[ToddRaymond]

If you were choosing between the R27mk2 and the R27HE (or the R27RE), which would you go with, for sound quality alone? Looking for a good AIO with an R2R DAC and a strong enough amp to drive the Susvara, HE1000v2, etc.

For HE1000v2, all of them will have plenty of power. For the Susvara, I would avoid the R27RE, as it has less output power than the other two.

If you don't already have very excellent, non-current-limiting power filtering in your system, and you can afford to go all the way to the HE, I would just do it.

 

[Crypt Keeper]

Thanks JaMo and OCC7N, for the input. just share a bit of my journey so far. I have used DS dacs but could never get rid of that digital unnaturalness, even though i love the detail. The schiit bifrost 2, on the other hand did a little better but mid and treble detail was bit fuzzy, kinda lost extension. AFter i bought a second hand wells audio milo OG was when i first got a taste of a product not so popular and even crapped on, that i understood equipment sounds good or they don't and that synergy matters a great deal. That rich midrange, sweet top end and bass, paired with a DS dac for starters really got to me. Then i heard a well headtrip 2 level something at a small meet, and holy cow, detail, extension, seperation, tight powerfull layered bass and the sound stage, all without one hint of glare no matter how loud...thats when i thought, call it a expensive or rip off if you will, but that sounds insane on a susvara and zmf VC. I remember thinking to myself, my VC at home sounded flat off my topping amp, though it Sounds better on milo, but not like this. I think the dac was a denafrips but i didn't look to see what model. I still do love the S detail and cleanness, but maybe an R2R that can tow the line of detail and naturalness, and have excellent bass slam at the same time. Probably the only thing i am concerned about is an r2r dac that is too laid back and bloomy. reading up on r2r seems to be leading me to either musician aquarius(technical detail with monoceros ready to fill in the gaps of bass slam) or audio GD. Somewhere between 3-5K

If its audioGD, i thought to just go ahead a get the best model. The Best R2R and ddc i can afford and that R7He HE model with regen power seems to be one i should consider. Btw i noticed there is the r7he true R2R and also the pcm1704 model. Their price is rather similar. Any insight i may ask between the R7HE and HE7? You mentioned TT2, so i can expect audio gd to have more powerful bass, but high do their mid range and top end differ. Mybe could you elaborate a bit more. Apologies for the many questions.

Recently I replaced my Aquarius with R7HE MK2 w/ silver upgrades… The burn-in is not done yet, so it’s too early to make serious A to B , but I’m running R7HE with a - 120 DB @ HZ clock + nice clock cable… Aquarius is very very good DAC .. I love it’s liquid mids and huge stage with lots of air, but in my case the R7HE already bettered it … IMHO with a good clock it’s simply in different league …

 

[spw1880]

Recently I replaced my Aquarius with R7HE MK2 w/ silver upgrades… The burn-in is not done yet, so it’s too early to make serious A to B , but I’m running R7HE with a - 120 DB @ HZ clock + nice clock cable… Aquarius is very very good DAC .. I love it’s liquid mids and huge stage with lots of air, but in my case the R7HE already bettered it … IMHO with a good clock it’s simply in different league …

Hi, How is the detail retrieval,
and also the bass response differences between the aquarius and r7he? May i ask for bit more elaboration on the differences, maybe even in context of specific music genres.

When you had the aquarius, did you use a ddc with it?

Thank you

 

[Crypt Keeper]

Hi, How is the detail retrieval,
and also the bass response differences between the aquarius and r7he? May i ask for bit more elaboration on the differences, maybe even in context of specific music genres.

When you had the aquarius, did you use a ddc with it?

Thank you

Yes, still using same DDC (Gustard U18) . I would say the Aquarius is smoother … I will try to post a review once the “burin-in” is complete …

 

[OCC7N]

Has anyone tried iFi Purifier3 in there chain right after source, before DDC?

AryaV2: Its an experience, its more liquidy, may be placebo right now. Seperation/soundstage is still beautiful. The music really feels more wet…more saturated snare sounds. Can imagine it with active speakers

Anybody who has the iPurifier3 please try this to confirm

Bass still hits good, mids are open the highs is slightly more resolving, still clean. I think I like this.

I never managed to find out if it really REclocks the signal or just some filtering/cleaning. iFi Audio really not showing anything, and not detailed enough about this.

Edit:
Something happened 100% There are a special song I listen to for bass tops. Mid-Bass is soo much more refined!!!

My Arya became more focused, centered/forward. This is on Single Ended.

This setup is so addictive! Audioholic. I cancelled all my appointments yesterday I could not get out of the house because of this!

EDIT2:
For some reason this iFi Purifier3 gave the Susvara a dull mid, I did not like it. The difference was night and day on Susvara.

But AryaV2 ooh my it really did something great.

Honestly I thought something happened to my Susvara, I could not believe this, Arya was so good. When I took it out, everything was just right about Susvara.

 

[spw1880]

Yes, still using same DDC (Gustard U18) . I would say the Aquarius is smoother … I will try to post a review once the “burin-in” is complete …

how do you find the user friendliness of AGD dacs? i typically just run of PC, ipad and intona. Any connectivity issues?

 

[gimmeheadroom]

how do you find the user friendliness of AGD dacs? i typically just run of PC, ipad and intona. Any connectivity issues?

Connectivity is average, but works within all Audio-gd products.

User friendliness score: -1

Worst UI I have seen. But the build and sound make up for it

 

[OCC7N]

Connectivity is average, but works within all Audio-gd products.

User friendliness score: -1

Worst UI I have seen. But the build and sound make up for it

I like the menu look. Soo retro.

I did actually nothing it was plug and play even with i2s connection

 

[dougms3]

how do you find the user friendliness of AGD dacs? i typically just run of PC, ipad and intona. Any connectivity issues?

They're very simple interfaces. Only a few options like NOS and a feature that mimics analogue sound. All of the effort was put in to the sound quality.

Alot of people had issues with getting hdmi cables to work but I think it was because they did not have the i2s connected while installing the drivers and selecting the asio option as it was in my case. A minor configuration issue, more related to windows to be fair.

Otherwise using just the usb connection, its just plug and play.

 

[Crypt Keeper]

how do you find the user friendliness of AGD dacs? i typically just run of PC, ipad and intona. Any connectivity issues?

Windowz ? Nooooo.... I'm running it via DDC (Gustard U18) , SOtM Ultra (Linux) ----> Gustard U18----> Agd DAC
0 Issues with any gears running on Linux for me …
The menu on the DAC is lil' bit confusing at first, but in 2 days I was "native" with it ...

 

[JaMo]

I have said it many times and it is a bit provocative and rude I know. Here it comes again: Microsoft Windows has very little or nothing to do with music reproduction. Linux/ALSA is superior in my opinion.

The exception may be the varity of softwares for Windows creating music. Microsoft isn't really for consumers. Too much variables/drivers/DLL files .. .. ..

An old fashion telephone is a cunsumer device. "-You pick up the phone - Tone - Dial number - You get answer - walk through and complete dialog - hang up"

I use Linux based software in players since many years and haven't had any problems after setting parameters correct. And I am thankful that Gustard also use Linux/ALSA in the R26-renderer.

/Jan

 

[OCC7N]

I just plugged(usb cable) my ddc into the Synology NAS(linux) works flawlessly. Im not gonna use windows ever for playing back hifi …working on a raspberry pi cm4 module/board solution, so I can use my jcat usb pcie without windows.

 

[spw1880]

many thanks to all the good information from AGD owners. I am getting closer to making a purchase. I think my concerns with prefered tonality is pretty much answered. I did notice however that on the he9le product page, it was mentioned that power regeneration may not be needed if a good power processor is in place.

Is a plixer BAC1000 conditioner considered a good power processor? Does having the plixer bac1000 it mean that regeneration models are not really needed across the AGD product range, like dacs, amps and even the DDC??

I mean the Plixer BAC is a very competent and well loved power conditioner, using balanced and electrostatic shielded power transformer to clean AC, if that is designed to do the same thing as regeneration then i may consider the DI20/R7mk2/He9LE stack. Fits my budget overall. I probably still get the headtrip III lvl II. But a full AGD stack is quite appealing.

Technically with R core transformers, DC filter is not required and is supposedly superior to toroids in everyway already. (maybe some Mu metal sheets for each Rcore may help a bit).

 

[OCC7N]

many thanks to all the good information from AGD owners. I am getting closer to making a purchase. I think my concerns with prefered tonality is pretty much answered. I did notice however that on the he9le product page, it was mentioned that power regeneration may not be needed if a good power processor is in place.

Is a plixer BAC1000 conditioner considered a good power processor? Does having the plixer bac1000 it mean that regeneration models are not really needed across the AGD product range, like dacs, amps and even the DDC??

I mean the Plixer BAC is a very competent and well loved power conditioner, using balanced and electrostatic shielded power transformer to clean AC, if that is designed to do the same thing as regeneration then i may consider the DI20/R7mk2/He9LE stack. Fits my budget overall. I probably still get the headtrip III lvl II. But a full AGD stack is quite appealing.

Technically with R core transformers, DC filter is not required and is supposedly superior to toroids in everyway already. (maybe some Mu metal sheets for each Rcore may help a bit).

Im gonna be honest here even though I have the LE model. Go for mk2, the small % improvement is valuable.

I run my system through a Furutech FLUX50 into a passive power strip(matrix2)

I can not tell you how satisfied I still am, though I recommend you better amp. If you get R7 dont buy anything under. Go for H9Mk2.

More experience user here than me. But get the LE if you go for R8

EDIT:

I rather get the R7HE MK2 and H9mk2 instead of the three(di r7 le)

Get this DI20HE when you also decide for Masterclock.

Just my opinion

 

[OCC7N]

Random:

One thing more. It is so nice the amp(HE9LE) is so heavy it does not move, when changing between XLR4 and SE