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Audio-GD Reference 7 - the new flagship DAC

Feb 15, 2011 at 4:43 PM Post #2,026 of 2,738


Quote:
udailey said:
Having just purchased a 7 its a b**ch to see a 7.1
If I can stop thinking about it I could sit back and listen to the best music my system has ever produced. The burn in on 7 is incredible. Before prolonged burn in its only marginally better than the 5, but after burn in watch out!! Imaging is fantastic and clarity/resolution is, well, the best my system has produced so its incredible.
I wonder if the new discrete output is the same as the discrete OPA's he sells or if its like the output of the more musical DACs, or something new all together.
Uriah
Click to expand...

 
According to "Respected" members of this forum there is no burn-in associated the either the Ref5 or the Ref7.
 
Initially I stated that I noticed a change after around 400+ hrs, but my observations were ruled ridiculous and absurd.
 

 
 
Feb 15, 2011 at 10:27 PM Post #2,028 of 2,738
I have both the RE5 and the RE7 and I have an input switcher. Both DACs outputs are plugged into the input switcher so I can go back and forth between the two. Both DACs are fed from the same DI which is fed only one USB signal. So, I can do a very good comparison between the two. When I first got the RE7 and compared it to the RE5 the difference was so small that I had decided it was a good purchase so that I could satisfy my curiosity but that I would not have repeated the purchase knowing the small increase in quality for the relatively huge jump in price. NOW the difference is significant. Either my ears are getting better or something is changing, seriously changing. Of course I still love the RE5 but the RE7 just smokes it.
Warm up is a big difference to. I leave mine on all day and turn off at night. There seems to be a 15 minute shelf and then a 45 minute shelf.
Uriah
 
Feb 16, 2011 at 3:57 AM Post #2,029 of 2,738
I also went from a REF5 with DSP1 Version III to a REF7 with DSP version V.
I A/B'ed with a friend and there was an obvious and definite improvement in the REF7 (with 200hours use on it).
 
Overall it was like a window that seemed clear being suddenly really cleaned to be utterly revealing of what was outside in a natural and effortless way.
 
Ive often related to detailed resolving power meaning harshness or an etched quality eg with sigma-delta processors e.g. the Sabre chip. Its so nice to have the REF7 with superb details delivered with a natural smoothness.
 
Feb 16, 2011 at 6:34 AM Post #2,030 of 2,738
I too have both the Ref5 and the Ref7.  I purchased my Ref5 about 3 months before the Ref7 and noticed a change in sonic character around the time the Ref7 arrived, so i figured it must have been around the 4-500hr mark.  After the Ref7 arrived I used two identical Linux machines as sources for each Dac and fed both into a Balanced Preamp then out to my powered Dynaudio speakers.  Same as other observations, at first the difference was small but the Ref7 did seem to have better control over amps when I hook it up to amps directly vs. the Ref5, after the Ref7 passed 400+ hrs the stability and ease of music flowed and the Ref7 easily surpassed the Ref5.  Now i have mated the Ref7 with a tubed pre and the combo is awesome, I could not ask for or even imagine better.  To these ears break in is real, true warm up matters but my Dacs stay on 24/7 along with my amps and all ss gear.  Recently though I stumbled on a great tweak that rendered my AGD-digital interfaces useless, so I sold them...
 
Feb 16, 2011 at 12:06 PM Post #2,032 of 2,738


Quote:
realmassy said:
Which is...?
 
Click to expand...


Nothing I was just joking....
wink.gif

 
Feb 16, 2011 at 1:03 PM Post #2,033 of 2,738
Jack Johnson is kicking some audio butt on my system right now.
I just put together a Windows 7 music server that sounds fantastic with the DAC. Definitely an upgrade over my laptop. The laptop sounded really good with the power supply unplugged, just running on battery. It was Vista with VLC media player and USB out to DI. 
NOW I am using a MSI 870A motherboard (this whole thing is overkill, I know that) which I bought because it has Toslink, Coax and USB output for comparisons. USB is the best. Anyway, AMD Phenom II X2 which the motherboard unlocks for a quadcore advantage. 8GB Patriot RAM, Patriot 64GB Solid State Drive, CoolerMaster 600 power supply (cant turn fan off on that), EVGA graphics card with passive cooling (replaces the other cheap video card that had a noisy fan), large heatsink ( I can turn off the fan on the sink and still play music with CPU only 40C but if Antivirus starts I have to turn on the heatsink fan), Dual Samsung DVD-RW drives, 1.5TB external USB drive. Silverstone Lascala chassis. I can no longer hear the fans now that graphics card is replaced and the case fans are disabled. Only power supply and CPU fans are running and CPU fan is running only 1000rpm. I have the processor underclocked and undervoltage as I am ONLY running VLC and an antivirus program.
It looks good and I have no clue why the USB sounds better out of this than it did/does out of the laptop. Same USB cord I was using previously. This MOBO has USB3.0 but I am just plugged into the 2.0 port. Yeah its all subjective and I am not doing back to back comparisons between laptop and new server but the new server sounds so so good.
I cant put into words how thrilled I am with the RE7.
DOES ANYONE HAVE a suggestion for software? I would like something like Pure Music because I like the way it shows all the album pics but I dont have a MAC. Anything worthwhile that does the Album pic thing on Windows7?
 
Feb 16, 2011 at 2:21 PM Post #2,034 of 2,738
Nice to see another happy owner :) Have you setup bitperfect playback on Windows 7? The easiest way is to use Foobar2000 (fantastic player) and download the WASAPI plugin for it. After that you just select the WASAPI output in the options and you´re done. Also consider getting an Audio-gd Digital Interface, it´s made for the REF7 :)
 
Feb 16, 2011 at 3:38 PM Post #2,035 of 2,738


Quote:
vrln said:
Nice to see another happy owner :) Have you setup bitperfect playback on Windows 7? The easiest way is to use Foobar2000 (fantastic player) and download the WASAPI plugin for it. After that you just select the WASAPI output in the options and you´re done. Also consider getting an Audio-gd Digital Interface, it´s made for the REF7 :)
Click to expand...



 I suppose it's made for the REF5 too ??? I should receive my DI with upgraded clock next week as it left China on Tuesday...
 
Thanks for the Foobar tip...
 
Denys
 
Feb 16, 2011 at 4:49 PM Post #2,037 of 2,738
The upgraded clock really does make a difference, not night and day but it helps bring everything together nicely.  I didn't have the AGD upgrade clock, instead I used a Tentlabs clock.
 
The guy I sold it too never posted his observations, it would be nice if people would comment their findings. Ultimately though I decided to do without, but I think you should enjoy it.
 
AGD might as well get rid of the XLR input on their dacs, I have no idea how anyone would get 110ohm AES/EBU to feed a Dac these days.
 
Feb 16, 2011 at 7:44 PM Post #2,038 of 2,738


Quote:
dynobot said:
AGD might as well get rid of the XLR input on their dacs, I have no idea how anyone would get 110ohm AES/EBU to feed a Dac these days.
Click to expand...


That's a ridiculous idea.  I use AES/EBU from my Logitech Transporter.  In fact, back when the RE1 was out I had asked Kingwa to include AES/EBU on his next DAC implementation.  Most high-end transports (and master clocks that combine the signal) have an AES/EBU output.  It's a studio standard, so why would you not include it?  I don't think I would ever buy a high-end DAC again that didn't have it.
 
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