[Jackula]

Box 1 - Monoblock
Box 2 - Monoblock
Box 3 - R7HE
Box 4 - Cables

Wait, I thought the monoblocks were 35Kg each and 70Kg combined? I could be wrong though.

And I just pulled a muscle in my back earlier this week rearranging my listening room, don't think I can move 70Kg at the moment even if I receive them.

 

[FredA]

Box 1 - Monoblock
Box 2 - Monoblock
Box 3 - R7HE
Box 4 - Cables

Wait, I thought the monoblocks were 35Kg each and 70Kg combined? I could be wrong though.

And I just pulled a muscle in my back earlier this week rearranging my listening room, don't think I can move 70Kg at the moment even if I receive them.

Should be 35 each. The difference with a M3 is not with transfos but with having twice the caps and over twice the output transistors. Those m2h should be something very special!

 

[ToddRaymond]

Yeah, should be 35 each, like Fred said. I know that the power consumption mentioned on the specs page for those amps (at idle) is for both combined as well, as per Kingwa in an e-mail from a while back before my last purchase.

 

[Jackula]

DHL has surprised me, my delivery arrived and I spent the past few hours arranging everything:

This unit is fresh out of the box and sounds good already, the same balanced sound of the R8 that I listened to but since I don't have them side-by-side I'll just assume the R7HE is 105% better.
It's easily better than my reference DAC the AMR DP-777, but perhaps currently falls short of a (fully burnt-in) Denafrips Terminator on soundstage width but it is much better in tonal balance, burn-in is one of those things that opens up the soundstage so I'm hoping it will improve. The tonality will change too, I'm hoping for the better.
I will certainly give the Terminator the thumbs up in the usability department, I need more time to get my head around the settings for Audio-GD. One question, when I try to change "Syn" to OFF (0), it says FAIL, some help? Also Pll doesn't match the manual, it's either set to R or and upside down F. I'm currently using USB input. Also settings on page 2 just says F, no option to turn dither on or off.

I haven't tried the Master 2H yet, my kid's currently napping.

I still intend to do a full comparison against the Terminator once this unit is fully burnt in. But I've been thinking about whether to do an apples-to-apples comparison and use XLR without the DI, or have the comparison done with the R7HE at its prime with ACSS and DI. Thoughts?

EDIT1: The treble is a bit hot, but I heard it will settle eventually.
EDIT2: There are some random pops and clicks, not sure if it's a firmware issue or related to burn in. (fixed after updating drivers)

 

[FredA]

@Jackula Random pops can occur with oscillators that are burning in. I assume your use the u16? It can have issues with the latest fws like randomly playing pink noise upon startup. Also, ask Kingwa which fw your have. The two best fws are dsdclk and tda_asy3. With the u16, tda_asy3 is more stable. The synch setting is not available with the latest fws as they are fully asynch.

I would give the acss connection a try at some point but start with xlr and DI for both. Acss is part of audio-gd so it has to be evaluated too. Of course, the acss cable Kingwa sells is a simple canare cable, so just an honest cable, nothng exceptional.

 

[DACLadder]

@Jackula Nice setup and enjoy!! Glad DHL got the delivery to you in short time.

What DAC firmware is Kingwa shipping these days? Give the DAC some time before comparisons. The V2 DAC modules take a long while to fully run-in. But a Denafrips comparison will be very interesting.

 

[Jackula]

Been burning in and listening more, if it improves at this rate, I feel the comparison to the Terminator will be one-sided I won't put up any more Terminator impressions until I can do a proper comparison.

Comparing to my AMR DP-777 (over US$5K brand new), initially, I thought the R7HE was missing some resolution, but after listening more I found out those details I missed are still there. In the AMR the micro-details are more forward and exaggerated, the R7HE is more natural in micro detail, micro dynamics and decay. I still think the AMR is great for detail junkies and a more euphonic sound, but the R7HE simply sounds more "real". For those who aren't aware, AMR is a high-end audio company based in the UK, they are the parent company of ifi - stuff like ifi Pro iCAN has trickle-down tech.

After playing around the settings more, I discovered the f/r options are TDA off/on. So far my favourite setting has been TDA off, OS at 0X and lets Roon do the oversampling (power of 2). That might change as burn-in progresses. What is the difference between NOS and OS @ 0X? They sound different to me.

@Jackula Random pops can occur with oscillators that are burning in. I assume your use the u16? It can have issues with the latest fws like randomly playing pink noise upon startup. Also, ask Kingwa which fw your have. The two best fws are dsdclk and tda_asy3. With the u16, tda_asy3 is more stable. The synch setting is not available with the latest fws as they are fully asynch.

I would give the acss connection a try at some point but start with xlr and DI for both. Acss is part of audio-gd so it has to be evaluated too. Of course, the acss cable Kingwa sells is a simple canare cable, so just an honest cable, nothng exceptional.

I'm using the USB input at the moment with an ISO Regen v2 + LPS 1.2. My other transport is the Audiophilleo + PurePower. In my old setup the ISO Regen sounded better and using both together puts too much stress on the USB port. With the R7HE I don't have the space to fit the Audiophilleo and barely have enough room for the ISO Regen, I'll need to move the whole rack out and that's not easy since it's spiked to the floor.

I worked out the random pop issue and it's a software one, after installing the Amanero driver, it stopped popping.

I was planning to use my NUC to burn in the DAC while I'm sleeping, but my NUC isn't seeing it even with the drivers installed.

The Master 2H monoblocks hum and is audible across the room, not sure if it's caused by DC offset, my old PrimaLuna had toroidal transformers too but I guess the ones in the Master 2H are much larger and would be more affected by DC. Same hum from both monoblocks, can't be a coincidence.

EDIT: Kingwa did send me the firmware version overnight, I missed it: R720_parallel_DOP

 

[FredA]

@Jackula
Os0 and nos are different, i think os0 should be rolled off if used with a 44k signal. Nos is not.

You seem indeed to have a dc offset. Give dsdclk a try, not as dynamic but has great soundstaging. tda_asy3 could be the best of all.

You are up to a big upgrade when you get the di. The amanero is very good but the u16 is much better. I assume the di20he will wipe the floor with the u16.

 

[DACLadder]

@Jackula I just realized you have the R7-20 HE! Let us know eventually how the 10M clock input works. You certainly have your hands full at the moment but enjoy!

 

[honeyjjack]

Has anyone tried both the holo spring lv3 and r7/r8? Any short comparison would be great.

Also having them shipped to the states, has anyone had problems with customs?

 

[Jackula]

Has anyone tried both the holo spring lv3 and r7/r8? Any short comparison would be great.

Also having them shipped to the states, has anyone had problems with customs?

While I can't offer up my own opinion, here's a comparison between the Holo Spring L3 and Pavane: http://earphiles.org/2017/02/metrum-pavane-vs-holo-spring-dac/

In a local demo last year (or was it the year before), a comparison was done between the Pavane and Audio-GD R8. Some liked the Pavane more, most preferred the R8 for its more natural and uncoloured sound.

What's most impressive is the R8 was the original model 1/5th of the price of the Pavane, with the V1 board, older firmware, and without the newer femtosecond Accusilicons.

 

[Chopin75]

Has anyone tried both the holo spring lv3 and r7/r8? Any short comparison would be great.

Also having them shipped to the states, has anyone had problems with customs?

Perhaps you can ask Magna folks to see what they think ? they have both Holo and Audio-gd in their shop. Someone earlier did compare Metrum oynx (or whatever the lower level one) with R2R7. The metrum was found to be a bit more "polite". I suppose it sounds more forgiving perhaps ? Makes every recording sounds nicer than what it really is ???

 

[comzee]

I don't want to go off topic, but since a lot of people here are getting the DI-20 and know about DDC stuff...
I want to build a streaming PC for cleaner USB output to use for my DDC (su-6 and eventually DI-20HE).

I want the PC to be fanless, have a linear power supply, and has at least one PCIE 1x slot for this card.
I would buy a kit from https://hdplex.com/ but they're constantly sold out.
I also found this as an all in one solution, but no idea how good the USB would be on it.

Ideas?

 

[PLGA]

I don't want to go off topic, but since a lot of people here are getting the DI-20 and know about DDC stuff...
I want to build a streaming PC for cleaner USB output to use for my DDC (su-6 and eventually DI-20HE).

I want the PC to be fanless, have a linear power supply, and has at least one PCIE 1x slot for this card.
I would buy a kit from https://hdplex.com/ but they're constantly sold out.
I also found this as an all in one solution, but no idea how good the USB would be on it.

Ideas?

Hello Comzee
Have you thought about getting a good streamer/brigde like the SOtM SMS-200 Ultra Neo or the cheaper Ultra Rendu? Any of these will require a PC as a core, but I guess they must sound better than any audiophile computer.

I have the SOtM SMS-200 Ultra Neo and it sounds superb. It's a great piece of electronics and it took my R8 to another level. I also have the Gustard U16 with an external OCXO and I believe the SOtM SMS-200 was a bigger improvement than the U16 + OCXO kit.

 

[Chopin75]

I don't want to go off topic, but since a lot of people here are getting the DI-20 and know about DDC stuff...
I want to build a streaming PC for cleaner USB output to use for my DDC (su-6 and eventually DI-20HE).

I want the PC to be fanless, have a linear power supply, and has at least one PCIE 1x slot for this card.
I would buy a kit from https://hdplex.com/ but they're constantly sold out.
I also found this as an all in one solution, but no idea how good the USB would be on it.

Ideas?

I use the HDPLEX + its LPS. Good start for building your own PC (well I have no skills so I had someone build for me)

This way you have lots of flexibility, - you get to choose your MB, CPU, even RAM and of course USB audio bridge or if you prefer I2S or Coax bridge - Numerous companies offer USB brides like Pinkfaun, and SOTM, also I think & J femto?
You need to do research as to what MB you need e.g an intel based one for intel chip or AMD based for Ryzen ? Then assuming a single box system, (unless you do ROON or other streaming services) you need great SW playback system and OS - e.g window based ? - then you need something like fidelizer to get rid of Win noise. Or do AL (audio-Linux) + eg. J River
Or do euphony Audio (linux) like I use

There is also volumio etc

But before getting to that, you need to ask what music files you play? Only PCM ? then you can get I2S bridge (up to 24/192hz) but cannot do DSD. But if you do DSD or multi-channel then USB is needed. (though DSD64 via DoP via Coax can work too)
If you do super high Res eg. 24/352 or even DSD256 (or 512 !!) either natively or via upsampling you need a very powerful CPU, high RAM (at least 16GB) etc.......