS or NOS ? (sorry if you already described this please direct me to that page if you don't want to write the same thing again, there are too many pages to go through!) Thanks!

 

[maellen]

I am usually on the R2R7 post and have a R2R7 now. Most folks there are using OS x8. So far since you last reviewed this which mode do you prefer OS or NOS ? (sorry if you already described this please direct me to that page if you don't want to write the same thing again, there are too many pages to go through!) Thanks!

Would like to know about this too.

 

[Chopin75]

Hi
I have no experience with the R2R7 or the top of the line Denafrips . But I do have the Denafrips Aries and the Audio gd R2r1 . Out of the box the Denafrips was the King , more Dynamic , More separation , More bass just really very good , but the recent Firmware update for the R2R1 brings it much closer to the Denafrips and it's much easier to listen to , the Denafrips is so vibrant that for me it can be a little tiring , it's like the band is in the room with me beating the hell out of me . I can only imagine that if their entry level dac is this good then the ones at the top must be something else . I am however an Audio gd fan . I like the fact that their dacs are adjustable and are periodically updated with improved Firmware and I can email the owner whenever I have a question and I get a pretty straight and very honest answer , they also have a 10 year warranty . The Denafrips is really good but I would not know where to turn if something goes wrong with it . For me it has to be the Audio Gd . .

I'm currently using a calyx 24/192 dac..
It's on es9018 chip .



Thinking of doing a upgrade for it, and a switch to a r2r dac.
Some of the shortlisted are
Denafrips Pontus
Audio gd r2r 7
And then, when I'm considering the audio gd r2r 7, might as well compare the denafrips offering at similar price range - Venus..

I can't seem to really get some proper comparison no matter how hard I search..
So hope you gets can help to chime in.

I'm using it for speakers (2.1) set up BTW..

Unfortunately it is really hard to compare with many of these so called boutique Hi-Fi products. They are all small companies paying no middleman, no distributors and if there are few distributors they also are small companies that do not advertise or associate with any professional HiFi magazines. So they are all word of mouth. We are at the mercy of good unpaid HiFi Gigs reviewers, but I think they are quite helpful still. May just needs some gut feeling. From what I have read there are a few consistent patterns with various R2R DAC or multibit DAC.

Schiit Multibit - value for money, very clear and accurate, a bit cold but super detail, perhaps analytical ?, no DSD. Gen 5 USB makes use of external USB isolator unneeded.
Holospring - also value for money - forward, punchy, and also great detail, maybe a bit less organic, NOS is great, OS is crap, DSD is superb, USB sucks, need the I2S input (unless they have upgraded the USB now?)
Metrum - warm and lush, detailed enough, very musical - maybe quite forgiving?? Seems to play all stuff from all sources well, cannot do DXD unless you go to top of the line Pavane. NO DSD, no I2S (but can be modified, company can send you a board for that). The USB input sucks (or used to suck)
R2R7 - you can get most info from Head-Fi, in summary great value for money. Superb in PCM playing up to DXD, DSD apparently relatively less impressive but still very good (I have yet to test more of it), USB input is great, galvanic isolated esp if u use amenera USB board. OS vs NOS seem both great, a bit of a pain to need to adjust jumpers, many firmware update, need to be quite hardcore/a nuthead to own because of great number of options - many jumper options and FW updates etc.... I guess it is the DAC for the DAC geek, not for one who just wants to press a button and it works beautifully, needs personal fine tuning. Also super long burn-in period of up to 1000 hrs !! (factory does 300 hrs first).

I only have the R2R7 now and have never had chance to compare with others, I chose it based on the great reviews by the Head-Fi Geeks. And some gut feeling. So far so good! The other thing is I really want DSD too. Between Holospring and this, Audio-gd seems to have best PCM implementation, even perhaps DSD may not be as good as Holospring's ? But again I have never read a review to compare the 2 (vaguely remember there was a dutch review somewhere, but the comparison was not very detailed).

Hope this helps ??

 

[Toni-Mang]

R2R 2 has two da-8 modules while R2R 1 has four modules.
When you run by RCA on R2R 1, it uses only two modules so that it does same performance as R2R 2 doing.
When you run by XLR on R2R 1, it uses four modules.

Also i see the way of your feeling, OS is more refined but very slightly less organic than NOS - however this is not implemented in bad way.

Good morning and interesting point, are you shure, that there is no balanced Signal processing to the Output stage and there turns one Signalpart?

 

[sarang-i]

Good morning and interesting point, are you shure, that there is no balanced Signal processing to the Output stage and there turns one Signalpart?

R2R 2 has no 3-pin XLR mounted inlet.

 

[Gambitek]

NOS-1 mode is closest to my R2R-11. I'm using that. Don't mind the loss of a bit of OS8X detail; it sounds more musical this way.

 

[Pharmaboy]

NOS-1 mode is closest to my R2R-11. I'm using that. Don't mind the loss of a bit of OS8X detail; it sounds more musical this way.

Did you try NOS-3? Another member praised that here...

 

[Gambitek]

Tried NOS-3 extensively. Didn't like it. Felt like halfway between NOS-1 and OS8X. If I want detail, OS8X. Pure musicality, NOS-1. NOS-3 split the difference, but that's just my take. I really feel NOS-1's mids shine compared to the other modes.

The fact my R2R-11 can hang with the NOS modes of the R2R-1 shows what an incredible value the R2R-11 is, TBH.

 

[PopZeus]

Yeah, that’s been my experience as well. The 11 sounds a lot like stock NOS mode on my 1, with the 1 beating the 11 on technicalities. Couldn’t be happier, although I’m very curious about the recent firmware update.