[svo360]

Hi to all,

I'm recent owner of the Audio-gd Reference 5.32 and I like its sound very much!

But I have an issue with this dac. It outputs a dc offset of 65 mV at both channels.

This is problem with my dc-coupled setup and creates a high value (400 mV dc) on my Hifiman HE-6 (connected to my Firstwatt F5).

Speaking with Mr. Kingwa, he says that the measured voltage is the result of the embedded dc servo circuit.

Your opinion guys?

what problem is this causing to the he-6? Or will it be a problem? I ask because i have speaker amp running he-6 and looking for a dac.

 

[StryGR]

Forget this dac (and Chinese ones in general).
 
The one I had was faulty (very high dc offset) and returned back for full refund.
 
The high dc offset in a dc-coupled amp (e.g. Firstwatt F5) imposes very high risk to HE-6.
 
I bought a Chord Hugo instead and now I'm in bliss...

 

[svo360]

Forget this dac (and Chinese ones in general).

The one I had was faulty (very high dc offset) and returned back for full refund.

The high dc offset in a dc-coupled amp (e.g. Firstwatt F5) imposes very high risk to HE-6.

I bought a Chord Hugo instead and now I'm in bliss...

Ok thank you, but now im concerned about this dc offset in my shanling A40mkii class A amp i use to drive the he-6. Do i have anything to worry about? Does this amp have this issue?

 

[StryGR]

A dc offset higher than a few millivolts (e.g. 5) is dangerous for amplifiers not having a capacitor in the signal path to remove and not amplify dc, and also output only ac current (music signal).
 
DC in the output of the amplifier could fry the units of the connected speaker!
 
Besides, this specific dac incorporates special modules (and not capacitors) for removing the dc component from the signal. If it doesn't work, there is nothing to cut off dc from being present at the output of the dac.
 
The manufacturer has not managed to convince me that it was not faulty and accepted to send it back for full refund.

 

[svo360]

  A dc offset higher than a few millivolts (e.g. 5) is dangerous for amplifiers not having a capacitor in the signal path to remove and not amplify dc, and also output only ac current (music signal).
 
DC in the output of the amplifier could fry the units of the connected speaker!
 
Besides, this specific dac incorporates special modules (and not capacitors) for removing the dc component from the signal. If it doesn't work, there is nothing to cut off dc from being present at the output of the dac.
 
The manufacturer has not managed to convince me that it was not faulty and accepted to send it back for full refund.

ok i will check with a multimeter just to be safe I'm very curious to see if there is dc present.

 

[Luckbad]

Does anyone have any experience with the Reference 5.32 and NOS-1704? I have the opportunity to get one or the other, and I'm trying to decide between the two. They appear to be very different approaches, but I don't really know how they differ in the end.
 
They'll be going into a Cavalli Liquid Carbon.
 
Thanks!

 

[undersys]

  Does anyone have any experience with the Reference 5.32 and NOS-1704? I have the opportunity to get one or the other, and I'm trying to decide between the two. They appear to be very different approaches, but I don't really know how they differ in the end.
 
They'll be going into a Cavalli Liquid Carbon.
 
Thanks!

 
I might not know enough to say for sure, but I though the Ref-5.32 could be configured as NOS :

Two-channel NOS / 2-times / 4-times / 8-times oversampling , supports Bypass mode (NOS mode.). 

http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/RE52/RE5.2EN_Tech.htm
 
?

 

[Luckbad]

I might not know enough to say for sure, but I though the Ref-5.32 could be configured as NOS :
http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/RE52/RE5.2EN_Tech.htm

?

It can, but from what Kingwa has said in the past, it still isn't as warm or musical as the NOS1704 in that mode.

I was hoping for impressions from people who have heard both.

Thanks for the reply in any case!

 

[undersys]

It can, but from what Kingwa has said in the past, it still isn't as warm or musical as the NOS1704 in that mode.

I was hoping for impressions from people who have heard both.

Thanks for the reply in any case!

 
Ah i had no clue
Thanks for the info

 

[Luckbad]

Has anyone put the Amanero Combo 384 in their Reference 5.x? I emailed Audio-GD the question but it's a bit lost in translation.
 

Yes you can but want to solder two wires, and we had lost the MCU software, so don't want replace the MCU.
The issue is while the computer had the mute signal output, the sound will mute 0.8 seconds.
 
Kingwa

 

[undersys]

  Has anyone put the Amanero Combo 384 in their Reference 5.x? I emailed Audio-GD the question but it's a bit lost in translation.
 

I was looking at doing the same
I assume we need to solder some wire from "somewhere" to the Amanero card, not too worried about that one.
As for the MCU issue , not sure. I am a  bit worried if there is no MCU update since all the other DAC's got that.
So thus far I held off, I might order it later.

 

[dcivera]

Anyone upgraded Ref 5 to NOS 5? I did and would like to share findings.
 
Cheers!

 

[.Sup]

Anyone upgraded Ref 5 to NOS 5? I did and would like to share findings.

Cheers!

If you are talking about the first gen. Ref 5 then please do, I still have one and am thinking if its possible to upgrade usb to Amanero and what the results are.

 

[stoutblock]

I have not upgraded to NOS but did upgrade my 5.2 to 5.32 with Amanero etc. Well worth it and much better USB interface with better driver support etc.

 

[.Sup]

I have not upgraded to NOS but did upgrade my 5.2 to 5.32 with Amanero etc. Well worth it and much better USB interface with better driver support etc.

I just got a reply from kingwa about the firmware upgrade process in order to be able to install Amanero, to me it seems very complicated and risky but doable.