DANOFDANGER
pfm Member
Heres a couply pics
MDAC first listen (part XIV)
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finesensations
pfm Member
Heres a couply pics
That looks like a Rotel power amp. What model is it and is the blue power light very bright or can it be dimmed?
How does is match/sound with the M-DAC (e.g normal vol used on M-DAC)?
AFAIK, no XLR input on the Amp, only RCA, is that correct?
Any other useful info please.
Just a suggestion but worth considering moving the M-DAC elsewhere to reduce the possibility of over heating and RF and other interference.
travelfotografe
pfm Member
I use a Rotel power amp (RB-1582). The blue light as-is is quite bright; so bright that Rotel bundled two ring-shaped black-out stickers that you can stick over the led light to significantly reduce its brightness.
I use the RB-1582 between the MDAC and a pair of B&W 804D. I use the digital pre-amp of the MDAC and find myself listening between -30dB to -20dB.
Leon
JohnW
pfm member
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
Hi Kevin,
As Chris has already replied there's no advantage to using the Balanced outputs into SE RCA's inputs - and I'd certainly not recommend using adaptors as Chris has already explained as there no guarantee how these are wired.
John
JohnW
pfm member
...shame you didn't get a black one
I'm for the Silver units!!!
misterdog
Not the canine kind
Are they not as rare as Sovereigned units ?
I have a friend in Shefield who is a pro. bass player.(Simply Red, Joan Armatrading,Leo sayer amongst others).
I am trying to arrange for him to compare the bass on the two MDAC versions as I assume his ears should be well tuned to these frequencies !.
JohnW
pfm member
Are they not as rare as Sovereigned units ?
I have a friend in Shefield who is a pro. bass player.(Simply Red, Joan Armatrading,Leo sayer amongst others).
I am trying to arrange for him to compare the bass on the two MDAC versions as I assume his ears should be well tuned to these frequencies !.
That's going to be interesting! A good friend Jonas Hellborg has an MDAC and I'm wondering if I should upgrade his unit... but I might go straight to the tube upgrade...
DANOFDANGER
pfm Member
travelfotografe is correct, it's a rotel 1582 and yes the light is bright and I used one of the stickers to dim the effect.
As my previous post I had tried the mdac with various equipment and I found that it does not tend to favour any speakers or amps I tried, the sound changes but only because of the equipment used, in almost all cases it just improved sound. Another thing to consider is the listening level on the digital attenuation changes depending on what kind of matching you have with mdac, using sensitive inputs on amplifiers makes the amp hit full power earlier meaning more attenuation is needed, also the type of speakers being used affects the level of attenuation as well. My klipsch 100db with my rotel amp and mdac allow me to use about -30 for normal listening, -20 for loud and -40 for absolute quiet listening. However with less sensitive speakes like a pair of kefs, Psb and also some very nice b&w cm9's which were all rated roughly 89db they required more power from the amp so attenuation on the mdac had to be reduced in order to match the same output of what the klipsch were. -10 for loud -20 for normal and -30 for quiet sounds. Seems as though the 10 db drop corresponds to the sensitivity change of the speakers.
Hope I helped
DANOFDANGER
pfm Member
PhilCTTE
Senior mumbler
I home dem'd the AV Rotel 1575 of a similar design , and have to say it has a certain character to it. Dynamic yes , clarity at the high end and punch and pace at the lower , but it tends to "take your head off". I found it slightly flat in soundstage like the music was pinned to the speaker grills almost. All components matter maybe in slight differences here and there , but I believe in system synergy.
DANOFDANGER
pfm Member
Try now 2 channel amps, I found them quite different IMO.
Obi1
Swedish HiFi enthusiast
I got it to work with Audirvana too. But not with XBMC on MacOS.
Well, have to use two softwares until I find a way to get XBMC to output bit perfect audio.
finesensations
pfm Member
Thanks for the information Leon.
finesensations
pfm Member
travelfotografe is correct, it's a rotel 1582 and yes the light is bright and I used one of the stickers to dim the effect.
As my previous post I had tried the mdac with various equipment and I found that it does not tend to favour any speakers or amps I tried, the sound changes but only because of the equipment used, in almost all cases it just improved sound. Another thing to consider is the listening level on the digital attenuation changes depending on what kind of matching you have with mdac, using sensitive inputs on amplifiers makes the amp hit full power earlier meaning more attenuation is needed, also the type of speakers being used affects the level of attenuation as well. My klipsch 100db with my rotel amp and mdac allow me to use about -30 for normal listening, -20 for loud and -40 for absolute quiet listening. However with less sensitive speakes like a pair of kefs, Psb and also some very nice b&w cm9's which were all rated roughly 89db they required more power from the amp so attenuation on the mdac had to be reduced in order to match the same output of what the klipsch were. -10 for loud -20 for normal and -30 for quiet sounds. Seems as though the 10 db drop corresponds to the sensitivity change of the speakers.
Hope I helped
You did help and thanks for the information.
My speakers are quoted as being 90dB (Yamaha NS1000M) so, on paper at least, would be fine.
But no XLR input is not good (for me).
Hello, John(and everybody else), I am new here. I just paid for my M-DAC, I am planning to mainly use it with my laptop, so the USB port is crucial for me I guess.. I am wondering, if there is a proper USB interface that suits M-DAC well. I've heard something about M-TRAN, but I didn't see it anywhere on the market. Thank you.
Hi Alavan, Congrats on getting your M-DAC, I'm sure you'll love it.
I'm not sure what you mean by interface, just use a USB cable, you should just be able to plug the DAC straight into your laptop and play your music. Some guys on here have used Galvanic Isolators, which you might want to consider. Worth a flick through the older posts to see what people think. Personally I just use a standard USB cable and I'm very happy with the sound.
Hi lynch86, thanks a lot for sharing your experience. What I mean is a USB interface that would allow the dac get 192/24 input from the laptop, someone also call them a USB convertor I think. I haven't got my M-DAC yet, but I am sure it will sound great with its USB port connected directly to my laptop. My problem is that I purchased quite a few 192/24 files, and I'd like to see the potentials, for both the DAC and the files. In that case, I suppose a USB interface is required.
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