[DACLadder]

For the upscalers using Audio GD DACs... what DAC DSP mode do you use when upsampling? Seems like you would want minimal filtering by the DAC so as not to interfere or interact with any new filtering from the oversampling process. Just curious for this purpose what is the most neutral or best DSP mode on the R7???

Edit: After reading TDA firmware guide OS 1x is perhaps the most neutral mode but may not be devoid of data manipulation. NOS is very colored so definitely not neutral.

 

[guzz46]

For the upscalers using Audio GD DACs... what DAC DSP mode do you use when upsampling? Seems like you would want minimal filtering by the DAC so as not to interfere or interact with any new filtering from the oversampling process. Just curious for this purpose what is the most neutral or best DSP mode on the R7???

Edit: After reading TDA firmware guide OS 1x is perhaps the most neutral mode but may not be devoid of data manipulation. NOS is very colored so definitely not neutral.

I've got a fully upgraded R8 and I've tried all sorts of combinations with hqplayer and different DSP modes on the R8 over the 5 weeks since I've owned it, and on my system I like NOS mode 1, the other 2 NOS modes and OS modes all sound slightly more polished but also more processed, to use a gross exaggeration NOS 1 sounds more organic, like the band is playing right there, where the other modes sound like the band's had their sound tweaked in the recording studio.

As far as hqplayer goes I've settled on NS9 for dithering, and IIR upsampled up to 384k for filtering, IIR sounds very analog like and seems to put more focus on vocals and midrange, interestingly I used to have a bunch of DSF files which sounded very smooth on the R8 but seemed to lack the dynamics of PCM, but with all the filtering and dithering options on hqplayer I could make PCM sound very similar to DSF and still retain the dynamics of PCM, so I ended up converting all my DSF files to PCM.

 

[FredA]

I soldered my Valab acss cable last night. The cable is too big to pass through the neutrik connector. I had to use heat shrink to cover the wires over a certain length. The overall gauge of each pair of signal wire is big, it barely fits into a neutrik pin.

Each signal wire is enameled. So they have to be tined, which i did not do because of the constraint i had with the connectors, and cause i wanted to keep a max. of the jacket (meaning the jacket and other external layers). So it was a nightmare.

The cable is not sheilded, two wires are present to carry the groud however.

This cable has a real high-end build, to sum it up. I did do not a great job at soldering it, just a barely good enough one but it sounds great already. It needs 350 to fully develop but the lack of burn-in does not affect sound quality as much as with a regular xlr signal cable.

I could have managed to tin the wire, on second thoughts and please do tin them if you decide to follow my footsteps with the acss cable project.

This cable has such an incredible treble, smooth, full of information and adding depth to the soundstage. This is real high-end IMO.

 

[DACLadder]

@guzz46 Yes, makes sense after more thought. When upscaling use DSP mode you like best. Upsampling moves Nyquist filtering far out of the range of human hearing so pick a "voice" that matches your taste and equipment. The R7/8s are very versatile in that regard.

 

[DACLadder]

@FredA Good job Fred! ACSS cabling building is my most frustrating project of the last 20 yrs! Outer insulation is too big on any multi-strand cable sizes larger than 28 gauge wires. Takes a great amount of patience, skill, and good eye sight! Congrats!

 

[FredA]

@FredA Good job Fred! ACSS cabling building is my most frustrating project of the last 20 yrs! Outer insulation is too big on any multi-strand cable sizes larger than 28 gauge wires. Takes a great amount of patience, skill, and good eye sight! Congrats!

Yep. Even in this case, even though it uses a 4-pin xlr, not a mini. Because of the enameled litz, the size of the wires and the overall diameter, all that could go wrong went wrong but i have a top class acss to hook up the m3 to the m1 now. Just love the upgrade it provides.

 

[ItsAllInMyHead]

I've got a fully upgraded R8...

[snip]

What firmware are you running? Congratulations on your new R-8!

Edited to add - I just saw that was your first post. Let me be the first to say - Welcome to Head Fi. Watch out for your wallet!

 

[guzz46]

What firmware are you running? Congratulations on your new R-8!

Edited to add - I just saw that was your first post. Let me be the first to say - Welcome to Head Fi. Watch out for your wallet!

Thanks, I e-mailed Kingwa that very question while I was waiting for it to ship and he said now the default firmware is the tda_Asy, how does one know if there is a new firmware available? do you just have to keep an eye on the website? I assume new firmware is pretty rare? as far as I can tell there has only been two for the R8 so far, syn and asy?

 

[ItsAllInMyHead]

<SNIP>

I like NOS mode 1, the other 2 NOS modes and OS modes all sound slightly more polished but also more processed, to use a gross exaggeration NOS 1 sounds more organic, like the band is playing right there, where the other modes sound like the band's had their sound tweaked in the recording studio.

Thanks, I e-mailed Kingwa that very question while I was waiting for it to ship and he said now the default firmware is the tda_Asy, how does one know if there is a new firmware available? do you just have to keep an eye on the website? I assume new firmware is pretty rare? as far as I can tell there has only been two for the R8 so far, syn and asy?

The reason I asked about the firmware is that if you're using TDA_Asy firmware (I assumed when you said you've only had the DAC for about 5 weeks) then your perceptions of differences in the sound between NOS modes is placebo. There is only one NOS mode with that firmware. The indicator will move from 1 to 3, but they are all the same mode.

The best source of information for new firmwares (for me) is usually through Kingwa himself and/or this forum. Lots of great folks here. There are at least 4 versions of the firmwares that I have. You've no need to have any of the older ones unless you just want to play IMHO.

Enjoy!

 

[guzz46]

The reason I asked about the firmware is that if you're using TDA_Asy firmware (I assumed when you said you've only had the DAC for about 5 weeks) then your perceptions of differences in the sound between NOS modes is placebo. There is only one NOS mode with that firmware. The indicator will move from 1 to 3, but they are all the same mode.

The best source of information for new firmwares (for me) is usually through Kingwa himself and/or this forum. Lots of great folks here. There are at least 4 versions of the firmwares that I have. You've no need to have any of the older ones unless you just want to play IMHO.

Enjoy!

That's weird, I definitely noticed a difference, NOS 2 had more high frequency extension, another strange thing is when I was trying different OS modes some wouldn't produce any sound unless I enabled Pll, I think OS 0 and 4 had to have Pll enabled, I can't remember if OS 2 and 8 had to have it disabled or not.

 

[DACLadder]

That's weird, I definitely noticed a difference, NOS 2 had more high frequency extension, another strange thing is when I was trying different OS modes some wouldn't produce any sound unless I enabled Pll, I think OS 0 and 4 had to have Pll enabled, I can't remember if OS 2 and 8 had to have it disabled or not.

Welcome. You have TDA Asy firmware loaded on your R8. And has only one NOS mode - same on all three settings. At least that is how Kingwa documented the firmware,

Also TDA firmware no longer has PLL function. The front panel ‘Pll’ setting controls a SAA7220 +TDA1541A DAC chip simulation - 16-bit, shallower filter slopes. And OS 2 and OS 8 have no function in this simulator mode. It’s all documented in the TDA user guide.

Two versions of V3 firmware - Smooth and Accurate - are available for the R8. It has all the functions you mentioned. V3 Accurate is very good and definitely worth a listen when you get settled.

 

[guzz46]

Welcome. You have TDA Asy firmware loaded on your R8. And has only one NOS mode - same on all three settings. At least that is how Kingwa documented the firmware,

Also TDA firmware no longer has PLL function. The front panel ‘Pll’ setting controls a SAA7220 +TDA1541A DAC chip simulation - 16-bit, shallower filter slopes. And OS 2 and OS 8 have no function in this simulator mode. It’s all documented in the TDA user guide.

Two versions of V3 firmware - Smooth and Accurate - are available for the R8. It has all the functions you mentioned. V3 Accurate is very good and definitely worth a listen when you get settled.

Ok, kind of confusing, on the audio-gd website it says "R8_tda_Asy is the Accurate version and the R8_tda_Syn is the Smooth" are you saying there's an older V3 Accurate firmware and units from the 20th of March 2019 onward's are loaded with a newer tda_Asy Accurate firmware? which I assume mine must have, if so it's kind of odd that I can notice a difference between the 3 NOS modes if they're supposed to sound the same, has anyone else tried the different NOS modes on the most recent tda_Asy firmware to see if they can hear any difference?

Thanks

 

[FredA]

Just a quick update on my silver litz acss: seems like acss likes a relatively heavy gauge litz cable. I am delighted, this a very fast and detailed cable. The mids are a little recessed for now but the balance is very good nonethless. I can't recommend this cable enough. It brings such life to music, it is just remarkable. Ms-audio/valab should produce a 4-pin xlr connector and offer this version of the acss cable as a finished product. The dynamics and highs and simply mind-blowing. I never never heard better treble from a cable. As mentioned so many times, combining acss with a high quality cable can bring such outstanding level... I am thinking 2k+ interconnects would be a fair comparison. I owned. 1k cables in the past. As an xlr (voltage signal), the valab sounds like 1k. Acss makes it just clearly better.

My setup is getting so good, i got a tear to my eye a couple of times since last night.

 

[mivarpet]

Just a quick update on my silver litz acss

Hi FredA. Which cable is this one please? Is it this one re-terminated with mini XLRs - https://www.ebay.ca/itm/MS-Audio-Pu...208522?hash=item469425afca:g:vC8AAOSwoylcIUbg

I have that cable between my M1 preamp and power amp and it is indeed a special cable.

Like you, i have been experimenting with my own ACSS cables. The best plugs I have found are these - https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Rean-RT3FC-...050575?hash=item5b4561a30f:g:aJMAAOSwElpatXr~. However, it is a challenge to get decent cable into such a small body. In the end I usually pull the rubber grommet off the end and heatshrink over the housing once complete.

Thank you

 

[FredA]

Hi FredA. Which cable is this one please? Is it this one re-terminated with mini XLRs - https://www.ebay.ca/itm/MS-Audio-Pu...208522?hash=item469425afca:g:vC8AAOSwoylcIUbg

I have that cable between my M1 preamp and power amp and it is indeed a special cable.

Like you, i have been experimenting with my own ACSS cables. The best plugs I have found are these - https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Rean-RT3FC-...050575?hash=item5b4561a30f:g:aJMAAOSwElpatXr~. However, it is a challenge to get decent cable into such a small body. In the end I usually pull the rubber grommet off the end and heatshrink over the housing once complete.

Thank you

This is the cable i ordered unterminated as 2x0.5m as i did not need longer.

However, there are two variations of acss. The one used to hook up a master series pre to a master series amp uses 4-pin xlr and is what i implemented. I am sure the ms-audio would be fantastic for the mini xlr variation but it is way too big to be implemented as such.