[sokolov91]

Quote:

Does ACSS to RCA cable exist ??? Or am I saying something stupid ???
 
Denys

iPodPJ mentioned this several times and I think he did it (?) but it is not as simple as a straight ACSS to XLR cable.

 

[IPodPJ]

ACSS to XLR, not to RCA.  You need to use resistors to make a passive I/V cable.
 
It will give you a different sound flavor and presentation than using the XLR outs on the DAC.  But that doesn't mean it's better, just different.  The XLR output has a more neutral frequency response, especially since the v5 DSP-1 module came out.

 

[SoupRKnowva]

So i finally got to here/see this thing. All i have to say, is when i walked into the room at the hospital that our cincinnati meet was in, all i could do is stare. Like i knew it was gonna be big, from you guys have said, but i never thought it would be that BIG!
 
Anyways, onto the sound. i only got to hear it single ended into 9pintubes custom tube amp, which was my favorite amp at the meet, and holy cow was it amazing. Listening with the LCD-2's was crazy, probably the best fullsized headphone rig ive heard. The bass dug deeeeep, and it was very fast, but never harsh. The soundstage was pretty much collosal. i didnt have a chance to try my JH-13's on the rig, but im sure it would have impressed.
 
Also we put in the V5 DSP at the meet, i didnt get to hear it before we put it in, but everyone said it definitely improved the extremes of the frequency response and it sounded like it had overall more resolution. If i werent getting the JH-3A, and therefor not needing an amp or dac, i would definitely be putting this one of a very short list...with no other dacs

 

[sokolov91]

Quote:

So i finally got to here/see this thing. All i have to say, is when i walked into the room at the hospital that our cincinnati meet was in, all i could do is stare. Like i knew it was gonna be big, from you guys have said, but i never thought it would be that BIG!
 
Anyways, onto the sound. i only got to hear it single ended into 9pintubes custom tube amp, which was my favorite amp at the meet, and holy cow was it amazing. Listening with the LCD-2's was crazy, probably the best fullsized headphone rig ive heard. The bass dug deeeeep, and it was very fast, but never harsh. The soundstage was pretty much collosal. i didnt have a chance to try my JH-13's on the rig, but im sure it would have impressed.
 
Also we put in the V5 DSP at the meet, i didnt get to hear it before we put it in, but everyone said it definitely improved the extremes of the frequency response and it sounded like it had overall more resolution. If i werent getting the JH-3A, and therefor not needing an amp or dac, i would definitely be putting this one of a very short list...with no other dacs

glad to hear XD
 
PHACK this thing needs to get here. Did you try anything else with the combo other than the LCD-2? Could be they are just that awesome on their own .
 

 

[SoupRKnowva]

Quote:

Quote:

So i finally got to here/see this thing. All i have to say, is when i walked into the room at the hospital that our cincinnati meet was in, all i could do is stare. Like i knew it was gonna be big, from you guys have said, but i never thought it would be that BIG!
 
Anyways, onto the sound. i only got to hear it single ended into 9pintubes custom tube amp, which was my favorite amp at the meet, and holy cow was it amazing. Listening with the LCD-2's was crazy, probably the best fullsized headphone rig ive heard. The bass dug deeeeep, and it was very fast, but never harsh. The soundstage was pretty much collosal. i didnt have a chance to try my JH-13's on the rig, but im sure it would have impressed.
 
Also we put in the V5 DSP at the meet, i didnt get to hear it before we put it in, but everyone said it definitely improved the extremes of the frequency response and it sounded like it had overall more resolution. If i werent getting the JH-3A, and therefor not needing an amp or dac, i would definitely be putting this one of a very short list...with no other dacs

glad to hear XD
 
PHACK this thing needs to get here. Did you try anything else with the combo other than the LCD-2? Could be they are just that awesome on their own .
 

ive heard the LCD-2 out of quite a few setups now, and this one was the best ive heard, it beat the same amp with 9pintubes old monarchy dac by quite a large margin. the REF7 is something special for sure. i cant even imagine what i would sound like with the Phoenix running balanced connected via ACSS....youll have to let me know
 
Edit: and remember i heard the REF7 single ended, like seriously balanced it must be even more ridiculous...
 

 

[sokolov91]

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

So i finally got to here/see this thing. All i have to say, is when i walked into the room at the hospital that our cincinnati meet was in, all i could do is stare. Like i knew it was gonna be big, from you guys have said, but i never thought it would be that BIG!
 
Anyways, onto the sound. i only got to hear it single ended into 9pintubes custom tube amp, which was my favorite amp at the meet, and holy cow was it amazing. Listening with the LCD-2's was crazy, probably the best fullsized headphone rig ive heard. The bass dug deeeeep, and it was very fast, but never harsh. The soundstage was pretty much collosal. i didnt have a chance to try my JH-13's on the rig, but im sure it would have impressed.
 
Also we put in the V5 DSP at the meet, i didnt get to hear it before we put it in, but everyone said it definitely improved the extremes of the frequency response and it sounded like it had overall more resolution. If i werent getting the JH-3A, and therefor not needing an amp or dac, i would definitely be putting this one of a very short list...with no other dacs

glad to hear XD
 
PHACK this thing needs to get here. Did you try anything else with the combo other than the LCD-2? Could be they are just that awesome on their own .
 

ive heard the LCD-2 out of quite a few setups now, and this one was the best ive heard, it beat the same amp with 9pintubes old monarchy dac by quite a large margin. the REF7 is something special for sure. i cant even imagine what i would sound like with the Phoenix running balanced connected via ACSS....youll have to let me know
 
Edit: and remember i heard the REF7 single ended, like seriously balanced it must be even more ridiculous...
 

*drools* will report my findings soon!

 

[Happy Camper]

Another convert. Damned thing is massive but surely delivers the goods. The V5 swap out was necessary as the previous chip has a harder soundstage to figure out. The new board sounds more effortless with larger soundstaging.
 
Looking to putting it through it's paces in a couple speaker rigs but I've not heard better in my limited experience.

 

[9pintube]

Yep! I'll go along for the "same ride" critiquing the GD.Ref.7 Dac....It was nice, built well, Large as SoupRKnowva explained above........Is It the best Dac I've heard ....................Well..........not really, for the money it's close.....But IMO, Dac's are kinda of like great M.C. Phono Cartridges, in that many are really satisfying but there's always one or two that really say "KEEP ME".......Thanks for the opportunity to see and hear this fine Dac........Oh!, And HC was correct in his comments about the V5 Board Swap....... "IT" jelled, plain and simple to me......JMO

 

[regal]

My DSP v5 board made it to Cinncy,  then NY,  then it says SHIPMENT ON HOLD.  Never seen that before,  is this just a DHL thing or am I about to get a customs letter ?

 

[htluc808]

9pintube,
 
Thanks for your assessment.  Please advise what's the better DAC you've heard.  If its anywhere near the money, I am shopping for a DAC and may consider it.
 
Best,
 
Kenobi
 
Quote:

Yep! I'll go along for the "same ride" critiquing the GD.Ref.7 Dac....It was nice, built well, Large as SoupRKnowva explained above........Is It the best Dac I've heard ....................Well..........not really, for the money it's close.....But IMO, Dac's are kinda of like great M.C. Phono Cartridges, in that many are really satisfying but there's always one or two that really say "KEEP ME".......Thanks for the opportunity to see and hear this fine Dac........Oh!, And HC was correct in his comments about the V5 Board Swap....... "IT" jelled, plain and simple to me......JMO

 

[SilverCans]

Quote:

My DSP v5 board made it to Cinncy,  then NY,  then it says SHIPMENT ON HOLD.  Never seen that before,  is this just a DHL thing or am I about to get a customs letter ?

sometimes that just means its in customs and shipment on hold until it clears. i could be wrong, though something similar happened when i sold a headphone to someone in canada (ups showed "exception" as status or something) 

 

[9pintube]

Quote:

9pintube,
 
Thanks for your assessment.  Please advise what's the better DAC you've heard.  If its anywhere near the money, I am shopping for a DAC and may consider it. 
Best,
 Kenobi 
Quote:

Yep! I'll go along for the "same ride" critiquing the GD.Ref.7 Dac....It was nice, built well, Large as SoupRKnowva explained above........Is It the best Dac I've heard ....................Well..........not really, for the money it's close.....But IMO, Dac's are kinda of like great M.C. Phono Cartridges, in that many are really satisfying but there's always one or two that really say "KEEP ME".......Thanks for the opportunity to see and hear this fine Dac........Oh!, And HC was correct in his comments about the V5 Board Swap....... "IT" jelled, plain and simple to me......JMO

 

Kenobi, I would say the 1st thing you'll need to do is figure out what kind of system you're installing this dac into?? Is it a computer based system? Is It a disc stand alone system??? etc. etc.??  2nd' These Dac's change, IMO like the weather, as soon as you invest in your "New Gear" it will be out dated or "one upped" within a 1/2 yr or so!  This makes it all the more important to choose the Dac that pleases YOUR ears and compliments your system.....from the get go...I'm not into changing equipment, just because there's a Mark 2.5 version that's just hit the stores/forums etc...  You ask what Dac I might choose along with the Ref.7.... some other choices would have to be PS Audio Perfect Wave Dac-Bridge, The Benchmark Dac1 HDR, The Bryston BDA-1,  Along with the less expensive Dac's on the market today......Remember You're asking a "Vinyl" Dude who still likes the sound of his  old monarchy 20 Bit Dac.....So If I were you I'd Listen to as many in your price range that Gels with your equipment you have now or are planning to purchase down the road...........another thing Kenobi, Read, Read, then Read some more on these different units......Any other Head-fi'ers got any suggestions for one of our Bros..........Good luck, in this ever changing format...... Remember these are JMO!!!

 

[sokolov91]

Quote:

Quote:

9pintube,
 
Thanks for your assessment.  Please advise what's the better DAC you've heard.  If its anywhere near the money, I am shopping for a DAC and may consider it. 
Best,
 Kenobi 
Quote:

Yep! I'll go along for the "same ride" critiquing the GD.Ref.7 Dac....It was nice, built well, Large as SoupRKnowva explained above........Is It the best Dac I've heard ....................Well..........not really, for the money it's close.....But IMO, Dac's are kinda of like great M.C. Phono Cartridges, in that many are really satisfying but there's always one or two that really say "KEEP ME".......Thanks for the opportunity to see and hear this fine Dac........Oh!, And HC was correct in his comments about the V5 Board Swap....... "IT" jelled, plain and simple to me......JMO

 

Kenobi, I would say the 1st thing you'll need to do is figure out what kind of system you're installing this dac into?? Is it a computer based system? Is It a disc stand alone system??? etc. etc.??  2nd' These Dac's change, IMO like the weather, as soon as you invest in your "New Gear" it will be out dated or "one upped" within a 1/2 yr or so!  This makes it all the more important to choose the Dac that pleases YOUR ears and compliments your system.....from the get go...I'm not into changing equipment, just because there's a Mark 2.5 version that's just hit the stores/forums etc...  You ask what Dac I might choose along with the Ref.7.... some other choices would have to be PS Audio Perfect Wave Dac-Bridge, The Benchmark Dac1 HDR, The Bryston BDA-1,  Along with the less expensive Dac's on the market today......Remember You're asking a "Vinyl" Dude who still likes the sound of his  old monarchy 20 Bit Dac.....So If I were you I'd Listen to as many in your price range that Gels with your equipment you have now or are planning to purchase down the road...........another thing Kenobi, Read, Read, then Read some more on these different units......Any other Head-fi'ers got any suggestions for one of our Bros..........Good luck, in this ever changing format...... Remember these are JMO!!!

We need more people who respond to advice like this, even if absolutely taken with a product.
 
It does seem to be hard to audition audio-GD gear though.

 

[Happy Camper]

If we as a community were to work with some of these companies on these loaner programs, using members to hold meets for audition, more access can be accomplished. I want to see how this unit fares being shipped with all the activity. If all that electronics holds up without complaint, that says a ton about build quality.

 

[SP Wild]

Got my ref7 this morning.  Its just sitting there because I have no idea where I'll put it.  The thing is bloody gigantic and heavy...I was hoping it wasn't as large as I was led to believe, it is large.  Looks like I'll have to retire my Yamaha receiver to storage, so no impressions until I can re-arrange a whole heap of crap in my place.  Very thick and solid panels, really impressive.  The thing is as long as it is wide, the only piece of Hi-Fi equipment I've seen with this weird dimension - its going to be troublesome accommodating it.  If it equals or surpasses the Bryston subjectively, I'll keep it and axe the Bryston - otherwise I have no problem passing this unit on.