MDAC first listen (part XI)

[arthur]

I think he's just trying to be too nice. It's his name associated with the MDAC and he wants to try and make the community happy.

I believe the MDAC is technically a great product. I've been looking at other DACs too but I've been waiting and reading this forum for some time and not felt very comfortable about some aspects about what I see. It's really great that the designer is so active here and tries to do so much for the community, but I think he's simply overstretched. He's very honest and repeatedly says that he can't be trusted with timescales. No big deal, I'm used to that in development. The problem is designing so many new products from scratch at the same time whilst soldering people's kit (for free) from home in parallel whilst organising shipments to / from his home. He's only one man. This is why in an earlier post I asked whether it might be possible to tie-up with others who can do the grunt work so that he can concentrate on the big picture.

Furthermore, he's said here that he can't be sure of the SQ of all these upgrades because he doesn't have a high-enough resolution system at his disposal. He's working from home now and doesn't have the Audiolab resources. He's even said that his partner uses his electrostatic speakers as clothes hangers. We've seen several people question whether the newer versions of firmware are better or not SQ, with several saying that the original version was better.

JohnW never claimed otherwise. Even with the Sovereign update he's said that he's relying on the comments of Sovereign and that he'd have preferred if people had held back sending him their M-DACs until there was more feedback. But users here just don't want to hear such things, they're blindly jumping. It's new, it's from JohnW so therefore it must be brilliant, even though he's said that he's just experimenting and wants people's feedback.

JohnW is being too kind to say no and thus building pressure on himself.

The reactions from some people here to what I've said today are really wild. You'd had though I'd called all their mothers, sisters and children whores. They think that any criticism of the M-DAC is a direct assault on their God. They have to disassociate the design - which is John's - from the implementation - which is Audiolab's from China.

Sheez!

Perfect post that fellow.

 

[the_ether]

Given that you do not own an MDAC, possibly not even having heard one, perhaps you should just stick with your trusty old Rotel CD player.

Besides as your hearing apparently only stretches from 50Hz>13Khz you may not even benefit from an MDAC.

I have bought plenty of kit in the past and in terms of value for money I believe the MDAC to be top of my list so far.

Keep up the nit-picking it keeps us all amused.

Mr Dog. I don't know what your problem is but a) I do not own a Rotel anything; b) nor do I understand why you keep on going on about Weiss DACs in your other replies to me as I have never, ever mentioned a Weiss anything. There is no justification for you to be so rude.

 

[the_ether]

Perfect post that fellow.

Thank you Arthur.

 

[bigmarcelo]

Sorry if this is a bit off topic, but I've just installed the Triode mods onto my SBT and connected it by USB to my MDAC. Did a blind listening session and my golden eared wife prefers the SBT to the Linn DS. I think this may be due to slight level differences but my SPL meter suggests they are within 1dB. Anyway, I think we can say that there is no significant difference in sound quality. So, I'm going to complete my squeezebox multi room setup before the touch disappears off the shelves and finance it by putting the DS onto eBay.

I did the same with a Linn DS, Naim ND5XS and NDX..., the NDX was very close... I think with an external power supply the NDX would improve on my set up.... But the again... Waiting for the MPAX first....

 

[fusion5]

This is why in an earlier post I asked whether it might be possible to tie-up with others who can do the grunt work so that he can concentrate on the big picture.

John once stated that he'll build up a support center in the Czech Republic once they start selling products. You can't pay people if you don't earn money.

JohnW never claimed otherwise. Even with the Sovereign update he's said that he's relying on the comments of Sovereign and that he'd have preferred if people had held back sending him their M-DACs until there was more feedback. But users here just don't want to hear such things, they're blindly jumping.

True, after he offered the Sovereign update to me and few others he did recommended that "the rest" should wait until there is more feedback. IMHO a good idea.

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

Well, my take on this, after following this forum for a while now, and getting help from the man himself (even if only to confirm that my unit had to go back & be replaced...): I think the M-DAC itself sounds great as is.

I have now listened a bunch of components over the past year or so, pretty good stuff even if it's not insane $$$$$ equipment. The least discernible differences of all the components were the DACs, with the exception of the tube-out of one. I can also only hear the slightest difference between a couple of the filters the M-DAC offers, and not because I myself am half-deaf or don't really pay attention to the music. (And which in itself is an unusual option (most have none, John's other design has only a switch between NOS or NAL.))

I'm not sure why in the first place people get so worked up and jump the gun before John's ready to get some "improvements" that may be more about perception than anything else... Why not enjoy the M-DAC as is, or consider other component upgrades that may have a more audible impact on the sound signature than a DAC?

Where John (and Dominik of course) have quickly and notably delivered is the firmware updates that have clearly improved the M-DAC experience as a whole, to the extent that I could not think much else to change... (and sound differences between versions? Just can't hear them, as supposedly switchable between 0 & 180 degrees for example, no matter what kind of music I try it with...)

In short: John helps where and when he can, which is great. He delivered a firmware upgrade for free that vastly improves the M-DAC beyond Audiolab's version, which is great. The M-DAC sounds great as is, so who really needs to care how long it would take him to deliver, if at all?

My only personal "issue" is the still unanswered question regarding the power supply: besides begging Audiolab for either a replacement in case of failure or a european one in case of moving, is there any other ready-to-use option besides the theoretical-as-of-now M-PAX?

 

[TimR]

Sorry if this is a bit off topic, but I've just installed the Triode mods onto my SBT and connected it by USB to my MDAC. Did a blind listening session and my golden eared wife prefers the SBT to the Linn DS. I think this may be due to slight level differences but my SPL meter suggests they are within 1dB...

I don't understand how the levels can be different if it's the same digital data you are sending. Are they both passing the bit-perfect test ?

Edit: Whoops, i misread - thought you were using the Linn DS as the digital source into the MDAC - my bad.

 

[sam_cat]

My only personal "issue" is the still unanswered question regarding the power supply: besides begging Audiolab for either a replacement in case of failure or a european one in case of moving, is there any other ready-to-use option besides the theoretical-as-of-now M-PAX?

Mr_Phil on these forums made his owner using some Teddy regs etc, having heard it it sounds better than the standard psu.

Sam

 

[ukpd]

As GrumpyOldMan said Mdac upgrades are OPTIONAL nobody forces anybody to send their units for upgrades, but I can't see how improving quality of a clock regulator supply can fail to improve sound quality of a dac. In my opinion it is a no brainer upgrade. Besides it is a part of MPAX upgrade anyway. As for time scale - John does it in his free time, We should be gratefull he does it at all.

Peter

 

[Steven Toy]

As GrumpyOldMan said Mdac upgrades are OPTIONAL nobody forces anybody to send their units for upgrades, but I can't see how improving quality of a clock regulator supply can fail to improve sound quality of a dac. In my opinion it is a no brainer upgrade. Besides it is a part of MPAX upgrade anyway. As for time scale - John does it in his free time, We should be gratefull he does it at all.

Peter

Er, yes!

 

[HumbleBy(DK)]

As GrumpyOldMan said Mdac upgrades are OPTIONAL nobody forces anybody to send their units for upgrades, but I can't see how improving quality of a clock regulator supply can fail to improve sound quality of a dac. In my opinion it is a no brainer upgrade. Besides it is a part of MPAX upgrade anyway. As for time scale - John does it in his free time, We should be gratefull he does it at all.

Peter

Completely agree with the above.
John generuously offered the upgrade to me whilst at the same time repairing my injured M-DAC. I chose this option instead of sending it to a workshop, who had no idea of how to repair it.
Been satisfied with the DAC as was out-of-the-box, especially after changing some of my digital cables and even with my shitty, to say the least, listening room acoustics, but thats a whole other issue.

It's actually not until I changed some cables that I could hear any difference between the filters. I have noticed a slight difference in sound between the different FW versions, but haven't decided which is best.

 

[ukpd]

Now question that bothered me for a while. how to configure two Mdacs for dual mono. Can I2S be accessed ? If yes then two units can be linked as Master - Slave and outputs paralelled with y cables to an amp. Custom code is needed though. Any thoughts?
Or use Usb to I2S board like Amanero Technologies for DSD and Hi Res up to 32bit/384khz. (No connection with the guy)

 

[arthur]

Some seriously odd shit going on in this thread now...

 

[fusion5]

Some seriously odd shit going on in this thread now...

Unfortunately, yes!

 

[Artmon]

Some seriously odd shit going on in this thread now...

Fortunately nothing is going wrong with my M-DAC. I love it!

 

[gh0st]

Fortunately nothing is going wrong with my M-DAC. I love it!

I'm sure this is the case for 99.n% of the M-DAC's user base. This thread is not the ideal place to do an objective survey... I suppose this is the case with any self-selecting sample of 'enthusiasts' (the vast majority) and/or 'whingers' (there's always one or two).

/dom