[IPodPJ]

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Hello everybody: I am new here and need help. I just got the Ref 7.1 with new chassis, but the selector buttons dont work. Anyone know what the problem is?
 
help appreciated.
David.

I received my Ref 7.1 a week ago - shipped around May 22nd.
The selector knob is working, but I have to turn it more than just one click to make it shift input.
No big deal. Also - the DAC was shipped with extra selector and knob, so if I want, I can switch to the spare set.
Don't know about any new chassis though. Mine looks like the one on the home page.
If anyone want to see the Ref 7.1 page it's still there, but there is no links to it.
You might find it by Google'ing it. If not I'll post it here if anyone's interested.

That is not a defect, just the way their gear is.  Audio-gd selectors have always worked that way.  One turn click never equates to one position.  Switching to the spare set won't change that.

 

[txhifi]

Thank you guys for the responses. Mine is the new chassis, which has two small buttons to change input channel. It is the same as the new NFB8 chassis .shown on audio-gd site . My mistake to choose the new chassis, I probably have to return it.

 

[LarsHP]

That is not a defect, just the way their gear is.  Audio-gd selectors have always worked that way.  One turn click never equates to one position.  Switching to the spare set won't change that.

Okay. Thanks for clarifying.

 

[tme110]

Oh, I don't like those double little buttons at all.  Though I'll still trade you my new NFB1 for your 7.1!

 

[jmudrick]

haloxt, it's a good thing i caught you here! it's been a crazy month for me - i spent the last few weeks doing missionary work in cambodia, and i had no access to the internet. I'm so sorry that you didn't receive it, i had no idea at all. Got back a couple of days ago, still trying to catch up on my backlog of mails.I got my sister to send your chip out.

I sure hope it's a case of her forgetting to send out your chip and not the dsp1 being lost in transit. Let me check it out with her and/or the courier. If it is really lost, i'll reimburse you what you paid for a new chip. Please accept my sincere apologies, it must have been frustrating for you. My bad

Wish I'd known you were in Cambodia. I'm guessing I'm the only Audio-GD owner in the country. Unlike Thailand and Vietnam there's no audiophile scene here at all.

 

[IPodPJ]

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Originally Posted by spytsi /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Like IPodPJ, I had the same question (better, worry

for me!), when I first read about the new suit fitted to the discontinued Ref. 7.1. I'm expecting my custom unit shipped any of these days (order placed mid-March) and I definitely want it in its original box.
 
Of course later came txhifi's follow-up post to clarify that he customly ordered the new chassis. So, it looks like the last units to be delivered will come in the original knobed outfit, unless the customer chooses to go for the dual-button selector.

I certainly hope they don't make that the standard chassis.  As the responses in this thread have shown, sometimes it's a good idea to get some input from your customers first before doing something like that.  Personally, I'm a fan of knobs and I think they are more functional especially in this instance.  Buttons wouldn't be a bad thing necessarily, if there was one for each input, but a scrolling selector for 4 inputs with 2 buttons is just strange, and having the LED off center does not look aesthetically proper on this chassis.
 

 

[spytsi]

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Originally Posted by IPodPJ /img/forum/go_quote.gif

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I certainly hope they don't make that the standard chassis.  As the responses in this thread have shown, sometimes it's a good idea to get some input from your customers first before doing something like that.  Personally, I'm a fan of knobs and I think they are more functional especially in this instance.  Buttons wouldn't be a bad thing necessarily, if there was one for each input, but a scrolling selector for 4 inputs with 2 buttons is just strange, and having the LED off center does not look aesthetically proper on this chassis.
 

Agree in all points.

 

[txhifi]

I am going to send kingwa some pic and video to show him the problem. If I have to return it, I will ask for the old chassis. Anyway, should I ask him to pay for the return shipping?
 
thanks.

 

[SilverCans]

most likely if it's faulty he will send you parts to replace, it's just a push button, else he will indeed pay for shipping but I doubt it will get to that. This is per their policy, I've never had to return or repair anything I've bought from them. Best of luck, I hope you get it resolved

 

[veritas aurum]

I am so glad I bought the Anedio DAC!

 

[Happy Camper]

The confusion in translation is just another barrier to wear down the consumer. I enjoyed what I heard from the Ref. 7.v5

 

[jax]

There will always be differences in ways of doing business, and when you add the cross-cultural, east/west element to that you may find those differences compounded further.  There are plenty of folks doing business on their own unique terms who manage to cut out a niche, usually based upon either the uniqueness of what they offer, the quality of the product and or bang for the buck.  Some of them last, and some do not.  In the speaker-based audio world the late George Wright managed to build very utilitarian amps and preamps that offered tremendous bang for the buck in their performance in some cases, yet might as easily be delivered with scratches or a screw missing, or a variation in a switch.  That's just who he was - you either take it or leave it.  If you expected a perfectly finished pristine component from him you were certainly barking up the wrong tree, all of his components were hand built with point-to-point wiring either by him or by someone supervised by him (there was really only room for two people in his tiny shop). He was not known for precision and slick design, but some of his amps and preamps were excellent performers offering huge value.  None were for the pride-of-ownership, component-on-a-pedastal crowd though.  Having expectations that he be something other than he was is pretty silly, IMO.  I see something similar here;  Kingwa is offering a tremendous value/performance ratio in the higher-end DACs he produces (at least the PCM1704UK versions as far as I can tell from my own experience and from others opinions shared here - I can't really speak for other products from experience or research).  Obviously his ways of managing his business and developing his products are not typical of how a larger company might do the same, and cultural differences may also account for some varying ways of handling his business vs expectations from western customers.  He's also come under criticism for the way he's handled supply and demand and customer relations, some of which I'd have to sympathize with as very valid indeed, though my own experience with them was a transaction that was smooth as silk.  Having friends and clients in the audio manufacturing industry I know first hand how tricky that juggling act can be, and it is not easy, especially for a small business, where resources and funds are limited and need to be carefully managed. I can't really begin to imagine adding onto that the east>west shipping/customs and expense juggling involved, not just in final product delivery, but with vendor parts as well.  He obviously does not build his business on a typical western role model.  Clearly he does business on his own terms, and I'm not suggesting all of the criticisms are not valid ones.  But I have to say that some of the complaining in this and various other Audio-GD posts I've read occurs to me as someone pointing to a cat and insisting that it be a dog.  It also occurs to me that some folks have way too much time on their hands and bitterness in their hearts, which seems to be all too common on Internet chat sites.  If anyone were to do their research ahead of time there would certainly be more than enough information on the Internet to make some pretty informed decisions as far as the risks and implications of ordering from Audio-GD as well as many other companies with varying reputations and ways of doing business.  I'm not suggesting there's an obvious right and wrong here....just that, perhaps, as the saying goes - don't judge a man unless you've walked a mile in his shoes. 

 

[Pricklely Peete]

excellent post indeed jax....
 
Peete.

 

[TruBrew]

Hey guys. I just got myself a Reference 7, and I am very excited about it. It sounds great but I wish I had not packed up my V-DAC so quickly. Now I do not have a chance to directly compare them. I am only 25, but my memory lasts about 5 seconds. 
 
I started to read through this thread, but somewhere between page 15-20 I gave up. I don't need to know how it compare to anything else, but I won't be selling this anytime soon, and therefor don't want to hear about anything potentially better. 
 
I do have a few questions. Is is safe to run it 24/7. will it have large affect on the life expectancy of the DAC? Also I read something about different versions of the DSP. I don't really know what that means. I know its DSP-1 according to the seller, but I saw something about being more than one version. Is that a hardware thing, or is is somehow firmware upgradable. Also I read that the oversampling is controlled by the DSP. Mine is set to non-oversampling. That is fine with me, but if it is an easy switch it would be cool to try the different settings just to know how it changes the sound. I don't know if that is possible.
 
Is there anything else I should know about the Reference 7?
 
 

 

[Currawong]

Leaving it running constantly will be fine.

There are two DSPs: DSP1 is for the DACs and DSP3 is for the Digital Interface. However, there were 5 firmware revisions for the DSP1 (if not the DSP3). The revisions, at one point, included changes to the DSP boards such as replacing the DIP switches with computer-style jumper pins. There is no way to tell what firmware revision you have, but only that you'll have an earlier or later version depending whether you have dip switches or jumper pins on the DSP board.

The only other useful info I can think of is, if you are using the SE (RCA) outputs, you'll lose a tiny bit of sound quality, as the SE inputs jumper the positive terminal of the balanced output with ground. Unlike many brand-name DACs, the SE output isn't created by passing the signal through an OPAMP. This means, ideally, you'd be using a T1S (or other amp) with balanced inputs and not just a T1 for your Stax.