Audio GD - bad rap in the past -new breed !!

[brandall10]

The ‘high-end’ subjective mythos that was invented in the late ‘70s has now pervaded every section of the industry and the consumer communities that are associated with it.

For sure, if you're trying to differentiate one product from another and you're doing it with limited information (ie. lack of proper measurements), it's human nature for the subjectivity aspect to lead to an almost religious type of magical thinking. Marketing and attempts at product differentiation adds fuel to the fire, esp. when your target market has plenty of $$ to burn on something that provides so much emotional enrichment.

For me, it was always about trusting the opinion of someone who had listened to a lot of gear. They have that experience that I don't, and you really don't have much more than that to go off of aside from other's impressions.

 

[Chrispy]

For me, it was always about trusting the opinion of someone who had listened to a lot of gear. They have that experience that I don't, and you really don't have much more than that to go off of aside from other's impressions.

I'm the other way, others' subjective opinions about audio gear I generally find better to ignore as they have not borne out to be helpful or accurate. In this particular case the cost and utility of the gear is completely offputting (then again I rarely want to use headphones either, only if necessary).

 

[brandall10]

I'm the other way, others' subjective opinions about audio gear I generally find better to ignore as they have not borne out to be helpful or accurate. In this particular case the cost and utility of the gear is completely offputting (then again I rarely want to use headphones either, only if necessary).

I meant years ago before we had this data. I was just sharing my thoughts on how hifi got to where it is.

 

[Lupin]

Absolutely nothing. From my impressions as a long-time member of head-fi, this is a fairly popular company known to provide great bang for the buck, hence these kinds of reactions.

Audio-GD products measure very poorly but if you can put that out of your mind and not thinking about it, or care about it, they offer some products with nice feature set at interesting price points.

I get why Audio-GD is more popular on Head-Fi as Head-Fi is all about the subjective impressions while ASR is all about the objective part.
Subjectively Audio-GD is just fine. To be honest I can not for the life of me hear a difference between my Topping D30Pro and the Audio-GD unit I have during regular listing. I might notice (or think to notice due sighted bias) some difference(s) during direct A/B testing but that is not a realistic day to day use scenario for a DAC. This while the SINAD score of the Audio-GD is probably only half, if not even less, than the D30Pro. So to that degree I can follow what is going on at Head-Fi and why people feel that way about Audio-GD.

Where I personally do draw the line and really can not agree with on Head-Fi is post where people talk about things like "upgrading" their stock ACSS cable to new >800 dollar per cable and claiming to hear a noticeable difference. But wait you'll not notice the difference immediately the cables need to burn in for 350 hours first. Not 100 hours, not 300 hours, not 400 hours, no 350 hours... where do they get that number from in the first place..??

Maybe it is super bad of me but I can't take the opinion of how something sounds serious from someone who believes in that snake oil.
I'm not that active any more on Head-Fi as for my personal taste people there cross the boarder between subjective impressions and pure snake oil fantasies too much.

 

[brandall10]

Audio-GD products measure very poorly but if you can put that out of your mind and not thinking about it, or care about it, they offer some products with nice feature set at interesting price points.

I already responded to you earlier in the thread that a $10 Apple dongle performs better AFA a DAC is concerned for likely any of their offerings, esp. if you're making an argument of inaudibility of measurements.

AFA features, I'm not sure what you mean. For instance, no one *needs* balanced (https://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/application_notes/audio-myth-balanced-headphone-outputs-are-better). You just need a decent measuring DAC and clean power, maybe room correction or a PEQ (not aware of any Audio-GD products offering that) - that's it.

At just about any Audio-GD price point there are multitudes of things measured on this site that will murder it for substantially less. Please explain what features you are getting that add value beyond things that you can not audibly discern.

 

[raistlin65]

Audio-GD products measure very poorly but that doesn't automatically mean that you can't like what you hear.

How do you know what it is you like about what you hear?

Is it the actual sound reproduction? Or the Audio-GD hype on Head-Fi? Your reactions to the particular aesthetics of the unit? Or the fake graphs that cause you to perceive what you do?

 

[Simon73]

I just love Audio Gd. I have the R7HE which have the a di20 built in to it. You can read more about the di20 at Goldensound and how it measures. https://goldensound.audio/2021/07/22/audio-gd-di20he-measurements/

I also have the RME adi-2 and a Teac NT-505 but the Audio GD is by far the best I have yet to hear (but also twice to four time the price). But then i also use a separate 10 mhz clock from symetriconn to further reduce the jitter. It is my end game dac

 

[oldsysop]

 

[VintageFlanker]

I also have the RME adi-2 and a Teac NT-505 but the Audio GD is by far the best I have yet to hear (but also twice to four time the price)

I suppose it is twice to four times better, then?

You can read more about the di20 at Goldensound and how it measures. https://goldensound.audio/2021/07/22/audio-gd-di20he-measurements/

If it is to be messed up by the poor R7HE analog performance, then what the point?

 

[Simon73]

You should try it

 

[VintageFlanker]

You should try it

No thanks. I've already wasted way too much money with AGD. Loosing even more cash to get any of their garbage is absolutely not on my radar.

 

[Simon73]

No thanks. I've already wasted way too much money with AGD. Loosing even more cash to get any of their garbage is absolutely not on my radar.

Ok. What products have you tried?

 

[VintageFlanker]

Ok. What products have you tried?

Owned/tested:
- NFB-11 (2015)
- NFB-11.38 Ltd
- NFB-1 DAC (2016)
- NFB-28.38
- NFB-29.28
- DAC-19 10th Anniversary
- R2R-11
- R2R-1
- R2R-2
- Precision 3 (two)

Kept none of them after few weeks.

Tried:
Most of their "higher end" DACs and headamps back in the days: Overpriced at the very best.

 

[Simon73]

Ok. I have a HE9 preamp/headphone amp as well and it’s preformance is great and gives in my opinon a great value for the money.

 

[Veri]

Owned/tested:

Wow! Audio-GD fanboy much?

 

[VintageFlanker]

Wow! Audio-GD fanboy much?

Nope. Just "any-audio-gear-nerd-freak". I lost the count how many pieces of electronics I already bought at the age of 32.

Going active was the only way to cure me. So I did.

 

[Lupin]

Owned/tested:
- NFB-11 (2015)
- NFB-11.38 Ltd
- NFB-1 DAC (2016)
- NFB-28.38
- NFB-29.28
- DAC-19 10th Anniversary
- R2R-11
- R2R-1
- R2R-2
- Precision 3 (two)

Kept none of them after few weeks.

Tried:
Most of their "higher end" DACs and headamps back in the days: Overpriced at the very best.

Interesting that you owned so many different Audio-GD devices.
What were the reasons that you never kept one? Did your knowledge of how they measure influence you in anyway in your decision to like/dislike and/or keep the device?

 

[Katji]

Going active was the only way to cure me. So I did.

Going active...

Some months later...

Reading discussion of cables......

 

[VintageFlanker]

What were the reasons that you never kept one?

Never thought they subjectively performed according to their respective prices (nor their sounded particularly "bad" anyhow). Then, you try alternatives: more expensive products or different architectures (R2R, NOS etc)... Except for Precision 3 amps which not only sounded terrible, but also ran out power very quickly and went to protection each time I asked high volume from them (whatever bridged or bi amped)

Did your knowledge of how they measure influence you in anyway in your decision to like/dislike and/or keep the device?

Somehow. At the time I bought my last AGD, I wasn't aware of ASR and naively trusted measurements on their website. First measurements by @amirm have been quite useful. Then repeatability observed by both @amirm or @WolfX-700 made my decision easier: This company doesn't have a clue how to properly design audio gears, then I see no reason to buy/try anything from them anymore.

 

[raif71]

I bought a used R2R-11 DAC/Amp and was very pleased with it. This was during the time I had E30 and L30 and couldn't get the power I needed. When I paired L30 and R2R-11, I was very happy with the L30 coz the R2R-11 output at max 5V and suddenly I had more volume headroom with the L30. I like to experiment with gears. Another example is E30 with Ifi Zen Can, I find good pairing too coz Ifi Zen Can has quite a bit of power. Back to R2R-11, on its own I find it to be very capable to drive my Senn headphones