MDAC First Listen (part 00101111)
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Mark Dirac
pfm Member
Thanks misterdog and PhilCTTE. I ordered a 3m adaptor/extension for £34 from Design-a-Cable. Mark Grant didn't have much in the way of XLR cables. I was tempted to go with "highertasteproject" at eBay, impressed as I was by their specification of how carefully they make up (and deliver) a quality cable:
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-5...0001&campid=5338728743&icep_item=141928106275
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JohnW
pfm member
JohnW
pfm member
Mark,
The cables look nicely made, you cannot really go wrong for the price - please let us know how the headphones work out with the MDAC in balanced operation
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Note that it has 2x XLR male, not female. You won't be able to connect this directly to MDAC without a female-female adapter.
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
misterdog
Not the canine kind
I'm making some XLR splitter plugs up for my subwoofer be interesting to see how it pans out.
Technically you could make one for a headphone out and leave it permanently in place.
When I wired up my headphones, balanced made a big difference though the cable was upgraded at the same time so it is difficult to say which provided the difference.
Technically you could make one for a headphone out and leave it permanently in place.
When I wired up my headphones, balanced made a big difference though the cable was upgraded at the same time so it is difficult to say which provided the difference.
JohnW
pfm member
Jarek and Thomas have made good progress with the FDAC LCD today
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86116171/FDAC 800x480 2.jpg
The display is colour - we have yet to really work on the FDAC UI
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86116171/FDAC 800x480 LCD 1.jpg
Yes, it would be possibly to have a Web browser on the FDAC Hardware (not that there will be, this is just the processor hardware in development)... basically anything that runs on Linux.
Next step is to get the touch panel working then onto the FDAC UI We need to think about the menu structure etc.
At the end of the day the FDAC UI will open so can be customised by those who have worked with Qt.
Hopefully we will have a demo UI working for my trip to Munich.
It great to see the various FDAC sections coming to life
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86116171/FDAC 800x480 2.jpg
The display is colour - we have yet to really work on the FDAC UI
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86116171/FDAC 800x480 LCD 1.jpg
Yes, it would be possibly to have a Web browser on the FDAC Hardware (not that there will be, this is just the processor hardware in development)... basically anything that runs on Linux.
Next step is to get the touch panel working then onto the FDAC UI
We need to think about the menu structure etc.At the end of the day the FDAC UI will open so can be customised by those who have worked with Qt.
Hopefully we will have a demo UI working for my trip to Munich.
It great to see the various FDAC sections coming to life
Unfortunately I had the very opposite experience at Christmas. I decided to treat myself to a little present and ordered 4 metres of balanced cable for approx 100 quid for my Sennheiser HD650's from a company who deliver made to order world wide.
When it arrived,even after running it in for 100 hours,the treble sounded screechy to the point of distortion.Afer I contacted the company they asked me to send it back for testing but could find nothing wrong with it.They were decent enough to offer a refund which I gladly accepted.
I now continue to enjoy wonderful sound from my gorgeous Sennheiser's for late night listening connected with the original cable to my MDAC via the single ended connector.Most of my listening is,however, during the day with my MDAC connected directly to my TagMcLaren 250x2R monos via XLRs and likewise sound fabulous.So I just don't know why the balanced headphone cable was so awful. . . just unlucky for once I suppose.
ti33er
pfm Member
Hi John
Lovely to see the progress.
Please do post pics like this when you can, we love being part of the adventure!
Could we have an image of a monster that attempts to bite ones finger should the finger print not be mine touching the panel ...will keep my child at bay, refrain from prodding the FDAC :-D
Paul
Lovely to see the progress.
Please do post pics like this when you can, we love being part of the adventure!
Could we have an image of a monster that attempts to bite ones finger should the finger print not be mine touching the panel ...will keep my child at bay, refrain from prodding the FDAC :-D
Paul
ti33er
pfm Member
Regarding XLR cables, was recommended this for DIY:
http://www.canford.co.uk/Products/60-1800F_BELDEN-1800F-CABLE-Black
...and theses connectors have RFI screening http://www.neutrik.us/en-us/xlr/emc-series/
http://www.canford.co.uk/Products/60-1800F_BELDEN-1800F-CABLE-Black
...and theses connectors have RFI screening http://www.neutrik.us/en-us/xlr/emc-series/
Mark Dirac
pfm Member
Hi John
Lovely to see the progress.
Paul
And a lovely font!
Mark Dirac
pfm Member
Thanks. Good point.
I'm not sure how practical it will be using the XLR o/ps for headphones (should I be more lucky in my result than BrianPK) given that MDAC will not remember my headphone volume; and that I ought to disconnect the phono leads when connecting the XLR leads, and vice-versa. Looking forward to front-panel XLR headphone socket on FDAC.
I note that, on the FDAC, the rear-panel line-out XLRs are specified at 3W, and the front-panel headphone XLR is specified at 4W. Does this mean that, unlike with the MDAC, the FDAC is using separate/different amplifiers for line-out and headphones? Why?
Very unlikely, it's just another relay-switched output.
- The two 3W (like on the MDAC): shield is ground, pin 1 is ground, 2 is + , 3 is -, ... this is for one 3W (one channel) - double it for two channels.
- The one 4W: shield is ground, pin 1 is L+, 2 is L-, 3 is R+, 4 is R-, ... this is for one 4W (two channels).
JohnW
pfm member
Brian,
Odd, I wonder what was going on? I wonder if the XLR cable shorted the Negative phase signal to Ground... It would have been interesting to have known what was going on...
JohnW
pfm member
Same signal from the output stage, just Relay switched between the front or rear connectors.
JohnW
pfm member
Hi John
Lovely to see the progress.
Please do post pics like this when you can, we love being part of the adventure!
Could we have an image of a monster that attempts to bite ones finger should the finger print not be mine touching the panel ...will keep my child at bay, refrain from prodding the FDAC :-D
Paul
Paul,
More then happy to when we have progress
We could include a "screen saving" background image option - then you would just upload the image to the FDAC of your Favourite "monster" image.
Mark Dirac
pfm Member
Thanks jirij. Yet more XLR talk, for anyone still interested...
I visited Audio T today and heard my shiny new LCD-3s through HDVD 800 (£1.6k) and Chord Hugo TT (£3k). Was v. impressed with HDVD800 out of XLRs - sounded clean, uncongested, fresh, smooth, steel-polished, with light syrup or watchmaker's oil poured over, with more resonant, more structured deep bass. And more musical.
Out of curiosity, I listened out of the HDVD800's unbalanced headphone jack. I immediately reckoned there was something wrong - 2D, lightweight, not smooth, missing detail in the bass. But the shop reckoned nothing wrong.
Then I listened through the Chord Hugo TT, which only has unbalanced jack plug o/ps. Didn't like it - to some extent it sounded like the HDVD800's unbalanced o/p had done, though to a lesser extent - 2D, flat, not smooth, and also noticeably grainy. (That is, to a small but unequivocal extent, when compared with the HDVD800 balanced.)
So I return home puzzled . Any suggestion as to what is going on? At first sight, it may seem that I was objecting to the sound of "unbalanced" compared with "balanced". But the Hugo TT is a well-regarded device, and if it had sounded that much better with XLR outputs, Chord would surely have bunged some on there.
Source was Tidal 16/44 on laptop via USB.
I visited Audio T today and heard my shiny new LCD-3s through HDVD 800 (£1.6k) and Chord Hugo TT (£3k). Was v. impressed with HDVD800 out of XLRs - sounded clean, uncongested, fresh, smooth, steel-polished, with light syrup or watchmaker's oil poured over, with more resonant, more structured deep bass. And more musical.
Out of curiosity, I listened out of the HDVD800's unbalanced headphone jack. I immediately reckoned there was something wrong - 2D, lightweight, not smooth, missing detail in the bass. But the shop reckoned nothing wrong.
Then I listened through the Chord Hugo TT, which only has unbalanced jack plug o/ps. Didn't like it - to some extent it sounded like the HDVD800's unbalanced o/p had done, though to a lesser extent - 2D, flat, not smooth, and also noticeably grainy. (That is, to a small but unequivocal extent, when compared with the HDVD800 balanced.)
So I return home puzzled . Any suggestion as to what is going on? At first sight, it may seem that I was objecting to the sound of "unbalanced" compared with "balanced". But the Hugo TT is a well-regarded device, and if it had sounded that much better with XLR outputs, Chord would surely have bunged some on there.
Source was Tidal 16/44 on laptop via USB.
sam_cat
C'est Crounchifique!
Paul,
More then happy to when we have progress
We could include a "screen saving" background image option - then you would just upload the image to the FDAC of your Favourite "monster" image.
A simple button combination to lock/unlock the controls would be appreciated.. Stop the wandering toddler for spinning volume to max.... Remote still works.
And being able to set a soft 'max volume' to avoid similar
JohnW
pfm member
A simple button combination to lock/unlock the controls would be appreciated.. Stop the wandering toddler for spinning volume to max.... Remote still works.
And being able to set a soft 'max volume' to avoid similar
Sam,
These are all software features which we can build in over time
we will release a developers "kit / information pack" to allow customisation of the Linux UI.Basically the "interface commands / Protocalls" and our display drivers etc. we are only too happy for 3rd party's to offer "improved" UI's
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