But the M11 has an integrated amp which isn't necessarily desirable (not necessarily bad, but not necessarily desirable), and also has many run of the mill parts in the signal path. An upgraded DAC-19 would be more to my liking. Replace all those $.25 WIMA metallized polystyrene caps, $.50 resistors, cheap plated connecters, upgrade to discrete regulators, etc...
I've never considered Wima as a cheap cap...let alone anything in the Audio-GD builds as being cheap. Listing the prices of all the components to build an amp anywhere near these price points is unheard of in the USA or Europe etc. Many other companies use the same components yet charge much more. Yes, the company is in China, but they actually pay their employees quite well so they can't really give away the farm any more than they already do. They may be able to potentailly build better amps and dacs, in fact I don't doubt that they could build a potential DAC-19SE. Most people are jaw dropping happy to hear the results of their current line of amps/dacs. They have a 10 year warranty! and in most people's opinions, excellent build of parts which equal a well implemented house sound that audio-gd is known for.
The Master-11 has a desireable AIO or All in One package. Doing so keeps the pathway from the dac to the amp as short as possible. This is an advantage in some ways, and disadvantage in other ways if it's design is flawed. Fortunately Kingwa is a brilliant amp/dac designer and has created an impressive build with a well thought out product. The master 11 speaks for itself, or you just have to listen to it to realize that something was done right. In the end, all the fancy expensive parts don't mean anything as well as all the measurements on paper. It's the human ear that will tell you if it sounds good. Sure i'm going out on a limb saying all this. But to an extent, most of this is true. Many amp/dac designers throw a bunch of high grade parts into their products and the end result is less than spectacular. The Master 11 varies from the Master 7 and Master 9 yet essentially is those two units combined into one. You would think the separates would sound better as the master 7 has 8 pcm1704uk's... but that doesn't realty matter. The master11 to many actually sounds much better. Some believe it's due to the short or direct path between the dac and amp. No interconnects to color the sound etc. Yet some want to have interconnects to color the sound. More money to spend on extra parts you don't essentially need for good sound. Where am I going with this? well, the Master 11 is a brilliant build, it won't be out of date later on down the road. You can use it as just an amp, or just a dac if you so desire. I've hooked many different dac's up to the master11's amp. Why? the master11's amp is beastly and sounds incredible. MUCH better than most any amp out there currently. I prefer it over the beastly ragnarok in many ways! It's pretty much the same amount of power, which is overkill, The audio-gd master 11 is pure class A power through the whole power curve up to the 16,000mw per channel! the Ragnarok is only pure class A up to 4,000mw per channel and then it reverts to class AB operation after that point... the master 11's specs are more impressive.
yet the sound is cleaner and the relay stepped volume control is way nicer than the ragnarok's. I can't stand the stiff Rok's control, and the rok's relay control has feedback issues that are audible, not to mention it's linear and only 64steps. that makes for terrible control of sensitive headphones or iems. The Audio-GD M11 relay based control is 99 steps and NOT linear, it has an immense amount of gradual control for all the sensitive iem's and headphones. yet again, the master 11's specs are more impressive.
the power plug used in the master 11 is pure red copper, The power inlet is not some cheap plug or the wires attached to it. The power wire is routed under the PCB's with layers of shielding to prevent EMI/RF etc. Thick aluminum chassis and walls were made for the chassis to prevent EMI/RF/Eddy Current etc.the wires used inside area all Ohno Continuous Cast wire. amongst choose a high grade Amanero Combo 384 with a specific build exclusive to Audio-GD with it's own onboard class pure A power supply.
Do you believe there are other products that are in the same class of performance of the Master 11? if so, what? I would say the Yggdrasil/Ragnarok is a close match to performance yet the price is literally double that of the Master11. Build quality of the Schiit products have some lacking issues as well if you want to be picky. yet for the price they're asking.... well.. you've ever right to be picky.
The DAC19 is the subject. The price audio-gd asks is insanely reasonable and the performance is better than anything Schiit has to offer except the Yggdrasil. thats is... the Gumby is not as good imho. especially in SE the Gumby is clearly a few steps below the DAC19. In Balanced the Gumby is more comparable, yet still has the forward aggressive and fatiguing sound that schiit is known for. DAC19 anyday over the gumby imho. The build quality is backed by a 10 year warranty. I'd like to think i'll still be listening to my master11 in 10 years from now... once 11 years hit, well maybe it'll break and i'll buy something else. But everyone say's they're made like tanks. SO TRUE. quality product imho.
-T
