New dac on the way

[ozcal]

I now have 2 different TDA1541A based dacs ,both sound pretty good to my ears but I really want to start exploring higher res music for myself.
Mick Maloney has been very helpful with upgrades to my pre amp for greater transparency which has yeilded a more natural and more musical sound.I have some 1uf Deuland Alexanders on the way to compare with the Ampohm Cu in oil that are currently fitted.
Back to the new dac! I am sure there will be a few raised eyebrows at my choice but I decided to go with the Audio-gd NFB7.32 : http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/NFB7.32/NFB7.32EN.htm. The dac has a good range of inputs inc : usb , I2S and bnc and is apparently one of the more musical sabre based dacs.
Mick is going to send me the schemmatic for the valve output stage of his Predicator dac so I will have the option at a later date to replace the SS output stages with a well designed valve stage built with the Sabre chip in mind.
Very exciting times ahead for me and will have a gtg in due course for anyone interested in having a listen.

[stevenvalve]

I now have 2 different TDA1541A based dacs ,both sound pretty good to my ears but I really want to start exploring higher res music for myself.
Mick Maloney has been very helpful with upgrades to my pre amp for greater transparency which has yeilded a more natural and more musical sound.I have some 1uf Deuland Alexanders on the way to compare with the Ampohm Cu in oil that are currently fitted.
Back to the new dac! I am sure there will be a few raised eyebrows at my choice but I decided to go with the Audio-gd NFB7.32 : http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/NFB7.32/NFB7.32EN.htm. The dac has a good range of inputs inc : usb , I2S and bnc and is apparently one of the more musical sabre based dacs.
Mick is going to send me the schemmatic for the valve output stage of his Predicator dac so I will have the option at a later date to replace the SS output stages with a well designed vlave stage built with the Sabre chip in mind.
Very exciting times ahead for me and will have a gtg in due course for anyone interested in having a listen.

Yes a valve output is a must. It will be fun the Duelund, V Ampohm Cu in oil, listen. I have not heard the Deuland Alexanders.  

[ozcal]

Hi Steve , yep! looking forward to trying the Deulands. Scuttlebut seems to be that the Alexanders are no VSF or Cast but share the house sound.

[ozmillsy]

Look forward to reading about the new Dac, G.

[ozcal]

Hi guys , the new dac arrived on Saturday. Initial thoughts were : sounds ok but nothing special.
 The dac has now been powered and running in for about 100hrs and is starting to sound quite stunning. Any fears I had about the dac not being musical  have been alayed. It's an easy dac to listen to for hours without fatigue , prat is good and getting better and the depth and drive in the bass is outstanding. The dac is one of those that allows you to listen into the music rather than thrusting the sound in your face.
So far I am a happy camper (no pun intended
Inside pic :

[zenelectro]

Hi guys , the new dac arrived on Saturday. Initial thoughts were : sounds ok but nothing special.
 The dac has now been powered and running in for about 100hrs and is starting to sound quite stunning. Any fears I had about the dac not being musical  have been alayed. It's an easy dac to listen to for hours without fatigue , prat is good and getting better and the depth and drive in the bass is outstanding. The dac is one of those that allows you to listen into the music rather than thrusting the sound in your face.
So far I am a happy camper (no pun intended
Inside pic :

This looks pretty good and real step up from all the other Sabre DACs I've seen.

They've (AudioGD) been looking and learning.

Discrete 0 Feedback I-V and OP stage. It has no coupling caps but you can see the DC correction servos in the picture.
They're also using looks like all film caps for DAC decoupling. 

Once run in this should sound pretty darn good and give an indication of what Sabre can really do.

For the price, looks like a bargain.

T

[ozcal]

Thanks Terry, she certainly sounds pretty good already so it will be interesting to hear after the recommended 400 hrs

[ozcal]

Hi GUYS , Just a quick note to say I am really enjoying the new dac. Good old fashioned PRAT is there in spades , tone is on the warmer side and timbral res. is good. My TDA1541a based dac is in bits at the moment as I put all the good bits from the two 1541 I was running into the one box. Once I finish the 1541A build a gtg is on the cards.

[kajak12]

Hi GUYS , Just a quick note to say I am really enjoying the new dac. Good old fashioned PRAT is there in spades , tone is on the warmer side and timbral res. is good. My TDA1541a based dac is in bits at the moment as I put all the good bits from the two 1541 I was running into the one box. Once I finish the 1541A build a gtg is on the cards.

good to hear ozcal enjoy your journey

[ozcal]

Hi GUYS , Just a quick note to say I am really enjoying the new dac. Good old fashioned PRAT is there in spades , tone is on the warmer side and timbral res. is good. My TDA1541a based dac is in bits at the moment as I put all the good bits from the two 1541 I was running into the one box. Once I finish the 1541A build a gtg is on the cards.

good to hear ozcal enjoy your journey

Thanks Mario , it has been a long journey but I am now pretty happy with the sound I am getting.

[flemo]

Hey Gordon

The Audio GD dac's seem to be really good value and the build quality seems to be getting better too.  Not much room in there though for your big fingers and a soldering iron!! 

Cheers

Pete.

[ozcal]

Hi Pete , yep the new dac seems to be a winner. Will organise a gtg once we get back from hols in March.
Hopefully by March I will have finished the rebuild of the Super Satch and the Martin Logans, so there will be plenty to play with.
Not planning any internal upgrades to the A-gd dac but I do have a valve output stage on the way which will connect to the XLR outs foir a bit of valve fun.
Look forward to catching up with you then.

[flemo]

....once we get back from hols in March.  

Are you going somewhere to avoid the upcoming February heat, lucky bugger??