[slim.a]

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I've received my DAC19DSP/C2 combo a few days ago and I am so far very pleased with it. It sounds exactly how it sounded at slim.a's place, hence really really good. Really better than my FUN, especially the dynamics which are superb and far better than on the FUN.
Bass impact was a bit weak at first but after a few days of burn-in it has gotten better, closer to what I heard on slim.a's one.
Volume seems to be higher also now, I was a bit suprised because I asked Kingwa +3dB on the C2 in high gain mode to match better with my T1, and I couldn't see it, but it seems it has gotten louder as it should. I need to check that with other CDs though.
I've shut PLL on the new programmed DSP-1 chip with jumpers, I didn't took time to compare with and without PLL thus far but shutting PLL down doesn't seem to impact soundstage a lot, in ACSS with my T1 the soundstage is already crazily huge, around like what I heard on slim.a setup, better than on the FUN anyway, and 3D and imaging is incredible also. Clarity, details and speed is a real step up over the FUN too.
No more ear compression like sometimes on the AD1852 of the FUN, you can hear loud passages without any need to lower the volume, no kind of pain, it is a real pleasure.
I'm using Audio-gd Exclusive power cables for each, full ACSS mode so opamps bypass in the C2.
 
Packing was perfect in terms of wrapping and protection as usual and delivery was very quick, thanks a lot to Kingwa for quick replies and follow-up also.
 
I'm going with ALO recabling on my T1 now, as soon as I'll have enough money to go for it, and I think I'll be done with upgrading for a while. RE-1 and Phoenix is the next step ahead, but too pricey for me at the moment.

I think that some of the "faults" noticed by people on the ACSS connection are due to the softness of the stock audio-gd ACSS cable. As I noted in my review, I noticed a slight softening of transients, and I felt that the bass didn't reach as deep on the C2 as it did on my older C2C amp.
When upgrading the stock ACSS to the one Stuart made for me, I noticed a (subtle) improvement in the following areas: faster/cleaner transients, slightly more extended bandwidth, and blacker background.
The improvements that you get going from the sharwire RCA to a top grade RCA are far greater than what you get from the stock ACSS to an upgraded ACSS cable.
 
So for those that think that the ACSS connection is almost perfect but lacking a little bit of "bite" in comparison with other connections, upgrading the ACSS cable might help.  I wish Kingwa were selling upgraded ACSS cables, it would be a lot simpler for people who don't have DIY skills.
 
Since you are talking about the T1s, I feel that the C2 are not the perfect match for these cans. I feel that both the cheaper Little Dot MKIII and the discontinued Class A single-ended ST-3 provide a better tonal synergy with the T1s. Of course, they lack the resolution of the C2 but they sound more tonally "right" to my ears.
Beyerdynamic's reference headphone amp (the A1) has a high output impedance (of around 100 ohms) might explain that the T1s feel sometimes overdamped on the C2 amp.
I am still using mainly the C2 amp (80% of the time) but I feel that there is room for improvement.
 
At this point, I am considering either:
1. keeping the T1s and DAC19dsp and upgrading the headphone amp
2. selling the T1s and getting the LCD2s which might be a better match with my tastes and my current gear...

 

[TigzStudio]

I seriously wish I tested a custom 20 awg up-occ ACSS cable before I sold my Roc....oh well.  I may try another one of his amps in the future who knows.  BTW I still have a set of CAST connectors (got them from Kingwa) and I can make a custom UPOCC litz braided ACSS cable, pm me if interested.  

 

[Pacha]

 
Quote:

 
So for those that think that the ACSS connection is almost perfect but lacking a little bit of "bite" in comparison with other connections, upgrading the ACSS cable might help.  I wish Kingwa were selling upgraded ACSS cables, it would be a lot simpler for people who don't have DIY skills.
 
Since you are talking about the T1s, I feel that the C2 are not the perfect match for these cans. I feel that both the cheaper Little Dot MKIII and the discontinued Class A single-ended ST-3 provide a better tonal synergy with the T1s. Of course, they lack the resolution of the C2 but they sound more tonally "right" to my ears.
Beyerdynamic's reference headphone amp (the A1) has a high output impedance (of around 100 ohms) might explain that the T1s feel sometimes overdamped on the C2 amp.
I am still using mainly the C2 amp (80% of the time) but I feel that there is room for improvement.
 
At this point, I am considering either:
1. keeping the T1s and DAC19dsp and upgrading the headphone amp
2. selling the T1s and getting the LCD2s which might be a better match with my tastes and my current gear...

I'd be pleased also with higher end ACSS cables from Kingwa.
Interesting findings about the amp, I wouldn't have expected that at all.
What amp are you leaning towards? Roc or Phoenix or something else than Audio-gd gear? What idea do you heave regarding impedance with the T1 and what could scale well with it?
 
The LCD2 are said to better the stock T1 but with ALO T1 I don't know. The issue of the LCD2 are the heavy weight which is said to be unpleasant. I already find the T1 less comfortable (because heavier) than the DT 880 which were perfect, it lacks cushion on the headband, after some time I get a bit of pain while I never had any with the DT 880, so I can't imagine with the heavy weight of the LCD2.
 

 

[slim.a]

Quote:

I'd be pleased also with higher end ACSS cables from Kingwa.
Interesting findings about the amp, I wouldn't have expected that at all.
What amp are you leaning towards? Roc or Phoenix or something else than Audio-gd gear? What idea do you heave regarding impedance with the T1 and what could scale well with it?
 
The LCD2 are said to better the stock T1 but with ALO T1 I don't know. The issue of the LCD2 are the heavy weight which is said to be unpleasant. I already find the T1 less comfortable (because heavier) than the DT 880 which were perfect, it lacks cushion on the headband, after some time I get a bit of pain while I never had any with the DT 880, so I can't imagine with the heavy weight of the LCD2.
 

I don't want to give the wrong idea: my comment was about my subjective preference. With the T1s, I feel that a colored amp such as the ST-3 (which has a big roll off in the highs by design) is tonally a better match for my taste than the more neutral sounding C2 amp.
The DAC19DSP/C2/ALO T1+upgraded cables give me a very transparent and honest representation. If there was one word to describe it, it would be "monitor like". Going from the ST-3 to the C2 (resolution wise) is like going from 480p to 1080p.
 
However, given that I spent more than 3 years with the HD650s, I would ideally prefer something softer/more laid back on the top end. I can still easily hear up to 19KHz-20Khz so I am very sensitive to the high frequencies. That was the reason I went for the HD650s (over the HD600 and 701) and that is why I am nuts about R2R Dacs.
So my choice would be to either get a laid back tube amp + T1s or to keep my equipment the same (for now) and try the LCD2s which have been described as a super refined HD650.
After a little bit of thinking, I am going to go with option number 2 (the cheapest one): sell the ALO recabled T1s and get the LCD2s.

 

[pategen]

I've been listening to my K501 in stead of K601 for a couple of weeks now. Originally I just thought to give them a nostalgic go at it, but damn do they sound good with DAC19DSP/C2! There is something in the upper mid range of the K601 that dictates the maximum comfortable listening volume. With K501 I can crank it up a bit more, which leads to a real surprise: I end up getting more bass definition with the K501! I feel I need a little bit of EQ'ing to be comfortable with the K601, whereas K501 sounds sweet as it is.
 
Somehow, even the soundstage seems better with K501, but this too could be a result of higher usable volume level. One thing is for sure: with ten years of experience with them, this is the best I've heard from a K501. And that's something, I tell you!

 

[Pacha]

 
Quote:

I don't want to give the wrong idea: my comment was about my subjective preference. With the T1s, I feel that a colored amp such as the ST-3 (which has a big roll off in the highs by design) is tonally a better match for my taste than the more neutral sounding C2 amp.
The DAC19DSP/C2/ALO T1+upgraded cables give me a very transparent and honest representation. If there was one word to describe it, it would be "monitor like". Going from the ST-3 to the C2 (resolution wise) is like going from 480p to 1080p.
 
However, given that I spent more than 3 years with the HD650s, I would ideally prefer something softer/more laid back on the top end. I can still easily hear up to 19KHz-20Khz so I am very sensitive to the high frequencies. That was the reason I went for the HD650s (over the HD600 and 701) and that is why I am nuts about R2R Dacs.
So my choice would be to either get a laid back tube amp + T1s or to keep my equipment the same (for now) and try the LCD2s which have been described as a super refined HD650.
After a little bit of thinking, I am going to go with option number 2 (the cheapest one): sell the ALO recabled T1s and get the LCD2s.

Well, considering you spent a lot of time with the 650s I can easily understand your point of view. I was going with the DT 880 for more than 3 years also when I bought the T1 so I was used to bright Beyer sound already.
T1 is different but rather a super DT 880 so I wasn't suprised nor disturbed by its sound at all when I received it. Even the annoying treble peak was already there on the DT 880. Hopefully it's completely gone away now on the T1.
 
BTW, I tried the PLL settings yesterday, I switched back to PLL on and wasn't very pleased with it, it brought a larger soundstage but more diffuse, everything was blurry in comparison with PLL off, which has more clarity and definition for me. I guess that with my stock T1 which has some kind of more diffuse and large soundstage than the ALO one and less focus already, PLL off suits it better.

 

[Pacha]

I've tried to use direct USB input with the Tenor TE7022 chip on the DAC19 but I cannot manage to have some sound with it. I switch to USB with the pot, plug USB in the DAC19 and in the PC, windows detects the USB chip and install drivers for it, it is recognized in the device manager as working and installed, I have the Tenor chip selected for playing sound in the Windows Audio console, but either in DS or KS I can't play any file in Winamp, nor any sound by any other mean, with KMPlayer, streaming on the web, windows sounds, etc.
 
Does anybody have any idea? Rebooting and shutting down HiFace didn't fixed anything.
 
I'd like to compare HiFace with the new Tenor chip.

 

[regal]

Thanks for getting back to me.   Have you considered upgrading to a Reference series, or  have you heard one? They share the powersupply and similiar upgrade that my 3SE has .   I don't even listen to the DAC19 anymore,  thinking about trading it in for a DSP model since you are keen on them however I think it would have to be a ref9 or ref7 to compete with the 3SE.  But I've been kind of waiting for you to upgrade as I trust your ears/reviews/well written impressions.  Most of my music is HDCD recorded (1TB flac) but with the filter of the DSP I think I could get by using hdcd.exe.
 
 
Quote:

After a few weeks of testing, I finally returned to the stock settings (PLL on). I don't think that the DSP-1 was meant to be run with the PLL off: you gain in apparent details but there is a loss of overall coherency. So back to the PLL on for me.

Regarding the dac19dsp vs. dac19mk3(PMD100), I don't think that they are on the same level (at all). The PMD100 did improve when using better transports (I used it with different usb converters and a Cambridge CD Player) but at the same time it was less sensitive to the quality of the transport in comparison with the DF1704 which could sound worse or better than the PMD100 depending on the transport.
One of the least competent transports I have tried on my system is the Musiland Monitor 01 USD. But even with the Musiland converter, I get much better results than anything I had tried with the dac19mk3 (PMD100) regardless of the transport.
On HDCD material, the dac19mk3 will "naturally" have an edge but on anything else (regular CDs, High Rez...) the dac19dsp is much better (more detailed, clearer sounding, bigger soundstage...).
 
When people (including Kingwa) say that the DSP-1 sound well even with poor transports, it doesn't mean that the DSP-1 doesn't scale well with better transports. I would personally rate the sensitivity to the transport to something similar to the PMD100 and far less than the DF1704.
In my opinion, the improvement in sound is probably due to the excellent filtering. I tried different jumper settings (oversampling, passband,...) and I always find myself returning to the stock settings on the long term.

 

[slim.a]

Quote:

Well, considering you spent a lot of time with the 650s I can easily understand your point of view. I was going with the DT 880 for more than 3 years also when I bought the T1 so I was used to bright Beyer sound already.
T1 is different but rather a super DT 880 so I wasn't suprised nor disturbed by its sound at all when I received it. Even the annoying treble peak was already there on the DT 880. Hopefully it's completely gone away now on the T1.
 
BTW, I tried the PLL settings yesterday, I switched back to PLL on and wasn't very pleased with it, it brought a larger soundstage but more diffuse, everything was blurry in comparison with PLL off, which has more clarity and definition for me. I guess that with my stock T1 which has some kind of more diffuse and large soundstage than the ALO one and less focus already, PLL off suits it better.

I agree that depending on the "focus" of the headphones, one might prefer the PLL on or off. I remember that the imaging of the stock T1 was a little bit diffuse and that might account for the difference. Also the stock sharkwire interconnects have the widest and deepest soundstage but lack a little bit in the imaging.
I even remember reading someone preferring the PLL off with a Musiland. In my personal experience, the dac19dsp sounded horrible with the musiland and the PLL turned off. On the other hand, it sounds quite acceptable with the Musiland and the PLL turned on.
In any case, it is nice to have relatively easy access to such advanced settings. I wish that Audio-gd at some point makes those things accessible from the front panel ... but I am sure it would be much costlier than the current configuration.
 
Quote:

Thanks for getting back to me.   Have you considered upgrading to a Reference series, or  have you heard one? They share the powersupply and similiar upgrade that my 3SE has .   I don't even listen to the DAC19 anymore,  thinking about trading it in for a DSP model since you are keen on them however I think it would have to be a ref9 or ref7 to compete with the 3SE.  But I've been kind of waiting for you to upgrade as I trust your ears/reviews/well written impressions.  Most of my music is HDCD recorded (1TB flac) but with the filter of the DSP I think I could get by using hdcd.exe.
 
 

 
I have never heard one of the reference series (and I would love to) but given my experience with the Audio-gd stuff, I am sure it will be significantly better than what I currently have.
I intend to upgrade to either the Ref 8 or Ref 9 in the future. However, I already put myself in line for the LCD2 and I will have to listen to them to see how I would go from there. I really would like to get a tube amp (which are often single ended) and If the LCD2s are not too soft sounding, my perfect set-up would be: Ref9+trafomatic One+LCD2.
 
Regarding not listening to the dac19 anymore, I totally understand. I personally wouldn't listen to a stock dac19mk3 now that I have experienced the sound of a "tweaked" dac19dsp. From what I have read from Haloxt posts, it seems that he also finds out that the dac19 series are very sensitive to external factors (and especially the power supply). The reference series have far more power supply filtration built-in in comparison with the mid level dac19 series, which would indicate that they would perform quite close to their theoritical limit regardless of how bad or good the power supply is.
When using no power filtration, I find the dac19dsp a little soft and fuzzy sounding, lacking low level details with a diffuse soundstage. Overall, it lacks resolution. After I moved my system to another place, I just stacked the dac19dsp/C2 and used no power filtration. I couldn't recognize the sound. Where I could spot easily individual performers on an orchestral piece, it became a diffuse mass. Where I could "see" the soloist perform in front of me, there was only the sound of a violin playing. This was espcially noticeable with the ALO recabled T1 which has superb resolution (too much maybe). Those differences would be a lot harder to spot on a stock HD650.
I tried for a few days to convince myself that those differences should be minimal but they weren't. I even went and re-read some of my old reviews and couldn't find the fine details that I talked about. It was until I put back the system on my usual rack and used the power filtration that I found the "old" sound back.
Overall, I think that the reference series should reproduce a better and more consistent sound than the mid-level dac19 I am currently using.
 

 

[Pacha]

 
Quote:

 
When using no power filtration, I find the dac19dsp a little soft and fuzzy sounding, lacking low level details with a diffuse soundstage. Overall, it lacks resolution. After I moved my system to another place, I just stacked the dac19dsp/C2 and used no power filtration. I couldn't recognize the sound. Where I could spot easily individual performers on an orchestral piece, it became a diffuse mass. Where I could "see" the soloist perform in front of me, there was only the sound of a violin playing. This was espcially noticeable with the ALO recabled T1 which has superb resolution (too much maybe). Those differences would be a lot harder to spot on a stock HD650.
I tried for a few days to convince myself that those differences should be minimal but they weren't. I even went and re-read some of my old reviews and couldn't find the fine details that I talked about. It was until I put back the system on my usual rack and used the power filtration that I found the "old" sound back.
Overall, I think that the reference series should reproduce a better and more consistent sound than the mid-level dac19 I am currently using.
 

I agree on this one, I have a more diffuse and softer sound with less bass extension and power with my setup compared to yours where the difference was power filtration and vibration control. So these seems definitely to make a big difference in a setup like this.

 

[FauDrei]

Interesting to hear you reverted back to PLL Slim. I do not have "golden ears" like yours, but my RE-1 would unmistakeably lose some of it's believable reality in exchange for pronounced detailing when PLL would be disengaged.
 
There was a somewhat bearable alternative for me: PLL off, dithering off, stopband attenuation at -50dB. Those settings regained some staging and believability with increased detailing of PLL off and directness of dithering off. Cost for that was slightly diminished focus and dynamics. But all that lasted until I got LCD-2. With them everything except dithering went back to default (and I'm still evaluating dithering with LCD-2).
 
I have to thank you though for "persuading" me to tackle power conditioning and vibration control which was kind of meh to me before. RE-1 readily improved... (where does this stop?), Roc also, but to lesser extent.
 
Finally I would like to mention to all A-GD headamp users that, if you haven't heard before in Roc's and Phoenix's thread, there is another "tackle" that, depending on your headphones, can take your headamp from good/excellent to great: I'm talking about setting the bias of your headphone amplifier. I recommend to all interested C2/C-2C owners to try lowering/raising the bias voltage and listen for the changes. While I do not know the C2 and C-2C bias setting specifics (like standard bias voltages or proper bias measuring points locations), obtaining such info is easy as writing to KingWa and asking him (here are Roc's bias setting instructions and Phoenix biass setting information). I was floored how ±12V bias on Roc (instead of standard ±15V) changed the sound of HE-5 to full bodied and fleshy variant of already excellent HE-5 sound. It affected my other phones too - perhaps K701 benefited the most with lower bias voltages.

 

[tink97]

Hello everyone!  I have recently recieved my audio gd c2 and I am looking into buying a pair burson opamps.  I have heard really good stuff about the sound with these opamps and I am wondering which burson opamp people have purchased?  Any help would be wonderful, thank you everyone,  have a great day
 
Tink97 

 

[Newk Yuler]

Quote:

Hello everyone!  I have recently recieved my audio gd c2 and I am looking into buying a pair burson opamps.  I have heard really good stuff about the sound with these opamps and I am wondering which burson opamp people have purchased?  Any help would be wonderful, thank you everyone,  have a great day
 
Tink97 

You want the single channel version with the DIP8 attached.  Tell them you need the DIP8 board mounted as close to the opamp's PCB as safely possible or the lid won't go back on the C-2.  (When purchasing from the manufacturer in Australia through the major auction site.)  Be careful to put them in the slots correctly.
 
The Bursons have magnificent color.  Or flavor.  (Color, flavor... You're not watching or tasting them.  They just sound really great for the opamp channel in the C-2.)

 

[leeperry]

 

 
The Bursons have magnificent color.  Or flavor.  (Color, flavor... You're not watching or tasting them.  They just sound really great for the opamp channel in the C-2.)

 
Installing Burson discrete opamps in an Audio-GD device might make the world spin the other way around...hope you realize that.

 

[Pacha]

Does anybody have succeeded to get the Tenor chip working with Windows?