[HoloSpice]

Oh dear, what if world only revolved around headfi Maybe some purchase and don't speak english, care to post, or read post? Maybe some think waste of time?

There are some website with review of this d/a converter. Also "Shipping" Page on Audiogd website look like many sold.

Who know... but headfi = microcosm. Very small in 10 billion people world of audio.

 

[FredA]

Oh dear, what if world only revolved around headfi Maybe some purchase and don't speak english, care to post, or read post? Maybe some think waste of time?

There are some website with review of this d/a converter. Also "Shipping" Page on Audiogd website look like many sold.

Who know... but headfi = microcosm. Very small in 10 billion people world of audio.

Another possibility is people are reading the bashing site and won't take a chance on a 2.5k dac just because of this dishonest bunch. And there was a period also when shills had infested headfi, it's a well known commercial tactic. People having this job for a living should be ashamed of themselves,

People from China are less frequent readers of English threads and have access to Chinese threads, so guess what, most r2r 7 sold go to China.

But one thing plays in favor of audio-gd and will steers people back to common sense: the little r2r 11 and nfb-28 are hits, Audio-gd sells dozens of month of both. People are starting to think perhaps the bashing forum is just that: a bashing forum.

Another factor is thr r2r 7 really needs over 1000 hours and 6 months to reach its maximum.

 

[Currawong]

61 pages and no review by a member, seems only 3 purchased. Yggi w updates probably best it given currawong comments with an old Yggi

What has screwed up being able to review it somewhat has been the alternative firmware. Comparing to the Yggy is troublesome now as the new version has significant changes. Also my R2R 7 is slightly different to actual production, which now adds isolated USB.

But for those people don't need the full review:

Flag-waving, US patriots who follow Jason and Mike's philosophy and don't want to deal with anything fancy: Buy the Yggy.
Tweaking and searching for that ultimate "euphoric" sound, and/or people who want to be captivated by the music, preferring it over absolute accuracy: The R2R 7.
Objective subjectivists, or objectivists who seek musical pleasure and technical accuracy at the same time, those seeking the last bit of ultra detail, or if doing everything out of one, small, transportable box appeals to you: Hugo 2.

 

[FredA]

What has screwed up being able to review it somewhat has been the alternative firmware. Comparing to the Yggy is troublesome now as the new version has significant changes. Also my R2R 7 is slightly different to actual production, which now adds isolated USB.

But for those people don't need the full review:

Flag-waving, US patriots who follow Jason and Mike's philosophy and don't want to deal with anything fancy: Buy the Yggy.
Tweaking and searching for that ultimate "euphoric" sound, and/or people who want to be captivated by the music, preferring it over absolute accuracy: The R2R 7.
Objective subjectivists, or objectivists who seek musical pleasure and technical accuracy at the same time, those seeking the last bit of ultra detail, or if doing everything out of one, small, transportable box appeals to you: Hugo 2.

The accurate fw, IMO, is the way to go now, and it can be made to sound euphonic. Frankly, the level of details is amazing and nothing is exagerated.

I would be curious to listen to the Yggdrasil with old jazz, Perhaps it's the ultimate test. Your need wonderfully smooth and accurate treble like a high-end turntable has. The reasoning is simple: the highs are already compromised by the recording itself but are still good enough. Add any level of distorsion or error to them, and the magic goes away. Try listening to Diz and Getz for instance. Just my opinion again. We don't have to agree.

 

[gk2013]

I own a R2R7 and (I know) there are quite some people who purchased from Magna Hifi. As well as the R2R7HE is being sold a lot actually.
I LOVE MY R2R7 (Smooth Firmware) with Mano streamer (I2S)

 

[christianvogel]

I own a R2R7 and (I know) there are quite some people who purchased from Magna Hifi. As well as the R2R7HE is being sold a lot actually.
I LOVE MY R2R7 (Smooth Firmware) with Mano streamer (I2S)

I'm a fellow owner, using the same setup (R2R7 + Mano).

In a single sentence, the R2R7 is wonderful, and grows on you the longer you hear it.

Especially voices have a natural quality that is captivating, and if you get the source right, there is a lot of depth and tonality (my way of saying that I can hear the character of the instrument or voice). It produces a sound that is both very transparant and dynamic, yet uncoloured, and natural (depending on setup, I found the NOS3 mode to be nice yet somewhat coloured). This is also a DAC that, even though it has FIFO reclocking and a lot of attention to clean power, still is very sensitive to the noisiness of the source (as is every DAC I've tried so far).

Although it sounds great with the default setup, it is also very tweakable. You get 4 different NOS modes and 3 different oversampling modes to choose from, and can go even deeper if you want to (filter steepness, firmwares etc). This means this DAC has the unique ability to be tweaked to your personal taste. At the same time, this powerful feature is somewhat unaccessible due to it requiring the user to open the bonnet to set DIP switches or having to use a USB blaster. I think mr @Kingwa can learn here from PSAudio (firmware upgrade by SD-card) and Holo Audio (all settings using a front panel). This flexibility continues with many inputs and native DSD support, which can be a big benefit, depending on how you feel about DSD.

In general this DAC can feel a bit rough / purist. Personally I think it looks fantastic (especially in the Mano black edition), but not a lot of the power can be unlocked with the few buttons on the front. Because there are as little elements in the signal as possible, switching TV channels can cause pops and crackles. I do not really care much about this and prefer this inconvenience if it gives me a better sound, but for example my girlfriend leaves the stereo off when watching TV because switching channels produces unpleasant sounds.

This also is proving to be a DAC that scales. This DAC is unlikely to become the weak link in your set, ever. Keep feeding it better power and signal, and it keeps giving you better clarity and less coloration. I experienced this myself after getting a better I2S HDMI cable and cleaning the power up. Improve your speakers, amps and cables, and you keep hearing more, with less coloration. I suspect the excellent power management and output amplification in the R2R-7 has a big part in this.

All in all this DAC can at first feel a bit rough and intimidating, but get to know it and you will start to love it for its sound and flexibility.

 

[barbas]

I own a R2R7 and (I know) there are quite some people who purchased from Magna Hifi. As well as the R2R7HE is being sold a lot actually.
I LOVE MY R2R7 (Smooth Firmware) with Mano streamer (I2S)

I do own an R2R 7 bought to Magna Hi-Fi in a trip to France, I live in Uruguay. Testing Accurate FW + NOS3 + PLL, so far...so magical. This came with several mods I did in my system (crossover tweak to speakers, USB and speaker cables upgrade made the phenomenal Rizzi here in UY, pure silver).

 

[DACLadder]

I saw my name dropped... @DACLadder. I owned two original production Yggys. To clarify the Yggy's long power on cycle/ burn-in and the mute relays were turn-offs for me. Plus the original Yggy sound was exceptionally clean but very dry and did not marry well to my system (tube amp/ speakers). I gave it a fair test and was used exclusively for 6 months. Also had a MSB Analog DAC which I used for another 4 months. Sounded very much like the Yggy with slightly more low-level resolution. Afterward, reconnecting the original M7 to my system was like greeting an old friend. Sound was dynamic and more engaging. Not perfect but it sounded like MUSIC! Shortly thereafter I sold the Yggy and MSB Analog DAC to purchase the Singularity 7 with improved precision and clarity. So hence my continued interest in the R2R 7.

To each their own and audio equipment has to have synergy with the other components and your tastes. So I take reviews with some measure of salt. I would still like to see an honest comparison of the R2R 7 and Singularity 7 DACs.

 

[Wynnytsky]

When ambassador Fred wakes up (curse you @SilverCans - Fred needs his sleep) these accounts will be a real treat for his Friday morning

My stereo has been cold all week. I just installed a Furutech outlet and this weekend I'm replacing my xover hookup wiring with 12awg Duelund and re-terminating my speaker cables with copper Furez.
And once my system settles in again I'll try to get my friend to bring over his Lampi Big6. It'll be the SU-1 running coax to big6 and i2s to r2r7 in parallel -- I'm expecting the R2R7 to be bested overall, but am curious to see if that is so in every aspect, and by how much.

In truth it's never fair to A/B gear on a system that has been dialed in for months around one of the contenders -- so there'll be a pile of wires on hand to better integrate the big6

 

[remoss]

The SU-1 via I2S to R2R 7 is simply stunning. The R2R 7 is rather picky for HDMI cables, i have a Tubulus I2S (massive silver wire in a tube construction) cable since 2 days and it's really like there is no cable at all, it's that good

 

[DACLadder]

The SU-1 via I2S to R2R 7 is simply stunning. The R2R 7 is rather picky for HDMI cables, i have a Tubulus I2S (massive silver wire in a tube construction) cable since 2 days and it's really like there is no cable at all, it's that good

As with the Singularity 7 the R2R 7 default DSP setting is No PLL. So lower the input jitter the better sounding makes sense to me. Shorter length HDMI cables as well are a must for lowest possible jitter.

 

[DACLadder]

The differing modes, settings, and firmware of the R2R 7 used among the few reviewers are also confusing for persons on the outside trying to gain information and compare. It seems everyone likes something different. So this may take a very long time to sort out with any conclusion and agreement. Configurability may be a large strength of the R2R 7 so let us know what you are hearing and please list input, firmware, and DSP modes/ settings.

BTW my Singularity 7 has all default DSP FW/ settings. Both the S7 and R2R 7 share a common DSP board re-design....

 

[christianvogel]

@DACLadder good plan

I find the default settings (singularity OS) on the default firmware (smooth) to already sound excellent, but I found NOS2 with smooth firmware to be better.

My current setup needs HQPlayer, but sounds more natural to me:

HQPlayer => ethernet => Magna Mano => I2S(HDMI) => R2R7

HQplayer settings: closed form filters, sourced by Roon, streaming Tidal
Mano: DietPI linux with HQPlayer network daemon to stream
R2R7: dips on ATT0 and ATT1 only, so using the singularity filters with oversampling.

I have not yet tried the accurate firmware, as Magna seemed to really dislike it, but given @FredA 's enthusiasm I will give it a try soon.

 

[barbas]

My Singularity 7 is all factory default BTW....[/QUOTE]

The differing modes, settings, and firmware of the R2R 7 used among the few reviewers are also confusing for persons on the outside trying to gain information and compare. It seems everyone likes something different. So this may take a very long time to sort out with any conclusion and agreement. Configurability may be a large strength of the R2R 7 so let us know what you are hearing and please list input, firmware, and DSP modes/ settings.

BTW my Singularity 7 has all default DSP FW/ settings. Both the S7 and R2R 7 share a common DSP board re-design....

As mentioned before: Accurate fw, NOS3, PLL on. Compared to previous settings, I find accurate fw more dinamic, detailed en engaging overall so far, NOS3 being my go-to with any fw release, OS is not my cup of tea and between all the NOS options, Mode 3 is for me the most natural sounding. PLL on just added a notch of coherence, just a bit, I guess it must be my source not being ideal (ie. SU-1 or Mano via i2s): Aries Mini via USB.

My 2c.

 

[JaMo]

Hi,

A few days ago I flashed on the smooth fw again. I have been running the R2R7 on the accurate for a period. I have had it powered on and with music playing on it for about two months now. The R2R-7 have changed in a very positive way to give more of everything. It became sparkling clear. too clear really, and It was time to go back to the smooth firmware. I still use the setting 4x os with dithering. For me right now, this is more pleasing than with the accurate fw. I have also tried a few NOS-settings but no succes yet. (in my setup)

I am probably not at the end of this.... The R2R7 sure needs a long time to settle. I believe it is a truth to aim for 6 month. Not a problem... It is getting better every week It sure has a huge potential.

/Jan