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MDAC first listen (part IV)

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There's to be a CDQ upgrade with added ADC and new dac sometime toward the end of the year if I remember rightly; or early next.
 
There's to be a CDQ upgrade with added ADC and new dac sometime toward the end of the year if I remember rightly; or early next.

CDQ are now supposed to be shipping with new and better transformer, but still it wont match the MDAC in music reproduction ? Are there any official confirmations that the CDQ will be upgraded even further and why?
 
CDQ are now supposed to be shipping with new and better transformer, but still it wont match the MDAC in music reproduction ? Are there any official confirmations that the CDQ will be upgraded even further and why?
Very difficult... JohnW is no more in Audiolab....
 
Any plans to integrate LiFePO4 cells into the M-PAX so as to allow it to perform as a rechargeable, battery powered solution? That would be the ticket for me...
 
Hi Chris,

D3E operates on many levels, both in the Digital and Analogue domain.

During the conversion process the audio data being processed directly modulates the DAC's internal PSU rails at die level (and thus the internal clock distribution = Jitter).

D3E attempt's to Decorrelate first and second order effects of this substrate level modulation process - Its important to state that to preserve fidelity no Audio data is modified.

John

Hmmm,

So you're trying to counteract the data correlated jitter, by smartly distributing bits beyond the normal data bits up to the 32nd bit.
And maybe counteract rail modulation by minute feed forward adjustments to Vcc thru some fast circuit (DA driven shunt) ?

Anyway, sounds like very interesting stuff John.
 
I see... Buying the CDQ doesn't seem that appealing to me anymore. Not at the moment at least...

Why? John is doing the upgrades independently which I'm guessing will be cheaper than audiolab pursing it after they add on their dealer margin and other costs associated to a larger organisation.
 
Why? John is doing the upgrades independently which I'm guessing will be cheaper than audiolab pursing it after they add on their dealer margin and other costs associated to a larger organisation.
Really? How does this work out? Mind you, I don't live in England.
 
Really? How does this work out? Mind you, I don't live in England.

If you read back a few pages you will see. John is releasing a few things under his own name/brand "Westlake"...

New power supply for the M-Dac.. Some M-Amps... A full CDQ update copied from what John wrote earlier....

Our pending "upgrade" for 8200CD / CDQ owners is really a COMPLETE new product accept some chassis parts / packaging etc.

There are some advantages to upgrading a unit, rather then a completely new unit.

1. Import duty is much lower for "CD Parts" then for a completed product.

2. Metal work is an issue for us!

3. Shipping is cheaper from China

4. "Rebuilding" in Europe creates jobs in Europe - with European Quality Control.

5. I guess better for the environment (not trying to pull the "Hotel" environmentally friendly save washing your towels claim here).

6. Cheaper for the owner then buying a new unit

8200CD upgrade:

1. Front panel changed to incorporating a slot loader, larger OLED display, proper Volume control knob and a headphone jack!

2. CD Mechanism replaced with a HQ metal chasse slot loader with memory buffer to improve disk readability

3. USB 384KHz / 32 Bit support

4. Dual Mono DAC’s with onboard FPGA digital filtering etc

5. CROSS output stage

6. Bit perfect test, Source Jitter analyser, D3E, level meters, user upgrade etc.

8200CDQ as 8200CD but:

HQ Dual Mono reference grade ADC’s with 384kHz 32 Bit data path and DSD / DXD support via USB.

These will be based upon our new digital / analogue platform and the units will need to be sent to the Czech Rep. for rebuild.

John
 
ADL - it's the same, the ZP90. I have been onto Sonos tech support as my first suspicion was the source, but they can see no issue from the diagnostics. I have tested plugging the ZP90 straight into my amp, via analogue out and by-passing any off board DAC, as well as going via Yamaha AV amp with a digitical coax. The dropouts do not occur with either of these alternatives, leading me back to the MDAC

I am not seeing an issue either with the ZP90. I am using co-ax with a 1m QED cable - not tried optical.
 
So long as you continue rolling hardware upgrades for the M-DAC in the future to keep up with its bretheren...

Any plans to integrate LiFePO4 cells into the M-PAX so as to allow it to perform as a rechargeable, battery powered solution? That would be the ticket for me...
 
If you read back a few pages you will see. John is releasing a few things under his own name/brand "Westlake"...

New power supply for the M-Dac.. Some M-Amps... A full CDQ update copied from what John wrote earlier....

Very interesting, thank you!
 
FAO: JohnW

Hey John, I sent you an email a week or so back - did you get a chance to read it? Keen to find out when I can get the CDQ updated (to OLED etc.) as agreed previously.

Ta.
 
FAO: JohnW

Hey John, I sent you an email a week or so back - did you get a chance to read it? Keen to find out when I can get the CDQ updated (to OLED etc.) as agreed previously.

Ta.

HI JTC,

I did Email you - check your spam folder... I have a Yahoo account and I often end up in people's spam folder, maybe because I send Emails from China and Czech Rep. not the most trust worthy places...

John
 
So long as you continue rolling hardware upgrades for the M-DAC in the future to keep up with its bretheren...

Hi Adam,

I'll start to play with my MDAC and see if I can squeeze some extra performance out of it - I have a few ideas...

I'll post Pics' of the "Mods" once I have them, understand theses are not sanctioned by Audiolab so puff goes your warranty if you try them...

John
 
hehe, let's hope it doesn't beat the MDAC!

Well I'd not bet on it... but there's only so much I can do for GBP200 - but it just might...

Dual Diff DAC's, CROSS analogue stages, M-PAX type Feedforward PSU... its going to be fun :)

The DAC will be sold through convectional sales channels so typical 1:5 to 1:6 margins apply (component cost x5 to x6 = retail cost) !!! Ouch...

A GBP200 retail = GBP33 component cost (including packing etc)... This is why we are forced to manufacturer in China - the whole market has been driven down...

1:5 to 1:6 is not that bad, "Hi End" HiFi is 1:10 to 1:20... now that's pure wrong!

Now you can understand why I'm so keen to direct sell... only by direct selling can you improve the Value for money margins...

John
 
Hi Adam,

I'll start to play with my MDAC and see if I can squeeze some extra performance output of it - I have a few ideas...

I'll post Pics' of the "Mods" once I have them, understand theses are not sanctioned by Audiolab so puff goes your warranty if you try them...

John
This is why Lakewest is now my go-to brand :) .
 
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