[Chopin75]

I am using JRiver since it was mentioned in the PinkFaun install. I will look into HQ Player. Not sure about any buttons. I can pick which channels I want to run in JRiver, so I have the HDMI in the front L/R port and I select the front l/r option in JRiver.

I am using JRiver since it was mentioned in the PinkFaun install. I will look into HQ Player. Not sure about any buttons. I can pick which channels I want to run in JRiver, so I have the HDMI in the front L/R port and I select the front l/r option in JRiver.

Just to FU on your pink faun PCl card, I am curious if you ever managed to use M-ch or that was not your intention, but somehow it looks like your JRiver is doing M-ch, and have 4 HDMI output from Pink Faun. Has pink Faun made a streamer for u to do M-ch ?

 

[chadnick]

Just to FU on your pink faun PCl card, I am curious if you ever managed to use M-ch or that was not your intention, but somehow it looks like your JRiver is doing M-ch, and have 4 HDMI output from Pink Faun. Has pink Faun made a streamer for u to do M-ch ?

I am currently running the M-ch Pink Faun in stereo (Crossed L+R Front output) with Audirvana and headphones. When I get the itch to switch from headphones, I may slowly upgrade to M-ch.

 

[Chopin75]

I am currently running the M-ch Pink Faun in stereo (Crossed L+R Front output) with Audirvana and headphones. When I get the itch to switch from headphones, I may slowly upgrade to M-ch.

I see, are u running J-river + linux that has setup to recognize 3 different DACs ? I presume using the 3-4 HDMI I2S output?

 

[chadnick]

I see, are u running J-river + linux that has setup to recognize 3 different DACs ? I presume using the 3-4 HDMI I2S output?

I couldn’t get the Pink Faun M-ch card to work properly on Linux. (Maybe the 2-ch one works?) So I switched my system to a barebones Windows 10. It recognizes all the channels in the card. I didn’t not try the other channels beside the L+R.

Correct me if I am wrong but it looks like in order to run all 4 channels I would need a DAC and amp on each of the 4 HDMIs.

 

[Chopin75]

I couldn’t get the Pink Faun M-ch card to work properly on Linux. (Maybe the 2-ch one works?) So I switched my system to a barebones Windows 10. It recognizes all the channels in the card. I didn’t not try the other channels beside the L+R.

Correct me if I am wrong but it looks like in order to run all 4 channels I would need a DAC and amp on each of the 4 HDMIs.

Are u running the streamer from Pinkfaun or just got their PCl M-ch card ? Pinkfaun should be able to config J River to recognize all 4 (8) channels. Yes, each HDMI should go into a separate DAC. I tried using USB to channel 3 DAC successfully with MacBook which has the "aggregate device" that ties all 3 DAC as one single unit. Then J River recognizes it and I select 5.1 I am not sure if you can make J River recognize all the channels without some sort of aggregate method. You can ask PinkFaun. I will ask them too. Glad windows seem to do M-ch but recognizing may not mean it will work. Also, I am curious how Linux works with J river. It doesn't sound that great with MacBook core audio esp bad with DSD. I am now hooking 3 DAC using "miniDSP-Dio8"

https://www.minidsp.com/products/usb-audio-interface/u-dio8

Works fine and sound quite nice despite having 3 DACs.
But it cannot do DSD/DXD, I would need USB for that. Even PinkFaun I2S cannot do DXD/DSD.

 

[DACLadder]

Is the R8 as sensitive to power source and cables as the R7? Swapped out the Furman Elite 15i power conditioner for my much older Furman P-1800 PFR and I like the sound much better with the older. Much better bass and smoother highs which makes for a warmer sound. Jacked highs were immediately noticed when installing the Elite 15i last summer but they never fully settled down to my satisfaction.

Anyway, I have to be carefully with equipment changes and swaps with R7 in the mix. Most transparent DAC I have ever experience. Make one system change at a time and evaluate before moving on. Just wondering if the R8 has this "feature".

 

[Whitigir]

Is the R8 as sensitive to power source and cables as the R7? Swapped out the Furman Elite 15i power conditioner for my much older Furman P-1800 PFR and I like the sound much better with the older. Much better bass and smoother highs which makes for a warmer sound. Jacked highs were immediately noticed when installing the Elite 15i last summer but they never fully settled down to my satisfaction.

Anyway, I have to be carefully with equipment changes and swaps with R7 in the mix. Most transparent DAC I have ever experience. Make one system change at a time and evaluate before moving on. Just wondering if the R8 has this "feature".

Furman is good, but a dedicated straight line to the panel would do a much better job

 

[Fatdoi]

Honestly, way better than it has any right to be. The detail retrieval is pretty insane. There really is something amazing to this dual mono ES9038pro setup. Has a bit more treble energy than I get from my Yggy and tube amp setups, but I was expecting that. Nowhere near shrill through. I listen to a lot of metal and electronic and I like the way the ESS chips handle synth. But I don't get any sense of digititis listening to anything with the D-77. That was my only worry when I bought it, but I wanted to try something new. Something that didn't require me to leave it on 24/7 for the best sound, like my Yggy does, especially when it's the summer monsoons and the power goes out (or worse, browns out and goes off/on/off/on) during lightning storms and I simply can't leave it on. Kind of feel like I've got the best of both worlds now... DS and R2R.

I feel like it makes the NFB-7.77 a bit obsolete, unless AGD redesigns the 7.77 with the front panel selections and keeps the 3 transformer setup.

I wonder if D-77 matches well with MD THX AAA 789 amp

 

[Matez]

Well deserved.

 

[holco]

Goming from the NOS-11 (+ Master-3) to a Master-1 and a R8, what a great great great combo this is!!!

 

[FredA]

Goming from the NOS-11 (+ Master-3) to a Master-1 and a R8, what a great great great combo this is!!!

Welcome to the club!

What do you feed you dac with?

 

[holco]

Welcome to the club!

What do you feed you dac with?

The MagnaHifi Mano-ultra streamer (i2s / HDMI)

 

[FredA]

The MagnaHifi Mano-ultra streamer (i2s / HDMI)

Nice. Good choice. I never heard it but have a taste of it with my pi-based setup. A very silent computer feeding an i2s reclocker is a good recipe.

 

[ToddRaymond]

I'm close to ordering one of the following combinations:
1) R28 + pair of Precision 3s (well within my current budget)
2) R28 + Master 3 (will have to use some credit)
3) R8 + Master 9 + Master 3 (will have to utilize a fair amount of credit)

I'm leaning toward combination 2) at this point, as the speakers I'm getting aren't going to be the most efficient, though the first combination would later make for a great bedroom system. I eventually want to get an the R-7HE, an HE-1 (and Master 9), and a pair of Master-2Hs, so perhaps it's silly going for the third option now. On the other hand, it may be a good long while before I can afford the flagship units. Hmm, I say.

That aside, regardless of which Audio-gd I end up with in the short-term, I'm thinking of using one of those JCAT FEMTO USB cards to output the bits from my computer. I wonder if any regular viewers of this thread have tried that card. I know it's generally frowned upon here, but I'll be using my Mac Mini to play my files. The Mini will be connected to an OWC Mercury Helios 3 Thunderbolt 3 PCIe expansion chassis, which will house the FEMTO card. Initially the card will be powered by a LPS from iFi, but later I will likely try the HDPLEX 200W unit to power both the JCAT card and the Helios 3 unit as well, forgoing the included SMPS for that enclosure. To begin with, I'll be getting my R28 or R8 with the Singxer F-1 card, and later I'll add something like that new Singxer SU-6 to the chain (and go I2S).

 

[Chopin75]

I'm close to ordering one of the following combinations:
1) R28 + pair of Precision 3s (well within my current budget)
2) R28 + Master 3 (will have to use some credit)
3) R8 + Master 9 + Master 3 (will have to utilize a fair amount of credit)

I'm leaning toward combination 2) at this point, as the speakers I'm getting aren't going to be the most efficient, though the first combination would later make for a great bedroom system. I eventually want to get an the R-7HE, an HE-1 (and Master 9), and a pair of Master-2Hs, so perhaps it's silly going for the third option now. On the other hand, it may be a good long while before I can afford the flagship units. Hmm, I say.

That aside, regardless of which Audio-gd I end up with in the short-term, I'm thinking of using one of those JCAT FEMTO USB cards to output the bits from my computer. I wonder if any regular viewers of this thread have tried that card. I know it's generally frowned upon here, but I'll be using my Mac Mini to play my files. The Mini will be connected to an OWC Mercury Helios 3 Thunderbolt 3 PCIe expansion chassis, which will house the FEMTO card. Initially the card will be powered by a LPS from iFi, but later I will likely try the HDPLEX 200W unit to power both the JCAT card and the Helios 3 unit as well, forgoing the included SMPS for that enclosure. To begin with, I'll be getting my R28 or R8 with the Singxer F-1 card, and later I'll add something like that new Singxer SU-6 to the chain (and go I2S).

I may have misunderstood, but if you plan to use Singxer F1 card there is no need to switch to Singer SU-6 though perhaps there will be a slight improvement in SQ. Would there be an upgraded next gen of F1 board that could be used? If the Gustard-U16 is as great as post people find, then you can also upgrade to that instead of the Singxer SU-6 for better SQ improvement.
I would also think saving money for the R-8 is better than trying to do R28 and then switch to R-8 later on
I presume you already have Mac mini ? (don't bother buying a new one now as latest machine can only use its core audio sound card which degrade the sound) I also recommend booting the Mac mini using euphony auto which will likely improve SQ a lot.