[RedBull]

"Hot" as in temperature? treble?

 

[tme110]

as in stronger output /higher voltage/ louder headphone
 

 

[RedBull]

Ah ok, of course, thanks.

 

[doobooloo]

Quote:

 Have you been volume matching?  I just got the ref5.32 and it is slightly hotter than every other source I have (including my collection of other AGD DACs) so there's basically no way I can compare it with anything because on an A/B check it will always win and volume matching takes too much work.

 
Well, I did not volume match precisely with an SPL meter or a multimeter to measure 1Khz sinewave output, but I did this:
 
 
 

6. Perhaps I thought the "fullness" of sound and the stronger bass response of the Ref 7.1 was from a higher volume output. So, I tried comparing with the Ref 7.1 volume lowered by a notch compared to everything else. However, this did not change my impression of superiority of the Ref 7.1 in tone/timbre, soundstage, and bass depth and texture.

 
Once again, nothing scientific, and hopefully when I have some time later I'd like to do a volume matched comparison too.

 

[Pluto2]

Hi Doobooloo,
 
Wondered if you had done these comparisons:
 
1) SBT UBS > D2 DSP > spdif > Ref 1
2) SBT UBS > D2 DSP > i2s > Ref 1
3) SBT UBS > Ref 1
 
Could you share that with us?
 
Many thanks!

 

[MoonUnit]

Does anyone know if the Reference 7.1 will be given the ".32" treatment (i.e. is there a 7.32 in the works?), or is the Master 7 effectively the 7.32?

 

[Currawong]

The Master 7 is it.

 

[macrog]

There are other differences.
 
The Master 7 isnt just a Ref 7.1 + usb32.
 
Macrog

 

[Kingwa]

Quote:

Does anyone know if the Reference 7.1 will be given the ".32" treatment (i.e. is there a 7.32 in the works?), or is the Master 7 effectively the 7.32?

In fact the Reference 7.1 have assemble the USB32 kit as USB interface.

 

[MoonUnit]

Quote:

There are other differences.
 
The Master 7 isnt just a Ref 7.1 + usb32.
 
Macrog

 
I understand that... The Master 7 has the soldered DSP board, etc. I was just curious whether the Master 7 would replace the Reference 7.1 (i.e., as an updated version) or whether the two would coexist. From Currawong's post it seems like the former is true. Also, I was looking closely at the pictures on Audio-GD's website, and the Master 7 analog circuit boards both say "Ref 7 (2011)", which made me think that this was the "new" Reference 7.1. In retrospect, maybe it just means that the analog boards are the same or very similar between the Ref 7.1 and Master 7.
 
(BTW, I noticed that the "SA-20" circuit boards say "RE-9A", which seems to suggest that the SA-20 is the replacement for the old Reference 9.)

 

[Currawong]

Unless I'm mistaken, the major change is the digital board, which is new.

 

[Alanaudio]

hi，i am searching a DAC and amp for d7100, how does the combation of reference 7+ master 8? Does reference 5 and reference 7 really have obvious difference of sound quality? How about reference 10?

 

[LarsHP]

Quote:

hi，i am searching a DAC and amp for d7100, how does the combation of reference 7+ master 8? Does reference 5 and reference 7 really have obvious difference of sound quality? How about reference 10?

I have the Ref 7.1 and Master 6 and they are absolutely superb in both SQ and engineering.
Your headphones are so new, that I am afraid that very few (if any) will be able to give you a first hand impression with this combo.

 

[tme110]

no one knows what you will hear and I'm sure people will disagree but I'm sure the average person and esp most new poeple into this hobby would hear a difference between the ref 5 and 7,
 

 

[tim3320070]

Quote:

hi，i am searching a DAC and amp for d7100, how does the combation of reference 7+ master 8? Does reference 5 and reference 7 really have obvious difference of sound quality? How about reference 10?

I may be the closest- I have the Master-5, Ref-8 and D600 and it sounds great. The D7000 sounded better to me though but I needed more isolation than it provided.