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

[Jandu]

R-8HE MK3 shipped out from Audio-gd just last night. Can't wait to get it!

You will be surprised, pleasantly. A long burn in period ahead. Let us know in about a month how does it sound. You may be the first one on this forum to give us some feedbacks.

 

[dougms3]

Does anyone have the manual for r8mk2?

It looks like the menu layout changed for the mk3.

 

[Jandu]

Does anyone have the manual for r8mk2?

It looks like the menu layout changed for the mk3.

http://www.audio-gd.com/R2R/R8mk2/R8mk2EN.htm

 

[OCC7N]

To anybody who is trying to get the "last" dollars for R7HMK2 instead of R8HMK2. Go for it but the RH8MK2 is fascinating. I think it does not matter what amp you buy from AGD, the DAC is the most important as priority(in general), because of the pure quality of balance.

I just tried AryaV2 with unbalanced/SE cable. I am at 14/100 in volume and still whole alot of information/details. The lowend is unreal detailed and still there at such a low volume...It must be the ACSS cable? - Im stoked!

My recommendation would be.

Scenario. - You have a dac and a headamp, and want to try AGD. Go for the DAC first! - and try the headamp you got.
-I have tried my TT2 on the HE-9 LE, even though I like the sound better, it does not change the imbalance/levels image of TT2.

(My point is when you got a balanced/leveled DAC you don´t need that much of power, because everything is so detailed)

 

[Farrellc]

So I received my R-8HE MK3 last Friday and here are my initial impressions.

Right out of the box I felt that it was a solid DAC but wasn't blown away. It seemed very similar to my PureAudio Lotus DAC5 which is D/S withtwo ESS 9038PRO chips. Then I left for a couple hours to take care of some choirs around the house and let it warm up. After I came back I threw on a couple more tracks and... wow, that changed! Layering was easily the biggest difference I noticed, every instrument had a place within the music and came together, but was undeniably identifiable. In other words, everything could be picked apart and nothing felt meshed together and lacking in detail. Bass is well defined and textured while the soundstage is wide with some nice depth.

Unfortunately, I can't really describe it, but there's some quality to R2R dacs that really makes the music more lively and engaging compared to their D/S counterparts. This is what I wanted back ever since I sold my Bifrost 2. While $2500 isn't chump change, I believe that this dac is more than a worthwhile investment and will really help pull the most out of my music in the long run. The features also help the value proposition with it's numerous inputs and multiple sampling modes. The unit can be put into two different NOS modes or, 2x, 4x, or 8x OS. There is also a vinyl simulation mode which is supposed to mimic a phono stage. I used it briefly with NOS and found that it smoothed out the Phil Collins that I played through it; very enjoyable! I'll definitely need to explore these modes in more depth in the future.

Also, in case this helps anyone who might have the same problem in the future, when I first started using this dac through USB connection I would get random clicks periodically which was noticeable during quiet sections on the tracks I was playing. A little bit of troubleshooting and I found out there is a driver on Audio-gd's website that you need to install. Once I rebooted my PC the issue was solved!

 

[DACLadder]

@Farrellc Congratulations! Kingwa's products are like fine wine. Take a while to mature. The R7HE mk2 took every bit of 750 hrs to settle down. Maybe more like 1,000 hrs. The V2 DAC boards, used on both DACs, require a long time to turn the final corner on transparency. Sound better one day and then regress for a while. You can ask FredA as I was complaining and had my doubts in the 200-300 hr. range. NOS is a good mode for break-in as the new-ish V2s seem aggressive in the trebles.

Kingwa says you can quicken the burn-in cycle by just leaving the DAC on 24/7. In my case, being a cheapskate, turned power off each night after 6-8 hr run each day. And was a painful 2-3 months. Once burned in the R7HE mk2 warms up quickly after cold power starts. And a very revealing DAC with cables and power cords. But let the R8HE mk3 burn for a while before making big changes.

 

[Farrellc]

@Farrellc Congratulations! Kingwa's products are like fine wine. Take a while to mature. The R7HE mk2 took every bit of 750 hrs to settle down. Maybe more like 1,000 hrs. The V2 DAC boards, used on both DACs, require a long time to turn the final corner on transparency. Sound better one day and then regress for a while. You can ask FredA as I was complaining and had my doubts in the 200-300 hr. range. NOS is a good mode for break-in as the new-ish V2s seem aggressive in the trebles.

Kingwa says you can quicken the burn-in cycle by just leaving the DAC on 24/7. In my case, being a cheapskate, turned power off each night after 6-8 hr run each day. And was a painful 2-3 months. Once burned in the R7HE mk2 warms up quickly after cold power starts. And a very revealing DAC with cables and power cords. But let the R8HE mk3 burn for a while before making big changes.

Appreciate the guidance! I plan on leaving it on 24/7 so it shouldn't be as painful as a burn-in as you had. Still, I'm already very impressed with how it sounds and I imagine I'll be even more so as it burns in.

 

[FredA]

So I received my R-8HE MK3 last Friday and here are my initial impressions.

Right out of the box I felt that it was a solid DAC but wasn't blown away. It seemed very similar to my PureAudio Lotus DAC5 which is D/S withtwo ESS 9038PRO chips. Then I left for a couple hours to take care of some choirs around the house and let it warm up. After I came back I threw on a couple more tracks and... wow, that changed! Layering was easily the biggest difference I noticed, every instrument had a place within the music and came together, but was undeniably identifiable. In other words, everything could be picked apart and nothing felt meshed together and lacking in detail. Bass is well defined and textured while the soundstage is wide with some nice depth.

Unfortunately, I can't really describe it, but there's some quality to R2R dacs that really makes the music more lively and engaging compared to their D/S counterparts. This is what I wanted back ever since I sold my Bifrost 2. While $2500 isn't chump change, I believe that this dac is more than a worthwhile investment and will really help pull the most out of my music in the long run. The features also help the value proposition with it's numerous inputs and multiple sampling modes. The unit can be put into two different NOS modes or, 2x, 4x, or 8x OS. There is also a vinyl simulation mode which is supposed to mimic a phono stage. I used it briefly with NOS and found that it smoothed out the Phil Collins that I played through it; very enjoyable! I'll definitely need to explore these modes in more depth in the future.

Also, in case this helps anyone who might have the same problem in the future, when I first started using this dac through USB connection I would get random clicks periodically which was noticeable during quiet sections on the tracks I was playing. A little bit of troubleshooting and I found out there is a driver on Audio-gd's website that you need to install. Once I rebooted my PC the issue was solved!

Attacks and timbres are the most obvious. I always find the delta sigmas technically fantastic but they don't draw you into music as much. Kingwa's r2r dacs stage extremely well too. And as you mentioned, the layering is excellent.

 

[dougms3]

So I received my R-8HE MK3 last Friday and here are my initial impressions.

Right out of the box I felt that it was a solid DAC but wasn't blown away. It seemed very similar to my PureAudio Lotus DAC5 which is D/S withtwo ESS 9038PRO chips. Then I left for a couple hours to take care of some choirs around the house and let it warm up. After I came back I threw on a couple more tracks and... wow, that changed! Layering was easily the biggest difference I noticed, every instrument had a place within the music and came together, but was undeniably identifiable. In other words, everything could be picked apart and nothing felt meshed together and lacking in detail. Bass is well defined and textured while the soundstage is wide with some nice depth.

Unfortunately, I can't really describe it, but there's some quality to R2R dacs that really makes the music more lively and engaging compared to their D/S counterparts. This is what I wanted back ever since I sold my Bifrost 2. While $2500 isn't chump change, I believe that this dac is more than a worthwhile investment and will really help pull the most out of my music in the long run. The features also help the value proposition with it's numerous inputs and multiple sampling modes. The unit can be put into two different NOS modes or, 2x, 4x, or 8x OS. There is also a vinyl simulation mode which is supposed to mimic a phono stage. I used it briefly with NOS and found that it smoothed out the Phil Collins that I played through it; very enjoyable! I'll definitely need to explore these modes in more depth in the future.

Also, in case this helps anyone who might have the same problem in the future, when I first started using this dac through USB connection I would get random clicks periodically which was noticeable during quiet sections on the tracks I was playing. A little bit of troubleshooting and I found out there is a driver on Audio-gd's website that you need to install. Once I rebooted my PC the issue was solved!

The dac is comprised of many components. It's needs time to allow power and signal to run through, the oxco alone needs a good 1000 hours on it to fully burn in as per kingwa's recommendation.

The burn in time does suck but once its complete, its well worth it.

 

[OCC7N]

Attacks and timbres are the most obvious. I always find the delta sigmas technically fantastic but they don't draw you into music as much. Kingwa's r2r dacs stage extremely well too. And as you mentioned, the layering is excellent.

RME ADI-2 DAC FS is a perfect example of this. dS feel like 1 layer all the time, however Chords TT2 is a little different not only with its pulse array technology, but also sound, the only non-R2R I got left.

@Farrellc congrats! best start is always the dac imo. But when you find out what those ACSS do…I started with headamp/HE-9LE for 4months on my dS dacs. Coming from the headamp to the agd dac…oh boy!

“ACSS is like spoiling a great movie, but its even better after seing it yourself in person”

 

[FredA]

It starts with the source indeed. Can't really fix a flaw passed it, only mask it.

 

[OCC7N]

It starts with the source indeed. Can't really fix a flaw passed it, only mask it.

Believe it or not many grownups on a certain thread think they can. All they ever talk about is amps….

 

[gimmeheadroom]

It starts with the source indeed. Can't really fix a flaw passed it, only mask it.

We have been touting the truth of GIGO (garbage in, garbage out) for decades. It aligns perfectly to what you guys are saying

 

[DACLadder]

Congratulations again to Kingwa and the Audio GD team. The R7HE MK2 has made the 2023 Stereophile Recommended Components list (Apr 1, 2023). Digital Processors: class A rating! This is a major accomplishment and deserved recognition. Well done!
https://www.stereophile.com/content/recommended-components-2023-edition-digital-processors

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Congratulations again to Kingwa and the Audio GD team. The R7HE MK2 has made the 2023 Stereophile Recommended Components list (Apr 1, 2023). Digital Processors: class A rating! This is a major accomplishment and deserved recognition. Well done!
https://www.stereophile.com/content/recommended-components-2023-edition-digital-processors

This is great news, thanks for passing it along.

Stereophile has a long standing rule that gear has to be available at retail in America to be eligible to be tested/listed. I guess since Kingwa has a distributor in Hawaii, this honor is long overdue.