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MDAC First Listen (part 00110100)

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Crikey John, that's blooming chilly!

The stack looks great, nice to see photos of the real deal there. It's compelling stuff!

I have a question about how hot these things will get, how much ventilation they'll need and whether they'll work as well for someone in a hot country as well as someone in your situation right now. I ask because I tuck all my gear away, and although the rear of my case is open there is no 'airflow' so it's only the heat generated by equipment that moves the air.

My previous amp would never have survived in this setup during the summer and the MDAC does get warm to touch. Will you be able to test and advise in this regard?
 
I have a question about how hot these things will get, how much ventilation they'll need and whether they'll work as well for someone in a hot country as well as someone in your situation right now. I ask because I tuck all my gear away, and although the rear of my case is open there is no 'airflow' so it's only the heat generated by equipment that moves the air.

The MDAC2 PSU will not get too hot in use as there is significant heatsinking area (being built into the "Amp" chassis).

The MDAC top surface only gets to around 35DegC with High input voltage (15.6V) - so dont worry about its surface temp. which can be deceiving - below is thermal imagining of the MDAC top surface..

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86116171/MDAC Thermal 15.6V.jpg

Earlier today I was saying to Jarek that we might provide taller stick on Rubber feet when stacking the MDAC above the VR MiniAmps - to be honest I'm not worried - I can provide thermal imaging of the "stack" once they are built.

The MDAC2 and VRMiniAmps use MOSFET output stages - and these like to run hotter :)

The MiniAMps will have thermal Cut-out if things get too toasty at party levels.... if the music dies you can resort to the link below to keep the party going:-

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38526187

:)

Last evening I had an early night and went to bed at 3.30am its was -21DegC!!! as we had an outside photo-shoot this morning with the election candidates, what a great day to be taking pictures - Cameras dont like working in such cold + everyone is buried under layers of clothing....
 
It does look really good in black!
Must admit that the Audiolab MDAC case blends in better than I expected.

Love the idea of having the HQ PSU in a separate box and not forgetting the matching mono blocks later on.

Yes, looking forward to the Amps once the MDAC2 / Detox are cleared out of the way... not forgetting the FDAC / VFET!!!

Like the VFET design, the VR PSU / MiniAmps look so much better from the side!
 
MQA licensing requires you to summit full schematics to Meridian, have no Digital output (no Slave interfaces etc) no Post processing (DSP / FPGA).

IMO I see MQA as just being a cynical attempt at DRM to aplease record company's with the aura of "improved audio quality" to sell to the gullible...

For sure better Digital filters is a good thing but why wrap it up with the DRM!

DSD for me with non of this rubbish!


I think you missed this.
 
.... as we had an outside photo-shoot this morning with the election candidates, what a great day to be taking pictures -

I take it this means Renata has taken the plunge into politics?
Good luck with that - if she wins, you'll have to try and meet up at weekends :D
 
I take it this means Renata has taken the plunge into politics?
Good luck with that - if she wins, you'll have to try and meet up at weekends :D

Weekends? - wow is there such a thing?

Well its not something she's wishes to do, but under the current circumstances she feels its her duty...
 
Will the DAC incorporate MQA?

No current plans - for the reasons linked above, but if Meridian changes its tune then I understand it can be implemented with the XMOS device used in MDAC2/ FDAC via a software update.

I hope to meet the guys from MQA at Munich - as I dont understand how it can be incorporated within Tidal software Media player (if true)...
 
I was referring to a previous answer stating that optical out, DSP etc may have to be dropped to comply with MQA licensing requirements. I am not sure what products this could affect.

My understanding of MQA (MQA seems in a constant change of flex - I can only guess as a result of the negative opinion of some manufacturers refusing the stringent and invasive licensing conditions):-

1. Meridian will not allow the audio Data to be manipulated in anyway - which for the average company can be a good thing - but severely restricts what we have planned with FDAC and its FPGA's. In fact we would not be allowed to issue a software update without submitting and approval from Meridian (and associated extra cost).

2. No Room correction, EQ or the such (if you believe in such things)

3. No External connection to the "decoded" digital output Data = no FDAC / MDAC2 Master / Slave interface or transmitted (once decoded) via the SDPIF interface etc.

Its my personal belief that the reason Meridian does not want this data available is that MQA is being sold to record company's concerned about releasing "High resolution content" to the public and MQA is packaged with DRM - once this data is decoded then there is no way to enforce DRM.

4. It goes against every bone in my body to enforce what I believe is DRM onto "my" customers - it sickens me that Meridian dangles a juicy carrot in front of customers eyes of better sound quality, but then rams DRM up there backsides... it is my claim that Meridian interest is not in better sound quality - but generating income via licensing / royalty fees.

The basis of MQA does not need the DRM aspects - its only there for Meridians and the records company's best interests.

5. I will not summit full schematics of my design that I have labour for over 5 years on to a "competitor" - MDAC2 and FDAC feature very unique circuits. I can understand this not being a concern for company whose designs are basically a collection of op-amps and manufacturers applications notes - but FDAC / MDAC2 is far more then this.

I could go on but I'm working on the MDAC2 design - I'm having an internal "race" with Jarek who is also working on a design :)
 
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