[Dynobot]

Thats one great thing about getting usb off the board with a very short cable is that all sibilance is gone verses the still short Wireworld usb cable.  But your Dac is surely not broken in yet, once its fully broken in the lush sound will return.  Speaking of lush sounding, I am finding that I prefer my Stereovox bnc cable over my Oyaide cable.  Seems that the Oyaide being more smooth and less hard sounding than the Sterevox is making an already lush sounding Dac sound a bit on the dull side.  Conversely the Stereovox seems to give me a bit more air and decay though not taking away any of the lushness of the Dac.   As with all things audio ymmv and it seems that I am a minority on many of the things I find to be better sounding anyways

 
If anyone is bored or highly in doubt about jitter and usb cable length here is a study done by Texas Instruments.  You might notice that the usb board trace as well as the length of the cable has a positive correlation to jitter.
 
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=7&ved=0CD4QFjAG&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffocus.ti.com%2Fgeneral%2Fdocs%2Flit%2Fgetliterature.tsp%3FliteratureNumber%3Dsllse29%26fileType%3Dpdf&rct=j&q=usb%20cable%20length%20and%20jitter&ei=iVzHTLTuCsP6lwfElLj5AQ&usg=AFQjCNGksBYcY-lCapx2ejvLjCN-LHDIHA&cad=rja

 

[haloxt]

What I like about my H120 optical+sonicwave glass toslink is that the highs are very unharsh. It has other drawbacks and I consider it below usb, but it is very unfatiguing.

 

[aljordan]

This is a little off-topic, but I am considering a purchase of an Audio-GD preamp to go with my Ref 7.  I wrote to Audo-GD last week but haven't received a response.  My amps have a fairly low input impedance of 8 kOhms.  Does anyone know if the C3 will drive such a low input impedance without problems?
 
Do the Audio-GD preamps have the same top tier sound quality as the Ref 7 DAC?
 
Thanks,
Alan

 

[sokolov91]

Quote:

This is a little off-topic, but I am considering a purchase of an Audio-GD preamp to go with my Ref 7.  I wrote to Audo-GD last week but haven't received a response.  My amps have a fairly low input impedance of 8 kOhms.  Does anyone know if the C3 will drive such a low input impedance without problems?
 
Do the Audio-GD preamps have the same top tier sound quality as the Ref 7 DAC?
 
Thanks,
Alan

I am by no means an expert, but the same over kill design is used in the pre amps, so while it is ultimately a matter of taste, the top tier sound quality should very much be present as much in the pre amps as in the DAC. Depending on which one you get, you can also take advantage of ACSS.
 
As far as the impedance goes, others would do better to answer that but maybe check the audio GD amps and compare? If they are similar I don't see how it could be an issue.
 

 

[ccschua]

I have some testing of the dsp 1 v5 on the Ref 8.
 
the ref 8 with the new dsp v5  sounded more towards "neutral', it has more detail, soundstaging and more refine. Dsp1 V4 on the Ref 8 on the other hand is more mellow and warm. Audio-gd does not guarantee each individual will like the sound character of the new upgrade. so users may need to be cautious of the type of sound prefered.
 
next interesting part is Ref 8 with v5 since its sound is towards neutral, how is it compared to ref 1 with dsp v5?  This is personal preference, on certain tracks (vocal, instruments) I like the ref 8 sound while on soundstaging (movie tracks, pop) etc and fast music I would prefer ref 1.
 
I would definitely like to keep the ref 7 and 8 side by side.
 

 

[vrln]

Just a quick note: the sibilance I complained about is definately not coming out of Audio-gd gear. Tried the Phoenix/REF7 as a pre-amp with active speakers and the results were fantastic. So it´s in the HD 800 / its stock cord and I´m just sensitive to it.

 

[Pacha]

Some folks have reported good improvements and need to replace HD 800 stock cable to let them shine if I'm correct.

 

[sokolov91]

Quote:

Just a quick note: the sibilance I complained about is definately not coming out of Audio-gd gear. Tried the Phoenix/REF7 as a pre-amp with active speakers and the results were fantastic. So it´s in the HD 800 / its stock cord and I´m just sensitive to it.

 
Quote:

Some folks have reported good improvements and need to replace HD 800 stock cable to let them shine if I'm correct.

People can report whatever they want... there is no reason why a cable would be the fix to vrln's issue. He is, as he says, probably just sensitive to it. Sibilance is a a frequency range, and a cable is not capable of simply picking out part of a signal, reducing it, and keeping all others the same, or making them somehow better... it just doesn't happen, we know this for a fact.
 
If it is not the audio GD gear, which it most likely would not have been, you should try EQing your HD 800, or take the offensive recordings and try them out on those monitors. vrln needs to have some sort of personal reference. Could just be the HD 800 is not for him, and it would be a damned shame for him to spend hundreds of dollars on aftermarket cables to only find out the same thing.

 

[Pacha]

HD 800 cable is detachable and he could try out cables if he possibly has the opportunity. Whether it'd fix his problem or not I don't know.
 
Cable can make his cans sound different, if you have already done direct A/B tests with two identical cans with different cables you'd know this is not complete BS.

 

[sokolov91]

Quote:

HD 800 cable is detachable and he could try out cables if he possibly has the opportunity. Whether it'd fix his problem or not I don't know.
 
Cable can make his cans sound different, if you have already done direct A/B tests with two identical cans with different cables you'd know this is not complete BS.

 
The whole cable theory on its own is a separate thing and I don't really want to get into it. I was just talking about his particular sibilance issue. If he is happy, other than the sibilance, a cable is not going to selectively fix this, and leave everything else alone.
But you are right, if he had the chance to compare other peoples cables, he has nothing to lose.
 
However, a sighted a/b is extremely limited in its significance. So, even then, when he gets home and starts listening again, he will probably find the sibilance is still there as it always was.

 

[Pacha]

For sure another cable isn't going to fix sibilance only without bringing any other change. Doing quick A/B tests isn't fair I agree, he would need to spend quite a lot of time in the shop and possibly bring his source and amp, or at least verify that he hears sibilance on the shop's setup with his stock cable, then try the aftermarket one. Other solution would be to lend the cable for free for a test purpose and buy it only if he likes it, I know a shop here in Paris which does that, I don't know if he could find one near his place though.

 

[regal]

Please enough with headphone cables don't we have enough in other threads?

 

[lmswjm]

Quote:

I have some testing of the dsp 1 v5 on the Ref 8.
 
the ref 8 with the new dsp v5  sounded more towards "neutral', it has more detail, soundstaging and more refine. Dsp1 V4 on the Ref 8 on the other hand is more mellow and warm. Audio-gd does not guarantee each individual will like the sound character of the new upgrade. so users may need to be cautious of the type of sound prefered.
 
next interesting part is Ref 8 with v5 since its sound is towards neutral, how is it compared to ref 1 with dsp v5?  This is personal preference, on certain tracks (vocal, instruments) I like the ref 8 sound while on soundstaging (movie tracks, pop) etc and fast music I would prefer ref 1.
 
I would definitely like to keep the ref 7 and 8 side by side.
 

Thanks for the impressions............am enjoying your Ref 1 / 8 comparisons. As stated before, I'll be comparing V4 and V5 in the Ref 1 next month. So far, the V4 is the most neutral / natural presentation I've heard. I'm wondering if V5 in combo with my silver ACSS, XLR and BNC's may be strident sounding.
 

 

[dukja]

Thanks a lot for your report.  I have been looking for such impression desperately before I order Ref-7 a week ago.  I have read one report about Ref-8 vs Ref-1 and your impression share the similar information, which is good.
 
I was sold on Ref-7 with the description of "more airy and faster" than Ref-8.  But I was surprised to read " I like the ref 8 sound while on soundstaging (movie tracks, pop) etc" since movie soundtrack is my major genre.  Could you elaborate more on why you prefer Ref-8 for some music?
 
Thanks!
 
Quote:

I have some testing of the dsp 1 v5 on the Ref 8.
 
the ref 8 with the new dsp v5  sounded more towards "neutral', it has more detail, soundstaging and more refine. Dsp1 V4 on the Ref 8 on the other hand is more mellow and warm. Audio-gd does not guarantee each individual will like the sound character of the new upgrade. so users may need to be cautious of the type of sound prefered.
 
next interesting part is Ref 8 with v5 since its sound is towards neutral, how is it compared to ref 1 with dsp v5?  This is personal preference, on certain tracks (vocal, instruments) I like the ref 8 sound while on soundstaging (movie tracks, pop) etc and fast music I would prefer ref 1.
 
I would definitely like to keep the ref 7 and 8 side by side.
 

 

[Audio Bling]

Quote:

I am by no means an expert, but the same over kill design is used in the pre amps [..] 

 Is there anything else other than the very obvious power supply and two box config which tells you that the pre amp is an "over kill design"? Anything specific you can say about the electronics, for example?