Audio-GD usb dac

[Michel]

Hoi All

Iam want to buy a new usb dac.
Audio-gd NFB-5.32.
It needs a windows driver to work right.
The question is; wil this work with the XXhighend player?
My old dac was a Chord Chordette GEM and it dit not need any drivers..

Your thought about the Audio-gd NFB 5.32 are welcome.
The specs:

32bit / 384K Asynchronous Transfer USB-32 Chip.
Built in 2 Pieces Hi-end grade WM8741 Chips.
Fully discrete analog stages without any OPA and couple caps in the signal channels.
Non- feedback ACSS analog output stage.
Total of 8 groups dedicated power circuits are used to purify the power supply.
Applies a custom order ALPS 27 volume pot for reducing channel imbalance.
3 channels digital input : coaxial / Optical / USB
DAC output : RCA (User can setting with either variable and fixed output level)
Headphone output : 6.3MM SE
USB Audio Class 2 High-speed Input from Windows / MAC / Linux
Supports High / full speed Asynchronous Transfer Mode up to 384K / 32Bit ability.
Resolutions support 16/24/32 Bit with sampling rate support 44.1/48/88.2/96/176.4/192kHz (USB)
Supports up to 24 Bit/192KHz (SPDIF)
Supports 2X, 4X and 8X oversampling customers setting.
Memorizes all settings and it could resume the last settings when power on.



Kind regards,
Michel

[PeterSt]

Hey Michel,

I don't know where you got it from, but regardless drivers XXHighEnd should always work.
It is only that I think that recently I heard from this very same DAC that a driver update allowed 24 bits transfer only ? Maybe I am wrong. But when correct, it needs a DAC Needs of 24 instead of 32.
But you would have found out yourself easily.

One warning :

Supports up to 24 Bit/192KHz (SPDIF)

Such a sentence would warn me to sort out whether over USB 24/192 can be received. And yes, I read about the USB interface the line above this one, but manufacturers can be sneaky and not all combinations may work (as mentioned in that other sentence).

That's all ...
Regards,
Peter

[Michel]

Hey Michel,

I don't know where you got it from, but regardless drivers XXHighEnd should always work.
It is only that I think that recently I heard from this very same DAC that a driver update allowed 24 bits transfer only ? Maybe I am wrong. But when correct, it needs a DAC Needs of 24 instead of 32.
But you would have found out yourself easily.

One warning :

Supports up to 24 Bit/192KHz (SPDIF)

Such a sentence would warn me to sort out whether over USB 24/192 can be received. And yes, I read about the USB interface the line above this one, but manufacturers can be sneaky and not all combinations may work (as mentioned in that other sentence).

That's all ...
Regards,
Peter

Many thx Peter for the explanation.I never had any experience about installing drivers and use XXH. in min OS mode.Therefore  iam asking before i buy a new dac.
I only will use usb. All my flac files are 16bit/44/48.
So i will stick to a 16/48 dac and go looking for a dac that has a good ring transformer build in.

Kind Regards,
Michel

[PeterSt]

Dear Michel,

So i will stick to a 16/48 dac and go looking for a dac that has a good ring transformer build in

These days all is about the better means of filtering/upsampling. So if you lterally mean to now look for a DAC that needs to do 16/48 only ... I wouldn't do that. But maybe I misunderstood.

Of course you thought about the NOS1, I mean before the price goes up and such ?
A bit kidding, but not everybody knows ...

Kind regards,
Peter

[Flecko]

Looking for specs and for how many transformers or technical things are build inside any Hifi equipment can help to find a "direction" in that you can go but you will never be able to say from specs if it sounds good (a simple truth). Maybe you can say something will certainly sound bad from some specs but who knows? I had a Reference 7 DAC from Audio GD (8 PCM 1704, 3 RCore Transformers, discrete output stage...). It was a nice DAC and for me back then an improvement in sound. But at the moment I listen to a DAC with only one dac chip, only one transformer, it is tiny, only cinch out ... and it plays in another world than the Ref 7. I suggest looking for a dac you can listen to at home and compare to what you have. Or visit a dealer and bring your dac to compare. You will be much happier that way.