[Sebas75]

Can you upgade the Ref 1 to new digital board and Accusilicon XOs? You can have the best of both worlds.

I listened to the M7S 2019 this morning and switched to R7 2019 a few hours ago. I am not missing anything on the switch. A little more detail and plenty of bass with the R7. DACs running Dop1.1. Both DACs have the classic AGD dynamic sound quality. And sound more alike than different these days.

The R2R7 was leaner from what I remember. Had lots of glare with the V1 DAC boards. It was a nightmare trying to pair cabling in attempts to tame the highs.

for me the R2R7 of 2018 upgrade to R7 in 2019 is soft, with smooth highs never aggressive, a very beautiful medium, huge sound stage and tons of bass therefore never aggressive, it lacks compared to dac Ess, violent dynamics but it's much more musical

 

[JaMo]

Playing DSD should not be a factor when chosing the best sound. You can always convert to PCM in Foobar with SoX.

Yes, It is correct. In my case I also have a TDA1541AS2 dac which is without the ability to play DSD. It sounds fantastic leaning to the PCM1704 sound charactar but without the bloated bass. I don't use Windows. Too messy. Linux (ALSA) players all around here and for DSD played on the TDA dac, a Mutec MC3+USB is taking care of the conversion to PCM.

I am sure Kingwa newest programming skills is giving the PCM1704 chips their best ever sound. You should be safe with any of them. But I vote for the 10MHz masterclock input if upgrading today.
/J

 

[Sebas75]

have a Novice question. If we upgrade my R7 to 2021 then we benefit from a BNC input to add an external masteeclock. Ok but if we add an external masterclock, does the USB input (in6) benefit from this contribution?

 

[Articnoise]

Hi guys
I'm thinking about buying the 2021 R8-HE DAC to replace my R8 + DI-20 combo as it should sound better, but I'm not 100% sure.

I already have a dedicated AC line + a Holton DC Blocker + an Audioquest Niagara 1200 for the power of my system.

Have anyone of tried an R8/R7 DAC vs the HE versions on a line with already good power conditioning in it? Was the upgrade "really" worthwile?

I have the money, but the economy in my country is bad and the currency exchange rate is awful. I really need to be sure I will get a good improvement in sound quality, not a marginal one, and selling the R8 and DI-20 here at a fair price won't be easy.

I have no experience with these combinations, but I would say that it looks like a side-grade at best.

 

[JaMo]

have a Novice question. If we upgrade my R7 to 2021 then we benefit from a BNC input to add an external masteeclock. Ok but if we add an external masterclock, does the USB input (in6) benefit from this contribution?

Yes, it sure does. The USB module now get its derived signal from the motherboard (digital input board). So the choice will be internal Accusilicon's or from the Masterclock if You have added one. The performance lift on the Amanero input, even without a Masterclock is obvious.
/J

 

[Sebas75]

Yes, it sure does. The USB module now get its derived signal from the motherboard (digital input board). So the choice will be internal Accusilicon's or from the Masterclock if You have added one. The performance lift on the Amanero input, even without a Masterclock is obvious.
/J

thank you very much, I hope that the sound will always be as analog?

 

[sajunky]

thank you very much, I hope that the sound will always be as analog?

More analog than ever.

 

[Sebas75]

More analog than ever.

more analog than before this usb upgrade 2021:

USB clock sources are derived from the internal Accusilicon clocks offering a significant improvement over the original Amanero USB with onboard clocks

 

[mudhole]

Finally, I ordered the R7HE yesterday. I hope l will stay with it for another 10 years.
Kingwa suggest the R7HE over the HE7, unless some people are the loyalty 1704 fans.
Can not wait.

 

[UsoppNoKami]

Finally, I ordered the R7HE yesterday. I hope l will stay with it for another 10 years.
Kingwa suggest the R7HE over the HE7, unless some people are the loyalty 1704 fans.
Can not wait.

With a Master-11S in my past and R7HE currently on hand, I am always tempted to buy the HE-7. Now, where did i plant that money tree...

 

[PhMZ4]

@/usoppnokami: I’m observing you have the ISO Regen between your Allo USBridge Signature and your DI20HE. I’m pretty sure the sound will be better without the ISO Regen when you will have received the R7HE (2021) and its improved HDMI isolation, as reclocking upfront from the DI20HE will just alter the good outgoing signal from the Allo, and your DI20HE has all galvanic isolation and more accurate clocking needed, compared to the ISO. Let’s give it a try and please give us your feedback.

 

[rsbrsvp]

@/usoppnokami: I’m observing you have the ISO Regen between your Allo USBridge Signature and your DI20HE. I’m pretty sure the sound will be better without the ISO Regen when you will have received the R7HE (2021) and its improved HDMI isolation, as reclocking upfront from the DI20HE will just alter the good outgoing signal from the Allo, and your DI20HE has all galvanic isolation and more accurate clocking needed, compared to the ISO. Let’s give it a try and please give us your feedback.

I have been playing around with these reclockers/ regenerators for years and very very often, multiple units improves sound.

I have a R-7HE 2020 with 2021 HDMI board and a DI-20HE; and the regen iso between my mac mini and my DI improves things quite a bit. Sound is fuller, less hard, more analogue, much much more enjoyable.

I know Kingwa says NOT to put any isolation between the computer and the DI, but my experience is that the results are better with the uptone device. I have a SOTM-usb TX ultra SE as well and it improves things even more than the regen when placed between my pc and my DI.

I do not understand why this is so- but I am confident that I am not the only one who can identify that this is the result.

To take things further, I have a OXCO external clock attached to my DI and to my R-7HE. If I only use the external clock on the R-7HE and not the DI, the improvement is less than if I use the external clock on both. Why should that be- that better clocking in the DI should help any more? Shouldn't using the best clocking in the final stage of the digital signal be all that is necessary?

My conclusion is that I do NOT understand.... AT ALL....

 

[PhMZ4]

I have been playing around with these reclockers/ regenerators for years and very very often, multiple units improves sound.

I have a R-7HE 2020 with 2021 HDMI board and a DI-20HE; and the regen iso between my mac mini and my DI improves things quite a bit. Sound is fuller, less hard, more analogue, much much more enjoyable.

I know Kingwa says NOT to put any isolation between the computer and the DI, but my experience is that the results are better with the uptone device. I have a SOTM-usb TX ultra SE as well and it improves things even more than the regen when placed between my pc and my DI.

I do not understand why this is so- but I am confident that I am not the only one who can identify that this is the result.

To take things further, I have a OXCO external clock attached to my DI and to my R-7HE. If I only use the external clock on the R-7HE and not the DI, the improvement is less than if I use the external clock on both. Why should that be- that better clocking in the DI should help any more? Shouldn't using the best clocking in the final stage of the digital signal be all that is necessary?

My conclusion is that I do NOT understand.... AT ALL....

For your latter part with the OCXO clocks on both elements, this is more the obvious part as it syncs all components to the same reference, even if that reference may be somewhat less performant than the embedded ones in the devices (essentially due to the cabling and distance).

For the ISO part, from a technical standpoint Kingwa is absolutely right, there is no debate.... however it may be as well a question of taste ultimately, due to the reformatting impact of the ISO Regen (or similar such as iGalvanic from iFi Audio) which better suits once taste finally.... this is the only explanation I can reasonably find.

 

[FredA]

Same.with usb cables. My experience with them between the usbridge sig and the di20he is that an obvious difference can be heard.

My explanation is in two parts
1. A poor quality usb signal or cable can cause transmission errors (usb audio has no error correction}
2. A poor signal/cable will cause more messaging in the asynch protocol and thus will make the usb receiver noisier, and can also cause ground contamination through the power bus. This noise could in a small part get through to the clean section of the di20he, despite isolation (hypothesis)

 

[FredA]

@rsbrsvp how big a difference did the hdmi isolator make?