[Chopin75]

Just some early impressions of R2R 7 so far:

At times when the day is good, e.g. late at night and warm up for entire day, it is liquid smooth, and very analogue, no glare, clarity is great if recording is great. Sound stage can be amazing even in complex passages with lots of detail;
Biggest improvement seems to be via CD player as source and I suspect this a more stable source.
Sometimes it is hard to tell of the grain or lack of clarity is from horrible recordings or not as I have not been too familiar with my new PCM downloads (some are kind of crap)
Since I know my CD collection better, I can see a consistent improvement.
Interestingly DSD's performance is also usually better than my Signa Delta DAC, and there are times when it sounds really superb esp with DSD128, or if allowed, at DSD256. The glare and digital feel with the SD chip is almost gone with R2R7. Unfortunately my RAM issue with my computer does not allow me to test large files for long, hence limted testing.

I have some interesting and important observation which I am not sure if true or not. It seems if I play PCM all day long it gets really better and if I switch to DSD suddenly, the DSD is worse. Few days ago I was doing mainly DSD, thinking it may take more time for PCM to warm up so the DSD has been quite nice but yesterday, after listening to entire day of PCM and switch to DSD, it sounded terrible. I also found PCM rather poor of I have just been listening to DSD continuously. I suspect that the warm up process for playback is different for PCM vs DSD, since both employ separate pathways. So burning in with entire day of PCM means the R2R is really warmed up, hence nice sound, and the DSD circuit has cooled. And vice versa, so if I use DSD exclusively, the R2R ladder cools down. I observe similar effect with Signa delta chip where it requires some 20-30min of warm up for SACD if one has been playing CDs only but effect is much less.
So here may be the reason why some of you guys prefer PCM if you hardly listen to DSD for long time (apart from personal preference). Basically you need to "burn in" the DSD circuit for a day (or weeks, if it has never been burned in) and then evaluate it. This may all be due to my R2R7 being unstable at its early infancy at this time. But see what your thoughts are ?

 

[FredA]

Just some early impressions of R2R 7 so far:

At times when the day is good, e.g. late at night and warm up for entire day, it is liquid smooth, and very analogue, no glare, clarity is great if recording is great. Sound stage can be amazing even in complex passages with lots of detail;
Biggest improvement seems to be via CD player as source and I suspect this a more stable source.
Sometimes it is hard to tell of the grain or lack of clarity is from horrible recordings or not as I have not been too familiar with my new PCM downloads (some are kind of crap)
Since I know my CD collection better, I can see a consistent improvement.
Interestingly DSD's performance is also usually better than my Signa Delta DAC, and there are times when it sounds really superb esp with DSD128, or if allowed, at DSD256. The glare and digital feel with the SD chip is almost gone with R2R7. Unfortunately my RAM issue with my computer does not allow me to test large files for long, hence limted testing.

I have some interesting and important observation which I am not sure if true or not. It seems if I play PCM all day long it gets really better and if I switch to DSD suddenly, the DSD is worse. Few days ago I was doing mainly DSD, thinking it may take more time for PCM to warm up so the DSD has been quite nice but yesterday, after listening to entire day of PCM and switch to DSD, it sounded terrible. I also found PCM rather poor of I have just been listening to DSD continuously. I suspect that the warm up process for playback is different for PCM vs DSD, since both employ separate pathways. So burning in with entire day of PCM means the R2R is really warmed up, hence nice sound, and the DSD circuit has cooled. And vice versa, so if I use DSD exclusively, the R2R ladder cools down. I observe similar effect with Signa delta chip where it requires some 20-30min of warm up for SACD if one has been playing CDs only but effect is much less.
So here may be the reason why some of you guys prefer PCM if you hardly listen to DSD for long time (apart from personal preference). Basically you need to "burn in" the DSD circuit for a day (or weeks, if it has never been burned in) and then evaluate it. This may all be due to my R2R7 being unstable at its early infancy at this time. But see what your thoughts are ?

Possible that the dsd playback requires independent burn in as operating frequencies are different.

 

[Chopin75]

Dumb question, I read somewhere here that one can do burn in by playing music from R2R into a preamp but not letting sound come out of speakers or headphone. Would that work? Any harm doing this?

 

[FredA]

Dumb question, I read somewhere here that one can do burn in by playing music from R2R into a preamp but not letting sound come out of speakers or headphone. Would that work? Any harm doing this?

Yes, as long has you select the dac on the preamp. I always burn my dacs like this. I just turn the volume off.

 

[Chopin75]

Also would using an ultra short USB adaptor like this from Regen help ? -

https://uptoneaudio.com/products/uspcb-a-b-adapter

This is to be placed between my iGalvanic and the R2R7 USB input. I already have a longer USB cable to put pre igalvanic.

Would this be more cost effective than expensive $300 USB cable that are usually at least 0.5 M long ?

 

[FredA]

Also would using an ultra short USB adaptor like this from Regen help ? -

https://uptoneaudio.com/products/uspcb-a-b-adapter

This is to be placed between my iGalvanic and the R2R7 USB input. I already have a longer USB cable to put pre igalvanic.

Would this be more cost effective than expensive $300 USB cable that are usually at least 0.5 M long ?

I never paid over 100$ for a usb cable. I have a .5m supra, very good cable, a 1m ms-audio silver (ebay) and an a-b system 1m mkii, which are both excellent. The a-b system is my best one, also has the best build quality and i got it for 35$. Best buy i have ever made in audio but it seems they don't make business anymore. If i had known, i would have bought 3.

The adapter would put some stress on the usb port but if the regen is not too heavy, it's a small concern. It normally beats any cable.

 

[FredA]

BTW, the Schiit pre you linked seems rather weak to associate with the r2r 7. You would have a better match on paper with the 700$ balanced one. But it is still no master-9 IMO. The m-9 is expensive but worth every penny.

 

[Whitigir]

Just some early impressions of R2R 7 so far:

At times when the day is good, e.g. late at night and warm up for entire day, it is liquid smooth, and very analogue, no glare, clarity is great if recording is great. Sound stage can be amazing even in complex passages with lots of detail;
Biggest improvement seems to be via CD player as source and I suspect this a more stable source.
Sometimes it is hard to tell of the grain or lack of clarity is from horrible recordings or not as I have not been too familiar with my new PCM downloads (some are kind of crap)
Since I know my CD collection better, I can see a consistent improvement.
Interestingly DSD's performance is also usually better than my Signa Delta DAC, and there are times when it sounds really superb esp with DSD128, or if allowed, at DSD256. The glare and digital feel with the SD chip is almost gone with R2R7. Unfortunately my RAM issue with my computer does not allow me to test large files for long, hence limted testing.

I have some interesting and important observation which I am not sure if true or not. It seems if I play PCM all day long it gets really better and if I switch to DSD suddenly, the DSD is worse. Few days ago I was doing mainly DSD, thinking it may take more time for PCM to warm up so the DSD has been quite nice but yesterday, after listening to entire day of PCM and switch to DSD, it sounded terrible. I also found PCM rather poor of I have just been listening to DSD continuously. I suspect that the warm up process for playback is different for PCM vs DSD, since both employ separate pathways. So burning in with entire day of PCM means the R2R is really warmed up, hence nice sound, and the DSD circuit has cooled. And vice versa, so if I use DSD exclusively, the R2R ladder cools down. I observe similar effect with Signa delta chip where it requires some 20-30min of warm up for SACD if one has been playing CDs only but effect is much less.
So here may be the reason why some of you guys prefer PCM if you hardly listen to DSD for long time (apart from personal preference). Basically you need to "burn in" the DSD circuit for a day (or weeks, if it has never been burned in) and then evaluate it. This may all be due to my R2R7 being unstable at its early infancy at this time. But see what your thoughts are ?

Actually, this was what I observed, and no....DSD doesn’t require independent circuitry to burn-in. DSD is (thereotically) just bypassed into the analog out section of the R2R7 (lowpass filter) and come out. I said this before, and I will say this again. The secret of R2R7 is the Resistor Ladder Bosrds, and it firmwares, which Kingwa has done excellent works on.

Also, perhap my sources was made for PCM, IIS, as I upgraded the clock that is 10X better than your typical Crystek....and whatever else. But R2R7 does PCM ways better than DSD. Where as my LKS004 and DX200(DAP), both does better with DSD

 

[sarang-i]

Hey guys i think i should reverse my opinion about my the first impressions about r2r 1.

First impressions are wrongly described and it might be derived from the volume problem that not have been set to enough to high(listenable) on speaker or in barely happen that sometimes due to window bug, the bass is missing.
But i quite don't know about that happening.

Now, i feel v2 way more emotional and lush than v1. Very impressive.
Also depth and imaging, clarity is greater than ever before.

Summary:
1. Mids has more clarity and its presence but no hearing of shouting or fartiguing -> most amazing in this update.
2. High is definitely more resolving and smooth.
3. Pop from changing between different sampling is gone on NOS mode in v1.
4. Headphone give same experience as speakers.

Well done, kingwa
(and sorry about scam)

 

[Chopin75]

Actually, this was what I observed, and no....DSD doesn’t require independent circuitry to burn-in. DSD is (thereotically) just bypassed into the analog out section of the R2R7 (lowpass filter) and come out. I said this before, and I will say this again. The secret of R2R7 is the Resistor Ladder Bosrds, and it firmwares, which Kingwa has done excellent works on.

Also, perhap my sources was made for PCM, IIS, as I upgraded the clock that is 10X better than your typical Crystek....and whatever else. But R2R7 does PCM ways better than DSD. Where as my LKS004 and DX200(DAP), both does better with DSD

Does your PC output DoP or PCM only or native DSD via the I2S? I suppose software use may matter with DSD vs PCM? I am not thrilled with SABRE on DSD though mine is the old duo mono 9018 chip so it is easy to beat I guess. So I am finding the Audio-gd DSD more pleasing, certainly less glare/edge though from your review of LKS using the newer chip the glare is also gone. Probably Sabre chip has more punch and dynamics which is known for, esp great for movie/DTS stuff. I would need to burn in my R2R7 more first. Even though the DSD runs on a separate board from the R2R I suspect it still needs some burn in time though probably much less than R2R circuit

 

[Chopin75]

BTW, the Schiit pre you linked seems rather weak to associate with the r2r 7. You would have a better match on paper with the 700$ balanced one. But it is still no master-9 IMO. The m-9 is expensive but worth every penny.

It is a weaker link but for now I am likely will be fine with it, not a Head-Fi fan at this time so listening time likely is shorter later on at night. Certainly at the later date I may indeed get the M-9, esp as a fully balanced pre-amp.

 

[FredA]

It is a weaker link but for now I am likely will be fine with it, not a Head-Fi fan at this time so listening time likely is shorter later on at night. Certainly at the later date I may indeed get the M-9, esp as a fully balanced pre-amp.

Still the results could be surprising. You don't have much to loose.

 

[FredA]

Actually, this was what I observed, and no....DSD doesn’t require independent circuitry to burn-in. DSD is (thereotically) just bypassed into the analog out section of the R2R7 (lowpass filter) and come out. I said this before, and I will say this again. The secret of R2R7 is the Resistor Ladder Bosrds, and it firmwares, which Kingwa has done excellent works on.

Also, perhap my sources was made for PCM, IIS, as I upgraded the clock that is 10X better than your typical Crystek....and whatever else. But R2R7 does PCM ways better than DSD. Where as my LKS004 and DX200(DAP), both does better with DSD

My comprehension is that dsd utilizes the da-7 boards to produce a high-frequency pulse sequence. So the operating speed is much higher than your normal 384k with 8x os. Also, @Chopin75's dac is still new. With my well broken in unit, dsd or pcm plays well upon switching from one to the other. All in all, i would state the r2r 7 requires 6 month to completely settle. I hear no glear with dsd. I just find the transcients and timbre are lacking compared to pcm.

 

[Whitigir]

R2R-7 ! damn it....it is so addictive

My comprehension is that dsd utilizes the da-7 boards to produce a high-frequency pulse sequence. So the operating speed is much higher than your normal 384k with 8x os. Also, @Chopin75's dac is still new. With my well broken in unit, dsd or pcm plays well upon switching from one to the other. All in all, i would state the r2r 7 requires 6 month to completely settle. I hear no glear with dsd. I just find the transcients and timbre are lacking compared to pcm.

sorry for being thick...but what exactly is this high frequency pulse sequences ?

@Chopin75 the greatest features of new Sabres Pro is the speed. It is ways faster than last gen 9018S and also lower noises. Dynamic range of Sabres is only applied toward PCM. Nothing to do with DSD. In fact the new Sabres pros has a more efficient way to truly bypass DSD but it still requires a lot of processing speed which the new generation is much better

 

[FredA]

R2R-7 ! damn it....it is so addictive


sorry for being thick...but what exactly is this high frequency pulse sequences ?

@Chopin75 the greatest features of new Sabres Pro is the speed. It is ways faster than last gen 9018S and also lower noises. Dynamic range of Sabres is only applied toward PCM. Nothing to do with DSD. In fact the new Sabres pros has a more efficient way to truly bypass DSD but it still requires a lot of processing speed which the new generation is much better

Check this article, the second illustration in particular.

https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_Stream_Digital