advertisement


MDAC First Listen (part 00111011)

Status
Not open for further replies.
Tony L said:
I thought this was a 300 quid DAC board or something, maybe another £100 on top for a nice metal case. I had absolutely no idea some folk were out £3k or so.
Click to expand...
They are only development payments, to get a product you still need cover actual parts and production costs. Not refundable. And that make some people angry as there is no easy way out, except when somebody will want to take over of their investment. For that we need actual product. I would like to help if I could somehow.

It is been long time, maybe it is worth to do some bookkeeping check, to see if there is same numbers on both sides. Also worth to check if there is correct contact address for everybody.

I myself in for FDAC L3 (with ADC) + Phono board, that is 600
Detox, this I am ready to transfer towards FDAC - 50
VFET monoblock amps - 2300. Do not know how that splits because it includes Audiolab monoblock amps as donor units and VFET transistors.
 
russel said:
There a lot of projects and a lot of options and even the MDAC 1.5, which should be the simplest of the DACs has been re spun a couple of times, the designs need to be frozen and the number of options reduced to get products out in a reasonable time scale. I think we were quoted 40 days for finishing the MDAC pcb a year ago last June.
Click to expand...


FWIW designing the power amplifiers ought to be a lot less work than the DAC, so if the DACs do appear the power amplifiers should arrive soon afterwards.
 
Not a FB user like many and so just visited PFM for updates.

I think Tonys last post, one page back is a pragmatic approach that hopefully John will find acceptable.

Like Wintoid I'm also a 'Toy' upgrade purchaser - still using my MDAC and happily listening to it right now.

Checking my old mails I can see that I paid £200 on top of the 'Toy' upgrade and apparently that means I've paid -

£200 for up to & including L2 and L3 (basic) development

I seem to remember L3 (basic) included ADC, possibly DSP?, but not the Phono Stage. I can see from my mails the Phono Stage was an additional development payment, that I decided not to pay.

Still interested in where the project ends up, but tbh my circumstances have changed and so depending on the capabilities of MDAC 1.5, 2 & FDAC and associated timescales, I'm not sure if I'd try to sell my spot.

Be helpful to understand the expected capabilities of 1.5, 2, FDAC in relation to L2, L3.

Due to some hearing problems I'll certainly not be upgrading purely for better sound, I'd need additional functionality that adds to my setup, to spend more.
 
@Tony L
many thanks for your clear and robust interventions.
I'm in for a mere (!) £200, as I'm a Toy/Fusion owner (like @rtrt above).
Of course, John does have a record of all the development payments made to him. Presumably, based on these records, he could tell us what the overall total of development payments is that he's received from PFM members.
 
rtrt said:
...£200 for up to & including L2 and L3 (basic) development

I seem to remember L3 (basic) included ADC, possibly DSP?, but not the Phono Stage. I can see from my mails the Phono Stage was an additional development payment, that I decided not to pay.

...Be helpful to understand the expected capabilities of 1.5, 2, FDAC in relation to L2, L3.
Click to expand...

Found a post I made last year re DSP / ADC / Phono - https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/threads/mdac-first-listen-part-00111001.208407/page-67#post-3348886 - and Johns reply confirming DSP off the cards at that point.

So it seems DSP likely not included and since my Phono Stage has digital out I may not need L3, depending on what else it brings...
 
Well I sold my Mdac a few years ago to offset the £400 payment for the illusive MDAC2 L2 whatever it is. I also invested £50 in the detox.

I follow the thread occasionally and wish that the project becomes successful. To be honest I’m not holding out much hope at this stage...
 
I have paid for 2 x of everything incl. two pairs of VFET and I am still optimistic that John will deliver.

Another ESS Sabre DAC would just not be that exciting to me anymore so I think it was the right decision John made to change direction and design a cutting edge discrete DAC instead.
 
Hi,

Just to clarity history also to @Tony L. Project cost at start was not stated as "not refundable", it took years before that term was taken into use. I know, because I got refunded at least one MDAC board investment years ago. I think it was a bit unfair to start using not refundable term, but only reasonable reason for that was because money was well spend.

gints said:
They are only development payments, to get a product you still need cover actual parts and production costs. Not refundable. And that make some people angry as there is no easy way out, except when somebody will want to take over of their investment. For that we need actual product. I would like to help if I could somehow.

It is been long time, maybe it is worth to do some bookkeeping check, to see if there is same numbers on both sides. Also worth to check if there is correct contact address for everybody.

I myself in for FDAC L3 (with ADC) + Phono board, that is 600
Detox, this I am ready to transfer towards FDAC - 50
VFET monoblock amps - 2300. Do not know how that splits because it includes Audiolab monoblock amps as donor units and VFET transistors.
Click to expand...
 
...just for the record, I think John will eventually deliver as he has invested a lot in it himself, but taken on too many things so unlikely to be very soon (is my expectation);

To keep things square, my contributions to LakeWest Audio total £1105


Breakdown AFAIK...

£300 October 2014 - MDAC2 Payment :: Combined 1st + 2nd + 3rd Installment

£370 October 2014 - Salvaged MDAC - Black (John has these)

£100 May 2015 - MDAC2 Installment:: L2 (4th) Development Installment

£50 October 2015 - USB Detox Development

£100 January 2016 - FDAC L3 Development Payment

£185 May 2017 - MDAC2 Streamer PCB


Thanks
 
My expenses so far as a development sponsor:

100 GBP 1. Instalment 06.09.2013
370 GBP Salvaged M-DAC 11.11.2013
100 GBP 2. Instalment 11.12.2013
100 GBP 3. Instalment 10.06.2014
2300 GBP VFET 13.12.2014
100 GBP 4. Instalment 13.03.2015
50 GBP Detox Instalment 29.09.2015
100 GBP adc Instalment 14.01.2016
100 GBP phono Instalment 100 GBP 14.01.2016
185 GBP streamer board mdac2 15.05.2017
which is 3505 GBP altogether

And I am one of the few lakewest hardware owner, the MiniStreamer 299 GBP (which is a great piece of kit) arrived savely and well in September 2018.
 
any reason the vfet money cant be refunded John ?

as far as I can see your only outgoings to date has been purchasing of the chips, and some renderings of a chassis approx. 3 years ago
 
Just for the record:
12/3/15 - MDAC2 - £400
30/3/15 - VFETS - £2300
9/9/15 - Detox - £50

Total - £2750

I have been very patient but don't believe the approach to handle this entire situation has been the best.. Still hoping this will get done and waiting for it but if could have the option of a refund given the more than 4years wait.. I would think about it. Could have put my money on bitcoin and be rich today!! aahha

Ricardo
 
I've paid on
28/12/13 £200 1st and 2nd installment.
13/6/14 £100 3rd installment.
29/3/15 £100 4th installment
12/1/16 £200 fdac L3 ADC+mm/MC.
All the above were for mdac2 which then morphed into fdac
 
@Tony L,
Thank you very much for your intervention.

I'm in for £600, for what used to be an FDAC L3 with phono stage, payments made between Dec. 2013 & Oct. 2016.

The severe tinnitus I've developed since my last installment implies (quite understandably) l'm no longer interested in the final product, would be glad if there should be any other way out.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.


advertisement


Back
Top