New Audio-gd R-7, R-7HE R-8, R-27, R-27HE, R-28 Flagship Resistor Ladder DACs and DAC/amps

[Jackula]

I am not expert of hifi.
And so if I understand correctly you said that r7he mkii, a di20he and the best ocxo sound better to Chord Dave with M-Scaler.
Is it correct?

There is no such thing as better at this point, it all depends on what you prefer. Best is to listen to a Dave with m-scaler and see what you think.

Someone here had a Dave a long time ago (without the m-scaler) and said he preferred the R7HE. Currawong who started this thread had a R2R7 who preferred the Hugo 2 and said (if I recall correctly) the dCS Bartok is probably better than Dave. I know someone with a dCS flagship and says the Audio-GD DAC with the DI has the best sound he's ever heard. I know someone who replaced his R8 with a Holo May and doesn't miss the Audio-GD, and there are probably many Holo May users who wish they could afford even the entry dCS Bartok.

 

[FredA]

I am not expert of hifi.
And so if I understand correctly you said that r7he mkii, a di20he and the best ocxo sound better to Chord Dave with M-Scaler.
Is it correct?

I don’t kmow that it bests it but yes.

The Dave has a totally different approach. It sort of a custum-built delta-sigma converter. I don’t think it allows external clocking, so for this reason, i doubt it can be on top of the comparison. An external bring the same improvments a turntable with very even rotation speed brings, and the pick-up would be like the converter devices themselves.

 

[FredA]

There is no such thing as better at this point, it all depends on what you prefer. Best is to listen to a Dave with m-scaler and see what you think.

Someone here had a Dave a long time ago (without the m-scaler) and said he preferred the R7HE. Currawong who started this thread had a R2R7 who preferred the Hugo 2 and said (if I recall correctly) the dCS Bartok is probably better than Dave. I know someone with all the dCS models and says the Audio-GD DAC with the DI has the best sound he's ever heard. I know someone who replaced his R8 with a Holo May and doesn't miss the Audio-GD, and there are probably many Holo May users who wish they could afford even the entry dCS Bartok.

Right Jack. Depends much on what you are after. Hence my mentioning the r7he as natural sounding. Non fatiguing, analog. The May would also fits the description. Have not heard it either.

 

[mark44]

There is no such thing as better at this point, it all depends on what you prefer. Best is to listen to a Dave with m-scaler and see what you think.

Someone here had a Dave a long time ago (without the m-scaler) and said he preferred the R7HE. Currawong who started this thread had a R2R7 who preferred the Hugo 2 and said (if I recall correctly) the dCS Bartok is probably better than Dave. I know someone with a dCS flagship and says the Audio-GD DAC with the DI has the best sound he's ever heard. I know someone who replaced his R8 with a Holo May and doesn't miss the Audio-GD, and there are probably many Holo May users who wish they could afford even the entry dCS Bartok.

Currawong has the Dave with M-scaler, he should be releasing their review.

 

[mark44]

Right Jack. Depends much on what you are after. Hence my mentioning the r7he as natural sounding. Non fatiguing, analog. The May would also fits the description. Have heard it either.

Here in post 4881 of https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-dave.766517/page-326 Robb Watts wrote an interesting comment about external clocks.

 

[FredA]

Here in post 4881 of https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-dave.766517/page-326 Robb Watts wrote an interesting comment about external clocks.

As Watts decided to do, Kingwa uses a digital PLL to synch the external clock. Watts is speaking of a 104mhz requirement for the Dave, which he says will pick up too much jitter during transmission. Using a 10m source, like most high-end cies do is a different ball game.

In any case, using good enough external brings the perf. to a higher level with the r7/he, as many reported here.

 

[mark44]

As Watts decided to do, Kingwa uses a digital PLL to synch the external clock. Watts is speaking of a 104mhz requirement for the Dave, which he says will pick up too much jitter during transmission. Using a 10m source, like most high-end cies do is a different ball game.

In any case, using good enough external brings the perf. to a higher level with the r7/he, as many reported here.

Also in addition to the Dave there is M-Scaler (to be used in combo with Dave) which is an upscaler, which works in a better way than the one inside the dave. It would be interesting to hear the comparison.

 

[FredA]

Also in addition to the Dave there is M-Scaler (to be used in combo with Dave) which is an upscaler, which works in a better way than the one inside the dave. It would be interesting to hear the comparison.

Yes. The Dave was considered the best dac ever not so long ago by many and is supposedly even better with the M-scaler. I am sure the audio-gd combo with external clock can compete or even beat it. Digital has evolved a lot during the last 10 years and dacs are getting better and better, this is great.

Just got a kt-5020 tuner, one of the best ever made. This tuner is amazing, especially at night. I wonder if dacs could not be made even more analog using fm modulation/demodulation past the conversion stage. What amazes the most is the soundstaging. In any case, you have to compare apples to apples. I would have to try the r7he with great classical recordings, cause with these, the soundstaging is something else.

 

[sajunky]

Also in addition to the Dave there is M-Scaler (to be used in combo with Dave) which is an upscaler, which works in a better way than the one inside the dave. It would be interesting to hear the comparison.

In this thread there are number of interesting comparisons and Dave plus M-Scaler did not improve proportionally to the Qutest + M-Scaller, which means that technology limit is reached. Beside, A ladder implementation (not a true R2R like Audio GD DACs) - Holo May came with very positive comparison.

As was pointed above, comparing different technologies is difficult. It is easier to compare Chord to dCS, as both are a custom implementation of the same Delta-Sigma technology.

 

[mark44]

Yes. The Dave was considered the best dac ever not so long ago by many and is supposedly even better with the M-scaler. I am sure the audio-gd combo with external clock can compete or even beat it. Digital has evolved a lot during the last 10 years and dacs are getting better and better, this is great.

Just got a kt-5020 tuner, one of the best ever made. This tuner is amazing, especially at night. I wonder if dacs could not be made even more analog using fm modulation/demodulation past the conversion stage. What amazes the most is the soundstaging. In any case, you have to compare apples to apples. I would have to try the r7he with great classical recordings, cause with these, the soundstaging is something else.

Do you use XLR or ACSS cable to connect dac and ampli?

 

[FredA]

Do you use XLR or ACSS cable to connect dac and ampli?

A Nimak 5 acss. Best cable i have ever tried. Like having no cable.

 

[mark44]

A Nimak 5 acss. Best cable i have ever tried. Like having no cable.

Have you tried to compare XLR with ACSS? Of course with a good XLR cable like the Van Den Hul The mountain 3T.

 

[FredA]

Seems like the m-scaler could possibly improve the mkii, as it did with the

Have you tried to compare XLR with ACSS? Of course with a good XLR cable like the Van Den Hul The mountain 3T.

I compared the same exact cable (valab silver litz) and acss wins. I did the same with homemade cables. Same result. Given equal cables, acss wins, no contest. The Nimak plays in the big leagues. By far the best cable i have even owned. A couple of friends of mine bought Nimak 3, and one said the same thing, best he has tried, the cable has not much of a signature, it's just transparent.

 

[FredA]

@sajunky Interesting thread. The May beats the Dave fair and square. Would be interesting to try the m-scaler in my setup.

 

[mark44]

Seems like the m-scaler could possibly improve the mkii, as it did with the

I compared the same exact cable (valab silver litz) and acss wins. I did the same with homemade cables. Same result. Given equal cables, acss wins, no contest. The Nimak plays in the big leagues. By far the best cable i have even owned. A couple of friends of mine bought Nimak 3, and one said the same thing, best he has tried, the cable has not much of a signature, it's just transparent.

Certainly m-scaler can also be used on non-chord dacs like Schiit Yggdrasil and Audio Gd R7.