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MDAC First Listen (part 00100100)

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jadidih101 said:
Hi John,
Hopefully a quick question. Would it be possible to have the USB driver for MDAC2 designed/configured so that when a AV encoded stream (e.g. DOLBY DIGITAL, etc) is send to it, it would just pass it as is to MDAC2 and MDAC2 would then just pass it through to the digital output without any processing?
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Yes, this is planned.

jadidih101 said:
Thanks and I hope you are winning the battle with the Lab setup.
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The Air-Conditioning guys where here today installing the internal units, Pipework etc. was already installed last year. External units will be mounted when the weather improves.

Labs really starting to take shape and looks really good :) it will change my life once I can get all my equipment installed once again, I should have really done it before rather then struggle though these past few years...

This is the upstairs listening area with a decent sized external balcony (covered in snow ATM). The listening 'room' will have a sofa bed for anyone who pops over on a flying visit to collect / upgrade / repair there unit:-

How its first started out (I'm no expert builder), but I wanted some hands on building experience before I hire a company to build our place in the mountains in a few years so we have an idea what's involved:-

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86116171/6.JPG

And now :) :-

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86116171/Listening area1.JPG

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86116171/Listening area2.JPG

The SMALL Lab area downstairs with WC and which will have a small 'kitchen' area under the staircase for Tea / Coffee / Microwave + Large sink so I can clean the PCBs etc :)

Early stages:-

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86116171/7.JPG

And now :) :-

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86116171/Lab1.JPG

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86116171/Lab2.JPG

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86116171/Lab3.JPG

Almost there now, I still need to wire up the power sockets, and Data Cables, Lab Reference Clock distribution and install the compressed airlines etc... the Lab benches are currently being installed.

The Analogue board Prototype PCB will be issued within the next couple of weeks so its all coming together nicely as planned - although much slower then promised (but that was to be expected with me)..... :rolleyes:
 
misterdog said:
No shortage of sockets there....
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I'm dreading wiring them all up, it would have been easier before the benches where installed - but I don't have the time ATM, PCB, PCB, PCB!

misterdog said:
Love the oak joists.
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They where the toughest parts of the whole building works, OAK IS REALLY REALLY HEAVY & VERY TOUGH, and I'm neither :p so the Oak would always win any 'Battle'... In the end I resorted to using a Chain Saw :D !!!! "precision" shaping with a Chain saw is more FUN then it should be :D
 
Thank you guys,

I'm rather proud, its nice to see things come together so well, same will be with the MDAC2 / VFETs, they take a little time but will be stunning once completed :)

Just a shame the lab is so small, as double the size would have been the same amount of effort, at little extra cost....
 
Rosewind said:
Really Nice-looking! Will be great when it has been completed!

Cheers, Peter
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Yes, its almost a shame to turn into my Lab (it will end up looking more like a crazy professors dungeon), it would make a great cosy little bar :) (Phil) :p
 
That looks great, John. Many hours of fun in store for you.

Nice to see you have snow too. No sign of it in London yet. However, we've been without central heating here for a week now. As I type this, I'm wrapped in a blanket listening to the Klemperer/NPO 'Der fliegende Holländer'.
 
mattgbell said:
Nice to see you have snow too. No sign of it in London yet.
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Consider yourself lucky, building works in snow is no fun, and Renata has her Uni exams ATM, she left this morning around 6am, plenty of Snow and Ice on the highways at that time in the morning - and still no sign of our 15 year+ old but solid Range Rover being repaired after JUST 3 years so she's forced to use my car, 640HP+ long wheelbase rear wheel drive which makes it totally useless on the snow, don't mention ice - thankful for the electronics behind that 'Little Orange Triangle' that seems lit all the time...

mattgbell said:
However, we've been without central heating here for a week now. As I type this, I'm wrapped in a blanket listening to the Klemperer/NPO 'Der fliegende Holländer'.
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Ooh!!! what you need is one of these:-

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86116171/Heated shoe.JPG

A heated boot - you can picture me if you wish working on the PCB design at 4am in the morning with my feet stuck in this Boot :) It was something like GBP10 from Lidl's they sometimes have decent items - like "American week" when I stock up on Jelly Beans for the whole year!

I tock the liberty to install underfloor heating in the lab :D

Unfortunately, our clever little pups have also discovered "the magic heated home" which they have claimed as their's and at every opportunity hop themselves into it and let me know to switch it on for them!!!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86116171/pups2.JPG

Oh, and MDAC2 PCB on the CAD screen in the background :)
 
Oh I need some of that oak it looks sumptuous very nice John!!
Hopefully shouldn't be too long on the exchange now ..needs to be quick as I,m losing £500 a month :eek: as I just discovered from a statement ....
Still looking into the other idea lots of research needed ...
 
Wonderful lab John, looking forward to test if it works as a bar as well ;).

Oak is beautiful, but the splinters you get from it is a pain... Still remember my swolen hands from when I put down my oak floor.

But what a great looking lab. !!
 
Elviz said:
Iirc some people have had crackling problems when using USB with MDAC. Yesterday I upgraded my trusty PC with new motherboard (msi x99s xpower ac) and cpu (5820k). Everything went quite smoothly apart from one thing. M-dac started to complain about these "buffering problems" (newer quite saw what it says) and there was random crackling and loud pops from both channels and a few times the playback just stopped after a short a scream ("screek").

My OS is windows 8.1 and i did not any such problems with my ivy bridge mobo.

Anyways, after several hours of googling and trying all kinds of "fixes" that did not fix the problem, i think i have a solution: http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-fix-annoying-windows-usb-problem.htm

Apparently the power saving feature on USB can make the streaming through USB lazy and sometimes miss the timing. I hope this helps also some other fighting the same problem. Give it a try.

ps. And btw, i tried streaming to mdac with a USB-spdif interface (Hiface) and the problem manifested itself with constant cracking (no loud pops tho). The USB-spdif just probably uses shorter buffers/frames and it sounds a bit different.

ps2. seems like it didn't help in all the cases, damn it :/. Vlc crackles like hell.
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Hi Elviz,

I'm not surprised to hear this at all. From my experience, you are making two mistakes here:

(1.) You are using Insanely-Way-Too-Over-Engineered Motherboard as an audio source, and (2.) it's manufactured by crap MSI company.

period
 
JohnW said:
I'm dreading wiring them all up, it would have been easier before the benches where installed - but I don't have the time ATM, PCB, PCB, PCB!
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Get a couple of willing Fishes over? If I wasnt so deep in uni work at the moment I would jump at the chance to come over and lend a hand... At the end of the day its in my (our) interest to have you in your lab asap!
 
I've got an MDAC in original as-bought condition.

It's a decent DAC for the money, but TBH, I've never been that impressed with it.

I recently tried a Benchmark DAC2 in my system (thanks Frank ;) ), OK I know it's 3x the price, but there was no comparison.


3 questions :

How would I go about go about having my MDAC modified & what's the cost?

Can my original MDAC be brought up to MDAC2 or is that a complete new model?

Has anyone tried a fully modified MDAC or MDAC2 against a Benchmark DAC2?



ta
 
My reckoning is that the fusion'd modified MDAC (not MDAC2) certainly was aiming at beating the Benchmark not sure about the BM2 , but would be interested to see how they compare. So if anyone has one they want to audition around the west midlands then feel free and pop round.
 
JohnW said:
This is the upstairs listening area with a decent sized external balcony (covered in snow ATM). The listening 'room' will have a sofa bed for anyone who pops over on a flying visit to collect / upgrade / repair there unit:-


And now :) :-

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86116171/Listening area1.JPG

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86116171/Listening area2.JPG
Click to expand...

Hi JohnW,

Looks really great and happy to see things are progressing :)
Pity glass is quite bad for acoustics, if I'm not mistaken.
Do you plan any room treatment?

BR,
Jan
 
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