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Review and Measurements of Audio-gd R2R11 DAC & Amp

rajapruk

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I have suspicions that the pink panthers are spoilers for the review. This one looks rather depressed and sad, which is fitting for the review. Others for better reviews tend to look happier. I'm on to you Amir! :)

I thought something similar: IF panther THEN stay away from this.
 

rajapruk

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By the way. When the JBL Everest speakers were designed, the Pink Panther Theme was one of the recurring test songs. True fact. I have the playlist that was used.
 
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amirm

amirm

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I have suspicions that the pink panthers are spoilers for the review. This one looks rather depressed and sad, which is fitting for the review. Others for better reviews tend to look happier. I'm on to you Amir! :)
;) :)
 

ayane

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There is nothing musical about erratic performance of a DAC and amplifier. Your music was not produced with these devices. Any deviation here is distorting that creation with no intention of musicality in mind. It is like saying the dirtier the dishes in a restaurant, the better [the food] would taste. I don't think so.

Perfection. Beautifully put.
 

mshenay

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Wow another instance where SBAF and ASR have similar overlapping experiences,

I've got an AGD NFB 10ES2 from like 5 years ago, over the years I've been impressed with it yet I've never heard any of their newer products. Though when I was ordering my product I emailed Kingwa directly and his answers were pretty conclusive. No flowery madness or anything, I guess "vintage" AGD is going to be a thing now. Heck the NFB10ES2 reviewed decently too though I can't say there are any measurements outside of AGDs

Either way I'll be getting an ADI 2 Dac here shortly so no more AGD. Maybe I'll send my "vintage" unit for measurement...
 

confucius_zero

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Next thing you know kingwa might become a member of this forum...
 

THW

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was actually looking up on audio-gd products some time back to find something to “pair” with the HD 600, then didn’t look on further but for different reasons other than sound quality.

with all these measurements of audio-gd products I’m actually glad I didn’t bother with them pretty early on.
 

Krunok

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Can't say I'm surprised. Their gear has always looked impressive but measured very meh. Including a NOS R2R DAC is pretty much just the icing on the cake, really. Discrete R2R, eh? Yeah, what could possibly go wrong...

IIRC correctly Gustard A20H is also built with discrete R2R technology and yet it measures really well.
 

March Audio

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Distortion of these types is subject to masking effect and hence content dependent. We are not talking about frequency response errors that would be audible for every piece of content.

Also keep in mind that my ears are aging so you mileage may vary.


.....and Im apparantly expensive ! ? :) sorry

So what work can we do to try and establish audibility as that level of distortion is pretty out there. Does anyone have suggestions of musical content that is particularly revealing of such defects?
 
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andreasmaaan

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.....and Im apparantly expensive ! ? :) sorry

So what work can we do to try and establish audibility as that level of distortion is pretty out there. Does anyone have suggestions of musical content that is particularly revealing of such defects?

For nonlinear distortion, solo piano has generally been the most revealing in studies I've read. So any excellent, familiar recording of a solo piano piece with plenty of dynamics IMHO.
 

bunkbail

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I have to admit I owned and liked the R2R-11. Why? because of its distortion, maybe. I found this to have a very smooth and tubish sound. Nothing close to neutral and linear, but likeable all the same.
Yeah me too. I put both R2R-11 and Khadas tone board as the best sounding DACs I've ever had. I've sold my Topping D30 and will be selling my Chord Mojo, and I'll be very happy to keep those 2 (tone board and R2R-11) as they provide me different sound flavor depending on music I play. I don't know why people get too hung up on numbers, sure these graphs don't look pretty but it doesn't sound bad at all to my ears, and I own both of the better and worse measuring dacs on amir portfolio right now.
 
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