MDAC first listen (part XIII)

[DANOFDANGER]

I guess you both use Windows?
I didnt think XBMC 11 Eden was capable to output a bit perfect signal. As I understood it that was one of the reasons for creating the new sound engine (wich is not in the Eden version)
Either way, I think I am shit out of luck since I am running XBMC on MacOS.
I need to get hold of someone who is more skilled with MacOS!

Yea pretty sure we both have windows, windows has wasapi and direct sound by default so mac may be different.

 

[hluga]

If you were me that would read "yes please John, the Malt is en route"

I'm just listening to Ry Cooder-Bop Till You Drop, on UKPD's Sovreigned unit and it sounds like the proverbial mutts nutts.

(A reference recording-to date)

I'm more in the field of wine but i can adapt myself !
By malt do you mean things like oban or skye's bottles ? In fact i just remember that i know a shop close to my house where ...

 

[hluga]

Yea pretty sure we both have windows, windows has wasapi and direct sound by default so mac may be different.

I use audirvana on osx and no problem passing bitperfect test... it avoids coreaudio classic path to something more direct. I'm not sure it is possible to obtain such configuration with a "driver like" software on osx (maybe with pure music virtual unit...).

 

[misterdog]

I'm more in the field of wine but i can adapt myself !
By malt do you mean things like oban or skye's bottles ? In fact i just remember that i know a shop close to my house where ...

Well personally my taste is for anything from Islay- Ardbeg (1977 was exceptional ) or Coryvrekan (single malt of the year award) Lagavulin, or
Laphroaig.

But a good bottle of red wine may be more appropriate for late night bear hunting without a night scope.

(Now onto Joan Osborne-Pretty little Stranger) another reference recording IMHO.

 

[hluga]

Well personally my taste is for anything from Islay- Ardbeg (1977 was exceptional ) or Coryvrekan (single malt of the year award) Lagavulin, or
Laphroaig.

But a good bottle of red wine may be more appropriate for late night bear hunting without a night scope.

(Now onto Joan Osborne-Pretty little Stranger) another reference recording IMHO.

I'm also in the field of tequila as i'm going frequently to guadalajara in mexico. Some añejo are very special too.
(For me Lady in satin from Billie Holliday)

 

[JohnW]

I have reserved a bottle of fine single malt which was reserved for my consumption, for when you 'Sovereign and MPAX' my unit .

See you in the spring ??

Ok, Deal Spring here in Czech!!!

We have a small Hotel (Pension) in the Mountains, so maybe a few days up in the hills!!! I've not even had a chance to get up there since last Spring!!!

 

[JohnW]

If you were me that would read "yes please John, the Malt is en route"

I'm just listening to Ry Cooder-Bop Till You Drop, on UKPD's Sovreigned unit and it sounds like the proverbial mutts nutts.

(A reference recording-to date)

I need to ask, how do you find the Bass on the Sovreigned units?

 

[JohnW]

It's difficult to resist...
but i dont want to borrow your components if you are not sure that you can find the equivalent parts during your next trip to asia.
Anyways if you come back to visit france you will be welcomed in Toulouse !

OK, I'll update your unit

 

[JohnW]

Got my Mdac. Connected it to my Squeezebox Touch via the USB. Had 2 choices for connection to my Harmon HK990

1. Unbalanced direct into the power amp section, and use the Mdac as a pre amp
2. Balanced into pre amp section of the HK990.

You can’t assign the XLR inputs to the power amp inputs of the HK990 so I had to chose between these 2 options. Listened to both quickly and preferred the sound via the balanced inputs. It just seemed warmer, with a fuller low end.

Initial impressions are very good, even the wife commented on how good the stereo suddenly sounded! It’s a definite improvement on using the dac’s in the HK990.

I'm glad you and the your Wife like the MDAC - hopefully its bedding in nicely - thank you for the feedback.

 

[JohnW]

Hello fellow Mdac users!
I have a thought that's been nagging me lately: I really like my MF A5 amp and feel it's got an excellent sinergy with my speakers, but unfortunately it doesn't have balanced inputs, do you think that the SQ difference between balanced and single ended outputs of the Mdac would justify an amplifier change?

The SQ does improve via Balanced interconnection - not only because of THD & DNR improvement gain via the use of the Balanced link, but I believe the biggest improvement is that the audio connection does not have to rely on the "Contaminated" Ground link between MDAC & AMP for the Signal connection.

Can I suggest waiting for the matching MAMP's which are designed to be compatible with the MDAC - not only offering Balanced input but also automatic analogue gain scaling (therefore reducing the Digital Attenuation levels required).

MAMP will be released first quarter next year.

John

 

[JohnW]

thanks. Thought that might be the case. Any ideas where can I solder onto. Dont really fancy soldering directly on to the DAC chip itself. I was thinking that if I can somehow fit a twistedpearaudio transporter, I can use an off-board USB to I2S converter. Incidentally, what is the chance of the 24/192 USB on the MTRN being DSD compatible?

Hi Smoothquark,

Sorry for my delay in responding, I'm deeply buried in laying out the BDAC PCB...

DSD ONLY makes sense if you retain a PURE DSD domain from ADC to DAC.

So Direct DSD ADC from Master Tape to directly to your DAC - NEVER converted to PCM format.

I'm afraid there's a whole load false "DSD" software and hardware.

Most DSD players convert the DSD to PCM, the instant this happen you can wave goodbye to most advantages of DSD - this "cheating" is not only limited to Hardware but also to the recording process, where a significant percentage of DSD recordings are just simply converted from PCM mixes - then bung on a DSD logo and charge the earth...

The board you mention has a I2S output - this infers that the DSD has been converted to PCM as I2S cannot support native DSD (I don't know the board, so I could be missinterpretating what they mean by I2S).

We could downconvert DSD to PCM with the MTRN but this is simply cheating (as most hardware does) - we are NEVER going to do this!

We will offer a True DSD completable converter but that's later next year - and a "flagship" unit...

There is no simple way to add DSD to the MDAC - you need to consider the physical connection, software and clocking structure... this is not a two day job to do correctly...

John

 

[jamjar784]

Well personally my taste is for anything from Islay- Ardbeg (1977 was exceptional ) or Coryvrekan (single malt of the year award) Lagavulin, or
Laphroaig.

But a good bottle of red wine may be more appropriate for late night bear hunting without a night scope.

(Now onto Joan Osborne-Pretty little Stranger) another reference recording IMHO.

Nice one. What about Joan Osborne-Relish which has 'One Of Us'?
I'd recommend Madeleine Peyroux 'Careless Love' and 'Half the Perfect World', accompanied by Arran 10 yr old, Aberlour Glenlivet, or triple distilled Auchentoshan

 

[CrazyindianZA]

The SQ does improve via Balanced interconnection - not only because of THD & DNR improvement gain via the use of the Balanced link, but I believe the biggest improvement is that the audio connection does not have to rely on the "Contaminated" Ground link between MDAC & AMP for the Signal connection.

Can I suggest waiting for the matching MAMP's which are designed to be compatible with the MDAC - not only offering Balanced input but also automatic analogue gain scaling (therefore reducing the Digital Attenuation levels required).

MAMP will be released first quarter next year.

John

Excuse the non technical question but I have a finance background rather than a technical one

If balanced outs provide superior sound quality, does this mean it would be better to use the XLR outputs with an RCA adaptor if you do not have a balanced amp?

Thank you
-Kevin

 

[garysan]

Excuse the non technical question but I have a finance background rather than a technical one

If balanced outs provide superior sound quality, does this mean it would be better to use the XLR outputs with an RCA adaptor if you do not have a balanced amp?

Thank you
-Kevin

I'd be interested to hear if this would be a viable option to using standard RCA. I've got my eye on a pair of Cardas adapters as I type this...

 

[misterdog]

Nice one. What about Joan Osborne-Relish which has 'One Of Us'?
I'd recommend Madeleine Peyroux 'Careless Love' and 'Half the Perfect World', accompanied by Arran 10 yr old, Aberlour Glenlivet, or triple distilled Auchentoshan

I have all that music, but not the Malts

 

[ChrisPa]

Excuse the non technical question but I have a finance background rather than a technical one

If balanced outs provide superior sound quality, does this mean it would be better to use the XLR outputs with an RCA adaptor if you do not have a balanced amp?

Thank you
-Kevin

Maybe. Maybe not. Doubtful

It's the complete balanced interconnection of balanced output, balanced cable and balanced input that gives the benefits.

To be honest I wouldn't bother, because without knowing the internal wiring of the adaptors it's not clear how the connections will be made from a balanced output to single-ended input. You may end up shorting out one half of the balanced output or may have no ground reference.

IIRC The single ended output is one half of the balanced output with a ground, so I can't see why there's a benefit taking those connections from an xlr connector rather than a phono connector. If there are benefits it would be because of the effects of 'balanced' construction in the interconnect, but the 'balance' doesn't apply to the ground connection in an xlr interconnect.

It is possible to get benefits with a single ended output feeding into a balanced input, but that's not what you're asking

I'd just use the outputs the way they're intended and enjoy the music

 

[DANOFDANGER]

After much listening and studying i have come to my final conclusion about my purchase of the M-DAC.

I wont go into what i did or didn't do as i have done so much that it hurts my head thinking about it, literal testing actually induced movement of my entire system to a proper home theater room with other equipment at my disposal. With that said i have to say my purchase of the M-DAC was well worth the money, which in my mind was quite a good price but i did get mine at a wholesale price.
The best way i am going to have to put it when explaining how it sounds in comparison to other DAC units is... separation, put it simply the overall timbre is actually very identical to most sub standard and entry level equipment. I am not saying however that there is a small change as its not, its just a different effect of sound change like of that of a speaker upgrade or amp upgrade where the sound actually changes with tonal quality. This change as previously said is best put as separation, the music instruments are more complimented with each having now their own individual identification, meaning that i can now hear ever more clearly each instrument with more ease but also more detail and character excitement. It really is something magical which had me almost into tears in the first couple of hours (not to mention me telling my mate at the time how awesome they were).