MDAC First Listen (part 00110111)
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kennyh
pfm Member
Hi Peter, the Allo 2.1 piano I have sits on an RPI, or the Kali if you buy one which fits between the two and takes the 5v feed.
The ethernet port is on the RPI.
stephengrenfell
pfm Member
The interesting thing in your setup is the re-clocking provided by the Kali. The Kali can only work with a DAC in I2S slave mode (meaning the Kalis clock controls the data flow to the DAC) and to really benefit the DACs master clock must also be synchronised from / provided by the Kali. Likely the RPI also runs using a external clock from the Kali too (this needs some register changes in the RPI software).
In MDAC2 the master clock is provided by the DAC, and the RPI CM3 board is modified for optimal audio clocking. I2S isnt used as it cant reliably go beyond 192KHz and as mentioned only supports PCM.
kennyh
pfm Member
Thanks Stephen once more.
Here's another point then. Tidal for instance claims to be CD quality. Tidals ideal bit rate for streaming is 16/44.1, it sounds great.
What formats need higher than that and do they sound better.........can you stream Tidal in 4 times the resolution it's supposed to be?
Cheers
Here's another point then. Tidal for instance claims to be CD quality. Tidals ideal bit rate for streaming is 16/44.1, it sounds great.
What formats need higher than that and do they sound better.........can you stream Tidal in 4 times the resolution it's supposed to be?
Cheers
stephengrenfell
pfm Member
CD format is 16/44.1 and not compressed. So anything that is provided at 16/44.1 can say it is CD quality.
However, Tidal (for example) uses FLAC (and not native format). FLAC uses lossless compression and can reduce the file size / bandwidth need by up to half. But bear in mind that the renderer (PC / RPI / streamer box) has re-create the audio signal in real time and this can have an effect on sound quality. .
I recently went to a demo evening at small-scale high-end manufacturer near to where I live. One of the things we heard was some tracks in FLAC from Tidal compared to CD, and there was a difference. Albeit on a system that costs the price of a 1 bedroom flat When I get my CDQ back from repair I am going to try this at home.
There are many higher bit/sample rates than 16/44.1. Whether they sound better depends on several things.
IMHO this means;
- how good is the replay system and its acoustic environment
- the quality of the original master and how well the sound team did their job
- whether (or not) the source was created from remastering or upsampling
- what format was the original master recorded in
Hi-Res is generally considered to be 24/96 or higher. But this is PCM.
DSD is generally considered a better format (SACD is DSD), but maybe only if was mastered in DSD - converting to DSD from PCM is another matter.
New on the block is MQA which AFAIK is focussed at improving streaming SQ whilst keeping lower bandwidth needs.
How long is a piece of string
Whether or not higher than 16/44.1 works for you and your system. Only way to find out is try, but dont assume all tracks will always sound better this wasnt my experience.
You can only stream at the rate it is sent at (if that answers your question).
Hope it helps.
what a joke, the main selling point for the mdac2 is support for high sampling rates(such as 768kS/s).
Streaming music does not make sense to me, tidal is very limited, i have everything stored at SSD drives. For the cost of 250$ you can get a cheap used laptop that does a much better job streaming and playing music.
Are johnW still bagholding £ ? (i recommended selling for euro earlier before the uk election, sorry i did not recommend it clearly).
stephengrenfell
pfm Member
The main selling point for MDAC2 is its superior sound quality whatever the bit rate / sample depth / format is.
Well maybe that depends on the size of your music library. I have around 900 CDs (that Ive accumulated over the past 30ish years) stored on a NAS but still discover things on Tidal and Qobuz.
kennyh
pfm Member
Hi Stephen again and thanks for the info. on streaming rates etc, I guess when we get away from CD quality 16/44.1 I'm out of my depth a little there.
Interesting you say the main thing about the new MDAC will be its SQ which I too agree has to be the main thing, I've no doubt it will be good, as the MDAC was but how do you know just how good it will be?
For instance both RPI mounted IQUADIO and Allo offerings have performed well in tests we've done here over the winter months with other PFM'rs, both totally outclassing the MDAC in all departments, with true blind testing too.
To be better than the MDAC it must also be able to completely outclass these cheaky cheapies, which I think will be a blind test bit of fun to see.
I can't try all dacs against these little fella's but so far we've done MDAC, VDAC,MYDAC,Benchmark2, Cambridge, and a few chinese ones, The RPI dacs were humbled by none.
It should be very interesting to hear first reviews on this.
Cheers
Interesting you say the main thing about the new MDAC will be its SQ which I too agree has to be the main thing, I've no doubt it will be good, as the MDAC was but how do you know just how good it will be?
For instance both RPI mounted IQUADIO and Allo offerings have performed well in tests we've done here over the winter months with other PFM'rs, both totally outclassing the MDAC in all departments, with true blind testing too.
To be better than the MDAC it must also be able to completely outclass these cheaky cheapies, which I think will be a blind test bit of fun to see.
I can't try all dacs against these little fella's but so far we've done MDAC, VDAC,MYDAC,Benchmark2, Cambridge, and a few chinese ones, The RPI dacs were humbled by none.
It should be very interesting to hear first reviews on this.
Cheers
Richard Kimber
pfm Member
I'm now somewhat confused about the technical specs of the Detox. Galvanic isolation may not be the most important feature, but my understanding of discussions here over time is that it is worth having. Yet, am I right that it only offers such isolation up to 24/192?
Nowadays I don't usually play at rates less than DSD 128, or sometimes PCM 352 or 384. Is there no isolation at these rates?
The new ISO Regen seems to offer full isolation at all rates, but I may have misunderstood all this.
Nowadays I don't usually play at rates less than DSD 128, or sometimes PCM 352 or 384. Is there no isolation at these rates?
The new ISO Regen seems to offer full isolation at all rates, but I may have misunderstood all this.
The MDAC2 does not exist. It is not available for sale. It cannot have a main selling point.
stephengrenfell
pfm Member
Well if you want to split hairs.
The main attraction of the MDAC2 is its superior sound quality whatever the bit rate / sample depth / format.
stephengrenfell
pfm Member
John ability as a designer is what tells me that it will be good.
In what configuration(s) were these test done - meaning what source(s), interconnects, pre-amp, power amp, cables, speakers were used ?.
Oh really? Have you heard one?
kennyh
pfm Member
Various configs at various guys houses with a wide range of equipment.
For ease in my house I set a Naim system up, all freshly serviced with Avondale bits too.
Comprised of 72/tpr4hicap/Nap250 through both SBL's and Edens.
We had CDi/IQaudio/Allo/and MDAC/a another all connected to preamp for ease of switching, and all synced and hopefully level matched in LMS.
As an aside I'd not played a CD in years but that old CDI sounded bloody good too.
Maybe not earth shattering kit but good enough to pick out the rough from the smooth Stephen.
stephengrenfell
pfm Member
Is there a write up ?
kennyh
pfm Member
Me? Write up? Making notes? organised? hahaha, I'll show the Mrs that one Stephen
Nope, just myself and a few local guys including a couple from here who wanted to see just how good a £35 dac can be.....it all led on from there.
I got fired up by them when I'd seen many posts on here from chaps with some serious high end kit giving these things very good reviews. So far all true.
Saying that though, if you are serious I'll gladly set it up again with all the same Dacs if I can, and do a write up if Jim helps me
Nope, just myself and a few local guys including a couple from here who wanted to see just how good a £35 dac can be.....it all led on from there.I got fired up by them when I'd seen many posts on here from chaps with some serious high end kit giving these things very good reviews. So far all true.
Saying that though, if you are serious I'll gladly set it up again with all the same Dacs if I can, and do a write up if Jim helps me
stephengrenfell
pfm Member
Me? Write up? Making notes? organised? hahaha, I'll show the Mrs that one Stephen
I got fired up by them when I'd seen many posts on here from chaps with some serious high end kit giving these things very good reviews. So far all true.
Saying that though, if you are serious I'll gladly set it up again with all the same Dacs if I can, and do a write up if Jim helps me
OK but seriously though. When you connected the MDAC, VDAC,MYDAC,Benchmark2, Cambridge DACs what was the source ?. Did you use USB from the RPI or something else ?
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