[lenroot77]

I guess for now I'll be keeping it ! Thanks guys!

 

[Astral Abyss]

Even my Yggdrasil is just a different flavor of sound. I still really enjoy the sound of the DAC-19. I don't really consider one better than the other. Some people might have a preference.

 

[lenroot77]

Even my Yggdrasil is just a different flavor of sound. I still really enjoy the sound of the DAC-19. I don't really consider one better than the other. Some people might have a preference.

Sounds like the Dac 19 has a special sound then. For me it's the first Dac I've owned/heard over 150-200 dollars. So for sure it sounds better than anything else I've ever heard.

 

[conquerator2]

The R2R Burr-Brown sound is indeed awesome :3

 

[Peti]

Anyone could compare the DAC-19 and the Schiit Modi MultiBit by any chance? I'm toying with the idea to get one for my Liquid Carbon thus making a super portable rig for myself.

 

[Stillhart]

  Anyone could compare the DAC-19 and the Schiit Modi MultiBit by any chance? I'm toying with the idea to get one for my Liquid Carbon thus making a super portable rig for myself.

 
@Hansotek has compared the DAC-19 to the BMB and I've compared it to the GMB.  I expect the MMB will sound indistinguishable from the BMB so look for those comparisons...

 

[Peti]

   
@Hansotek has compared the DAC-19 to the BMB and I've compared it to the GMB.  I expect the MMB will sound indistinguishable from the BMB so look for those comparisons...

Just finished reading your comparison! Thank you for pointing it out for me. I'm getting tempted to get one, ha-ha!

 

[srisaikat]

There is something happened, I am little embarrassed to admit. I use my DAC-19 with COAX input from Pioneer N-50, it is used mostly for speaker system. Initially I hated the stock settings (without any jumper i.e. 8x, PLL engaged & 130 DB sba), kind of stiff, unnatural sounding. Mid had kind of artificial weight which I could not tolerate. After trying for 10-12 days I started to play with jumpers. Putting the PLL jumper on ( PLL disengaged) gave me initial release from that fatiguing sound signature. Later settled for NOS or sometime 2x OS with 90 DB with PLL disengaged.
 
Now after more than 3 months, just a week ago I again started to play with PLL settings. To my surprise, this time I could not differentiate that much between PLL off & on settings. Now I found 4x oversampling & 90 DB with PLL engaged (Jumper off) is super fluid sounding for my setup.
 
If I replace the speaker cable (Chord odyssey 2 with Anticable Level3) even the stock settings without any jumpers (i.e. 8x, PLL engaged & 130 DB) also working great at this moment. I hope you know that odyssey 2 is silver coated cable where as Anticable is pure copper. 
 
But what could be the reason? Is it due to burning of internal components (including PLL circuits)? If it is so, then I have to admit DAC-19 took quite long time to settle up for the best. If somebody try like me who initially hated PLL and owning the DAC-19 for more than 3 months can share his experience please to find if it is similar or not.

 

[Bombik]

jumpers at 2x OS, PLL, 90dB is my current stage too. I have similar experience with factory settings.
 
Burning .. I owned 3 AGD boxes so far. And yes, from my experience burn in time can be 3months. On the other side you are also getting used with the sound signature. Good think is that you always have choices with DAC19  
(I am considering NOS upgrade now, have all the stuff available.. )

 

[Pharmaboy]

Not sure if this is the right thread for this post, but here goes nothing. After months of waiting for a good/used DAC 19/10th anniversary to surface--which I could then have modified for NOS--I finally gave up and bought a NOS 19. I'll hook it up tomorrow. Probably start w/coax input fed by Musical Fidelity V192, then add USB when I get drivers sorted out. I know from reading about Audio GD DACs that it take weeks, if not months at my use rate (12 hrs on/12 hrs off every day) for this unit to really settle in. Still, I tired of wrestling w/occasional tonal oddities from even reasonably good DS DACs...I'm really looking forward to a long acquaintance w/the R-2R sound. And because I've never heard DSD or hi-rez files (all my files are wav's ripped from CDs using JRiver Media Ctr 17.0) upsampling, or the lack of it, is kind of an academic concern at this point. Actually, that's only partly true: I had one DAC that upsampled (sold it) + a portable DAC/HP amp that does so; but neither impressed me enough to regard upsampling as necessary (of course, both were DS chips anyway).

 

[Bombik]

Hi, I succesfuly did sidegrade from DAC19  to NOS19. There is a big and change in sound. Very interesting so far. I Will post some impresions after some time. Maybe also some comparison between DAC19/NOS19. 
BIg thanks and cheer to audio GD. The guide for upgrade is perfect! And fortunatelly there was no problem at all.

 

[lukeap69]

Hi, I succesfuly did sidegrade from DAC19  to NOS19. There is a big and change in sound. Very interesting so far. I Will post some impresions after some time. Maybe also some comparison between DAC19/NOS19. 
BIg thanks and cheer to audio GD. The guide for upgrade is perfect! And fortunatelly there was no problem at all.

How was the process of 'sidegrading'? Easy process? I have the items for the sidegrading but I am still chickening out (or lazy) to do it?

 

[srisaikat]

will wait for the comparison (DAC-19 vs NOS-19), however I was not very confident after getting the detail instructions from Audio-gd about the process. Congratulation on successful conversion. Please take your time and write the impression/comparison about the sound signature of NOS-19.

 

[Bombik]

Cutting/Soldering was easy.
 
New NOS firmware. I did different way than AGD.
 
1. Dowload and install whole package of Altera Quartus SW 12.1 - around 4GB. 
2. Connect USB Blaster to PC and let Quartus 12.1 recognize USB Blaster
3. Try to upload the "output.jic" with USB Blaster connected, DAC19 Disconnected. The process will stop.
4. Continue the way suggested by AGD (connecting USB Blaster to dac etc.) and perform firmware update using Quartus SW.
 
Steps 1,2,3 you can do without opening DAC19 - reversible steps.
 
This way is IMO easier than using chinese cloud which is reccomended by Audio GD.

 

[pervysage]

Curious about the NOS sound but not sure if it would be worth doing. From my understanding, the sound will get warmer? I quite like the sound already on my M11.