I have the Master 9, and R-8 MKII stack. I thought I preferred the over sampling set at 8x, until I compared the R-8 to the Denafrips Pontus II. Both were hooked up to the Master 9. The Pontus II just sounded more focused to me compared to the R-8. When I switched the R-8 to NOS it sounded almost identical to the Pontus II. I actually preferred both dacs in the NOS mode.
Thanks for the review Amos. Having lived with the older, non-HE version for the past 18 months, I was curious to hear your take and comparisons. I would note that initially, I much preferred NOS mode. Whilst not as resolving, it was substantially more Involving. But after a month or so of burn-in, I tried OS-8 again. It was no longer dry or analytical, but just as liquid as NOS mode (2 - in the old firmware). So anyone testing one, I’d suggest you let it burn in thoroughly before judging it (not to say Amos didn’t…). I would also encourage anyone to try the Magna upgrades if buying in Europe - the upgraded USB is well worth it
Hello Amos. Have you tried the LCD-R with the HE9? Is the any risk in damaging the LCD-R with it? How would you compare the LCD-R to the susvara and expanse?
I don't think there's a problem using an LCD-R with the HE-9. I'd email Audio-gd to be sure. They know about the LCD-R. As for comparisons, please consider Buy Me a Coffee or Patreon and I'll happily do one for you.
Over the years I've owned a few AIO desktop solutions, but each time I've found that DACs are temporary and amps are forever. When it comes to driver support, technology, etc. a DAC will eventually be superseded while my current headphone amp is probably just over 10 years old.
That's a very good point. One of the good things that has happened lately is that many DACs have moved quite a bit of their functionality to the software domain, so they can be upgraded to some degree.
Hello Currawong, Many thanks for this review! One question: AUDIO-GD DACs comes with old-school high quality low noise, low flux leakage, R-cores transformers to supply all digital parts and the left and right analog boards. There are numerous ultra-high speed and ultra-low noise power supplies built in and double stage PSU technologies used to remove power supply voltage fluctuations. Qing Hua puts 1000s of uF of audio-grade filtering capacitors to ensure the purity of the power supply. All this fanatical power filtering also adds a lot of heft and size to the DAC. In contrast to Audio-gd dacs, dacs like Topping, Gustard, Harmony LAIV, RME dacs come with small size and weight without using high-performance R-core transformers to ensure the purity of their power supplies. How do they get away with high performance similar to Audio-gds?
That's a complex question, and can't be answered generally. Some of it is, they don't "get away with high performance" at all, and some of it is down to using much smaller surface-mount components, and/or switching power supplies.
I started my audio GD journey with the r11, which was nice. But easily trumped by an ares 2 that came in for review at the time. Then, i went on to the R28, which really got the ball rolling for me. Having run compared it to the ares 2, it easily trumps the ares 2 because it has a similar level of timbral accuracy and soundstage presentation while having a more dynamics and PRAT. This leads me to today, where I ended up buying an R27(non HE) for myself. Which is running side by side with my chord qutest for my headphone rig. Recently though, i started getting into 2 channel, and i moved both the qutest and the r27 into my speaker setup. Both were pretty good, but the r27 really has a more natural presentation with a more layered soundstage while sacrificing just a hair in terms of image separation. Both are pretty dynamic though. So my next plans are to actually buy a new DAC for my 2 channel setup, which would probably end up being the R8HE mk2, which kingwa says is similar to the DAC that can be found in the R27HE. Amos' comparison between the R27HE and the Schiit yggdrasil really helped me decide on which i would end up getting between the 2, since he says they're pretty similar but the yggy is drier. So now im currently leaning towards the R8HE mk2
Thanks for the detailed review. Makes me wonder what's the sound difference between this R27HE and my R28. ^^ Best way is to hear it for myself, with all my biases, ofc. Kudos to your speakers also. I've the active siblings, the Air-X 407, and they sound fabulous on the R28. :) Feeding the R28 with the little Chord Mojo brings a bit more "grip" on the low end, ime. It's a pretty nice alternative sound with a rather small food print, I'd say. Glad there're so much possibilities with audio gear in general. Keep up the great work, we're always with you on your journey. ;) Greeting from Germany Chris
Hello, on the Audio GD website I see the Master-9P which is an integrated amplifier and offered in 2 x variants: 1. Master 9PS (Smooth edition) 2. Master 9PN (Neutral edition) The 9PS states "For who like the sound warm and smooth". It also states "Headphone output options with neutral and simulate vacuum sound for customer selects on the front plate". Am I to assume that the 9PS offers a "tube"-ish sound from a solid state amplifier? That paired with the R-8 MKII R2R DAC, may offer a nice warm sound for my Sennheiser HD800S. Just after any insights you may be aware of. I only currently have a Chord Mojo (Original) and am looking to upgrade. Cheers.
Amazing review! Which do suggest for 64ohm 114db efficiency dynamic driver headphones? R27HE, or something like Ferrum Erco Dac Amp, or Bifrost + hybrid tube amp (Lyr+ or Sparkos Labs Gemini for example) or a full tube amp like Feliks Echo II?
Anything? 114dB is extremely sensitive. With that sensitivity though, you'd want something with low noise levels, so tube amps of any kind may be no good.
regarding "edginess" from ESS DACs - I fully agree with you, my current theory is that I just hate ESS's oversampling compared to others and that's what gives it that harsh glare. On the subject of upsampling, on the TT2 I also much prefer hqplayer sinc-mx over the m-scaler, have you tried that?
I've noticed some people got the SRC-DX (I think it's called) and used that with HQPlayer instead of buying an MScaler. I haven't compared extensively. I might now though now you've mention it.
Hello Amos, love your videos and general attitude towards hifi. I was wondering, do You (or anyone else in the comment section), have any experience with modern Sony Walkmen? If so, how do they compare to other modern DAPs (Cayin, HiBi, FIIO)? Thanks
Hi A mistake about the BNC connection, it is a BNC coaxial digital input not a WORD Clock input. WORD Clock is as you know a PLL with the sending clock send's a reference synk pulse (WORD clock signal) to the receiving clock, the receiving clock then lock on to that pulse. The quality depends on the sending and receiving clock and never better than the worst clock. This is why there was no difference, that input is muted if not used for PCM in. The BNC can be reprogrammed to be a 10MHz input for external 10MHz reference, this bypases all the femto clock signals inside with a far more accurate and less noisy clock. In A-GD the data signal is buffered in a FIFO and all in going clock signal's are tossed away and replaced with new clock signal from the femto our the 10MHz reference, that is awesome and works as a jitter eliminator so there is no PLL needed. I have a old NFB-9 (Wolfson WM8741) Modded to I2s hdmi input and I have a Di-20 with a external 10MH reference, the Di-20 is a stellar upgrade fore old HQ dac's. Greate review rely looking forward to it sin's i saw it in the headphone test, the R-27HE is on my to by list!
Thanks for taking the time to type out that explanation. I probably didn't express it well. By default, input 2 is an S/PDIF input. It can be ordered programmed as a word clock input instead, as it is on mine.
@@Currawong Ok More hidden features! (i am not surprised). The answer i got from King Wa is input 2 can be ordered as a 10MHz input just like the Di-20, it can probably be programed to both in the FPGA nice to be able to change the input with a firmware upgrade! My mistake i didn't get that it was ordered with word clock input and that it was possible! When i ordered my dac i asked for a I2s input (i tried out the first asynkron usb card) and "no problem"! Then i asked King Wa if it was possible to get a volume control and got "not possible" back. A couple of month passed and i asked if the dac was ready (special order i expected it to take some time) Yes it was ready and it had the same resistor volume control he uses to day what a service!
What do you think about the bad measurements gotten by somebody in the forums audio science reviews. I think there are like 4 reviews and in all of them the same guy destroyed Audio GD equipments.
What's "bad" measurement? What's a "good" measurement? What exact standard is that judgement based on? The answer: None! Who did the measurements? What are the complete specifics of how it was obtained? Why are the analyser settings never shown? Why are only a limited subset of measurements, mostly completely irrelevant to actual audible performance used to judge equipment? The whole thing is a massive set-up, and a small set of manufacturers are gaming the system, showing measurement numbers of their equipment performing in situations which will not be replicated during actual music playback listening.
@@Currawong thanks for your reply. By no means I'm an expert. I bought the NFB 28.38 many years ago, but very few times I have listened my headphones through it since I moved overseas. What is bad measurement I guess is something that is far from the measurement showed by the seller or something that differs considerably from the specs. I have only seen the measurments from the site that I mentioned, I looked for more but I didn't find any other measurements. Something that I consider essential is the reproducibility of the measurments, but I cannot say anything supporting any side. One thing that I noticed is that the reviewer was all the time particularly biased, for example, he didn't complete some measurments just because the previous were terrible. But something about those measurments could be true, that's why I asked. If measurments are meaningful for the listening experience is something that I don't know for sure, but in some extent there should be something, I guess.
My suggestion is to stop reading that site. It doesn't serve any purpose much beyond misleading people. Here's something to consider about Audio-gd: They've never had customer complain that their headphones were destroyed by an amplifier. Yet, the manufacturers who make amps that use cheap $10 switching power supplies have, sometimes with multiple models.
