MDAC first listen (part III)
- Thread starter John_73
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PhilCTTE
Senior mumbler
At the moment I only have my laptop which I want to avoid using as a server. I dont really want to unpack plug in and power up each time I want to listen to a few quick tunes. I've plugged in a backup external WD drive to the SBT usb connection and I'm using the internal processing power (hardly server software) to retrieve and manage the files. And this failed quite a few times the other night when playing 96/24 material. I even had to reboot when it lost connection and failed to find my music library. Everyones recommended using a dedicated PC and install the server software, but I thought I'd try it out first, just was not prepared for it to fail so badly. Got 2 choices improve my basic NAS drive ( which has not enough guts to run the server s/w) or get a dedicated vortex box.
Started separate thread here
http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showthread.php?t=111909&page=2
has anyone got the bitperfect test passed on win7 and foobar?
I remember a post from Domink some time ago claiming it was not possible on win7
I searched in the forum and many people passed the test using Win7. I failed with both WASAPI and ASIO4ALL, now I resetted and I start again form the beginning, starting with WASAPI then ASIO4ALL
I remember a post from Domink some time ago claiming it was not possible on win7
I searched in the forum and many people passed the test using Win7. I failed with both WASAPI and ASIO4ALL, now I resetted and I start again form the beginning, starting with WASAPI then ASIO4ALL
High Quality USB cable from a 3 months old PC
for the bitperfect test, i got the file from this thread/dominik it's about 5 minutes long...
do you leave the whole track playing for the full 5 minutes?
mine just shows as 'passing test' & doesn't seem to ever change...
Win7/Jriver/USB
on a side note my USB connection started going again late last night, PC crashed a couple times, i checked the back of the MDac & as expected my 'botch grounding' USB cable had fallen off the rca connector
any tips on securing it on there better? it was on very tightly with electrical tape
do you leave the whole track playing for the full 5 minutes?
mine just shows as 'passing test' & doesn't seem to ever change...
Win7/Jriver/USB
on a side note my USB connection started going again late last night, PC crashed a couple times, i checked the back of the MDac & as expected my 'botch grounding' USB cable had fallen off the rca connector
any tips on securing it on there better? it was on very tightly with electrical tape
John_73
pfm Member
Thanks SQ225917 (hope I got that right!
). I'd always been lead to believe that upsampling was 'bad' if one was intent upon protecting the purity/integrity of the original file, but I guess in this case it doesn't appear to have impacted upon the sound quality of the final unit judging by the reviews/opinions I've read so far. Nearly got the money together for one now... and it looks like they're sold out everywhere! Typical - John
LittleToast
pfm Member
Hi John, it has been a while since I read the forums. During these time my CDQ has been in and out of repair 4 times. As my is the first batch, it could be one of those who are having issues.
At the 4th repair, the dealer suggested on their own to do a one to one replacement for me. If I top up a little, they will pass me the CDQ with transformer and OLED upgrade.
In the shop I see the MDAC. I have heard it as well compared to the 8200CD. Boy does it sound different!!
I am sure grateful for a new CDQ with the upgrades but how I would have loved to bring home the MDAC instead with all its advancement in sound. Being so far away in Singapore, the CDQ upgrade you have promised in Q3 this year probably won't reach many of us.
I intent to change the cdq to a mdac instead and the difference exchange for a marantz bluray player ud5005. What do you think of the plan?
At the 4th repair, the dealer suggested on their own to do a one to one replacement for me. If I top up a little, they will pass me the CDQ with transformer and OLED upgrade.
In the shop I see the MDAC. I have heard it as well compared to the 8200CD. Boy does it sound different!!
I am sure grateful for a new CDQ with the upgrades but how I would have loved to bring home the MDAC instead with all its advancement in sound. Being so far away in Singapore, the CDQ upgrade you have promised in Q3 this year probably won't reach many of us.
I intent to change the cdq to a mdac instead and the difference exchange for a marantz bluray player ud5005. What do you think of the plan?
sq225917
Bit of this, bit of that
Thanks SQ225917 (hope I got that right!
- John
John, I guess it depends how you do it. Nearly every dac chip in existence these days doesn't do the final D to A conversion at 44.1, some oversample to achieve this, some up-sample, some do both.
upsampling to a much higher frequency works well. synchronous upsampling (to an integer multiple - eg. 4x) works very well (based, if nothing else, on my experiments with upsampling)
The higher your upsampling frequency the closer the upsampling process is to approaching a continuous waveform
IIRC The ess dac uses a very high upsampling frequency which is also an integer multiple of both 44.1k and 48k
The ess dac also lets the designer (John & Dominik) do what they want with dsp (digital signal processing) to get the best out of the raw signal
Yanntoe
pfm Member
I'm sure this has already been answered - but if someone could point me in the right direction or give some direction, I'd be very grateful.
My system has started to "stutter". The MDAC is running on USB from a PC with Foobar and Asio4all installed.
Had to re-instal the Foobar and Asio after upgrading the disk and memory and had trouble doing so (there's a new Asio version of the needed foo out asio dll file which leads to Foobar not working) After several attempts I found and downloaded the old version which seemed to work.
However, all is not well. I've been through all the settings as per the manual and I think I have everything set up right, but I'm not sure that the real tek driver/software isn't clashing somehow. Is there an obvious fix?
Thanks
Ian
My system has started to "stutter". The MDAC is running on USB from a PC with Foobar and Asio4all installed.
Had to re-instal the Foobar and Asio after upgrading the disk and memory and had trouble doing so (there's a new Asio version of the needed foo out asio dll file which leads to Foobar not working) After several attempts I found and downloaded the old version which seemed to work.
However, all is not well. I've been through all the settings as per the manual and I think I have everything set up right, but I'm not sure that the real tek driver/software isn't clashing somehow. Is there an obvious fix?
Thanks
Ian
The ASIO setup has now changed a bit from that described in the MDAC manual. Are you using the latest Foobar (1.1.10)?
You say you are using the newest version of the ASIO output module. Are you aware that the output mapping method has changed a little? Your chosen output device (prefs/output) should be "ASIO : ASIO4ALL v2 - my channel mapping". While on this page, set your buffer length to about 5000mS.
Go to prefs/output/ASIO, double-click on ASIO4ALL v2 - my channel mapping (within custom channel mappings), you need to make Audiolab M-DAC 1 & 2, left & right respectively. While you're there, press configure and the ASIO4ALL control panel will appear - select the advanced option with the spanner icon. Make sure that "Audiolab M-DAC" is highlighted - crank the ASIO buffer size slider all the way up, likewise Kernel Buffers up to 4 (max.). You may remember doing this before - but this is, from ASIO4ALL's point of view, a new device and its default settings are tuned more for low latency than stability. Before closing ASIO4ALL's control panel, check that none of the options are ticked. Close the control panel, OK your way out and enjoy the music!
Hi John,
In the light of the complaints about RCA inputs (yes, only 2, but..), I thought I should respond to your request for a picture of my snapped-off USB pillar. Not the easiest to photograph, but here goes:
As you can see, I hope, it has fractured cleanly at the root. Maybe a once-off.
I will get it back to Steve at Huntingdon early this week.
Except for this problem, the M-DAC is working brilliantly, on CD, SACD, TV digital sound, and computer, at the moment via V-link. What is particularly impressive is the feel for the recording venue.I'm anxious to get it back!
Cheers
Bob
In the light of the complaints about RCA inputs (yes, only 2, but..), I thought I should respond to your request for a picture of my snapped-off USB pillar. Not the easiest to photograph, but here goes:
As you can see, I hope, it has fractured cleanly at the root. Maybe a once-off.
I will get it back to Steve at Huntingdon early this week.
Except for this problem, the M-DAC is working brilliantly, on CD, SACD, TV digital sound, and computer, at the moment via V-link. What is particularly impressive is the feel for the recording venue.I'm anxious to get it back!
Cheers
Bob
Me too, tomorrow i'll try again
JohnW
pfm member
Yes the Asio Buffer size MUST be set to 2048 Samples!!
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