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MDAC first listen (part XIX)

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JohnW said:
There is a chance I've found your units problem - a "Pin point" sized "Ball" of solder lodged between two legs of the front panel MCU.

The solder "splatter" is a result of a Crazy EU legislation to remove lead from solder - without the lead content the solder is now "unstable" growing tin whiskers and spitting tiny solder balls in all directions when reflowed... Lead-free solder is just a nightmare for production.

I've had the unit on test for a couple of days since discovering the solder blob - I'll keep testing... the problem being the physically unstable nature of the solder blob meant is was impossible to ascertain if it resulted in a short circuit or not...
Click to expand...
Hey John...thanks so much for the update!
Never thought that EU legislation could affect my HiFi :(. Happy to hear that it seems you found the intruder of HiFi disturbance or...the absence of it. Wierd that it happens specifically on this unit, my other MDAC from half 2012 worked flawlessly. Might it be that new production items are produced in a different way, in that eg. from 1/1/13 new EU legislation rules are mandatory and so MDAC production is adjusted to meet these new rules?

Thanks again. Happy Easter, enjoy!!
 
I had the pleasure of borrowing SQ's newly fettled dac today.

I cancelled all plans and stayed in listening for 12 hrs. A well rewarded time. I wrote John a note with my impressions and should probably post it here too, so;

''Hi John.

I've had the modded M-dac playing at mine for 10 hrs now non stop.

Ill not beat about the bush, it is a fabulous upgrade.

I've no idea what you've done but it is, without exaggeration, almost a new machine.

Obviously the house sound as it were is very similar, but the work has added to it in spades.

First and most obvious to me is the extra depth I can 'see' into each and every track, the extra detail is providing a much, and I do mean much, bigger soundstage. Instruments are now not only truer to the original but are more widely and accurately spaced.

Its much easier to pinpoint a player's position and contribution.
Wonderful stuff!

Female vocals (Diana Krall, Kate Bush, Katie Melua and Nikki Yannofski so far) are that much more true to life in that hushed breaths and pauses are so much better revealed. The extra delightfulness of this would be difficult to overstate for my taste.

And now to the bass. Leaner and cleaner without losing any scale, and it has more impact when it's supposed to.

A well whacked bass drum now sounds visceral. In fact all my bass driven music is feeling more 'funky' if I can use such a term? In any case my foot tapping is more obvious now.

All in all quite excellent John.

If I had to pinpoint just one thing that was blindingly obvious (but I couldn't, not just one) it would be the extra silence, ironically enough.
In quiet passages especially, the extra insight must mean a quieter background?

It's not just in quiet passages though, even driven rock is cleaner.

Just one more thing as I'm getting a bit carried away here, is the extra texture to every sound. In fact I'm happy to say I didn't truly know what people meant by texture in music until today.

Specifically, fret movement, the timbre of cellos, the huskiness of vocals, fine finger work on piano and double bass and wood on drum skins are all that little bit more realistic.

Mozart's Divertimentos never sounded so brisk and apparent.

Bloody marvellous all round John. However long you worked on this it is time very well spent indeed.

Ill stop there, though I could say much more, as I don't want to get too flowery :)

I'm going to be genuinely bothered when Simon returns for this tomorrow morning.

Best of luck for all your new stuff John.

You have a customer for life here.

Regards, Arthur.
 
laviefacile said:
Hey John...thanks so much for the update!
Never thought that EU legislation could affect my HiFi :(. Happy to hear that it seems you found the intruder of HiFi disturbance or...the absence of it. Wierd that it happens specifically on this unit, my other MDAC from half 2012 worked flawlessly. Might it be that new production items are produced in a different way, in that eg. from 1/1/13 new EU legislation rules are mandatory and so MDAC production is adjusted to meet these new rules?

Thanks again. Happy Easter, enjoy!!
Click to expand...

All MDAC production has been RoHS complaint - it has to be to be sold within Europe... the "Solder Blob" is just one of these unfortunate "random" events... The EU allows "Safety critical systems" to use leaded solder in recognition that the unleaded solder they have forced upon the industry cannot be trusted... while we as humble consumers have to make do with second rate electronics.

Its believed that the Apollo 11 moon landings' Radar computer kept resetting possibly due to a tiny blob of solder floating in free gravity within the systems "Reset" switch... don't know if its true or urban myth, but NASA went to great lengths to insure that there where no tiny conductive partials that could float about and cause havoc in critical systems.
 
Plutox said:
You make your own USB cables :confused: :confused:

Given that certified ones, here where I live, cost less than buying the parts (if you can find the parts!), I find that rather hard to understand. You earlier said yourself

So you will understand my confusion here...
Click to expand...

I just have the tools and parts already so I do for the convienence and the enjoyment, iv had fun making usb, micro usb, otg, coaxial, etc. I would say any DIY cable made yourself would be better than any budget cable you buy from shops. At least material quality that is.
 
arthur said:
I had the pleasure of borrowing SQ's newly fettled dac today.

I cancelled all plans and stayed in listening for 12 hrs. A well rewarded time. I wrote John a note with my impressions and should probably post it here too, so;

''Hi John.

I've had the modded M-dac playing at mine for 10 hrs now non stop.

Ill not beat about the bush, it is a fabulous upgrade.

I've no idea what you've done but it is, without exaggeration, almost a new machine.

Obviously the house sound as it were is very similar, but the work has added to it in spades.

First and most obvious to me is the extra depth I can 'see' into each and every track, the extra detail is providing a much, and I do mean much, bigger soundstage. Instruments are now not only truer to the original but are more widely and accurately spaced.

Its much easier to pinpoint a player's position and contribution.
Wonderful stuff!

Female vocals (Diana Krall, Kate Bush, Katie Melua and Nikki Yannofski so far) are that much more true to life in that hushed breaths and pauses are so much better revealed. The extra delightfulness of this would be difficult to overstate for my taste.

And now to the bass. Leaner and cleaner without losing any scale, and it has more impact when it's supposed to.

A well whacked bass drum now sounds visceral. In fact all my bass driven music is feeling more 'funky' if I can use such a term? In any case my foot tapping is more obvious now.

All in all quite excellent John.

If I had to pinpoint just one thing that was blindingly obvious (but I couldn't, not just one) it would be the extra silence, ironically enough.
In quiet passages especially, the extra insight must mean a quieter background?

It's not just in quiet passages though, even driven rock is cleaner.

Just one more thing as I'm getting a bit carried away here, is the extra texture to every sound. In fact I'm happy to say I didn't truly know what people meant by texture in music until today.

Specifically, fret movement, the timbre of cellos, the huskiness of vocals, fine finger work on piano and double bass and wood on drum skins are all that little bit more realistic.

Mozart's Divertimentos never sounded so brisk and apparent.

Bloody marvellous all round John. However long you worked on this it is time very well spent indeed.

Ill stop there, though I could say much more, as I don't want to get too flowery :)

I'm going to be genuinely bothered when Simon returns for this tomorrow morning.

Best of luck for all your new stuff John.

You have a customer for life here.

Regards, Arthur.
Click to expand...

Nice review Arthur. Roll on the Lakewest production line so we can all get the upgrade and MAMPs!
 
John, have you listen to your modification of mdac with some serious hifi gears yourself? BTW I'm also waiting eagerly ATM for your listening reports of the new fws, thank you sooooo much for the earnest and dedicated contributions to the improvement of the great product! :)
 
Just thought...I had the dac all that time but I didn't take it into the next room and check it out with the Trios and MFX!

What a tit :mad:
 
Paul came round to mine yesterday and bought his boggo Mdac. We stacked them on top of each other and listened through a few tracks. Good as the basic Mdac is the differences are immediately obvious when listening to the modded version. It was interesting to do multiple quick swap overs, about ten seconds. Each swap just further reinforced my view on how the modded unit sounds.

You boys should start getting your names on the list.
 
Hi John. With all the good things said about the Modded MDAC Especially the bit about the individual instruments etc being pinpoined. This is what I had with my Copland CD player.
So how do I get on a list or go about getting the mod done as I'm sure I can't live without it :)
 
Ah, but where's "the list"?

I don't want to add to John's workload, (well actually, I guess I do) so I wonder, what's the best way of approaching such a request?

Maybe, an orderly queue might be best, so that John can get a feel for the demand which might help in planning resources? Bit like the pre-order list for the MDAC all that time ago.

Or ......

Cheers

Ian
 
iansr said:
I've been thinking of doing that and leaving out the power lines. Have you a source for good quality A and B connectors?
Click to expand...

I buy everything off us eBay for mere dollars, its my experience that the power and data cables must be connected in order for a connection to be established.
 
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