[Black Stuart]

OK,
I'm not kosher, thanks for putting me straight.

 

[slim.a]

Quote:

I've decided to look for a s/hand one as my first stand alone DAC. Back on the island I have an original Marantz CD63, it has a superb transport and the laser is OK I think, at least it will do for starters.
 
Any piece of equipment can be improved or personalized. I do not like Wima caps at all and after I've had a good listen I know what caps to replace them with. The ACSS chassis plugs will be replaced with quality XLRs and my own i/c design will be used with them and for the internal signal wiring.
 
When I've done this I shall think about changing certain signal path resistors and that I think is about it. I know that Kingwa pays careful attention to his PSUs, if only other manufacturers would.
 
If I really like the end result then a Ref 5 would be something to look at later to use with my to be digitized LP collection.

 
Quote:

What a smuck - there are no caps in the signal path - exit stage left muttering to himself.

Stuart,
 
When will you be receiving your DAC19dsp?
 
Regarding the mods, there is something that I haven't read about but that might have an impact on the sound. The dac19dsp (like all other ACSS dacs and amps) use what look like OPA2134 in their DC servo. I wonder if replacing those opamps will make any audible change?
Anyone care to speculate?

 

[slim.a]

A few updates:
 
DSP1 V5:
 
I received my DSP1 V5 upgrade board last week and I am astonished by the improvement over the DSP1 V3.
The DSP1 V3 was already good but the latest iteration of the filter is really something special. Before getting the V5 upgrade, I was considering to either sell the Beyer T1s or get a good tube amp for them. Now with the DSP1 V5, I don't feel the rush anymore.
I will be doing a short write-up in the coming days.
 
 
C2 SA:
 
Along with DSP1 V5 that I ordered, Kingwa sent me a C2 SA review sample. It is still burning-in and haven't listened for long enough to form a valid opinion. Though, from what I have listened so far, and comparing the "neutral" ACSS amplication path over C2 vs. the "musical" Diamond Path over the C2 SA, I understand what regal described in another thread regarding neutral DACs vs. musical DACs in the audio-gd line up.
While the C2 SA is indeed warmer than the C2, it also seems to be slightly brighter at the same time (very slight mid treble emphasis in comparison with the C2).
Along with the slight tone enhacement and the more upfront soundstaging, the C2 SA seems livelier than the more neutral ("straight wire with gain") and comparatively laid back C2 amp.
These are some very early impressions and I still need to spend more time with the C2 SA and try it with different recordings. I will post a link to the review when I am done with it for those who might be interested.

 

[FauDrei]

Regarding the mods, there is something that I haven't read about but that might have an impact on the sound. The dac19dsp (like all other ACSS dacs and amps) use what look like OPA2134 in their DC servo. I wonder if replacing those opamps will make any audible change?
Anyone care to speculate?

 
More than speculation - I've swapped OPA2134 (5x in Roc; 4x in RE-7) with OPA2227 which has better DC servo application characteristics.
 
There were no sonic differences or they were too subtle for me to reliably perceive them.
 
I left OPA2227 in anyway because of "it is better for DC servo" feelgood factor.

 

[notThinking]

Regarding DPS1 version. How to tell what version one have? There are no sticker on the board as far as I can see. I received my DAC-19 (with the C-2) last week and my version don't have switches but shorting pins. I actually like that better as it is makes it very easy to mount an outside switch without having to solder on the DSP board.

I like to thank slim.a for this great review. I was ready to pull the trigger on the LD IV-SE when I realized I would need a better source. Then I realized that if I where to have the LD turned on as long as I wanted to I would burn thought two $120 (shipping & 25% tax) tube setts a year. Cheap as I am I decided to invest this money in the source instead.  

What I was looking for was a system that would not fatigue me. I system that would play music for the pleasure of music. Not just stunning sounds. Reading slim.a's review I felt the DAC-19/C-2 combo might be what I'm looking for. Tanberg have made several good but imperfect amp's though the years. I know a couple of them and they have this rare magic that when your finished listening to gear these amps let you enjoy music until one do the mistake again and do gear swooping.

It is to early to say if the DAC-19/C-2 combo will get me there (250 hours and still waiting for new cans). But so far there are only two things that has stunned me with this setup. And I mean this in a good way. The fact that there isn't actually anything jumping in my face is a good thing in my book. But what did get me was the sheer blackness I felt when I turned on music the first time. I don't know how to describe it. It was like it was only me there with this bass instrument in this the empty dark room. Totally strange feeling. Later I found that this impression of blackness was reinforced by the other quality that stands out with this setup. Bass details and control. I get this feeling that there is this massive 10.000 watt amp ready to stop that cone from doing anything it is not supposed to do. Talking of details. There are lots of them. So far none of them stands out so I need to concentrate if i want to hear them. Although I think details sound natural an realistic I'm also sertan that better equipment will do it even better. But then I forget about it and enjoy the music.

Ohh... one thing. All the talk about how responsive Kingwa is if one have technical question is confirmed. Great service so far. I hope I've not started the journey for the RE-7.

 

[Pacha]

If I'm right, the jumpers version is V5, so you have it, and I have it too.
 
slim.a, please do let us know how the C2 SA goes in your system. I'd be interested to see if more output power would bring something to the T1, apart from the other changes brought by Diamond modules.

 

[Trapper32]

Also looking forward to slim.a's review of the C2-SA.   

 

[Black Stuart]

Slim,
it should be coming this week but as snowfall causes chaos on the island - who knows. Same goes for the heatshrink I'm waiting on to finalize the A/S h/phone cable repair.
 
How long does it normally take to get a reply from Audio-GD, I sent a question about the V3/V5 issue.
 
Re.the op-amp if it is used in a servo setting, I would have thought to leave alone.

 

[Pacha]

Black Stuart, you should receive a reply from audio-gd within one or two business day, that has always been the usual delay for me and most of us here.
 
You may experience troubles with the parcel, it's been 21 days that I ordered my DI and it finally arrived today to Roissy CDG, it was dispatched from Guangzhou on 23rd and was then stuck 7 days somewhere before being tracked in France. Chronopost which deliver it here told me there's a lot of problems with parcels coming from China at the moment.

 

[bacardi]

C-2 SA has no ACSS inputs right? So i'm limited to RCA with my DAC19, i guess i'm gonna go for a C-2 and use ACSS, since i don't want to buy expensive RCA cables

 

[haloxt]

C-2 SA uses a different circuit than C-2, more important than whether or not you want an expensive rca cable, is if you like the sound of DD or ACSS. I would wait for slim.a to give a review, or else just go by the "sound flavor" page on www.audio-gd.com
 
I see cables as two things, a necessary evil, and something to color the sound to your taste. If you are just looking for technical ability and not sound tailoring, usually the shorter the cable is, the better it is, and thus cheaper. If you live in the USA, I would recommend monoprice premium cables, blue jean cable, or sonicwave. Audio-gd's rca cable is good price/performance imo too.

 

[Black Stuart]

I'm glad cables came up because I'd like to know from those who use digital - what they are using.
 
I've read most of the digital cable threads but it's all ambivalence (as usual). I've never used digital cables before but have done loads of analogue experiments as most know on this thread.
 
It would appear that according to 'received wisdom' that as the cables are only carrying 1s & 0s any 75 Ohm cable will do. I shall of course do thorough empirical research to prove or disprove this.
 
There seems also to be a lot of discussion about connectors needing to be  true 75 Ohm types - surely the solution is that no connector is better than any connector?
 
As most equipment has removable toplates why not just remove the DAC 19 and the connecting downstream amp t/plates, remove the digital chassis plugs and solder directly from DAC to amp, using rubber grommets to protect the cables.
 
One other question - is it really nec. to use sheilded cables in the digital domain - it certainly is'nt in the analogue domain.

 

[bacardi]

 
Quote:

C-2 SA uses a different circuit than C-2, more important than whether or not you want an expensive rca cable, is if you like the sound of DD or ACSS. I would wait for slim.a to give a review, or else just go by the "sound flavor" page on www.audio-gd.com
 
I see cables as two things, a necessary evil, and something to color the sound to your taste. If you are just looking for technical ability and not sound tailoring, usually the shorter the cable is, the better it is, and thus cheaper. If you live in the USA, I would recommend monoprice premium cables, blue jean cable, or sonicwave. Audio-gd's rca cable is good price/performance imo too.

Yeah you're right, i guess i will wait for the review, however, i was also thinking of a Roc-SA since it seems the regular Roc is discontinued, but my DAC19 is SE, so i'm not quite sure, though it does pump more mW into 300 ohms(hd 650s) and should sound better even in SE mode? Cheers  

 

[nigeljames]

The Roc SA also being discontinued according to the Audio-gd web site.

 

[bacardi]

Well i just checked the site and it is in the Preamplifier & Headphone Amplifier section..