[wushuliu]

There must be a lull in the hype cycle, or maybe folks are burnt out because the Hiface Two has been available for weeks now and there's hardly a peep about it anywhere! Well I got myself one from TweekGeek. My experience with the original was okay: it was a little peaky in the mids and highs but otherwise clean; apparently I got one made after the clocks has been changed with subsequent inferior sound quality.

The HF2 is linux and mac compatible. However, drivers are still needed for Windows. Setup was simple. So how's it sound? Kind of hard to say. I guess it's great in that I can't detect any signature at all. The MF V-link and Teralink converters each added their own flavor with my modified Teralink being preferable, if on the warm side. All I can do is compare to previous setups: The HF2 with the little french DAC sounds better than the heavily modified Essence STX I have been using. Less digititis? Sorry at a loss for words. Hard to describe in the this case the absence of something. Suffice to say the HF2 just seems to get out of the way and provide the best usb/spdif dac experience I have had so far. I stopped analyzing after only a minute and got into the music, which says a lot. It also brings the best out of software like Jplay, which has never sounded better. They got something right this time. Maybe transparent is the best word.





Hopefully someone else will share their thoughts.

In other news Audio-GD has released several new balanced DACs and a new DI (w/ DSP) spdif/usb converter with exclusive license on a new Tenor USB chip that does 24/192, is asynchronous, and can be used to upgrade previous models. It still takes all my strength to not buy everything on that site. The new LED faceplates and selectable filters are a nice touch. Again, I have read little to nothing about them. Did everyone get the schiit knocked out of them?

http://www.audio-gd.com/En%20audio-gd.htm

[JohnR]

Do you still have the DI? How does it fare in comparison?

[wushuliu]

Do you still have the DI? How does it fare in comparison?

Haven't had the DI in a good while. From what I remember that was 'neutral' in a similar way. Difficult to articulate the presentation of these converters. I do remember the original Hiface because I didn't care for it at all. The new one is a very different experience. The new DI comes with some kind of DSP added. We'll see how long I hold out before I buy one anyway, as I got the Hiface before I saw the new AG gear was available (do I get permission to be the Rclark of Audio-Gd gear? If so, the new DI is frickin' AWESOME! The gauntlet has been thrown!!! )

[Audioexcels]

I cannot hear differences large enough between a free DVD transport, Xonar ST, etc. and the Hiface 2.

[wushuliu]

I cannot hear differences large enough between a free DVD transport, Xonar ST, etc. and the Hiface 2.

The Hiface 2 is not a DAC, so I am confused as to what you are saying.

[srb]

The Hiface 2 is not a DAC, so I am confused as to what you are saying.

I think he is saying he couldn't hear a difference between the DVD player S/PDIF out, and with a computer as a source, the Xonar ST S/PDIF out and the HiFace 2 S/PDIF out, all into a undisclosed DAC.

I guess we would have to know what the rest of the system was, as I would think that some differences would be detectable, even if it couldn't be determined which was better.

Steve

[usp1]

How do the Audio-gd dacs compare to, say, an Eastern Electric Minimax Sabre Dac?

I know Audio-gd has a large passionate following. I have the minimax(older version) paired with a music hall mmf-25 as a transport and it is very good. Compared to the lite-dac 60 and the an old MF x-dac that I had the minimax is tremendous. It is also better than the Oppo bdp-83se which I own...although the difference is more subtle.