Audio-GD Singularity 19 DAC - Comprehensive Review and Impressions

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by Hands, Mar 23, 2017.

  1. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Honestly, for the benefit of fellow human beings not associated with AG-D, I'd rather we put a for sale ad on HF with the the picture @Hands provided to warn people. Motherfucker, we spent extra money on all the upgrades too.
     
  2. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    So if the Teac was too astringent of poop (cat poop), then this would be too grassy or earthy smelling (rhino poop)?
     
  3. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    I have yet to try the Teac. I've also only ever had one cat and am told by everyone it has by far the foulest smelling poop they've ever experienced. So I can't answer this. :)
     
  4. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

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    Hands, you make this sound like the Grado of DACs but worse as that's Mytek; Ultrasone of DACs. This definitely gets outresolved by one of those mainland Chinese Android-on-a-chip 50 dollar phones.
     
  5. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    I would leave it to the community on whether or not we skip the tour and sell. Maybe some are still interested regardless, or are looking for a night of fun with a truly bad piece of gear. Training one's hearing isn't about listening to only good, I think.

    Otherwise, might be able to catch the hype train still, with an upgraded unit for a backlogged product, without losing much money...Before anyone catches on to this review. But maybe that's too shady. I don't know. I'd feel bad for the buyer almost. ;)
     
  6. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

    Pyrate Slaytanic Cliff Clavin
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    Why don't you just Ebay it? If you sell it for $150, whoever buys it will probably flip eventually in a couple years or end up giving it away for cost of shipping.
     
  7. TheIceman93

    TheIceman93 El pato-zorro

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    The Headfi thread still has pretty positive impressions, maybe you can still sell it off if you act fast.

    I feel bad, like really bad. I made the original thread for this. I had no idea it would turn out like this.
     
    Last edited: Mar 23, 2017
  8. GoodEnoughGear

    GoodEnoughGear Evil Dr. Shultz‎

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    Maybe it will work better on 230v? Should reduce warmup time...
     
  9. TheIceman93

    TheIceman93 El pato-zorro

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    I'd gladly pitch in $20 bucks to make the site's fund less depleted. Anyone else? I would feel bad selling this to some unsuspecting schmuck for close to what you paid for it.
     
  10. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Continue with the tour. I think more systems, more ears, more measurements would provide people with more data points. It would also make it more difficult for fanboys to say that we treated it unfairly by summarily dismissing it.

    Folks who donate understand it's money well spent (well lost) if it can save another soul from wasting same said amount of hard earned money.
     
  11. TheIceman93

    TheIceman93 El pato-zorro

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    I'd be curious to find out where this thing went wrong. I'm even more confused by the positive Headfi reviews, especially from one member who claims to also own a Yggdrasil.
     
  12. drfindley

    drfindley Secretly lives in the Analog Room - Friend

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    Wanna buy my Grado 325is? Any price and they are yours.
     
  13. Senorx12562

    Senorx12562 Case of the mondays

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    I think that was Bob Katz and Tyll.
     
    Last edited: Mar 30, 2017
  14. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

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    I suspect some of that is because audiophile types tend to think/believe that discrete implementations are always better than chip-based. When, of course, it depends entirely on the problem you're trying to solve. There is, as a result, a "want" or "desire" to have discrete builds sound better than canned ones - and there aren't a lot of options for discrete R2R DACs in the first place - certainly not in the price bracket that the S19 occupies. The Denafrips stuff, which I've not heard yet, is about the only other stuff even attempting a discrete converter at this level and that's much less well known right now.

    Couple that, with expectation bias, the love of a good bargain, people's tendency to "favor the underdog"*, and the fact that, based on @Hands measurements, there is no way this isn't going to sound VERY different to something like Yggdrasil - and different, to the clueless (or, more charitably, those without much experience) will often simply be proclaimed as "better".

    So it's not surprising to me that people will come out and compared a new unit from a relatively well known brand (in the niche that is this hobby) on a site that generally favors Audio-GD products, and proclaim that it is what they want it to be, rather than what it actually is.

    It could also simply be a fanboy effect, which is more likely still in my opinion.

    --

    *I had to be very careful with this in the original "Life after Yggdrasil" thread, since I was aware that Schiit's DAC was stacking up against stuff more than an order of magnitude more expensive. In fact it's one of the things that lead me to building my own box to help make my comparisons as "blind" as reasonably/conveniently possible.
     
  15. Riotvan

    Riotvan Snoofer in the Woofer

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    The pic looks to be a bit moist, i am confused. But i guess it's accurate since things always look moist when new.

    Just wait for the audiophools to proclaim that this unit is defective, it takes more then one bad review to stop a hype train. Even if it's so eloquently put.
     
  16. Elnrik

    Elnrik Super Friendly

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    Is it at all possible to return / exchange it as defective?

    It's quite possible something is broken, measurements seem to back that up.
     
  17. Ice-man

    Ice-man Friend

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    I'll offer $150 shipped. :p I bought the predecessor to this DAC and couldn't sell it quickly enough. I see that it's back up for sale on HF right now. For a company that uses some really nice parts and has what appears to be excellent build quality, the actual products just leave you saying WTF...oh wait, now I know why this is 1/2 of the Gungnir Multibit. And yet you still feel ripped off.
     
  18. TurbinoZ100000

    TurbinoZ100000 Acquaintance

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    I'll offer $75 and no need to ship it, I'll come and scoop it up myself.
     
  19. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    Well, bloody hell, AGD gonna AGD.

    It won't stop the tools lusting after it, so maybe it's possible to shift it via HF etc.- it'd blend in with the sea of Rupert Neve, Lake People and old Nighthawks. Fingers crossed for a quick and relatively lucrative sale.

    Anyway, it's still interesting to check in with shitehawk brands when randos are getting super-excited, to see if anything has changed. It's too much to expect the moist masses to internalise any of these data points, but it's useful for the rest of us. Thanks for doing this, it was interesting, and some of the comments made coffee come out of my nose.
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2017
  20. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    People like to poopoo on the 325, but it's nothing compared to the ice pick that is the HF-1.
     

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