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MDAC first listen (part II)

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Next thing to do would simply be running the command 'aplay -L' which should list where it thinks the MDAC's IEC958 handle is, then somehow decoding that to the relevant ALSA output. When my onboard soundcard (yuck) was active, it would cause a re-order of device enumeration.

Here is the output from the command:


pulse
Playback/recording through the PulseAudio sound server
front:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, VT1708S Analog
Front speakers
surround40:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, VT1708S Analog
4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, VT1708S Analog
4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, VT1708S Analog
5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, VT1708S Analog
5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, VT1708S Analog
7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, VT1708S Digital
IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, NVIDIA HDMI
HDMI Audio Output
front:CARD=MDAC,DEV=0
Audiolab M-DAC, USB Audio
Front speakers
surround40:CARD=MDAC,DEV=0
Audiolab M-DAC, USB Audio
4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=MDAC,DEV=0
Audiolab M-DAC, USB Audio
4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=MDAC,DEV=0
Audiolab M-DAC, USB Audio
5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=MDAC,DEV=0
Audiolab M-DAC, USB Audio
5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=MDAC,DEV=0
Audiolab M-DAC, USB Audio
7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=MDAC,DEV=0
Audiolab M-DAC, USB Audio
IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output

I guess there is an Alsa module missing.
 
Try setting iec958:CARD=MDAC,DEV=0 as the output device in XBMC et al. The M-Dac has been picked up correctly. Getting there! As suspected, the onboard sound has knocked the M-Dac out of its default position (plughw:1,0).
 
You guys (may want to try an alternative to) ALSA and PulseAudio...(Numerous anecdotal reports indicate that) OSS4 with vmix disabled is the way to go for (better) sound quality out of a Linux box...
 
You guys need to ditch ALSA and PulseAudio...OSS4 with vmix disabled is the way to go for best sound quality out of a Linux box...

Based on? Directly into ALSA works fine, comes in the distro, saves me having to faff around / learn yet another audio stack and ofcourse bit perfect.
 
Based on personal experience and numerous anecdotal reports, including this one and this article. There are a number of ALSA devs on the OSS4 forums as well (and vice-versa). Unless your card is not supported, or you require a feature ALSA provides that OSS4 does not, I see no reason not to try OSS4 in the pursuit of higher fidelity. Now I should clarify that how I should have approached my previous statement would have been to suggest the use OSS4 as opposed to the immediate declaration of inferiority/superiority of one subsystem over another. OSS4 is simply an option that many have found to produce superior sound output over ALSA and PulseAudio.
 
@JohnW:

John, maybe you missed my post amongst the sea of replies here, so here goes again,
" is it possible for me to get the mdac directly? I'm not in the UK but in asia and desperately need 2 units. If i leave this to my local audiolab dealer i'm going to have to wait until at least feb 2012, and that's being quite optimistic, me thinks. Any other possible channels? "
Thanks

Lintone Audio in gateshead have at least one they'll sell you and they post abroad.
 
Does anyone have a photo of the inside of the Mdac? I'd quite like a peek, but I'm far to cowardly to strip my own.
 
Does anyone have a photo of the inside of the Mdac? I'd quite like a peek, but I'm far to cowardly to strip my own.
I would love to see some owners pics of the externals as well. Promo shots are nice but sometimes user pics give a better sense of the finishes.
 
Based on personal experience and numerous anecdotal reports, including this one and this article. There are a number of ALSA devs on the OSS4 forums as well (and vice-versa). Unless your card is not supported, or you require a feature ALSA provides that OSS4 does not, I see no reason not to try OSS4 in the pursuit of higher fidelity. Now I should clarify that how I should have approached my previous statement would have been to suggest the use OSS4 as opposed to the immediate declaration of inferiority/superiority of one subsystem over another. OSS4 is simply an option that many have found to produce superior sound output over ALSA and PulseAudio.

I'm happy to consider it, but how does OSS4 improve over ALSA's IEC958?

I probably should have been more clear there.

All I'm after is a bit-perfect stream to the M-DAC, something that ALSA does. Not really wanting to post-process anything on the stream itself - leave that to John & Dominik's DSP filters.
 
Anyone got both a CDQ and an MDAC and able to comment on how the headphone facility compares? I'm still wondering about an MDAC for use purely as a headphone/dac. Might seem a waste but it's still cheaper than the top-end Graham Slee which I had been considering at one point...

Lo John. Like the sound generally, it's a noticable improvement all round, especially in the bass tracking and more so in instrument seperation and general all round funkiness :)

Even as a hp amp alone it's worth the cash. (asuming you're all digital naturally).
 
Even as a hp amp alone it's worth the cash. (asuming you're all digital naturally).
I'm not but I've never really liked vinyl listening through headphones for some reason - maybe it's just that my headphones are far to revealing of the quality (or lack of it) of my vinyl.

Anyway, I have £400 plus whatever I can get for my existing headphone amp to try to somehow make it up to the MDAC price. That keeps with the agreement I have struck with the dear lady wife in terms of expenditure... not quite enough, but not far off...
 
You might find the Mdac swapping positions with the cdq John. And losing the vinyl altogether ;) heresy though it may seem.
 
Try setting iec958:CARD=MDAC,DEV=0 as the output device in XBMC et al. The M-Dac has been picked up correctly. Getting there! As suspected, the onboard sound has knocked the M-Dac out of its default position (plughw:1,0).

Still no joy, can you let me have your email address so I can PM screenshots to show pilot error. Will keep the thread going here to help anyone else.
 
Got a couple of questions about the pre-amp.
Being a digital pre-amp ( i assume )is the resolution volume dependant?
Also does using the USB volume control option effect sound quality in any way?

in general what are the best settings for the best quality sound?

I'm a bit perplexed also on another issue..spotfiy is sometimes sounding more dynamic than rips to itunes, i'm using apple lossless to do this.

will need to check that further
 
The resolution will be volume dependant, but i doubt you lose anything useful until you are well into low level listening. I'm sure john will have the data to hand, he's back in China though so don't expect the usual speedy responses.
 
You might find the Mdac swapping positions with the cdq John. And losing the vinyl altogether ;) heresy though it may seem.

Having recently spent some time listening to the Mdac, I find your suggestion highly unlikely Arthur; it certainly won't be usurping vinyl in my own system.
 
Hi John & Dominik, I wondered if it would it be possible to add an option in the next software release to set the menu timeout period to long/short/off? My own preference would be "off" and to use the menu button to toggle back and forth as needed (it became a slight anoyance when I was trying to compare D3E settings).

By the way, I've run the bit perfect test from the Squeezebox3 which passed as expected. Not much of a surpise there though as I'd previously seen my HDCD ripped files filipping the bit-depth display from 17 to 20bit which I seem to remember you saying was a pretty good test on it's own ;). Also tried a quick comparison using the CDQ as a transport vs the SB. No obvious difference in SQ, but I though it was pretty cool how the MDAC was able to display the track number playing on the CDQ... nice touch !

Other than the odd play though, not had much chance to do any proper listening, as we're in the middle of redecorating :rolleyes:
 
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