[Stillhart]

   
How much improvement is Amanero vs the VIA?
 
So the 3M EMI asborber worked for you too? Care to describe the difference in depth?
 
 
Special tweak, Do this at your own risk warning, YMMV:

Spoiler: Warning

You can also try to clean the metal connection tips of your interconnects, fuses, power plug with a ultrasonic cleaner to remove the top layer of oxidation.(don't soak the entire cable in the water, just the tip and remember to dry it out properly, using hair dryer and flicking away the excess water).
 

 
 
I have done the ultrasonic cleaning on my ACSS cable, Speaker XLR cables and My HD800 balanced connector tip. I notice slight improvements to deep bass, mid range transparency and treble clarity.

 
Might be hard to describe the difference if he did the Amanero and EFI at the same time.  Hopefully he didn't, so he can speak to how each mod sounded individually.

 

[bimmer100]

   
Might be hard to describe the difference if he did the Amanero and EFI at the same time.  Hopefully he didn't, so he can speak to how each mod sounded individually.

Stillhart
 
I was careful about testing these with each upgrade as a separate step.
 
I installed the Amanero and tested for about 2 hours with music i'm familiar with. This was with my Master11 BTW. I noticed the increased separation and soundstage further improved or changed slightly. The smoothness of the sound seemed slight too.  I had an issue though, I lost about 6db in the right channel for some reason. I did a power cycle and it fixed the problem. I emailed Kingwa about it and he asked me to double check my soldering job and the connections in general. Also commented its possibly a cable. He asked me to take a photo of the work I did to verify. I did, so I opened up the M11 again to take a photo and verify. It was at this time I decided to install the 3M EMI/RF material since i've opened it up again.
 
I took photos for Kingwa, and he said everything looks good. I have not had a problem since with the right channel being 6db quieter. (approx)
 
I installed all the 3M absorbtion film on the DAC for the first attempt. ALL PCM1704UK's were covered, and the DSP chip. I tested it at that point and wasn't sure if I heard any difference or not. If so, it was very slight. I'm talking about slight because the M11 sounds so damn good already! not too much to improve or change. I opened it back up and added it to the two chips on the Amanero and left the clocks uncovered. I also added large pieces to the portion that is directly above the DAC PCB. 3 large rectangles as seen in the photo. The aluminum walls clear the edges of the absortion film just slightly by 1mm. Further shielding the already perfectly shielded M11.

 

 

(I may add more to some of the IC's that are still exposed, I covered more on the NFB28 than the M11)
 
If anything was improved, it was subtle. The difference to the NFB28 was more significant. I swear it was due to the less than ideal shielding. The 2015 does have much better shielding than the 2014 model. Yet, the shielding doens't go all the way up to the top panel like the M11. It has at least 1/2 gap. I put shielding over the transformer, as well as the sabre chip and many other small IC's. Will load photos of the NFB28 2015 edition later. I think it smoothed out the sound a little more. I also did this in steps from Amanero first....testing...AOK... add absortion film....test. AOK. 
 
I don't think the absortion film was worth it on the M11. but will test more. I just didn't notice as much. I'm pretty sure it helped the NFB28 though. It sounds incredible now! It was a good upgrade just going to the amanero with the NFB28! but the combo made it sound so smooth and glare is gone. Sound is so smooth and unlike sabre sound. The details are still there! 
 
-----------------------------
Would I do it again to future Dacs? sure! I figure with a comibination of many upgrades/mods that you will likely get small changes that will add up overall to maybe 1,2,3% in the end. Each change could be .5% or inaudible for most cases. But this is just my theory. I love to tweak things.
 
-----------------------------
I modded both of the Schiit Wyrd's I have for each dac. They also had the absorbtion film added to the USB boxes, and all the IC's/clocks etc. But I have been thinking of removing the Wyrd since it's clock is rated for 200picoseconds and the Amanero is at 0.04-2.42picoseconds.  I don't know if it will do anything now. Thats my next test. taking it out of the loop so to speak.
 
The Elfidelity USB has been a nice upgrade, as it's running with the Teradak U9 Linear power supply. Sure, Audio-gd doesn't use power in the USB cable. But keeping the power clean  in the cable may possibly keep interference in the cable to a minimum. and it isolates the USB port inside the computer from all the noise It can pick up if it was plugged into the PC's powersupply or power from the motherboard. 

 

[bimmer100]

   
Might be hard to describe the difference if he did the Amanero and EFI at the same time.  Hopefully he didn't, so he can speak to how each mod sounded individually.

I can't say what it sounds like with JUST the absorbtion film and VIAUSB32. But I didn't really notice any improvement that was considered notable with the M11. 
 
Only the NFB28 had audible improvements.
 
swapping back to the VIAUSB32 is easy enough, but I won't bother at this point. I'm pretty sure the M11's not benefitting much from the Absorbtion film. if it is, its 1% at the most IMHO.

 

[evillamer]

I am guessing the reason why the NFB28 benefits more from the EMI shielding could be because the ESS Sabre ES9018S DAC chip itself is running on >40MHz and packing 8 dacs in such a small surface area with high current draw. Thus the sensitivity to interference is higher than the multi-chip packaging,  sub-Mhz design, lower power draw of the PCM1704UK(M11).
 
My experience with the 3m emi shielding on my master 7 is that I don't notice that much of a big difference unless I playback really high dynamic range classical tracks like beethoven's moonlight sonata where I can notice a more darker background(less HF hissy) and improved ultra low level, plankton details.

 

[evillamer]

@bimmer100
 
You should also disable USB power saving features if you are using Windows OS to get the best performance out of your usb card.
 
Another usb card comes with TCXO clock(v3)
http://ppaproduct.blogspot.sg/2013/07/audio-grade-usb-30-pcie-card.html
 
Also your Master 11 hasn't really reach it's full potential. In my experience, it has taken more than 500hours for my master 7 to reach burn-in stability. And just like ygg, it can beneifit from 24x7 op. But Kingwa doesn't recommend 24x7 op, just to note.
 
 
Also you can future tweak the emi shielding on your M11/NFB28. The area is the under layer of  the PCB board. You have to access the bottom part of the dac(not so easy). Also you will notice that there's a AC power cable running below the board. Not sure how you going to tweak it from there but just to note that  just like like sound wave, Electro Magnetic Interference is 360 deg. kind of radiation. 
 
From your picture, you should also consider shielding the 2 opamps on the analog section of the M11. From what I understand from LHLab's videos, Larry mentioned that analog section is most sensitive to emi(especially RFI) noise.
 
If amanero is your only input choice, you should consider unplugging other offboards like I2S or VIA usb to reduce emi/power draw futher. (Any kind of power draw increases emi)

 

[bimmer100]

  @bimmer100
 
You should also disable USB power saving features if you are using Windows OS to get the best performance out of your usb card.
 
Another usb card comes with TCXO clock(v3)
http://ppaproduct.blogspot.sg/2013/07/audio-grade-usb-30-pcie-card.html
 
Also your Master 11 hasn't really reach it's full potential. In my experience, it has taken more than 500hours for my master 7 to reach burn-in stability. And just like ygg, it can beneifit from 24x7 op. But Kingwa doesn't recommend 24x7 op, just to note.
 
 
Also you can future tweak the emi shielding on your M11/NFB28. The area is the under layer of  the PCB board. You have to access the bottom part of the dac(not so easy). Also you will notice that there's a AC power cable running below the board. Not sure how you going to tweak it from there but just to note that  just like like sound wave, Electro Magnetic Interference is 360 deg. kind of radiation. 
 
From your picture, you should also consider shielding the 2 opamps on the analog section of the M11. From what I understand from LHLab's videos, Larry mentioned that analog section is most sensitive to emi(especially RFI) noise.
 
If amanero is your only input choice, you should consider unplugging other offboards like I2S or VIA usb to reduce emi/power draw futher. (Any kind of power draw increases emi)

2 opamps on the analog section? I was under the impression it has discrete analog sections with NO opamps...
???
 
"Fully balanced pure class A design built by discrete analog stages without any OPA or coupling caps in the signal channels."
^^^^taken directly from the audiogd website..
 
 
I'm aware of Paul Pang products, although they are extremely expensive too! 
 
I may try more shielding on the M11 though. I'm not sure what all the IC's are that I have'nt covered yet. I ran out of film so ordered another sheet. I will use it with the gustard U12 as well. I doubt the U12 will have any improvement over the amanero. It sounded very similar to the Via usb32. But the Amanero was notably better than the VIA usb32... We shall see...

 

[evillamer]

 

2 opamps on the analog section? I was under the impression it has discrete analog sections with NO opamps...

???
 
"Fully balanced pure class A design built by discrete analog stages without any OPA or coupling caps in the signal channels."
^^^^taken directly from the audiogd website..
 
 
I'm aware of Paul Pang products, although they are extremely expensive too! 
 
I may try more shielding on the M11 though. I'm not sure what all the IC's are that I have'nt covered yet. I ran out of film so ordered another sheet. I will use it with the gustard U12 as well. I doubt the U12 will have any improvement over the amanero. It sounded very similar to the Via usb32. But the Amanero was notably better than the VIA usb32... We shall see...

Kingwa uses two opa not to drive the analog stage but to mantain DC offset(sometimes he omits information/lost in translation in the newer models product page):
 
 
http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/NFB7-2015/NFB72015EN.htm

   The output buffers are Non-feedback. For low impedance, we applied a diamond output stage which is quite less colored than most conventional circuits.
        The DAC is without couple caps to avoid coloration. There are two OPAs built in as the DC serve  to keep the DC offset .

 
you can see the left and right Burrbrown(BB) OPA chips(square shaped) at the same height level of the Altera DSP in your photo(next to the two (L&R) aluminum chasis shielding)
http://cdn.head-fi.org/c/c5/900x900px-LL-c570681b_IMG_4250.jpeg

 

[Solude]

It's the DC servo, it's absolutely normal to use an opamp there and like on HeadAmp products it is outside the signal path.

 

[x RELIC x]

Damn you all! Just ordered this baby thanks to all the talk of musicality. Curiosity got the best of me. Ordered the Amanero upgrade as well.

 

[lukeap69]

Good! Another impressions coming...

 

[aamefford]

Damn you all! Just ordered this baby thanks to all the talk of musicality. Curiosity got the best of me. Ordered the Amanero upgrade as well.

One of us - One of us - One of us.......

 

[bimmer100]

So if it's out of the signal path it still can be audible ? The opamps acting as a dc servo

 

[Solude]

No.

 

[bimmer100]

One of us - One of us - One of us.......

Haha, all my fault eh?
I said it was a notable difference. As in I could tell there was improvement. It's not ground breaking or earth shattering by any means. But I sure liked the improvement. I'm curious what others think when they get their upgrades... Be sure to ask if your audio-gd unit requires an MCU upgrade as well. And if you have the display goes dark in 7 sec option, you must ask for that option when you order the amanero upgrade kit.
Some models don't need the MCU, some do. I'm not sure which ones do or don't. Be sure to ask, otherwise you will lose the setting for the display going dark.
FYI

 

[evillamer]

@bimmer100 
 
can you show us a photo of the soldering is required for the new MCU?