Audio-gd Master 7 Singularity Review (DAC)

[mac]

Did Paul McGowan design this?

 

[amirm]

They are probably related in another life!

 

[vkvedam]

Well, not surprised at all. Audio-gd never impressed me. On a different note @amirm could you test one of Vinnie Rossi's offerings whenever you get a chance. Thanks for the effort, this one's a total shambles

 

[Johannes AU]

Dunno about you all but I find it strangely entertaining to read reviews where Amir reports abysmal measurements from an ultra-expensive solid state component. I'm started to get bored of the Topping reviews with the -150dB or whatever SINAD.

Noting is a more horrific thought than packing and shipping this massive box back to China and waiting for it get fixed and come back.

Let's remember that this company doesn't even have an ecommerce system. You have to email them and send the money in advance using paypal! You really have to be desperate for one of their products to go through all this.

I know ...... don't know what is behind ..

 

[Harmonie]

I do. I am so overwhelmed with big boxes in our living room that I am testing large devices sooner than I would otherwise! And this one came in a massive box.

Well thank you for the answer, we all know now how to wrap and send you the audiophile fuse to be tested

I'm sure that we have some petanque balls to put some weight on the priority

PS- Thank you for that review !!
I must confess that some years ago, I was lurking Audio-GD as they had very good opinions from the audiophile insider maniacs in France.
Pffew, I nearly went in to the dark side.

 

[VintageFlanker]

Disappointing, but it is an older dac now

Haem. We are talking about 2017/2018. Not a hundred years ago. There were plenty of flawless/transparent DACs back then which run circles around this piece of crap.

 

[Lupin]

So it doesn't measure well... hardly any surprise.

Well at least this review thread turned out into a free like generator for everyone who jumps in to bash a brand.

 

[Doodski]

Well at least this review thread turned out into a free like generator for everyone who jumps in to bash a brand.

Audio GD does it to itself. Charging for a box stuffed with over sized everything so it looks impressively expensive and still can't get it right.

 

[TCD333]

Well, not surprised at all. Audio-gd never impressed me. On a different note @amirm could you test one of Vinnie Rossi's offerings whenever you get a chance. Thanks for the effort, this one's a total shambles

Looking at Vinnie R's design philosophy on the website, (uses tubes and zero NFB in some designs) I doubt the products will achieve ultra low measured distortion and as such will most likely cop a severe bashing here.
TCD

 

[DSJR]

I was curious to have a look at a small audiophile designer his products and company in the UK (best I don't say which on an international forum). You think Audio GD is bad? Let me just say this chap (who has a pedigree amongst UK audiophooldom going back to the mid 80's or so) has the totally opposite view to Bruno Putzeys as regards feedback use in an amp (it saps dynamics and fine details apparently) and he's another promoting fancy pure copper binding posts which no doubt cost a bomb.. Not one spec currently listed, just light humoured prose.

What is it with these kinds of people, or is it really me being musically blind these days to the supposed joys of this audiophile stuff? I'll get me coat...

 

[PO3c]

Owner has purchased this unit in 2018 so it is way past 2010 that you say was the start of it.

As I said, the M7 design is very old and in and out of production when stock PCM1704 chips show up. It is what it is. Like when an old tube amp measuring like shit getting a good reputation for its pleasant sound are brought to life when sparse tubes apearse in enough quantity.

Of course that doesn't defend a crappy designed web site or faults on the tested equipment. But are meant to explain why and what the M7 concept are about. And while some measurements looks like a 12$ dongle its overall sound quality do not compare to the same dongle. Most listener in this price range are usually adult enough to trust his ears to figure out if they like the overall sound or not.

It is a colorbox for sure and in my current setup makes for pleasant sound where micro details are set aside in favour of music. Thats how I concluded after switching RME and M7 in and out for months with a touch on the remote control. With the RME in the loop I had a tendency to focus on room size and intrument position. And with the M7 I become more relaxed listening for lyrics and harmonic changes while still being able to hear the difference from maracas made of plastic or wood.

 

[tw99]

As I said, the M7 design is very old and in and out of production when stock PCM1704 chips show up. It is what it is. Like when an old tube amp measuring like shit getting a good reputation for its pleasant sound are brought to life when sparse tubes apearse in enough quantity.

Of course that doesn't defend a crappy designed web site or faults on the tested equipment. But are meant to explain why and what the M7 concept are about. And while some measurements looks like a 12$ dongle its overall sound quality do not compare to the same dongle. Most listener in this price range are usually adult enough to trust his ears to figure out if they like the overall sound or not.

It is a colorbox for sure and in my current setup makes for pleasant sound where micro details are set aside in favour of music. Thats how I concluded after switching RME and M7 in and out for months with a touch on the remote control. With the RME in the loop I had a tendency to focus on room size and intrument position. And with the M7 I become more relaxed listening for lyrics and harmonic changes while still being able to hear the difference from maracas made of plastic or wood.

Well, as we all know, sighted tests don't mean much, you can't actually "trust your ears" at all, and all audiophiles "know" that a boutique product like this with all those components will be more musical than a small, ruthlessly efficient, German device. So stop making excuses for this pile of crap

 

[AudioSceptic]

Those priorities apparently include exposing snake oil and overpriced junk audio components, and not just finding truly excellent ones.

Yes, and surely that is just as important? It's also highly entertaining. ;-)

 

[AudioSceptic]

I do. I am so overwhelmed with big boxes in our living room that I am testing large devices sooner than I would otherwise! And this one came in a massive box.

It's not obvious from Amir's photo (unless you know how big the panther is), but this DAC is "full-size" (430 x 430 x 93 mm) and "package weight" is 15 kg. It's heavier than a lot of power amps.

 

[AudioSceptic]

Well thank you for the answer, we all know now how to wrap and send you the audiophile fuse to be tested

I'm sure that we have some petanque balls to put some weight on the priority

View attachment 152452



PS- Thank you for that review !!
I must confess that some years ago, I was lurking Audio-GD as they had very good opinions from the audiophile insider maniacs in France.
Pffew, I nearly went in to the dark side.

"Lurking" seems somehow appropriate for this product.

 

[PO3c]

Well, as we all know, sighted tests don't mean much, you can't actually "trust your ears" at all, and all audiophiles "know" that a boutique product like this with all those components will be more musical than a small, ruthlessly efficient, German device. So stop making excuses for this pile of crap

I'm not trying to make excuses. And I do not have golden ears and they seem useless over 14k. But they are mine and I trust I know what I like to hear just as much as I dislike how most TV have their default color, light and contrast settings. And I tell you, I had prefered if I could let the M7 go and have the RME become my main DAC as it has several other features that makes me still hang on to it.

I do understand M7 measure horribly, still I prefer the sound over any RME or Topping I've compared it to. Why this is intrigue me. Are there any single parameter from the measurements that makes for this fenomen?

Considering what we have seen so far, Multitone results were much more decent:

 

[ShiZo]

I'm not trying to make excuses. And I do not have golden ears and they seem useless over 14k. But they are mine and I trust I know what I like to hear just as much as I dislike how most TV have their default color, light and contrast settings. And I tell you, I had prefered if I could let the M7 go and have the RME become my main DAC as it has several other features that makes me still hang on to it.

I do understand M7 measure horribly, still I prefer the sound over any RME or Topping I've compared it to. Why this is intrigue me. Are there any single parameter from the measurements that makes for this fenomen?

You might just like the sound of distortion.

 

[Jimbob54]

For shits and giggles I'd like to see the measurements in 8x oversampling mode, but it's crazy how hard it is change the filter. That alone is a deal breaker.

And if Amir is confused on how to control the settings, that says a lot.

Haha, not necessarily ;-)

 

[AnalogSteph]

Their whole idea of using through-hole discrete components to replace opamps is pretty good marketing. I almost fell for it a long time ago before my EE friend explained that the concept was completely idiotic, since the component tolerances inside an opamp were orders of magnitude tighter than that which could be achieved with discrete components.

Now to be fair, that doesn't mean that you couldn't achieve good performance when going discrete - see Schiit Magni 3+ (all discrete) vs. Magni Heresy (opamp-based). The 3+ isn't as good in the distortion performance department but still not exactly a slouch either, nothing like what you typically see in Audio-gd gear.
Discrete circuitry has some advantages, too - it can accommodate high voltages and power dissipation more easily (most audio opamps are rated to +/-18 V and things are thinning out rapidly beyond that) and tends to be quite repairable (if in some grim uncertain future the OPA1688 were to be discontinued and not easily available, repairing a Magni Heresy with a bad one would pose some challenges; mind you, specialty discrete transistors are thinning out more and more these days, too). Hypex NCore modules are all-discrete, too - but Purifi ones are more highly integrated.

The main advantage of going integrated, alongside tighter tolerances and fewer solder joints to go wrong, is just being able to accommodate more complex circuitry, so you can achieve higher loop gain and apply more negative feedback overall. Outsourcing IC design to specialty manufacturers who have been doing that for years also makes it far easier to achieve high performance, DAC chips being a prime example. It takes a great deal of experience and/or masochism to roll your own and actually come up with something competitive.

 

[Gorgonzola]

Can someone explain what all that other stuff {PCM1704} is and does? It is just a 2-channel DAC, isn't it?

I'm not a tech expert but as I understand, the PCM1704 is DAC chip of the "R-2R", sometime called "ladder DAC", variety. These DACs use a different decoding method than the now-prevalent "delta-sigma" variety. Many audiophiles and pundits consider the R-2R DACs to have a nice sound, mainly smoother, more "analog" in sound.

The PCM1704 is now out of production as are many formerly available R-2Rs hence a maker has to be lucky, (let's say), to find a supply.