[kumar402]

Any Idea if there is going to be another drop for this DAC. I always wanted to try R2R DAC. Another cheap option seems to be EC Design MOS16.

 

[moeagaru]

Any Idea if there is going to be another drop for this DAC. I always wanted to try R2R DAC. Another cheap option seems to be EC Design MOS16.

No word yet on when it will drop again but there were some cancelled units from this run, so it's possible they'll relaunch it briefly with the tiny amount of stock they have left. Apparently Massdrop has done this before but I'm not certain.

This is the first I'm hearing of EC Design. The only other companies that manufacture R-2R DACs I'm currently aware of are Soekris, Denafrips and Schiit, but there are bound to be others.

 

[CEE TEE]

Hi Everyone,

Nice to hear some of you already have your RDAC and are enjoying it!

DRIVER STUFF
For Macs- RDAC should be found in Audio Output Devices as "USB Audio 2.0".
For Windows- I have a link to the driver here and we will work on a product page link...

Windows Driver download link: XMOS Windows Driver (30C8)
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1c0gQ2GjEaqS3pC75QXym_Jf9Veu11IbN
Note: Windows 10 may not need a driver.

 

[karmazynowy]

@CEE TEE will there be another drop anytime soon?

 

[Collusion[FIN]]

This is the first I'm hearing of EC Design. The only other companies that manufacture R-2R DACs I'm currently aware of are Soekris, Denafrips and Schiit, but there are bound to be others.

MSB, Holo Audio, Metrum, totaldac, aqua, Audio-GD... There are many manufacturers, with very different levels of performance (and pricing...). R2R certainly does not automatically mean a good, or even an adequate sounding product.

P.S. Schiit isn't actually manufacturing any R-2R dacs - they are true multibit dacs, but with a different kind of resistor string architecture.

 

[eeagle]

@CEE TEE Thanks for the EXCELLENT support.

The link for the Windows XMOS driver worked flawlessly with Windows 7. Installation was effortless, simply using the SETUP.exe and driver was immediately available in the Foobar2000 music app I prefer. I have the R-2R routed to my THX AAA™ 789 (lucky enough to get back on a Dec DROP) and sound is SUPERB driving my HE560 planars.with some hi-res audio.

The driver package did not work for XP; and I was able to use the R-2R previously on my Windows 10 machine with its default driver.

 

[Baten]

XMOS apparently requires Windows 7 so XP users will be out of luck...

 

[eeagle]

XMOS apparently requires Windows 7 so XP users will be out of luck...

Support for XP has become OBE, I wish there was still a repository of old XMOS drivers which were XP compatible.

I am still able to use my Grace Design m9XX on XP w a prior version of XMOS. Each driver seems to get tailored to its device so they have never been interchangeable in my experience.

 

[Torq]

My production R-DAC arrived this morning.

With a quick, back-to-back, comparison to the prototype I have (which will now be returned ... I kept it purely to do a comparison between it and the production units), they sound identical excepting that the production unit has a slightly blacker-background (and the prototype was already distinctly black).

Running on macOS, it shows up as "USB Audio 2.0". Audirvana 3.5.11 recognized as soon as I restarted Audirvana (it only checks available audio devices at start-up). It is working there without any special configuration and with no issues. For reference I have setup for Exclusive Access, Integer Mode, Large Buffers and Mute-on-Sample-Rate-Change.

It is advertising it's features as supporting all 44.1 and 48 kHz based rates up through 705.6 and 768 kHz, and with DSD support from DSD64 to DSD256. Officially I think the prototype only supported up to DSD128, but I was able to get it to play DSD256, so that may be officially supported now. It certainly works with DSD256 content here, using "DSD over PCM 1.1" as the Native DSD output method.

---

On another note, I read on the drop.com discussion for this DAC, as well as earlier in this thread, that one user was experiencing static/distortion when playing music from his Mac. He later posted that turning down the output level (volume) on the Mac fixed this. This should NOT be required. I am running this at 100% output level and there is no static nor any distortion via any input. Unless that user also had some other signal processing in his output chain that was causing clipping, then I suspect they actually have a faulty unit (likely the input board). To re-iterate, this unit is playing perfectly at full-level output on all inputs, which is exactly how the prototype behaved.

 

[Baten]

My production R-DAC arrived this morning.

With a quick, back-to-back, comparison to the prototype I have (which will now be returned ... I kept it purely to do a comparison between it and the production units), they sound identical excepting that the production unit has a slightly blacker-background (and the prototype was already distinctly black).

What is slightly blacker than "distincty black"

 

[moeagaru]

My production R-DAC arrived this morning.

With a quick, back-to-back, comparison to the prototype I have (which will now be returned ... I kept it purely to do a comparison between it and the production units), they sound identical excepting that the production unit has a slightly blacker-background (and the prototype was already distinctly black).

Running on macOS, it shows up as "USB Audio 2.0". Audirvana 3.5.11 recognized as soon as I restarted Audirvana (it only checks available audio devices at start-up). It is working there without any special configuration and with no issues. For reference I have setup for Exclusive Access, Integer Mode, Large Buffers and Mute-on-Sample-Rate-Change.

It is advertising it's features as supporting all 44.1 and 48 kHz based rates up through 705.6 and 768 kHz, and with DSD support from DSD64 to DSD256. Officially I think the prototype only supported up to DSD128, but I was able to get it to play DSD256, so that may be officially supported now. It certainly works with DSD256 content here, using "DSD over PCM 1.1" as the Native DSD output method.

---

On another note, I read on the drop.com discussion for this DAC, as well as earlier in this thread, that one user was experiencing static/distortion when playing music from his Mac. He later posted that turning down the output level (volume) on the Mac fixed this. This should NOT be required. I am running this at 100% output level and there is no static nor any distortion via any input. Unless that user also had some other signal processing in his output chain that was causing clipping, then I suspect they actually have a faulty unit (likely the input board). To re-iterate, this unit is playing perfectly at full-level output on all inputs, which is exactly how the prototype behaved.

Thank you for reporting all of this. It renews my confidence in the product, which hopefully I’ll be able to get my hands on eventually. I agree such channel static and distortion is very likely indicative of a faulty unit, and that a working unit should absolutely not produce any regardless of volume level. I hope it doesn’t affect too many people.

 

[Torq]

What is slightly blacker than "distincty black"

Well, I could quote Ford Prefect and say "It's so ... black".

But I'd have to bastardize the next line to, "You can hardly make out the background ... silence just seems to fall into it!"

... or ...

I could misquote "Spinal Tap" and say, "This black goes to eleven!"

---

In reality it's more a "sense of blackness" than anything else. And while I hear no noise or hiss (that's not on the recording) from the prototype R-DAC, the production version somehow seems blacker still.

Either way, it's nice to see that the production units measure up favorably to what I heard when I first posted a review of the R-DAC when the first drop was announced.

 

[Torq]

I've spent all day with the R-DAC taking a variety of material from standard "Redbook" 16/44.1 kHz PCM to DSD256, with no issues.

Interestingly I could cite a number of "high-end" DACs that exhibit audible artifacts when switching between PCM and DSD, and between different DSD rates, but I have heard none of that from the R-DAC.

 

[Baten]

I've spent all day with the R-DAC taking a variety of material from standard "Redbook" 16/44.1 kHz PCM to DSD256, with no issues.

Interestingly I could cite a number of "high-end" DACs that exhibit audible artifacts when switching between PCM and DSD, and between different DSD rates, but I have heard none of that from the R-DAC.

Probably because it resamples everything to 192Khz PCM

 

[Matthew Willims]

Mmmm, wonder whether there will be more drops in the future..... Wouldn't mind trying one of these