[BigMango]

 
Quote:

Thanks, if I can't find the screws myself I'll give Kingwa a mail.




My balanced cables arrived today; I installed them and the difference is instantly audible: a more authoritive sound, more powerful, explicit, beter defined bass, larger soundstage, more speed and swing but also harder treble, the slight but pleasant roll-off is gone.



It has become more matter-of-fact, less impressionistic...not always a good thing but in general I love it.


Since my DAC is not yet fully burned in nor -after that- carefully tweaked that might either take some getting used too or it will go away. I wonder if the amp has got to get on speed? It has been used single-ended for 10 heads...anyway, the slight rough edge sounds like a typical burning-in artefact and despite that I already enjoyed a few hours of I-forgot-how-great-that-sounds and I-never-heart-that-before.

 
I had the same problems when my Ref5 was new (harsh treble and lacking bass); I'm using the CAST connection. This resolved itself after burn-in. The highs are now smooth and the bass is all there.

 

[dura]

Thanks for the head-up; I've got confidence it will happen as you say, hearing improval the whole evening, remarkably reversed equivalent to the level of the bottle of fine red wine that accompanied me

 

[dura]

Thanks for the head-up; I've got confidence it will happen as you say, hearing improval the whole evening, remarkably reversed equivalent to the level of the bottle of fine red wine that accompanied me

And it did! It was already good out of the box, but after 10 days the rough edges have completely disappeared, bass and treble are very clean and extended, tonality and detail are such that the character of the instruments and the way they are played are very evident, nice big soundstage without that digital 'stabbing' (where the sound suddenly jumps out). I haven't yet found weak spots in the Ref5 soundsignature, it exeeds my expectations.
I did some tweaking, sorbothane feet, a van de Hul mainstream PC that in this case made the sound cleaner (it choked the Havana I had befire, worked very Well on the Rega Apollo) and some minor tweaks like RCA dustcaps on the amp and experimenting with polarity (no measurable or audible difference).

 

[dmac03]

This ref 5 about has me drooling. I am preparing to deafly purchase a dac to pair with my wa22 amp. The other contender is the ps audio dl3 w/ cullen mods (stage 3). They are similar in price, but I'm leaning to the dsp based ref 5 since my source will just be my toslink out of my xonar stx. Furthermore, h.rav's review implied that the ref 5 would trounce a modified dl3.
 
The only thing holding me back is that I'm uncertain about how the ref 5 pairs with tube amps such as the wa22.
 
Anyone out there with advice?
 

 

[Pricklely Peete]

Quote:

This ref 5 about has me drooling. I am preparing to deafly purchase a dac to pair with my wa22 amp. The other contender is the ps audio dl3 w/ cullen mods (stage 3). They are similar in price, but I'm leaning to the dsp based ref 5 since my source will just be my toslink out of my xonar stx. Furthermore, h.rav's review implied that the ref 5 would trounce a modified dl3.
 
The only thing holding me back is that I'm uncertain about how the ref 5 pairs with tube amps such as the wa22.
 
Anyone out there with advice?
 

A neutral dac should work with any decent amp (tube, hybrid, SS). I would imagine the WA22 would be a great amp to saddle up to a RE5. The RE5 is in another league compared to the PS Audio DAC, a number of folks have compared the RE1/RE7 and even the DAC19 to the DL3 (with and without Cullen mods) with the result being a sweep for the A-gd offerings. I can't recall anyone preferring the DL3...
 
Peete.

 

[dmac03]

Thanks for the advice Prickly Pete. The only thing that can sway my vote now depends on how the new ess sabre32 dac from kingwa fares against his current lineup.

 

[Currawong]

The Ref 1 + Audiovalve RKV MKII was great, so I can't imagine it could be bad with any particular tube amp, unless there was a technical reason. The tube amp would probably have more of an overall influence on the sound, which you'd rectify by rolling different tubes anyway.
 
I asked Kingwa what he thought of the sound, and he was very positive, whereas in the past he seemed to think nothing would ever beat the PCM1704.  I think he is more worried that people are now hooked on the benefits of the PCM1704 and wont be interested in the Sabre.  The DIY TPA Buffalo (which uses the Sabre) seems to get raved about though and I've almost never seen one for sale (except I think when someone upgraded to a newer version).

 

[vrln]

Ordered a Reference 5 DSP today, with the following customizations: 2 Canare BNC sockets, gold IEC socket, OCC copper wires for signals... Looking forward to my first Audio-GD product and also my first multibit DAC I´m sure the NFB will be fantastic too, but Delta-Sigma´s will be available in the future too so I had to listen to my heart!

 

[musico]

Hello,
 
I was wondering, if I want to use the Reference 5 with an amp that accepts 4 pin XLR (like the Little Dot Mk VI), then how does the ACSS output connect to this? since most seem to say that the ACSS is the best output (and is the ACSS the balanced 4 pin output, as opposed to the 3 pin output on the Reference 5?) Thanks for clarifying this, I am confused regarding the ACSS!

 

[Currawong]

musico: The Little Dot MK VI, from what I can see, accepts 2-x 3-pin XLR inputs, and has a 4-pin XLR socket for headphones. I'm not sure where you got the idea that it has a 4-pin XLR input anywhere. Nothing to do with ACSS at all.

 

[musico]

Hi,
 
You're absolutely right, I was thinking of the output of the LD mk vi... so disregard :_)
 
I am looking at the pics of the reference 5...
 
I guess the ACSS output is the 4 pin one in blue?
 
And would it be true to say that when the posts above are saying that ACSS is sounding better, is that it means ACSS output from the DAC to the ACSS input on the ROC? Hence for this improvement, it is really the combination of the ref 5 and the roc used this way?

 

[vrln]

Yeah, it is the 4 pin connector. You have to connect an Audio gd DAC and AMP that both have the ACSS sockets. The cable is quite cheap, Kingwa sells it for around 20 dollars and apparently it performs as well as any high end expensive XLR cable, maybe even better. 

 

[Dynobot]

Quote:

Ordered a Reference 5 DSP today, with the following customizations: 2 Canare BNC sockets, gold IEC socket, OCC copper wires for signals... Looking forward to my first Audio-GD product and also my first multibit DAC

I´m sure the NFB will be fantastic too, but Delta-Sigma´s will be available in the future too so I had to listen to my heart!

Good choice, you won't regret it....as good as it sounds out the box, it gets better after the 400 hr mark. 
 

 

[IPodPJ]

If the Ref5 is anything like the Ref7, I have no doubt you'll love it.

 

[TigzStudio]

Quote:

Ordered a Reference 5 DSP today, with the following customizations: 2 Canare BNC sockets, gold IEC socket, OCC copper wires for signals... Looking forward to my first Audio-GD product and also my first multibit DAC

I´m sure the NFB will be fantastic too, but Delta-Sigma´s will be available in the future too so I had to listen to my heart!

 
Nice they are offering OCC wires! I like this, you will love the Ref5....I loved mine very much.