[mmwwmm]

After further listening and extensive testing, it's time to revise my experience & opinion. 1) the R26 continues to sound better and better with extensive break-in (a month).

Electrolytics in the R26 are all Nichicons audio grade of very high Quality: KG Gold Tune, KZ Muse and plenty of KW in the output and R2R stage. It seems KWs need a ton of hours to burn in and they sound very different with a few hundreds hours than fresh out of the box. Here some impressions about the KWs and the burn in.

https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/nichicon-kw-vs-fw-confusing-impressions.247975/

In the power supply of my DAC I tried as a primary capacitors borrowed from a friend Nichicon FW - 5pcsx2200uF/35V on each polarity of the supply voltage and stayed very satisfied with the result. Then I decided to purchase my own FW's but they offered me KW as FW were out of stock. Here: Miniature Type Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitors Nichicon state the KW are with "improved sound quality" compared to FW. So I choosed to purchase few pcs of 10 000uF/50V KW assuming I'll get better quality than what I got from the FW's because of the "improved sound quality" and the higher rated voltage @the same uF value. After continuous working for 3-4 days I put my new KW's under listening test to experience a big disappointment - the 10mF/50V KW's sound noticeably worse than the 5x2200uF/35V FW's... Now I'm confused - do KW's need more working time to settle to its best performance or I'm just ****** up following and trusting Nichicon guidelines...
Does anybody have any experience and impressions with the KW series?

So far I do not notice KW higher sound quality than FW despite all manufacturer claims...but exactly the other way around!
Anybody capable to share such experience?

I decided that I must share my final conclusions after the very first disappointing impressions from my new KW series from Nichicon.
Briefly - it took at least 2 weeks (!) of constant working to start giving me the sound quality that I paid for. Even now they go on improving their exceptionally nice sound performance. And now KW are really far from FW as to sound quality. The very first words that came into my head after listening to them again were: they play with exceptional ease. Voices and acoustic instruments are reproduced with natural ease and lightness like a breath of a child. KW present a nice merit - very high detail without being annoying.
And the main conclusion I made for myself from this is: the higher the sound quality of the parts the longer the time the parts take to settle to its best performance.

 

[mmwwmm]

2) The external 10Mhz clock does improve resolution, however at the expense of musicality. I'm happier with the music without an external clock. I was using genuine Gustard cables but with a less expensive LHY clock.

What output are you using from the LHY clock? Sine wave or square wave? Have you tried both? If so, are there any sonic differences between them?

 

[markkpa]

What output are you using from the LHY clock? Sine wave or square wave? Have you tried both? If so, are there any sonic differences between them?

I tried both early on and preferred the sine wave. Haven't retested the square wave recently - I'll try it at some point.

 

[Alcophone]

The Arris Surfboard is an AIO, but I bridged it to the TP Link router for better performance, and it made a big difference in range, connectivity, etc. even the TV performs better after the switch. It just seemed to me I could run the ethernet cable straight from the Arris, and save one transition? Going to try later today to link up to my Zen Stream and see how it goes......

In that case you certainly could. Doesn't mean it sounds better or worse, but should work just fine.

 

[BShaw]

In that case you certainly could. Doesn't mean it sounds better or worse, but should work just fine.

unfortunately neither connection worked with the Zen Stream, but I at least got an indication of connection with the router, nothing at all from the modem though. Zero sound. I can't wait to get my R26 and be done with this thing, it's been a big PITA from day one. Sounds great though when it does connect.

 

[Alcophone]

unfortunately neither connection worked with the Zen Stream, but I at least got an indication of connection with the router, nothing at all from the modem though. Zero sound. I can't wait to get my R26 and be done with this thing, it's been a big PITA from day one. Sounds great though when it does connect.

Weird. What's the complete model number?

 

[BShaw]

Weird. What's the complete model number?

Hmmm, nothing on the unit, but here's the number from the box:

 

[Alcophone]

Hmmm, nothing on the unit, but here's the number from the box:

Sorry, I meant the Arris Surfboard since there are so many different models of it.

 

[shogo33]

The way you described one effect of the greater temporal precision of an external clock (or a less jittery USB cable) as reducing hot spots is exactly my experience, increasing one's inclination to crank the sound up rather than turn it down. Having only had one for a week or so I'm increasingly amazed at the impact it has.

I - probably rather simplistically - envisage the hot spots (typically in the upper midrange) as a series of notes (or rather 1/44k etc per sec slices thereof) that ought to be perfectly sequentially spaced but due to jitter are temporally 'stacked' or crunched together in places increasing their actual or perceived volume in the resultant analogue waveform. Certainly toggling my clock on and off significantly reduces if not totally eliminates this. It makes me wonder what a top end clock with say --120db @ 1hz would sound like... amazing I'm sure.

I was recently treated to a session at a colleague's place. He ran a Afterdark triple crown 10mhz clock to his Etherregen and a second one to his U18, I2s to the R26 and balanced out to his SGR MT 3.2 active speakers. A bit overkill IMO, but I have never heard so many subtle details, tone in the piano, depth in the soundstage presentation. We played the 25th Anniversary edition of Buena Vista Club. One track that stood out and - Siboney (?) where the club atmosphere just surrounded us, I couldn't believe i was hearing a guy whistling towards the end of the track coming from the back of me. There was so much air and detail just floated around that soundstage but it was smooth and all so delicate. After all that, i went home amazed, sad and enlighten at the same time..lol.

 

[Highfive99]

Don’t ask a electrical engineer speak with a professional musician and or recording engineer my wife is a studio vocalist i have studio copies of her and others I asked the owners of the studio for .The studio went through a renovation along with have a couple of their recording mic’s refurbished a few years ago, she was asked to participate including in the evaluations.
Listening to playback of a well recorded voice one you know intimately tell‘s me volumes about how well said components reproduce timbre .That human pitch for me is critical and for it to sound just a little more realistic is pleasing though I am still learning I have now a pretty darn good headphone system that does a lot of things well and is very satisfying especially for the cost.
I have been through a number of dacs mostly borrowed most recent , AudioByte Hydra Vox, Denafrips Terminator plus , Holo Audio May KTE, Musician Aquarius, Rockna WaveDream XLR, and their flagship Signature, MSB entry level , Bartok with headphone input, and Merason Dac 1 . I belong to a small group of like minded enthusiasts we borrow what’s interest use to try for me the last several months has been dacs .

The most realistic sounding timbre from several recordings of acoustic instruments , tone and human pitch were couple really expensive dacs Rockna Signature and MSB , more down to earth a chip base dac by Merason is exceptionally good , Musician Aquarius and the AudioByte Vox ,sure subjectivity is at play however if you are familiar you’ll know it .

Not sure what this post has to do with the R26. Informative but totally irrelevant.

 

[Quinto]

Not sure what this post has to do with the R26. Informative but totally irrelevant.

Informative side notes are fine dude..

 

[BShaw]

Sorry, I meant the Arris Surfboard since there are so many different models of it.

Oops. It's an SBG6950, but I'm inclined to think it's the ZenStream causing the difficulties, and iFi's hastily cobbled together software (conjecture your honor!). Hopefully I can get CS to respond and speak with someone later today. Not connecting when I try the router either.

 

[Nada]

Oops.

You seem to be in the wrong thread. This is the R26 thread.

 

[Palyodgree]

Not sure what this post has to do with the R26. Informative but totally irrelevant.

Well it was in response to members Quito comments on timbre and member Nada remark on asking a electrical engineer question‘s , I meant no disrespect Nada , my R26 will be shipped in a couple days I think it’ll be fun directly comparing it to several other much more expensive dacs I have available to me .

 

[kenjamin0523]

Well it was in response to members Quito comments on timbre and member Nada remark on asking a electrical engineer question‘s , I meant no disrespect Nada , my R26 will be shipped in a couple days I think it’ll be fun directly comparing it to several other much more expensive dacs I have available to me .

Waiting for your comparison with rockna and holo Dac.