MDAC first listen (part III)

[tdr1975]

I'm sorry if this question has been asked and discussed - there are so many posts it's impossible to read them all!
I'm buying active monitors, PSI Active 17 Ms, and was hoping to drive those directly with XLRs from the MDAC.
Also, I was wondering whether it is possible to play a sub woofer directly from the MDAC.
Thanks,
Tom

 

[John_73]

What is the point of 24/192 over 24/96?

Tim

I have quite a few albums in these bit rates, and many more are being released on sites like HD Tracks and so forth. I like to future-proof my system to a certain extent...

 

[JemHayward]

The full option version would cost:
M-PAX basic PSU guise with AV bypass £289
+
Internal PSU card for M-DAC £59
+
Analogue input Step attenuation £99
= an all up price of £447.
Sadly the Analogue input Stepped attenuator option (£99) is very costly due to the number of Reed Relays & the high precision resistors used to maintain good Common Mode rejection.
John

John, can I upgrade my M-PAX preorder to the "full monty" version with PSU card and attenuator please.

 

[onlyconnect]

I have quite a few albums in these bit rates, and many more are being released on sites like HD Tracks and so forth. I like to future-proof my system to a certain extent...

I get that, but it seems a bit (!) excessive to me. You could convert to 24/96 and if you can hear the difference under test conditions I for one would be most surprised and interested.

Tim

 

[klipschman70]

The full option version would cost:

M-PAX basic PSU guise with AV bypass £289

+

Internal PSU card for M-DAC £59

+

Analogue input Step attenuation £99

= an all up price of £447.

Sadly the Analogue input Stepped attenuator option (£99) is very costly due to the number of Reed Relays & the high precision resistors used to maintain good Common Mode rejection.

John

Hi John

Currently I am still waiting for my pre-order MDAC from Audiolab's Canadian distributor. And I think somebody else might have asked this question before. When everybody else in this forum talks about PSU upgrade and start pre-order this upgrade, how can we get the same level of upgrade here in Canada?

Thanks
Harry

 

[Plutox]

I have quite a few albums in these bit rates, and many more are being released on sites like HD Tracks and so forth. I like to future-proof my system to a certain extent...

Future-proof or not, right now 192kHz capability is largely an audiophile willy-waving feature without a purpose. The amount of published material is minuscule and likely to remain thus. Even the amount of material at 96kHz barely registers above the noise...

Ironically, one of the highest profile releases at that sampling rate is one of the most pointless - the early Rolling Stones catalogue.

 

[Jo Sharp]

Hi Phil,

The only plans we have for USB is to include a Async 192kHz optically isolated USB interface on the CD transport...

As for the streamer, we plan to offer upgrades to the Squeeze box touch's - which adds a Clock-Lock interface link...

The SBT is limited to 24/96... and not sure about DLNA...

John,

silly idea...how about a power output from the M-PAX for the SBT?

Jo

PS do we neeed another thread in the trade area to manage/confirm M-PAX orders?

 

[Joe Hutch]

PS do we neeed another thread in the trade area to manage/confirm M-PAX orders?

'TA: M-PAX orders' for short.

 

[Basil]

Future-proof or not, right now 192kHz capability is largely an audiophile willy-waving feature without a purpose. The amount of published material is minuscule and likely to remain thus. Even the amount of material at 96kHz barely registers above the noise...

Ironically, one of the highest profile releases at that sampling rate is one of the most pointless - the early Rolling Stones catalogue.

+1

Bravo!

 

[Yanntoe]

John,

silly idea...how about a power output from the M-PAX for the SBT?

Jo

PS do we neeed another thread in the trade area to manage/confirm M-PAX orders?

Yes please!!!!!!

Yanntoe

 

[TimR]

sam_cat
- Display on/Display off after x seconds (dont mind if its a set value or user configurable)
- User nameable inputs
- Disable inputs (IE exclude them when cycling through inputs... I have no use for coax and it would save me 2 extra button presses if I could delete them)
- Custom startup screen
- Any way of getting track name/album/track no or other info from the host when on USB? (I dont care about this, but its something that put one of my friends off buying one) -> John says no
- Built in ADC -> John says no

EIffel
- Discrete IR commands for input selection (and possibly Filter selection and MuteOn/MuteOff to approximate PowerOn/Off commands).
- Dimmable display (and auto feature to adapt to ambient light)
- (Maybe) Option to retain different volume levels by input (This may not be needed until the M-PAX is introduced), while retraining some distinction between headset and speakers (multiplicative logic?)
- (maybe)Volume limiter - to avoid silly levels on headsets, at startup, etc. especially with kids around
- (maybe)Phase switch... ok scratching the surface here
- Support for 172.4kHz sampling rate (which doesn't seem to be included at the moment... I must say I haven't tested 88.2kHz as I don't have a sample track)

ADL
- 24bit/192khz driver for the pc usb connection.
- Input rename
- Different volume for each input (selectable in the settings if having one common volume or different volume for each in)

JamJar
- configurable preset volume level at power up

John/Dom, could you please add another suggestion to this list if it will fit

- Configurable menu timeout setting (something like "long/short/off")

ta very much

By the way, John, if you really are taking pre-orders for the power amps, please add me in. When I heard the 8200MBs last year I wasn't very impressed either: not much different to my 8000X7, I thought, which is the amp I'm looking to improve upon. From your comments it sounds like these could be worth a listen! Did you say they will be Stereo amps or mono ?

 

[John_73]

Future-proof or not, right now 192kHz capability is largely an audiophile willy-waving feature without a purpose.

When I happen to download a 24/192 album, I prefer to play it back at that same resolution. I don't like tinkering about with up/downsampling if it can be at all helped as I feel that can add negatively to the reproduction (unless one has access to a high quality resampler like Izotope or something). Actually I agree that a lot of it is 'willy-waving' as you eloquently call it, and I probably couldn't tell the audible difference between the two. Still it's a feature I'd just feel comfortable having. Each to his/her own eh?

 

[Purité Audio]

Reference Recordings in the US have some lovely native 24/176 recordings.
Keith.

 

[desp_erado]

Anyone recommend any good balanced cables suitable for connecting the two together?

Also, strange question for you, John. But what does the MDAC/MPAX combo do if you only connect the power DIN? Would you just lose the extra outputs, or would you also lose the analogue pass-through?

 

[PhilCTTE]

Anyone recommend any good balanced cables suitable for connecting the two together?

Also, strange question for you, John. But what does the MDAC/MPAX combo do if you only connect the power DIN? Would you just lose the extra outputs, or would you also lose the analogue pass-through?

I use and recommend Mark Grant XLR's , planning to order a set of split XLR's for my AV amp from MPAX.

 

[onlyconnect]

Reference Recordings in the US have some lovely native 24/176 recordings.
Keith.

I am sure they sound lovely, but they would sound the same at 24/96.

Tim

 

[simonom]

I use and recommend Mark Grant XLR's , planning to order a set of split XLR's for my AV amp from MPAX.

Is there any benefit in connecting the MDAC to an unbalanced amp using XLR-to-RCA interconnects?

 

[PhilCTTE]

Is there any benefit in connecting the MDAC to an unbalanced amp using XLR-to-RCA interconnects?

Not sure what you are getting at?

I was assuming the MPAX accepted the XLR outputs from MDAC and additional XLR connections from AV pre-amp. The MPAX then output via XLR to power amp

Have I missed the fact that the MPAX is RCA only ?

If so I'll be busy selling 7 lots of XLR's

 

[simonom]

Not sure what you are getting at?

I was assuming the MPAX accepted the XLR outputs from MDAC and additional XLR connections from AV pre-amp. The MPAX then output via XLR to power amp

Have I missed the fact that the MPAX is RCA only ?

If so I'll be busy selling 7 lots of XLR's

Sorry for the ambiguity of my post, your query prompted me to think about MDAC (only) to amp interconnections in general, not your intended, more elaborate set-up in specific.

 

[PhilCTTE]

Sorry for the ambiguity of my post, your query prompted me to think about MDAC (only) to amp interconnections in general, not your intended, more elaborate set-up in specific.

Ah ok. XLR from MDAC into RCA to your amp, in that case its not a method I've heard of. An XLR cable with RCA termination , just my guess but its a no.