Been away from the M-DAC 2 upgrade for 10 months.
Is it still available? Is it ready? Sorry for been to lazy to wade through the months of discussions. I still want to get the upgrade.
Thanks in advance.
The MDAC HAS no DSP, the Digital filters are internal to the ESS Saber.
I cannot believe ANYONE can hear a level difference of 0.2dB!! 1dB is recognised as the lowest level difference perceivable by humans...
Its Optimal Transient filters that I believe are the most popular (Not Optimal Spectrum) - these have a "Perfect" time Domain performance.
SE interconnection is simply suboptimal - it should have no place within a HiFi system.
A balanced input can be wired to give a semi-balanced performance from a SE source:-
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86116171/PseudoDiffCable.jpg
Is it ok to simply use an RCA cable and wire the XLR plug as follows:-
Connect central cable (signal) to pin 2
Connect braid to pins 1 and 3.
Reason I ask is that I have a few spare RCA to RCA cables and I could just cut one of the plugs off and solder on an XLR plug
Welcome back to the land of the living! When you get involved with a development project with a high-flying designer who wants to create the best, it's not a good idea to leave it alone even for a week; as you might have noticed, there have been many new threads generated under this heading.
Here is an extract from something in the previous thread which attempts to summarise a very small part of what you missed:
" 2) The designer, John Westlake, set up on his own, initially to redesign the main board, and the project "M-DAC2" was to be a plug-in replacement to fit the old casework, crowd-funded by many of the contributors to this everlasting thread. See the M-DAC Wiki for details.
3) This has been overtaken by events; M-DAC2 is no more; instead the project has become FDAC, a full-width case housing what we hope will be a DAC to take on anything out there.
4) Not surprisingly John is busy, so the web site referenced by the wiki is out of date. Until he has time to work on this, if you want to know more there isn't much alternative to ploughing through this and one or two previous parts of the thread. Several earlier posts have done partial summaries. "
If you paid the earlier development contributions to M-DAC2 then you are on John's list for the FDAC; there are of course production costs to follow. If not, and you want it, contact John urgently; he is getting close to finalising casework orders. Your old MDAC is not upgradeable, except for the power supply possibilities mentioned above. It will be for whatever you want; they have a good second-hand market.
Later today I'll post an updated FDAC feature + option list.
The Wiring Diagram was just for the Balanced ADC inputs - NOT for Balanced outputs as shorting pin 1 to 3 results in the Negative Phase output stage being shorted to Ground.
Hi SirBenn21,
Tomorrow I have a meeting arrange with a web designer - as we now approach production we need to get more serious with the Website. Later today I'll post an updated FDAC feature + option list.
IIRC your a MDAC Toy / Fusion owner so you have the GBP300 credit towards the FDAC project The FDAC no longer uses any parts from your MDAC - the FDAC is supplied with its own Chassis, Remote control and PSU.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86116171/Fussion bip.456.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86116171/Fussion bip.455.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86116171/Fussion bip.458.jpg
Rune, you want to bi amp VFETs!! That's enough juice to resurrect the dead. What on earth are you wanting to drive?
Hey JohnW
I would have sent you on your private message, but it is full
I want in on the FDAC. I have made no payments. Is it still £400 as for the M-DAC 2. What would be the estimated end cost?
Thanks
Ben
The lead I was talking about was for connecting my tuner which has phono (RCA) outputs to the FDAC L3 analogue inputs.
So is my idea ok for that lead.
Incidentally will the output from the FDAC for connection to a power amplifier be a similar voltage to the 8200CDQ.
Ben, Renata's not here for me to confirm ATM - but if you have a Toy / Fusioned MDAC then you only need to pay the "Toy/Fusion owners L2 development instalment" of GBP100 to join the FDAC project (As a Toy / Fusion owner you have a GBP300 credit).
I'm about to add the FDAC L3 & L3 MC/MM Phono development instalment payment option as we are progressing well with the design of the ADC + Phono stage.
Yes please, am also interested. Doesn't have to be fancy but would be good to summarize all the features and specs.....
Okay, I'm a little confused: I was under the impression that the sharp rollof and slow rolloff filters were native to the SABRE DAC (and indeed these are the only options available on most SABRE-based gear), whereas the other five filters were designed and added by your good self, and unique to the Audiolab gear you designed (plus the QDAC).
It took me quite a while to realise I was hearing a fractional volume difference between the filters - I initially thought the five extra filters were just more dynamic and fuller sounding, and I think this is the conclusion most people will draw. Considering the other minuscule things audiophiles hear, surely 0.2dB should be a piece of cake?
I strongly suspect most people use Optimal Transient because it is the default and recommended filter, and most people won't hear much difference between them anyway. It took a lot of extended listening for me to nail their character.
The most interesting thing for me was that sharp rolloff and slow rolloff sound much more like each other in the bass and midrange than the other five - and vice versa. This is especially surprising in the case of the two brickwall filters, sharp rolloff and optimal spectrum, which I was expecting to sound largely identical. Instead, sharp roll-off sounds much more like it's fellow built-in filter (slow rolloff), and optimal spectrum like the other four.