[FredA]

Friday night I switched from A+NOS3 to SA+8xOS

Sound is more forgiving -- there's a tail in there, and yet I'm hearing less depth?
My center image filled in with more treble -- I guess that's the effect of 8xOS?
A clapping audience sounds like the hands are cupped -- not as realistic. I presume that's the SA.

I should have tried A+NOS0 before flipping the FW. Is NOS0 still an option in V2?
@FredA you love your treble like me. Was your favorite A+8xOS?

Yes. But i did not even try nos. 8x os is smoother than it was with the old fw and more laid back. So i am pleased with it. The sound could have better bass and the high could be reduced a little. Not much to complain about otherwise. The image has excellent depth. Sounds very well.

 

[Chopin75]

I am trying NOS3 with V2S FW. I think the NOS 3 seems to be a bit more laid back. Sounds less forward and more relaxed. Perhaps also less upper edge with high freq but also seems more detailed where the dirt or othe “noise” of instruments are more clearly heard, like the bow pressure and direction of bow movement can be felt more on the violin and less harsh too. But also less clean. The x8 OS gives more refined sound, more cleaned up, and forward, perhaps more dynamic punch, like a Hi Fi sound effect. Perhaps NOS is more truthful. But it is only a rough impression. It is hard to do A/B comparision as u switches the jumpers the DAC will cool down and then u need to warm it up again. So need to rely on acoustic memory.

 

[DACLadder]

I am back to using V2 Smooth OS x8. It is more organic with the most dynamics/ bass of the three flavors. Highs are quite good as well on my system. I get very little bass with V2 Accurate. NOS 3 sounds goods as well with V2 Smooth. Not the same experience with V2 Accurate. I get about the same depth with all three flavors of V2. But less width going from S to SA to A. Also less bass/ dynamics as I step up from S to SA to A.

 

[DACLadder]

I am trying NOS3 with V2S FW. I think the NOS 3 seems to be a bit more laid back. Sounds less forward and more relaxed. Perhaps also less upper edge with high freq but also seems more detailed where the dirt or othe “noise” of instruments are more clearly heard, like the bow pressure and direction of bow movement can be felt more on the violin and less harsh too. But also less clean. The x8 OS gives more refined sound, more cleaned up, and forward, perhaps more dynamic punch, like a Hi Fi sound effect. Perhaps NOS is more truthful. But it is only a rough impression. It is hard to do A/B comparision as u switches the jumpers the DAC will cool down and then u need to warm it up again. So need to rely on acoustic memory.

I have to listen for a few hours or even days on each mode change. Acoustic memory is not reliable in the short term especially when sound is nearly identical. Takes some time to notice and accept the changes.

 

[Wynnytsky]

Perhaps also less upper edge with high freq but also seems more detailed where the dirt or othe “noise” of instruments are more clearly heard, like the bow pressure and direction of bow movement can be felt more on the violin and less harsh too. But also less clean. The x8 OS gives more refined sound, more cleaned up, and forward, perhaps more dynamic punch, like a Hi Fi sound effect. Perhaps NOS is more truthful. But it is only a rough impression.

well said
since that's the most relaxed mode, perhaps you should try to strike a balance with software upsampling

 

[DACLadder]

since that's the most relaxed mode, perhaps you should try to strike a balance with software upsampling

Interesting idea!

 

[Chopin75]

well said
since that's the most relaxed mode, perhaps you should try to strike a balance with software upsampling

Hmm, I may try that later. Have never used u-sampling from my computer though I may need to use a new computer as my ailing MacBook Air may not be up to the job. After burning in with almost non-stop playing with the R2R7 it now sounds really smooth, liquid-like at times and even on some low res and CDs. Does highlight flaws on some recordings quite nakedly, and also flawed playing like out of tune that is now more obvious. The choir music has gained much more coherence with better layering even on low res 16 bit.
I think perhaps upsampling may just be needed for poorer quality recordings, esp low res.
BTW is burning-in required for each mode separately? Eg if burning-in in NOS for a while, do I need another burn-in time for OS ?

 

[DACLadder]

Downloaded a nice resampler for Foobar. Has a lot of adjustments for bandpass, impulse response, filter type, stop band, etc. Best of all it has a graphical display of the filter response so when making adjustment you can see how that affects frequency and impulse response.

Upsampling is what was missing from my NOS experience. Resample to 352.8k or 384k and relaxed the filters for best impulse response. Nice, open NOS sound with crisper highs and better bass as well.

 

[DACLadder]

BTW is burning-in required for each mode separately? Eg if burning-in in NOS for a while, do I need another burn-in time for OS ?

Thankfully burn-in is cumulative.

 

[Whitigir]

Try Audirvana 3.2 for upsampling. It is best I have heard even better than foobar

 

[firegon]

Just asked magnahifi and 4hifi about damaged seal and they've said as a "by the way" that the newest models will have setting change on the front panel rather than inside using those $#$@# jumpers.
And the upgrade shouldn't be expensive. Sadly it's one day too late for me, but happy for all of You guys, It really is going to make the DAC 20-30% better. You'll be able to change settings based on CDs You use - hard not to be jelous

 

[DACLadder]

Just asked magnahifi and 4hifi about damaged seal and they've said as a "by the way" that the newest models will have setting change on the front panel rather than inside using those $#$@# jumpers.
And the upgrade shouldn't be expensive. Sadly it's one day too late for me, but happy for all of You guys, It really is going to make the DAC 20-30% better. You'll be able to change settings based on CDs You use - hard not to be jelous

That is interesting. Pushbuttons or toggle switches? I see nothing about this change on AGD or Magna's sites. 4hifi does not even list R2R 7 as a product sale but does offer the Master 7??

Easily switching modes would be useful right now with new firmware but not sure I would use it all that much once settled in. You still have to remove the cover to load new firmware.

 

[firegon]

That is interesting. Pushbuttons or toggle switches? I see nothing about this change on AGD or Magna's sites. 4hifi does not even list R2R 7 as a product sale but does offer the Master 7??

Easily switching modes would be useful right now with new firmware but not sure I would use it all that much once settled in. You still have to remove the cover to load new firmware.

We will offer an upgrade in 1-2 months allowing you to change settings through the menu rather than opening the unit every time!

That is all I know. Not sure if that means more options on the screen or additional switches/buttons ... or both


And I think 4hifis english site is a bit outdated, the polish one has way more Audio-GD units ... well all of them as far as I'm aware. You can always just message them.

 

[DACLadder]

No luck finding Audirvana 3.2. Seems only Audirvana Plus 1.0 is offered. With the Plus trial version I can't find 'User Preferences' where you set sampling, etc (not under General). The manual does not match the Plus windows...

 

[JaMo]

Hi all,
Please check out Audio-gd's Chinese webpage: http://www.audio-gd.com/Ch audio-gd.htm
I used google translate to get this: "R1 step resistor DAC R8 step resistor DAC
all settings can be done on the panel (no need to turn on the machine settings) NOS mode of 4 different algorithms, 3 different sampling rate OS mode 7 different sound characteristics, just through the panel The buttons on the top are switched."
The price for R8 seems to be around 1k5 (USD)

/Jan