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Author Topic: Audio-gd preamps/dacs  (Read 3582 times)

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Anaxilus

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Re: Audio-gd preamps/dacs
« Reply #10 on: January 19, 2014, 06:30:34 PM »
Quote from: Lieberung on January 19, 2014, 06:13:13 PM
Quote from: purrin on January 19, 2014, 05:52:09 PM
NOS-1704
Thanks for joining in Purrin, :-)
Have you heard Audiolab CDQ or Lavry DA11 and how does it/they compare in dynamics/slam/attack to the M7?

Far better than the Lavry if you note the input caveats.  I believe the DA11 is on our DAC review sheet.

Apart from a properly implemented M7 w/ the OR5 frontside, Audio GD has never really been my thing.  They all seem to have a bit of weirdness somewhere.
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Marvey

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Re: Audio-gd preamps/dacs
« Reply #11 on: January 19, 2014, 06:37:18 PM »
Quote from: Lieberung on January 19, 2014, 06:13:13 PM
Quote from: purrin on January 19, 2014, 05:52:09 PM
NOS-1704
Thanks for joining in Purrin, :-)
Have you heard Audiolab CDQ or Lavry DA11 and how does it/they compare in dynamics/slam/attack to the M7?

Lavry was sort of the jack-of-all trades do nothing terribly wrong DAC. If anything maybe somewhat flat and boring.

If you want dynamics and slam, try to find a used PWD1 -> PWD2 or Gungnir USB Gen 2. (I mention these because neither DAC requires any super speshal USB to SPDIF converter.)  In fact, I think Gungnir may be up your alley. Nice warm tone and no other DAC hits as hard, except the maybe our PWD2s. And this is from a list of 25+ configurations too.

Otherwise M7 requires i2s from OR5. Otherwise I would have found the attacks too soft, even from most coax sources. Supposedly the softness is a PCM1704 thing. Some in the industry had preferred to the PCM63 (more dynamics) because of this - and this does tend to gel with my impressions having heard both PCM1704 and PCM63 based DACs.
« Last Edit: January 19, 2014, 06:46:29 PM by purrin »
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Lieberung

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Re: Audio-gd preamps/dacs
« Reply #12 on: January 19, 2014, 07:02:46 PM »
Quote from: Anaxilus on January 19, 2014, 06:30:34 PM
Quote from: Lieberung on January 19, 2014, 06:13:13 PM
Quote from: purrin on January 19, 2014, 05:52:09 PM
NOS-1704
Thanks for joining in Purrin, :-)
Have you heard Audiolab CDQ or Lavry DA11 and how does it/they compare in dynamics/slam/attack to the M7?

Far better than the Lavry if you note the input caveats.  I believe the DA11 is on our DAC review sheet.

Apart from a properly implemented M7 w/ the OR5 frontside, Audio GD has never really been my thing.  They all seem to have a bit of weirdness somewhere.


Thanks, nice to get your view on it and see that it somewhat concurs wy experience. Ill check that out that review sheet  8).
« Last Edit: January 19, 2014, 07:09:05 PM by Lieberung »
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Lieberung

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Re: Audio-gd preamps/dacs
« Reply #13 on: January 19, 2014, 07:07:26 PM »
Quote from: purrin on January 19, 2014, 06:37:18 PM
Quote from: Lieberung on January 19, 2014, 06:13:13 PM
Quote from: purrin on January 19, 2014, 05:52:09 PM
NOS-1704
Thanks for joining in Purrin, :-)
Have you heard Audiolab CDQ or Lavry DA11 and how does it/they compare in dynamics/slam/attack to the M7?

Lavry was sort of the jack-of-all trades do nothing terribly wrong DAC. If anything maybe somewhat flat and boring.

If you want dynamics and slam, try to find a used PWD1 -> PWD2 or Gungnir USB Gen 2. (I mention these because neither DAC requires any super speshal USB to SPDIF converter.)  In fact, I think Gungnir may be up your alley. Nice warm tone and no other DAC hits as hard, except the maybe our PWD2s. And this is from a list of 25+ configurations too.

Otherwise M7 requires i2s from OR5. Otherwise I would have found the attacks too soft, even from most coax sources. Supposedly the softness is a PCM1704 thing. Some in the industry had preferred to the PCM63 (more dynamics) because of this - and this does tend to gel with my impressions having heard both PCM1704 and PCM63 based DACs.

Thanks again for your input Purrin. Schiit audio has a local dealer where I live as well, and the price for the Gugnir isn't deterrent either. Ill have to check it out! :-)
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Lieberung

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Re: Audio-gd preamps/dacs
« Reply #14 on: January 20, 2014, 09:23:04 PM »
Visited the Schiit dealer today. He didnt have the Gugnir or Mjolnir in but after talking about my gear he really reccomended me trying another dac/pre called Auralic vega. He had it in his rack but didnt have it hooked up to anything at the time, and I was only on a drop in, so he offered a demo later on if I wanted or a home loan. Ill try it later I think..
He did however let me listen to something he had already hooked up; a cd by Plan b3 played don Roksan cdp,  Ayon tube integrated amplifier hooked to a pair of Piega floorstanders. I have never listened to tube gear before,  :-0 damn here there were some magic going on.. Damn, my setup plays like dry greyness in comparisson, even though I have pretty neat active speakers.. (ofource my room isn't optimal but) I must try tube dac/ preamp on my ATC, maybe Ayon Stealth which he also reccomended, even though he didn't have it in atm.
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gurubhai

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Re: Audio-gd preamps/dacs
« Reply #15 on: January 21, 2014, 07:48:22 AM »
Quote from: purrin on January 19, 2014, 06:37:18 PM
Supposedly the softness is a PCM1704 thing. Some in the industry had preferred to the PCM63 (more dynamics) because of this - and this does tend to gel with my impressions having heard both PCM1704 and PCM63 based DACs.
Interesting you mentioned that, I probably won't have made the association myself but I use a PCM-63 based DAC (Adcom GDA-600) and I find it to be noticeably more dynamic than the PCM1702 DACs( Assemblage 2.0, GDA-700) I have tried.
« Last Edit: January 21, 2014, 08:06:48 AM by gurubhai »
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AstralStorm

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Re: Audio-gd preamps/dacs
« Reply #16 on: January 21, 2014, 09:21:22 AM »
Grey is good. Colors are best left to musicians, not gear.

Now then, some tube gear does have excellent microdynamics - it can be a huge difference. However, there is equivalently good solid state gear too with no drawbacks of them tubes. Some of which include: higher noise floor, harmonic distortion, line hum susceptibility, tube microphonics, sometimes even frequency response nonlinearities and usually high output impedance which will change the presentation of certain headphones.

Auralic Vega is pretty good. If you search the forums, you'll find a few impressions.
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Lieberung

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Re: Audio-gd preamps/dacs
« Reply #17 on: March 24, 2014, 06:43:56 PM »
Got an Audio-GD Master 1 and Master 7 on home loan a couple of weeks ago. The Master 1 preamp had way to much gain for my ATC active speakers but after I got a pair of high quality XLR attenuators (Rothwell -20db) connected (at the input of the speakers) it got even better! Im really impressed! I had no clue that chainging a preamp could literally breathe new life into these speakers. Its now feel its really on par with the demo I heard at the dealer with similar set of speakers on "hi end" sources (Bryston BD1/Cary dac/Jef Rowland coherence preamp). The dealer has a better treated room, but its f. awsome never the less, Im really really digging this!
I dont wont to talk down the Audiolab CDQ, because in my view as a DAC/CDP it has been on par or has bettered than anything else I have had prevously (dacmagic, Naim cd5x, lavry DA11, Accuphase DA20), and as a preamp it was very convenient as a one box solution. But man.. a dedicated preamp like Master 1 really did wonders. I havent had the time to compare the Master 7 against the Audiolab as a dac yet, but so far I don't feel there are so much differences as I have experienced with getting a new preamp.  8)

Regarding the M7, I have used Coax from PC (HTPC) and USB. Now that I have gotten the USB to work (switching from USB 3 to USB 2 interface on pc and turned off some audio devices not in use, It seems that USB is actually better, more details, but im not sure.. I have ordered a Hiface evo and battery pack so Im looking fw to testing the I2S interface.
« Last Edit: March 24, 2014, 09:19:23 PM by Lieberung »
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