New Aqua Formula DAC (Multibit R2R)

[jacquesr]

HI,

Just received today a new, fully upgraded unit.

Info here:

https://www.aquahifi.com/formula_xhd.html

 

Going though burn-in...

[sb6]

Just had mine upgraded, well worth the $. My review from WBF:

 

Two years after purchase I finally had the Aqua Formula xHD upgrade performed. In somewhat of a nutshell here's my experience:

With Alex's help I shipped the DAC to Aqua in Italy which was returned upgraded in about 3 weeks which went flawlessly. Also, while having the DAC upgraded to xHD I had the fuse replaced with a Blue Quantum fuse. In terms of break - in, while most of the upgrade goodness occurs after ~120 hours of break - in I found that at about 200 hours it settled down.

A few setup comments: Before the upgrade I found upsampling PCM to sound best, however with the xHD I now find DSD upsampling to be superior. In my experience hearing quite a few DACs I always thought that upsampling to DSD sounded a bit brittle and thin whether upsamping DSD or PCM. On several Esoterics I noticed this and as such I stayed away from DSD upsampling. That's not the case with the xHD - DSD sounds fabulous upsampling to Quad DSD. More below.

The difference between the non xHD upsampled to 384K PCM versus xHD also upsampled to 384K PCM (highest upsampling capability before the upgrade): Added bass weight and tightness, ability to hear further into the music (more detail), further effortlessness, more detailed spacial cues and in a nutshell just plain more real.

The difference between the non xHD upsampled to 384K PCM versus the xHD upsampled to 768K PCM yields additional information without sounding overwhelming, fatiguing or overly analytical.

xHD upsampling to Quad DSD: I know many folks swear by DSD files (and true native DSD recordings) and I'm now a believer. Playing DSD upsampled to Quad DSD is other worldly good. The amount of information is staggering, the sound stage layering in depth and width is another level better and again, the realism is better than I expected my speakers could articulate.

Net - I'm quite satisfied with the upgrade, worth every penny. I'm in no rush for a DAC upgrade and if I did jump, it would be to the TD12 in the distant future. Thanks for the assistance Alex!

[jacquesr]

Just received a LinQ for evaluation.

Spoiler alert: it sounds awesome. 
Tried a DCS Bridge a few months ago.

So far I think I prefer the LinQ. 

Using Roon with my Mac Mini as per my signature. 

Stay tuned...

[matthias]

2 hours ago, jacques_racine said:

Just received a LinQ for evaluation.

Spoiler alert: it sounds awesome. 
Tried a DCS Bridge a few months ago.

So far I think I prefer the LinQ. 

Using Roon with my Mac Mini as per my signature. 

Stay tuned...

 

Thanks for sharing, but IMO better to post in the networking/streaming section.

 

BTW, how much is it?

 

Unfortunately no USB out like dCS and Totaldac streamer.

 

Thanks

 

Matt

[matthias]

On 3/24/2019 at 4:58 AM, sb6 said:

xHD upsampling to Quad DSD: I know many folks swear by DSD files (and true native DSD recordings) and I'm now a believer. Playing DSD upsampled to Quad DSD is other worldly good. The amount of information is staggering, the sound stage layering in depth and width is another level better and again, the realism is better than I expected my speakers could articulate.

 

I am just curious how DSD is being processed inside the Formula xHD.

If i understand correctly the R2R DAC architecture accepts PCM only.

So with PCM upsampling to Quad DSD there seem to be two conversions:

From PCM to DSD by HQplayer and from DSD to PCM by the Formula.

Does this double conversion makes sense?

Can you please shed some light on this?

 

Thanks

 

Matt

[sb6]

On 4/5/2020 at 8:25 AM, matthias said:

 

I am just curious how DSD is being processed inside the Formula xHD.

If i understand correctly the R2R DAC architecture accepts PCM only.

So with PCM upsampling to Quad DSD there seem to be two conversions:

From PCM to DSD by HQplayer and from DSD to PCM by the Formula.

Does this double conversion makes sense?

Can you please shed some light on this?

 

Thanks

 

Matt

I believe you are correct, the Formula is not native DSD, it converts from PCM to DSD. IM more recent experience the Formula sounds best fed PCM via HQPlayer up-sampled / converted to PCM. How much is the fact that I switched off of an ultrarendu to a SOTM SMS200 Ultra Neo, I'm not sure.

[magnuska]

On 3/16/2020 at 4:26 AM, jacques_racine said:

Just received a LinQ for evaluation.

Spoiler alert: it sounds awesome. 
Tried a DCS Bridge a few months ago.

So far I think I prefer the LinQ. 

Using Roon with my Mac Mini as per my signature. 

Stay tuned...

Hi do you have more info now about the Aqua linq? Have ordered one myself. Elite audio in UK are really amazed by its performance.  Thanks /Magnus 

[jacquesr]

At the moment, my feedback is that as long as it does not run NAA protocol (for HQPlayer) results are below my setup going USB direct to Formula. But there might be some good news from Aqua soon.

[AudioDoctor]

On 6/12/2020 at 7:56 AM, jacquesr said:

At the moment, my feedback is that as long as it does not run NAA protocol (for HQPlayer) results are below my setup going USB direct to Formula. But there might be some good news from Aqua soon.

 

And if it does run NAA?  What might this good news coming from Aqua entail?

[jacquesr]

It was the Link and then the HQP module