[Stillhart]

  New product Preview

Base on a lot customers advise ,NOS version Master 7, Master 11 and DAC 19 will release in 1st April.
5 units of each model for pre-order get 5% OFF. (Before order you must learn the NOS DAC characteristic .)
new DSP software design built in !
two option NOS modes, support up to 768KHz input, asynchronous clock , FIFO data process.

Built in PCM1704UK.
Please note : Limit by the Amanero USB input, support up to 384KHz now. In Simulation test  , it can support up to 768KHz even 1536KHz input . In future if had the new USB interface , users can easy replace in the unit even without soldering.
Will offer the upgrade for all Audio-gd product users who own the DSP + PCM1704 product  in near future!

 
Thanks for the heads up!  I am curious what the difference will be between this one and the current one with the NOS jumpers set.  Perhaps @Kingwa can give us an idea of what to expect.  I'm also curious how much the upgrade will cost.

 

[bballas]

New DSP Master 7-Best Dac under 10K?   New dsp M7 with 3pcs.ac choke-Best Dac under 20K???Let me see it!

 

[Drastic]

Yeah, I was all set to pull the trigger on the dac 19 10th anniversary edition. Now after seeing this I am waiting for more details. I am curious to know if there is going to be any changes to any circuit or layout of the internals. Or if it is mainly just a software upgrade.

 

[bballas]

Dear Sir, If you want to upgrade to the NOS version, you can just do few job can finished, but we need some days later for offer the upgrade kit. Kingwa

 

[eschell27]

+1 curiosity about any details.
 
Just got my DAC-19 10th Anniversary with Amanero a month ago. Love it! Have yet to try NOS with it... from research so far, i was assuming i'd need a usb reclocker along the lines of a Uptone Regen or Wyred 4 Sound Recovery to make sure it works smoothly.... coming from a desktop with an ASRock Fatal1ty Z97 Professional mobo.

 

[Spamateur]

  Dear Sir, If you want to upgrade to the NOS version, you can just do few job can finished, but we need some days later for offer the upgrade kit. Kingwa

So it sounds like there's a bit of wait before the self-upgrade kits are available?

 

[bballas]

yes,i waiting for a quotation.....

 

[bballas]

We will offer the upgrade kit in future later while the products hade some users reviews.Kingwa
Supper!!!!I'm users also,i want  give some reviews!!!!!!!!

 

[ambre]

I was exchanging email with Kingwa yesterday. In one hand I am interested by the NOS version in the other one I am concerned about the quality of the source (I use a mac book pro...)
 
I quote Kingwa: "There are some options in the NOS version , users can change the setting for suite the different quality source. And the NOS version is better than the standard with the bypass option."
 
Kingwa also mentioned both versions will remain available.
 
I have a technical question. I am using Audirvana and the software offers oversampling capabilites. The DAC 19 also oversamples. Beside listening and finding what suite me the most, is there any "best practice" ? is it preferable to leverage the software or the dac to oversample ? if the software does it already I assume the dac bypass the oversampling ? I am confused here. Sorry for the junior head-fier question

 

[Luckbad]

  I was exchanging email with Kingwa yesterday. In one hand I am interested by the NOS version in the other one I am concerned about the quality of the source (I use a mac book pro...)
 
I quote Kingwa: "There are some options in the NOS version , users can change the setting for suite the different quality source. And the NOS version is better than the standard with the bypass option."
 
Kingwa also mentioned both versions will remain available.
 
I have a technical question. I am using Audirvana and the software offers oversampling capabilites. The DAC 19 also oversamples. Beside listening and finding what suite me the most, is there any "best practice" ? is it preferable to leverage the software or the dac to oversample ? if the software does it already I assume the dac bypass the oversampling ? I am confused here. Sorry for the junior head-fier question

 
It varies whether you should oversample in the software or DAC. If you get a NOS DAC, you'll have to do your oversampling in software. Some software oversampling is very good (e.g. SoX or dBpoweramp) while some software oversampling is bad (e.g. most built-in upsamplers).
 
Generally, if you want to oversample, it's probably best to let the DAC do it. If you upsample in software, the DAC will still oversample whatever you feed it.
 
You can only give the DAC up to its sample rate max. For standard DAC-19s, that is 192kHz. So if you go NOS with the standard DAC-19, you can upsample 41kHz by 4x max. With the NOS DAC-19, you'll be able to upsample in software by 8x up to 96kHz files.
 
That's still currently less than what a DAC-19 does by default until new USB interfaces allow for higher sample rates than 768kHz. The DAC-19 normally oversamples up to 192kHz by 8x (resulting in 1536kHz).
 
NOS isn't for everyone. It's a less flat response, warmer, and altogether a little rolled off in the treble no matter what. I love NOS dacs, but not everyone does.

 

[mojolo]

There's a pretty good discussion on NOS dacs and SW upsampling vs native DAC oversampling at audiogon.
 
Quote:

 

when you input 16/44.1 into the NOS DAC, the output contains not only the converted analog equivalent but also all the clock energy at high frequencies above 22.05KHz to 60Khz, 100KHz & beyond albeit in decreasing amplitude as the frequencies keep getting higher. By using LPF from a tube buffer or a sinc filter some of this noise is reduced but not eliminated. There could be sufficient energy in the higher freq for the power amp to amplify it & create distortion thru the speakers. 


You can eliminate this by upsampling redbook by, say, 4X to 176.4KHz using software (like the examples you gave). Now the noise will contained in frequencies 88.2KHz (Fs/2) & above rather than 22.05KHz & above. By upsampling you just moved the problem up in frequency to a place where most power amps are likely to have very little power gain hence the probability of distortion is much, much reduced. Additionally you can employ an analog LPF with a -3dB cut-off at a much higher frequency, say, 44.1KHz (or even higher since the software upsampling has ensured there is no noise in the 0-88.2KHz region) such that you do not roll-off any of the high freq response of the DAC.


Since the digital signal is upsampled in software & given your NOS DAC can accept 176.4KHz you can feed this signal directly into the NOS DAC without any hardware digital filtering.
You reap all the benefits of the NOS DAC & you dont have to worry about high freq noise.
That's why one would want to upsample redbook in software. Hope this makes sense.....

 
Also, these pages are good reads on NOS dacs and the benefits of up/oversampling.
 
http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/KB/DAC.htm
 
http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/KB/Sampling.htm
 
Conclusion being that PCs are more powerful than the DSP chips in DACs so they can do better upsampling than the DAC itself. By performing upsampling, you can also avoid the troublesome brickwall low-pass filter that NOS dacs use to deal with noise. So, use a high quality SW upsampler on the PC such as HQPlayer or Audirvana and push the noise in the digital signal into high enough frequencies that can be dealt with more easily. Send the resulting upsampled signal into your NOS dac, which can now employ a gentle low-pass filter at very high frequencies instead.
 
I anticipate doing this myself within the next few months. Once the A-GD upgrades are available and I purchase licenses for Roon and HQPlayer. I would also like to feed my DAC with a Sonore microrendu (once it's released) for a clean input into the Amanero USB receiver.

 

[ambre]

Thanks Luckbad and Mojolo! 
 
@Luckbad
On the standard DAC-19 when the DSP bypass is enabled, are the stopband attenuation functions still operational (att0 / att1) ? if the answer is no and I want to play stopband attenuation in NOS mode can I keep the DSP ON (DSP bypass disabled) and IPS0/IPS1 jumpers ON to activate the NOS. Am I correct saying that ?
 
Not sure yet if I should go with the standard or the NOS version knowing I intend to use Audirvana to upsample and bypass the DAC oversampling feature. But at the same time I am interested by stopband attenuation.

 

[mojolo]

  Thanks Luckbad and Mojolo! 
 
@Luckbad
On the standard DAC-19 when the DSP bypass is enabled, are the stopband attenuation functions still operational (att0 / att1) ? if the answer is no and I want to play stopband attenuation in NOS mode can I keep the DSP ON (DSP bypass disabled) and IPS0/IPS1 jumpers ON to activate the NOS. Am I correct saying that ?
 
Not sure yet if I should go with the standard or the NOS version knowing I intend to use Audirvana to upsample and bypass the DAC oversampling feature. But at the same time I am interested by stopband attenuation.

 
We'll see how easy it is for current owners to do the upgrade. If it's simply a matter of swapping out ROM chips, you can ask Kingwa to provide you with both the NOS and regular chips. We shall see...

 

[Luckbad]

  Thanks Luckbad and Mojolo! 
 
@Luckbad
On the standard DAC-19 when the DSP bypass is enabled, are the stopband attenuation functions still operational (att0 / att1) ? if the answer is no and I want to play stopband attenuation in NOS mode can I keep the DSP ON (DSP bypass disabled) and IPS0/IPS1 jumpers ON to activate the NOS. Am I correct saying that ?
 
Not sure yet if I should go with the standard or the NOS version knowing I intend to use Audirvana to upsample and bypass the DAC oversampling feature. But at the same time I am interested by stopband attenuation.

 
DSP bypass bypasses everything. No oversampling, no dithering, no stopband attenuation. To only use NOS mode but leave on stopband attenuation and data dithering, you only need IPS0 and IPS1 jumpers on.
 
http://www.basshead.club/audio-gear/master-11-info/
 
Also, you can only upsample to 192kHz with the normal DAC-19 unless I'm mistaken. That would significantly limit the usefulness of upsampling in software.

 

[ambre]

 
 
Also, you can only upsample to 192kHz with the normal DAC-19 unless I'm mistaken. That would significantly limit the usefulness of upsampling in software.

 
With the NOS DAC-19 and the upper limit of the amanero USB, the software can upsample redbook up to 8x if I understand correctly. With new USB upcoming modules this limit could move up one day to 16x. Is it not plenty enough to remove aliasing artifacts ?
 
I am leaning toward using A+ for upsampling and using the NOS dac-19 and avoid a mix in upsampling methods. Hope I will like it.