Wynnytsky
500+ Head-Fier
Fred always tells me what I want to hearOnce your are addicted to r2r, i don't think you can go back to delta sigma
Fred always tells me what I want to hearOnce your are addicted to r2r, i don't think you can go back to delta sigma
Based on my own experience, I think Fred is right.Fred always tells me what I want to hear
Once your are addicted to r2r, i don't think you can go back to delta sigma. Unless maybe playing dsd with a great software converter. Not sure, would have to try it.
The r2r 7 is awesome tonight, and very very good with old jazz by the way.
Thanks for all your impressions. Still, I would like to hear a direct comparison between R2R 7 and HE-7S personally. You are comparing R7R 7 vs. Master 7 with upgraded firmware (I suppose). I have the same reference point - Master 7 with upgraded firmware. To me, the HE-7S is a worth upgrade of Master 7, better at everything from day one. No contest here. It is absolutely clear to my ears. Your preference of the R2R 7 is not always so clear and, based on that, I tend to think that the HE-7S may be superior to R2R 7 in terms of your or mine preferences. But this is just guessing and I do not plan to buy any R2R products anytime soon for direct comparison as I do not feel any urge to do now. So anyone here with personal experience of HE-7 Singularity (or Master 7 Singularity) versus R2R 7? This would be really interesting.
Once your are addicted to r2r, i don't think you can go back to delta sigma. Unless maybe playing dsd with a great software converter. Not sure, would have to try it.
The r2r 7 is awesome tonight, and very very good with old jazz by the way.
NFB-7.77 has a lot of 7s. Just sayin. Somebody get that thing and report back.
Then again, there's nothing wrong with an audiophile having 2 very different DACs. Kingwa wrote on the R2R11 vs NFB11 ...
"They are not which is better but most different on the flavor and worth own both just like you own some different headphones."
still balancing that doggy treat on my nose
Audio-gd NFB-8 (wm8741) and w4s dac-2 (sabre). Nothing recent. One critical aspect is how well the dac chip converts pcm to dsd. This has certainly improved, plus the multibit implementation. Let's say four years ago, r2r was the king. Today, the best regarded dacs are still r2r designs for the most part, but i suppose it could change.Like R2R DAC’s delta sigma DAC’s has improved, especially the last 5 years. Many of the improvement are not even related to the digital to analogue conversion per se. Most of the today’s delta sigma DAC’s are hybrids that has taken the best from R2R and the best from DS and made a new type of converters. No doubts R2R is great and am not arguing that DS is better than R2R it’s all in the in the execution and implementation and depending on design and components.
For the record, which DS dac have you compared to?
I've auditioned a few highly-regarded DACs in the last few years, and all the sigma-delta-based models sounded artificial to me to varying degrees. It is irritating to me that someone will then write that the DAC sounds best playing back DSD, or high-res. I'm firmly a supporter of the idea that since the majority of music is 44.1/16 that a DAC should be designed to play it best above all else. If a $100k dCS stack sounds best with 192k, then it is, arguably, a failure of the design.
One thing I noticed listening with the R2R 7 (and the other two, comparable DACs I have here) is how natural they sound listening with TIDAL, or anything I have in my library, regardless of sampling rate, to the point that I didn't think to write at all about the sound in detail, because they were so seamless and natural that there is nothing really to say. Unless I sit for hours and A/B piano notes or sections of tracks, simply put, all make me enjoy listening to the music and forget about the gear.
For the past 7 years I've been mining torrents and nntp for hi-res, so if it were the case that the higher sampled rips of the same recording didn't resolve anything more, then that would green light me looking for a dual 9038, not to replace an R2R dac, but for a 2nd interpretation/opinion of playback. Many of my audiophile friends juggle multiple sets of speakers, pre/amp/int, cables, etc for that sense of variety (DAC & computer are generally fixed). My mental obstacle to being 2dac household is more a fear of becoming that audiophile hoarder who has more stuff unplugged, than plugged in. I'll be in no rush (I'll have an R2R7!) so it's something that would likely only happen after an in-home audition.Good point. A dac should sound good with the most common formats.
I've auditioned a few highly-regarded DACs in the last few years, and all the sigma-delta-based models sounded artificial to me to varying degrees. It is irritating to me that someone will then write that the DAC sounds best playing back DSD, or high-res. I'm firmly a supporter of the idea that since the majority of music is 44.1/16 that a DAC should be designed to play it best above all else. If a $100k dCS stack sounds best with 192k, then it is, arguably, a failure of the design.
One thing I noticed listening with the R2R 7 (and the other two, comparable DACs I have here) is how natural they sound listening with TIDAL, or anything I have in my library, regardless of sampling rate, to the point that I didn't think to write at all about the sound in detail, because they were so seamless and natural that there is nothing really to say. Unless I sit for hours and A/B piano notes or sections of tracks, simply put, all make me enjoy listening to the music and forget about the gear.
For the past 7 years I've been mining torrents and nntp for hi-res, so if it were the case that the higher sampled rips of the same recording didn't resolve anything more, then that would green light me looking for a dual 9038, not to replace an R2R dac, but for a 2nd interpretation/opinion of playback. Many of my audiophile friends juggle multiple sets of speakers, pre/amp/int, cables, etc for that sense of variety (DAC & computer are generally fixed). My mental obstacle to being 2dac household is more a fear of becoming that audiophile hoarder who has more stuff unplugged, than plugged in. I'll be in no rush (I'll have an R2R7!) so it's something that would likely only happen after an in-home audition.
+1 on that! Plus, if somebody could compare to Holo Spring....Amos, can you give a brief comparison between R2R 7 to Yggy as you ran that unit for quite some time.