[FredA]

Yes, you need a ddc to use i2s. Although the latest amenero usb input on the m7 is very good for a start, the best thing is to drop the usb and request both hdmi and rj45 i2s. It is not so easy to add hdmi or rj45 i2s latter on. The breeze ddc is around 150 usd on ebay, so not much of a concern. It worth every penny and much more, but you need to specifically ask for the version with talema tansfo, which is 20$ more. It is worth it. It is a notch better with it. You can also buy from aliexpress or taobao through an agent for less.

You can buy the m7 from Audiophonics in Europe but you will pay probably less direct from audio-gd, which i always do. Their shipping is quick.

The good thing with software upscaling is that it can always be upgraded. Audirvana uses the izotope 64 software, reputated as one of the best. The setting that helps improving the sound is the one which determines the number of samples used for computation. By raising to 1000000, i improved on resolution.

To get the best out of this kind of setup, you need an excellent connection to the dac. An excellent ddc allows hearing the differences between standard 44k and hi-res quite easilly. Same for when upscaling 44k material. It almost sounds as native hi-res.
.

Forgot to mention, i am not sure it is possible to use i2s in NOS mode with the master-7. You should contact Audio-Gd to make sure of that.

 

[motberg]

Just a quick comment that in my system using a Tanley DDC i2S to a Master 7.. the soundstage depth doubled (at least) with the addition of the Intona standard USB isolator (the clarity improvements with the Intona were dramatic, even considering that I was using an Uptone Regen and my DAC/pre/DDC are powered by the Audio-GD power regenerator). 
So an alternative idea for this DAC would be to buy the M7 with the Amanero USB, (carefully select your alternate i2S input type for future use), take the current 8% January discount and apply that to the Intona purchase.
I would also seriously consider the Schiit Yggdrasil in this price range, especially if you are in the USA...
For me the Master 7 is now perfect with the addition of the Intona.. in fact, if you currently have a DAC that you even remotely like, I would suggest to research and consider trying the Intona standard isolator first.

 

[xrobbo]

Hi motberg, 
thanks for this new piece of information. I'm based in Europe, I've had once a Schiit dac but it hummed so loudly that I had to sell it immediately.
I'm interested by this Intona thing, and will do some more research.
I use a QH player + NAA system with an optically coupled lan, I wonder wether the Intona would make any difference given that my usb input is already galvanically isolated.
Or does it operates on a different principle?

 

[FredA]

Just a quick comment that in my system using a Tanley DDC i2S to a Master 7.. the soundstage depth doubled (at least) with the addition of the Intona standard USB isolator (the clarity improvements with the Intona were dramatic, even considering that I was using an Uptone Regen and my DAC/pre/DDC are powered by the Audio-GD power regenerator). 
So an alternative idea for this DAC would be to buy the M7 with the Amanero USB, (carefully select your alternate i2S input type for future use), take the current 8% January discount and apply that to the Intona purchase.
I would also seriously consider the Schiit Yggdrasil in this price range, especially if you are in the USA...
For me the Master 7 is now perfect with the addition of the Intona.. in fact, if you currently have a DAC that you even remotely like, I would suggest to research and consider trying the Intona standard isolator first.

Thank you for this feedback.

I am using a wyrd plus jitterbugs but the intona has galnanic isolation. So should be superior and about the same price as a wyrd and 2 jitterbugs. And again, i would tend to believe it sound very well with the internal amanero. But if money is no object, an external ddc will sound better. And of course, which i2s to keep is a good question if you order internal usb. Isolation makes at big a difference, that is for sure. Compared to going to a breeze ddc, i would say it is about the same level of improvment (from a di2014 through i2s). I would probably go with buying an intona and a breeze if i had to start over. Or i would buy the brereze first and i would add the intona later on. The idea with galvanic isolation, as well as with the wyrd or jitterbugs is to elimiate noise coming from the pc, and jitter at the same time. And that is mandatory to get a high-class setup.

Speaking of isolation, the master-7 gains some clarity putting it directly on a bamboo cutting board. I have a rack made of posts and heavy mdf shelves. Adding the bamboo board certainly helped. I will do the same with my master-1 pre, which uses the same chassis.

In any case, properly setup, the m7 is a major league dac with a very rich, and very accurate and dynamic sound. It is very hard to fault. It sounds like reality, in a word.

 

[motberg]

Hi xrobbo,
 
I am not sure how the Intona would work with your HQPlayer / NAA configuration.. seems like a cool setup.. the Intona is from Germany and I believe they offer a 14 day return period.. they were very professional to work with and got it to me in China quickly and in good condition...
 
I can maybe save you some time in the research....
 
The Tir Na guys posted lots of detail photos and some ideas on how it works...
Photos can be seen at posts starting Jan. 7

http://www.tirnahifi.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3640&start=90
 
and more info...
http://www.tirnahifi.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3697
 
The Intona guy was posting details of the engineering concepts at CA, I think his comments there were much more complete than the website.. check the very beginning of the thread.. but would be good to read through the thread in its entirety.
 
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f6-dac-digital-analog-conversion/which-one-buy-uptone-universal-serial-bus-industry-standard-cables-connectors-and-communications-protocols-between-computers-and-electronic-devices-regen-or-intona-universal-serial-bus-industry-standard-cables-connectors-and-communications-protocols-between-computers-and-electronic-devices-isolator-26815/
 
I was considering the same idea as I guess you are considering, use HQPlayer to do the oversampling and run the M7 in NOS. I think options to tailor the sound via sample filters should be a good capability to have. One thing interesting is that I asked Miska about the processor requirements and he said (from my memory) that for PCM the processor load is much less than that required for sampling to DSD.. my thinking is that you would want to upsample as PCM to the M7 due to it is not natively DSD capable (though I really do not understand this stuff too well). So any recent multi-core processor should be OK.  I have already also moved my M7 to the top rack shelf so I can get at the jumpers.. the problem is that everything sounds great now so no rush for me to try that..
 
hey FredA!....  I also have a Master 1 preamp ... I bought some silver interconnect wire and the mini XLR connectors and sent them to Audio-GD and they assembled them into fancy ACSS wires for me.. no charge!
Thanks for the bamboo tip...I think I had some for lunch a few days ago.. but will also certainly try the cutting board idea... I am using Herbies footers now, but have never tested for effect...
I have had various DAC's the past few years (The Audio-GD NOS1704 was really nice.. I should have tried that with oversampling...xrobbo may want to check if possible to find a used one..).. and at least 5 different DDC's, also a Regen and iUSBPower v1... The Intona SQ jump was really a shocker compared to upgrading/sidegrading between these various devices.... so much so that I will delay my planned speaker upgrade and instead take the grand-kids to Disneyland this year
 
I agree with everything you stated about the M7 sound.. one thing that sticks out is that you do not really need to go through your music files looking for audiophile quality music to play... almost everything is enjoyable... I listen mostly to prog rock, 70's rock, some recent pop... a little classical on occasion .
 
This my my current system as a point of reference:
Gigabyte GA-Z87M-D3H, I5-4670t, NOFAN CR-95c, 2x4 GB Corsair, TeraDak 210 ATX LPS,  PPA V2 USB card (battery power), 32GB OS SSD (battery power), PS/2 mouse, USB keyboard, on-board
video (monitor is powered off during play), 256GB SSD/LPS for primary music (all WAV files), SSD's use PPA red thin SATA cables and suspension blocks, WIN2012 / AO , JPlay6, Mini, Total Commander. Ultrastream/Hibernate, PPA dual USB
cable, Intona standard USB isolator, PPA Regen-size USB cable, Tanly DDC, HDMI (Wireworld Starlight 5.2, 0.3M) i2S to Audio-GD M7.
 
The rest of the stereo... this is in a small dedicated 1 listening position treated room.
M7 via silver ACSS to Audio GD M1 preamp XLR to Audio GD M3 power amp to M&D Ruby main speakers.
Master 1 also to MiniDSP/LPS (45 hz LP) to 2 Pioneer powered subs and other MiniDSP (7ms delay) to Classic 8.0B amp/w-passive pre to rear-fire tweeters (M&D Omni Harmonizers turned on side).
Sources use Audio-GD HE-350 power regenerator, each amp uses a Yulong P18 Power Purifier Filter. Cables are entry level audiophile style.
 
Cheers!

 

[FredA]

Hi xrobbo,

I am not sure how the Intona would work with your HQPlayer / NAA configuration.. seems like a cool setup.. the Intona is from Germany and I believe they offer a 14 day return period.. they were very professional to work with and got it to me in China quickly and in good condition...

I can maybe save you some time in the research....

The Tir Na guys posted lots of detail photos and some ideas on how it works...
Photos can be seen at posts starting Jan. 7

http://www.tirnahifi.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3640&start=90
 

and more info...
http://www.tirnahifi.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3697

The Intona guy was posting details of the engineering concepts at CA, I think his comments there were much more complete than the website.. check the very beginning of the thread.. but would be good to read through the thread in its entirety.

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f6-dac-digital-analog-conversion/which-one-buy-uptone-universal-serial-bus-industry-standard-cables-connectors-and-communications-protocols-between-computers-and-electronic-devices-regen-or-intona-universal-serial-bus-industry-standard-cables-connectors-and-communications-protocols-between-computers-and-electronic-devices-isolator-26815/

I was considering the same idea as I guess you are considering, use HQPlayer to do the oversampling and run the M7 in NOS. I think options to tailor the sound via sample filters should be a good capability to have. One thing interesting is that I asked Miska about the processor requirements and he said (from my memory) that for PCM the processor load is much less than that required for sampling to DSD.. my thinking is that you would want to upsample as PCM to the M7 due to it is not natively DSD capable (though I really do not understand this stuff too well). So any recent multi-core processor should be OK.  I have already also moved my M7 to the top rack shelf so I can get at the jumpers.. the problem is that everything sounds great now so no rush for me to try that..

hey FredA!....  I also have a Master 1 preamp ... I bought some silver interconnect wire and the mini XLR connectors and sent them to Audio-GD and they assembled them into fancy ACSS wires for me.. no charge!
Thanks for the bamboo tip...I think I had some for lunch a few days ago.. but will also certainly try the cutting board idea... I am using Herbies footers now, but have never tested for effect...
I have had various DAC's the past few years (The Audio-GD NOS1704 was really nice.. I should have tried that with oversampling...xrobbo may want to check if possible to find a used one..).. and at least 5 different DDC's, also a Regen and iUSBPower v1... The Intona SQ jump was really a shocker compared to upgrading/sidegrading between these various devices.... so much so that I will delay my planned speaker upgrade and instead take the grand-kids to Disneyland this year

I agree with everything you stated about the M7 sound.. one thing that sticks out is that you do not really need to go through your music files looking for audiophile quality music to play... almost everything is enjoyable... I listen mostly to prog rock, 70's rock, some recent pop... a little classical on occasion .

This my my current system as a point of reference:
Gigabyte GA-Z87M-D3H, I5-4670t, NOFAN CR-95c, 2x4 GB Corsair, TeraDak 210 ATX LPS,  PPA V2 USB card (battery power), 32GB OS SSD (battery power), PS/2 mouse, USB keyboard, on-board
video (monitor is powered off during play), 256GB SSD/LPS for primary music (all WAV files), SSD's use PPA red thin SATA cables and suspension blocks, WIN2012 / AO , JPlay6, Mini, Total Commander. Ultrastream/Hibernate, PPA dual USB
cable, Intona standard USB isolator, PPA Regen-size USB cable, Tanly DDC, HDMI (Wireworld Starlight 5.2, 0.3M) i2S to Audio-GD M7.

Interesting setup. As for acss and xlr cables, I assembled mine using Litz copper from plussound cable. I have tried many other wires and even have a double helix acss cable. But I do prefer my plussound cAble. Another tip, not everyone would agree but I find the m7 a little more accurate with pll off.

I don't know how Kingwa did it, but his dac is both forgiving and accurate, which is not the case with all high-end dac. I love old jazz record with it. Will never sell this dac.

My chain is: Mac mini late 2012 ssd 256 8gb-> jitterbug->schiit wyrd->ab-system mkII usb cable->breeze audio du-u8 deluxe->rj45->master-7->plussound acss->master-1->plussound xlr->connex cxd-250hp homemade power amp->acoustic zen satori shutgun->Gallo 3.1 speakers

How good is the he-350?

Thank for sharing.


The rest of the stereo... this is in a small dedicated 1 listening position treated room.
M7 via silver ACSS to Audio GD M1 preamp XLR to Audio GD M3 power amp to M&D Ruby main speakers.

Master 1 also to MiniDSP/LPS (45 hz LP) to 2 Pioneer powered subs and other MiniDSP (7ms delay) to Classic 8.0B amp/w-passive pre to rear-fire tweeters (M&D Omni Harmonizers turned on side).
Sources use Audio-GD HE-350 power regenerator, each amp uses a Yulong P18 Power Purifier Filter. Cables are entry level audiophile style.

Cheers!

 

[FredA]

w

Interesting setup. As for acss and xlr cables, I assembled mine using Litz copper from plussound cable. I have tried many other wires and even have a double helix acss cable. But I do prefer my plussound cAble. Another tip, not everyone would agree but I find the m7 a little more accurate with pll off.

I don't know how Kingwa did it, but his dac is both forgiving and accurate, which is not the case with all high-end dac. I love old jazz record with it. Will never sell this dac.

My chain is: Mac mini late 2012 ssd 256 8gb-> jitterbug->schiit wyrd->ab-system mkII usb cable->breeze audio du-u8 deluxe->rj45->master-7->plussound acss->master-1->plussound xlr->connex cxd-250hp homemade power amp->acoustic zen satori shutgun->Gallo 3.1 speakers

How good is the he-350?

Thank for sharing.

 

[xrobbo]

@motberg thank you very much for all these pieces of information, just reading the Intona 3d on CA, extremely interesting.
I wish I could try the audio-gd in my rig, I'll see with one of the European importer if the have a return policy. In your experience does this dac need a long burn in time?
This week I will probably audition a La Scala in my system. Will see....

 

[FredA]

@motberg
 thank you very much for all these pieces of information, just reading the Intona 3d on CA, extremely interesting.
I wish I could try the audio-gd in my rig, I'll see with one of the European importer if the have a return policy. In your experience does this dac need a long burn in time?
This week I will probably audition a La Scala in my system. Will see....

Yes it needs over 300 hours but it sounds very good out of the box. Audio-gd burns them for 100 hours before shipping. On the day i got mine,i could not believe how good it sounded compared to my already very good dac. And with time, it gets better, but for me it was not a night and day difference.

 

[Articnoise]

Audio GD burn in the Master 7 for 300 hours. Gets a bit better with some additional burn in.

 

[doctorjazz]

I have to unsubscribe from this thread, keeps getting me depressed that I went for a Vi Tube DAC...(maybe it'll be OK)

 

[tvnosaint]

I'm sure it will doc. I still enjoy the vanilla pulse and the v2 geek out. The latter is quite a little marvel. The pulse is in my second system that also has a tube amp so I enjoy it very much . In fact between the systems in place I don't feel an itch of upgraditus at all. I shouldn't after this past fall. Everything got replaced.

 

[doctorjazz]

Been on a major upgrade run myself, and really do like the Geek Out Special Edition, US it with Regen, great sound out of the PC. Just wait until it comes...lots of time you hear good gear, and deficiencies only become noticeable in direct comparison with other gear. I'm sure it will do me fine (but I really should stop reading this thread, lol).

 

[tvnosaint]

I should stay out of any thread of products I don't own. I can tell you that the monarchy is an amazing piece. I have upgraded caps and put in some 75 reflektors and I couldn't be happier. So if you see a used one.... Just kidding. You're gonna be stoked with your new gear. Probably better synergy with the HEK anyway. Rationalization is our friend sometimes. I am interested in an interface for the nm24. Looking at the gustard u12 because of the usb and good reviews

 

[tvnosaint]

The nm24 also has an amp section. I tried it with my planars and it was not good. Not enough volume and maybe lacking clarity. On a whim I tried it tonight with some dynamics. Gmp 240 and q701. Amazing. It is the clearest and most spacious sound I've heard at home. Not a lot of bass energy but enough. Coming from the zmf omni that is no surprise. I saw Dr Poon recommended high impedance hps for the out. I don't own any but figured it was possible that the extra current to drive the planars may be the reason for the lackluster sound. Bingo, the dynamics rock with the out put section. So I tried my focal classics. Epic fail. Pure distortion. They come in at 32 ohms, the q701 at 70 ohms and the gmp 240 at 100 ohms. The qs have never been as resolving as they are in this application. The output still has the Philips Jan 6922 tubes it it. Those tubes were nearly as warm as mullards in the lyr.