M2-Tech Young Dac.

[Space is the Place]

Ive noticed this 'lonely' thread in the trade room, SQ has done a review of it etc, but its not getting 'much love' down there, so ive brought it into the main room so its not so lonely
Seems like Keith and SQ are very taken with it, anyone the else got the Young Dac and care to share your impressions?

 

[Dan.Scott1234]

I'm sure it sounds great, shame it doesn't include a digital pre-amp or I'd be tempted to give one a try myself.

 

[muzzer]

I am sure Keith will lend you one.

 

[Space is the Place]

As Dan says above Muzzer, id like a Dac with a volume control and an ability to drive a poweramp (or in my case active crossover) otherwise i would give one a go, partly as i feel im still lagging behind Bourney (who i owe some teabags, lol).

 

[YNWOAN]

I've heard it and it does seem very good - I've not compared it to much else though. Of course, some would have you believe that all CD players and DAC's sound the same. In fact, we've had the 'all amplifiers sound the same', now we have 'all CD sounds the same' - I await 'informed' reports that measurements show 'all speakers sound the same' .

 

[oceanobsession]

Does keith think it better than the weiss. how much is it still £695

 

[Cereal Killer]

Also at this price point I'd expect a proper power supply, not a wall wart jobbie.

 

[sq225917]

I like it very much, there's a couple of firmware wrinkles in the first batch only one of which affects how I replay music and Marco and keith are on the ball swapping them out. It's certainly the best digital replay I've spent any real time with.

I'd like an all in one dac/volume pre, but sadly vinyl is too big a part of my life for that to happen. And as long as they keep pressing new AAA records like the latest 2" analogue tape recorded mixed and mastered Ben Folds album I see no reason for that ?A/D stage just quite yet.

Spacey don't misunderstand, it's very good with the wall wart, certainly up there with the Benchmarks of this world, which have no better a power supply internally, with the battery supply though it's just a whole lot better.

I think I remember Keith saying that he found it hard to tell the Young and Weiss apart, certainly that viewpoint was proffered by a Weiss owner on ComputerAudiophile who stated the differences were very subtle indeed.

 

[Cereal Killer]

I'm not doubting its performance Si, to me, at its price point, it should be an all in one package. But that's just me being a bit OCDish about cables and mess.

 

[Space is the Place]

I think other Dacs that have more features are on the horizon, even a power Dac!

 

[sq225917]

Spacey yeh the wall wart is a 'variable' that's for sure but I don't think it needs anything more complicated than a pack or batteries or a simple hacker/teddy supply to give exceptional results.

 

[muzzer]

Muzz
What was up with the EE dac then?

 

[Alan Brown]

I'm loving the YOUNG, in spite of it's issues. I've been told by Keith that Marco will be sending replacements soon to those of us who got the very first DACs with problems. It's all in the firmware apparently.

Quite apart from looking pretty damn cool , the M2Tech is soo good with textures and dynamics - in fact everything I have had to measure it against just won't really give an adequate benchmark. It really is the finest front end I have ever had in all areas.

So far from a helpful user review, you've just got a fan-boy here I'm afraid! I have used two Thetas (a Progeny & Basic III), a DACmagic and a Caiman (after I sold the last Theta to tide me over - until the Westlake DAC came along!!) this year.

There are at least five YOUNG users at the last count sharing experiences on AudioChews.com.

 

[Space is the Place]

Muzz
What was up with the EE dac then?

Nothing really, it was very good, but i would ideally like balanced out and an inbuilt preamp if possible. Just thought id get one to try to see what all the fuss was about.

I can't get onto that site Alan without signing up?
The general consensus that's emerging from those who have one seems to be the 'Young' is about as good as it gets!

 

[Alan Brown]

Hi Muz,

yeah, that's a bit of a bug with the site that only came to light last week (the site is very new), and our admin-man is hospital today. We hope it will be sorted out soon though, didn't mean to scare you off!

The Young seems to be building up a following, despite these early production model bugs. I have already likened it to to a typical Italian ownership experience...in the best sense of the expression! I for one am really pleased, and will be more so once it is all sorted out. I am quite prepared to persevere until it is.

 

[Alan Brown]

Hi Muz,

yeah, that's a bit of a bug with the site that only came to light last week (the site is very new), and our admin-man is hospital today. We hope it will be sorted out soon though, didn't mean to scare you off!

That's fixed now, BTW! You can view without joining.

 

[avole]

I love these advertising threads!

Isn't the Audiolab DAC meant to be the latest greatest thing on the market? Or was it the Rega?

Now you're saying its this young thing - I'm beginning to get confused.

 

[Space is the Place]

That's fixed now, BTW! You can view without joining.

Thanks Alan I'll have a look. (EDIT: just had a quick look at the forum and noticed in the 'what type of music are you listening to now' box at the side of the page, that majority of people are listening to Jazz! Good start )

 

[Alan Brown]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm......Nice!

 

[sq225917]

Avole, The Young is only a DAC, and offers higher sampling rate capability than the Audiolab stuff, (it also sounds better, imho, and doesn't hiss through sensitive speakers).

I'd be interested to hear it against johns dac only product when it arrives.

Alan, the battery pack and charger are all packed up and ready to post tomorrow. I'll try and get ti there Saturday AM for you.