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MDAC first listen (part XI)

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Ian M said:
Can someone put me straight here please. I have read and reread these MDAC threads and am totally confused about the firmware versions.
I have a new MDAC on order. What version does it come with and will I need to update it.
As I understand it John who provides the firware updates does not work for the company? There seem to be two different providers of the firmware? Was it Lakewest? What are the differences and where is this documented? I've seen dropbox links for Johns but where is the other type?
I've never known a topic to be as frustrating as this one!

Thanks for any help.

Ian
Click to expand...

I believe it comes with version 0.9.

John (and his colleague Dominik) worked as a consultant for Audiolab and designed the M-DAC. He no longer does. John is now working on his own branded products under the name Lakewest which will work with the M-DAC (improved PSU, amp, tuner). These will possibly appear on the market starting from around Christmas for the amp (MAMP) to Easter for the PSU (MPAX) which also has an AV pass-through and other bits and pieces that will be defined mor fully as time progresses.

There is some debate as to whether the newer versions of the firmware offer better SQ or not but they also contain certain bug fixes. These are all produced by John And Dominik for free. They will be doing more work on these later once they have a suitably high-fidelity set up to fine tune things.

You can get all the firmware versions here: wikkii.org/wiki/M-DAC.

John is also providing private updates to the M-DAC electronics for free for those who ask nicely enough - save for shipping and the cost of a couple of op-amps which is under £10.
 
the_ether said:
I believe it comes with version 0.9.

John (and his colleague Dominik) worked as a consultant for Audiolab and designed the M-DAC. He no longer does. John is now working on his own branded products under the name Lakewest which will work with the M-DAC (improved PSU, amp, tuner). These will possibly appear on the market starting from around Christmas for the amp (MAMP) to Easter for the PSU (MPAX) which also has an AV pass-through and other bits and pieces that will be defined mor fully as time progresses.

There is some debate as to whether the newer versions of the firmware offer better SQ or not but they also contain certain bug fixes. These are all produced by John And Dominik for free. They will be doing more work on these later once they have a suitably high-fidelity set up to fine tune things.

You can get all the firmware versions here: wikkii.org/wiki/M-DAC.

John is also providing private updates to the M-DAC electronics for free for those who ask nicely enough - save for shipping and the cost of a couple of op-amps which is under £10.
Click to expand...

Thanks, that helps a lot. Will the later updates enventually be officially supplied with new MDACs or will they just remain optional, ie does Audiolab think 0.9 is good enough? Why is there no support for this on the Audiolab site?
 
Ian M said:
Thanks, that helps a lot. Will the later updates enventually be officially supplied with new MDACs or will they just remain optional, ie does Audiolab think 0.9 is good enough? Why is there no support for this on the Audiolab site?
Click to expand...
Probably because Audiolab haven't paid for the development of any further updates

And hence the reason why they seem to be trying to hack the updater
 
Hi John,

would it be possible to take a photo of my MDAC mainboard before and after the upgrade?

Michael
 
while we are on the subject of firmware...

any wise person know the answers to:

1. installed the lastest off the wiki vA.08, hoping to control discrete IR control of inputs, OPT1 seems to be incorrectly assigned to OPT2, I think Dominik had realised this, but I am not sure if a patch/newer version is available...trying to make this family friendly...via logitech harmony remote

2. also for similar reason would like to re-label the inputs on the screen...I know there was a lot of discussion on here about this, but can't see if this is implemented in the available firmware, anyone know?

Thanks
 
HumbleBy(DK) said:
If possible and not too much hassle, mine too please :)
If you have a moment after you've received my unit, would you kindly confirm receipt in a PM to me?

Many thanks in advance, John.

Best regards

Jannik
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Yes, no problem, so far only Fusions units arrived,

John
 
Surely the internals will be the same, so one set of pictures would suffice?

Haven't shipped mine yet, Royal Mail proved very expensive and all the other shipping companies I have spoken to are miles away / want to collect when I am at work (and work wont let me get them to collect from here).. :(

Sam
 
sam_cat said:
Surely the internals will be the same, so one set of pictures would suffice?

Sam
Click to expand...

You're absolutely correct.
If Fusion accepts, the pictures could be posted here perhaps after he received them from John?
This would save John of the trouble sendin pictures to multiple addresses.

/Jannik
 
JohnW said:
Fusion forwarded this to me... Some close-up internal pictures...

I have no idea who this company is...

http://translate.google.de/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=http://www.hoer-wege.de/audiolab_mdac.htm

Interesting...

John
Click to expand...

Hoerwege is a german Hifi Dealer. Besides selling retail equipment they also offer upgrade kits for selective products and few self-made devices.

They offer a upgrade kit for the MDAC which contains over 50 replacement parts. From what I understand the MDAC kit consists mainly of higher grade capacitors.

On other devides upgrade kits they also replaced opamps and even stripped parts out.

Don't know if it's voodoo or not. Maybe I should order one of their demo units some day to compare it to my MDAC... just out of curiosity...

I don't think they can do a better job than John!
 
HumbleBy(DK) said:
If Fusion accepts, the pictures could be posted here perhaps after he received them from John?
Click to expand...

Sure! The reason I asked John to take the photos is that I don't want to open my MDAC again when he is done. And maybe the updates are even visible :)
 
I think John has answered this before, i believe it is hard/not possible to manage the import aspects outside of europe. Just want to save John on all the questions here!
 
Any issues leaving the MDAC running non stop for 2 weeks? I like to burn in the unit and the cables as well.

It does run much hotter than my Naim gear.
 
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