[rafabro]

  I purchased the A20H via the seller Shenzhenaudio , 5 days and it arrived in Italy .
I am testing it with Sennheiser HD650 from the single ended output and balanced output , and a Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 250 OHM from the single ended output only .
I'm not satisfied , I need more gain .
@ maximum volume, pot set to  60, gain set to high, sounded too low , maybe I am deaf .
I don’t try  listen on the speakers out , I avoided suffering .
I am using A20H only via USB . Have not tried DSD settings , only pcm ,  aiff 16/44  .
Connected the output of A20H to Violectric V200, the result was not striking , to get the gain that I had
with GustradX20U, I had to increase the pot a lot , 1/4 more , obtaining, however, a flabby results .
A20H havent the same punch of X20U.
I dont think the problem is the “ burn-in “of the Dac , last year when I turned on the X20U I was immediately  satisfied!
Nothing has changed in my setup,  only the dac .
I’m really sorry , this is my point of view.
I want to get a refund, I sent an email to him, I haven t  had a response from the seller, because he is on vacation until mid-February .

Check, maybe your pc/server volume is lower than 100%

 

[canthearyou]

I purchased the A20H via the seller Shenzhenaudio , 5 days and it arrived in Italy .

I am testing it with Sennheiser HD650 from the single ended output and balanced output , and a Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 250 OHM from the single ended output only .

I'm not satisfied , I need more gain .
@ maximum volume, pot set to  60, gain set to high, sounded too low , maybe I am deaf .

I don’t try  listen on the speakers out , I avoided suffering .

I am using A20H only via USB . Have not tried DSD settings , only pcm ,  aiff 16/44  .

Connected the output of A20H to Violectric V200, the result was not striking , to get the gain that I had

with GustradX20U, I had to increase the pot a lot , 1/4 more , obtaining, however, a flabby results .

A20H havent the same punch of X20U.

I dont think the problem is the “ burn-in “of the Dac , last year when I turned on the X20U I was immediately  satisfied!

Nothing has changed in my setup,  only the dac .

I’m really sorry , this is my point of view.

I want to get a refund, I sent an email to him, I haven t  had a response from the seller, because he is on vacation until mid-February .

Is it set for correct AC voltage?

 

[Joong]

  Is the preamp doesn't disable when the cans are active, then it throws out the utility of switching to quiet listening at night so as not to wake everyone up.  And only one volume control for both?  

I did not test all functions.
There might be a preamp function that mutes out the line out when headphone jack is inserted.

 

[inobla]

Hello rafabro ,
all volumes are set to 100 % , I try on Itunes ( eq off / eq on ) , Logix Pro X , i try all sample rate setup .
hello canthearyou , i try to switch 220 to 110 to 220 but nothing change ,
I just think that AK4497EQ are not made for me .

 

[alota]

  Hello rafabro ,
all volumes are set to 100 % , I try on Itunes ( eq off / eq on ) , Logix Pro X , i try all sample rate setup .
hello canthearyou , i try to switch 220 to 110 to 220 but nothing change ,
I just think that AK4497EQ are not made for me .

really thanks for your review.i was thinking about this amplifier only for headphones
grazie mille
Aldo

 

[canthearyou]

Hello rafabro ,

all volumes are set to 100 % , I try on Itunes ( eq off / eq on ) , Logix Pro X , i try all sample rate setup .

hello canthearyou , i try to switch 220 to 110 to 220 but nothing change ,

I just think that AK4497EQ are not made for me .

I'm thinking you got a bad unit.

 

[kukynas]

 
@ maximum volume, pot set to  60, gain set to high, sounded too low , maybe I am deaf .
I don’t try  listen on the speakers out , I avoided suffering .

 
that's weird, A20H has like 50% higher gain than standard ES9018 based DAC, either you got bad unit or something's wrong, did you tried set the gain to "low" instead of "high" ? maybe just firmware screwed up

 

[canthearyou]

Well, I guess I bought one.

 

[ForgottenSpy]

  all volumes are set to 100 % , I try on Itunes ( eq off / eq on ) , Logix Pro X , i try all sample rate setup .
hello canthearyou , i try to switch 220 to 110 to 220 but nothing change ,
I just think that AK4497EQ are not made for me .

 
It is really weird.
Hifiman He-400i with their 93dB of sensitivity starts sound loud from 25 points,
And this is SE out.
Balanced is much more powerful
Did you install the drivers ?

 

[inobla]

Today I did another test. I have installed the A20H driver’s on an AsusPro Pc , intel core i7 processor , with Windows 10 , and the situation is not changed.
As for my Mac Mini with Mac OS 10. 9. 5 : the gain in the headphone is not deafening, but it's just enough.
Both Mac and PC with  volume @ maximum  ( pot @ 60 ) ,
using  some tracks ( aiff 16/44 only ) that I always use in my tests ( because they sound good and are my reference played on many systems ) i have a  problem of “ clip , distortion “ on the low frequencies, particularly on the bass kick .
 Never heard so far with X20U.
in terms of comparison the “ A20H “ in headphone balanced mode It sounds at the same level of the “ Xonar Essence One Muses edition “ in single ended mode .
I'm not here to denigrate the product , I love Gustard .
Someone who made the purchase has encountered the same problems ?
Tiny headphone’s volume , and bass kick clipping ( only with pot @60 )  ?
I am convinced that is not for the  limit of my headphones ( HD650 ) , They have reached much higher levels .
I’m sorry , I think I was unlucky .

 

[k979khz]

  Hello rafabro ,
all volumes are set to 100 % , I try on Itunes ( eq off / eq on ) , Logix Pro X , i try all sample rate setup .
hello canthearyou , i try to switch 220 to 110 to 220 but nothing change ,
I just think that AK4497EQ are not made for me .

I use the a20h with hd650 and HE-400i, balanced and unbalanced. I normally listen to HD650 at volume levels 20-30 with low gain from the balanced output. At high gain balanced out, 10-15 should be enough for most tracks/recordings, and it should be absolutely unbearable at max volume/high gain/balanced out. Have you tried it out with an optical and/or coaxial digital signal? If you previously used an other contemporary DAC from the same manufacturer the old driverinstallation could be an issue.

 

[inobla]

Hello k9 ,
yes , I am sure that my unit is defective

 

[canthearyou]

It's been one week since I placed my order and 3 days since I tried to cancel that order. Money was taken from my account, but still says "processing" on Shenzhenaudio. It's a bummer to have almost a grand wrapped up in this.

 

[ForgottenSpy]

It is still holidays time in China. During Spring Festival a.k.a. Chinese New Year all activity is frozen.
Next week it will start roliing again, so you need just a little more patience.

 

[canthearyou]

It is still holidays time in China. During Spring Festival a.k.a. Chinese New Year all activity is frozen.
Next week it will start roliing again, so you need just a little more patience.

They are back in office and promptly responded to my cancelation request. I will purchase this amp from them in the near future, as I am very interested in it. But at this very moment I had a crazy offer come up for a home theater system that couldn't be passed up.