MDAC first listen (part XVI)

[JimmyP]

Hi James,

Which dealer did you buy the MDAC from? did the unit appear freshly sealed? While statistically possible you could have a second duff MDAC in a row, its very very unlucky.

Where the units B-Grade stock?

You could try the MDAC in a different room, just in case something is blocking the IR transmission - also is the Mini Din power cable correctly inserted, with no bent pins?

While the handset can be seen to be transmitting it cannot be guaranteed that its transmitting the correct codes - so it could be the handset or the MDAC itself...

Try twisting the power cable on the rear very gently...

Hello John,

The supplier of my M-DAC is 'SuperFi UK' (http://www.superfi.co.uk/) - the unit is suppose to be brand new, not opened boxed or display etc. Although now that you mention it I found it strange how this unit had one slightly scuffed rubber foot and no plastic protection sleeve on the display, my first one did. The box was completely sealed with Audiolab tape though so I expect it's brand new.

I have just tried the unit in 2 separate rooms which both have the same result with no response from the remote control. The power is inserted correctly and has 9 perfectly straight pins. I just tried twisting the power cable on the rear slightly and still nothing.

Thanks for the reply, the help is really appreciated.

Kind Regards,
James P.

 

[JohnW]

Hello John,

The supplier of my M-DAC is 'SuperFi UK' (http://www.superfi.co.uk/) - the unit is suppose to be brand new, not opened boxed or display etc. Although now that you mention it I found it strange how this unit had one slightly scuffed rubber foot and no plastic protection sleeve on the display, my first one did. The box was completely sealed with Audiolab tape though so I expect it's brand new.

I have just tried the unit in 2 separate rooms which both have the same result with no response from the remote control. The power is inserted correctly and has 9 perfectly straight pins. I just tried twisting the power cable on the rear slightly and still nothing.

Thanks for the reply, the help is really appreciated.

Kind Regards,
James P.

Hi James,

Not sure what to say here that would not get me in trouble - but I'm sure its not too hard to guess the lines I'm thinking along...

The one thing for sure is that you should have had the protective film on the second unit....

I'm really don't know what to think, except its vary rare to have 2 died units in a row - statistically possible but we just don't have that high a failure rate on units not to suspect something not quite right...

Maybe buying from a different dealer (If you still have any faith in the MDAC...) 3rd time lucky they say...

I'm so very sorry for your experiences - it saddens me when situations like this arise...

John

 

[JimmyP]

Hi James,

Not sure what to say here that would not get me in trouble - but I'm sure its not too hard to guess the lines I'm thinking along...

The one thing for sure is that you should have had the protective film on the second unit....

I'm really don't know what to think, except its vary rare to have 2 died units in a row - statistically possible but we just don't have that high a failure rate on units not to suspect something not quite right...

Maybe buying from a different dealer (If you still have any faith in the MDAC...) 3rd time lucky they say...

I'm so very sorry for your experiences - it saddens me when situations like this arise...

John

I have dealt with SuperFi a lot in the past and have purchased many things from them and they have always been very helpful, do you think I should mention the protective film missing is there no way it could have been missed off if brand new? Like I say the Audiolab tape was unbroken.

I'll file another RMA over the weekend, I'll also be giving the unit a very good listening to over the weekend as at least It's usable this time around!

Once again thanks for all the help.
Kind Regards,

James P

 

[sam_cat]

Give them a call. When I have had problems in the past they have bent over backwards to help and when pushed threw in a pair of cables to sweeten the delay...

It could be Audiolab as opposed to SuperFi...

Sam

 

[JohnW]

Give them a call. When I have had problems in the past they have bent over backwards to help and when pushed threw in a pair of cables to sweeten the delay...

It could be Audiolab as opposed to SuperFi...

Sam

Yes indeed, I've heard very good things of SuperFi in the past - in fact I cannot recall anyone saying anything bad about them!

 

[JimmyP]

Hey Sam,

I agree about SuperFi always being extremely helpful, they have had several of my Grado headphones repaired and always reply to my emails.

John - With this unit too I found it odd how it rocks back and forth (diagonally) when you move the unit with your hand on top. All the feet seem of same length though and fitted correctly, it's almost as if the unit is warped in some way. It's the same on any surface I put it on. I know I mentioned one of the feet was scuffed but not to the extent to which the unit moves. (I could probably make a video)

Anyway I'll give them a ring tomorrow and try for a third time I guess...

 

[JohnW]

Linking the 0V points fixed it. Rechecked and tweaked all voltages back to +/-15V (Now +/- 0.01v) as they shifted by linking the 0V pads.

Silver wire was already connected to 0v.

Playing music now (through headphones,which is not my normal listening method) and it sounds perfectly fine. :-D

Quick 'shoot out' this weekend against Dads standard Mdac with a standard psu and his own dc psu.

Thanks for the assistance!

Well done now roll on the weekend shoot out for the "Truth"!!!

Anyway suggest you keep your MDAC powered to allow it to run-in

 

[Obi1]

Yes indeed, I've heard very good things of SuperFi in the past - in fact I cannot recall anyone saying anything bad about them!

I have experienced the same problem as you.
After some trouble shooting I discovered that my energy saving bulbs I just put into my celing lamp blocked the IR-reciever on some of my units.
Might not be the case for you, but it is very easy to try, just turn your lamps off if you have
energy saving bulbs.

 

[DANOFDANGER]

Quick 'shoot out' this weekend against Dads standard Mdac with a standard psu and his own dc psu.

Thanks for the assistance!

Now son, you make sure you come back and tell us asap. Make sure your descriptive or i will fail you and you will have to do the test all over again.

Good luck

 

[zzzmonster]

John - You mention that to connect the MTran to BDAC or TDAC, there will will be 2 cables - an optical for clock and usb for data. Will the optical cable be provided ?

What is the clock speed - will a 30 MHz bandwidth Glass toslink be needed or will 6 MHz toslink suffice ?

Asking this because there is a mass order for 30MHz glass toslink cable currently going on.

 

[fusion5]

You mention that to connect the MTran to BDAC or TDAC, there will will be 2 cables - an optical for clock and usb for data.

No, the MTRN has an USB Port (input) you can connect host devices to. Like you can connect a HTPC to the MDAC.

The MTRN connects to MDAC/BDAC/TDAC via two optical cables (spdif + clock). Both standard toslink cables.

Michael

 

[zzzmonster]

No, the MTRN has an USB Port (input) you can connect host devices to. Like you can connect a HTPC to the MDAC.

The MTRN connects to MDAC/BDAC/TDAC via two optical cables (spdif + clock). Both standard toslink cables.

Michael

Ok, thanks for the info that both are optical - just enquiring - what is the clock frequency that is sent over the optical - is it more than 6 MHz - if yes, cannot use ordinary toslink - must be wide bandwidth toslink.

Thank you

 

[sam_cat]

Well done now roll on the weekend shoot out for the "Truth"!!!

Anyway suggest you keep your MDAC powered to allow it to run-in

Left it on as suggested.. Didnt burst into flames overnight so leaving it on today as well (whilst I am at work)

Tonight is the night... Got a busy day tomorrow and then hopefully another listen sunday (so its done more breaking in).. There will be two of us that are familiar with MDacs so will both put together something meaningful. JohnW - any problems with us directly publishing here?

Thanks,
Sam

 

[travelfotografe]

Question about Bitperfect test:

My OPPO-93 Disc Player passes the bitperfect tests if I play the bitperfect test files (both 16/44.1 and 24/96, in both FLAC and WAV formats) from DLNA or DVD-RW Data Disc via optical output to M-DAC.

However, if I burn the 16/44.1 WAV files to a CD-RW as an audio CD and play the CD in the OPPO-93 via optical output to M-DAC, the bitperfect test will briefly show "passing test" and then after less than a second, show "failed test".

Any suggestions why the audio CD path will fail the test? Is it because I am using a CD-RW instead of a CD-R? Anyone else has an OPPO-93 hooked up to an M-DAC and tried a bitperfect test from the audio CD path?

I suspect your Oppo is experiencing read errors with the CDR-RW (due to the very low reflectivity of CDR RW), I suspect your Oppo would be much happier with a standard CDR.

Just thought to update in case of similar "issues" with other disc spinners:

Turns out it is not the physical media (results below apply for both CD-R and CD-RW), but HDCD decoding of non-HDCDs.

I have been testing if the OPPO-93 is bit-perfect as a transport. I burnt the test wav files to disc in CDDA format. If I set OPPO's HDCD Decode to ON and play the disc, the digital output (optical out) from the OPPO is NOT bit-perfect (M-DAC reads 16bits/44.1kHz)! If I set OPPO's HDCD Decode to OFF, the digital output (optical out) from the OPPO is bit-perfect (M-DAC reads 16bits/44.1kHz).

For some insight, I have a HDMI->SPDIF(COAX) box connected to my OPPO-93, and the SPDIF(COAX) output is connected to the M-DAC. When OPPO's HDCD Decode to ON, regardless if the CD is a regular CD or a HDCD, the digital output from HDMI->SPDIF(COAX) is 24bits/44.1kHz (as read from the M-DAC display, suggesting the OPPO applied dithering to the new bits?). It is not that surprising that this happens on the HDMI output for non-HDCDs (to implement the -6db digitally when HDCD decode is ON), but surprisingly, this seems to affect the regular 16-bits optical digital output of the OPPO too, making the regular optical digital output non bit-perfect when playing non-HDCDs (with HDCD decode set to ON).

So, for those who want to make sure that their OPPO-93 (and maybe the OPPO 83, 95, 103 and 105 models) is sending the exact same bits from the CD to the DAC, remember to check and set your HDCD Decode option to OFF!

Leon (from Singapore hoping that Lakewest products will be available here someday ;-)

 

[iansr]

No, the MTRN has an USB Port (input) you can connect host devices to. Like you can connect a HTPC to the MDAC.

The MTRN connects to MDAC/BDAC/TDAC via two optical cables (spdif + clock). Both standard toslink cables.

Michael

Will the MTRN have a USB output socket? I ask because if it has I will be able to also use it as a drive to rip CDs to my PC.

 

[paulski]

Hi John,

The earlier discussion on native DSD support for the TDAC has me wondering whether it would be possible to incorporate an HDMI input for DSD sources (e.g. Oppo BDP-103 etc.). I've no idea how difficult this would be to implement but it does seem that we'll soon begin to see DACs launched that have this capability, eventually I suspect it'll be commonplace on medium to high-end DACs. If not HDMI how would a DSD source be connected to the TDAC, via SDIF-3 perhaps?

 

[JohnW]

Will the MTRN have a USB output socket? I ask because if it has I will be able to also use it as a drive to rip CDs to my PC.

The MTRN has a USB "Peripheral" input - it cannot act as a USB host device... its just a "dumb" slave audio output device.

 

[JohnW]

Hi John,

The earlier discussion on native DSD support for the TDAC has me wondering whether it would be possible to incorporate an HDMI input for DSD sources (e.g. Oppo BDP-103 etc.). I've no idea how difficult this would be to implement but it does seem that we'll soon begin to see DACs launched that have this capability, eventually I suspect it'll be commonplace on medium to high-end DACs. If not HDMI how would a DSD source be connected to the TDAC, via SDIF-3 perhaps?

To be a member of the HDMI consortium you are require to pay a US$20,000 annual fee + US$10000 certification fee per device THEN royalties per unit.

Needless to say we will NOT be paying to be a member of this HDMI club.

DSD input via USB or natively embedded into SPDIF.

John

 

[JohnW]

John - You mention that to connect the MTran to BDAC or TDAC, there will will be 2 cables - an optical for clock and usb for data. Will the optical cable be provided ?

What is the clock speed - will a 30 MHz bandwidth Glass toslink be needed or will 6 MHz toslink suffice ?

Asking this because there is a mass order for 30MHz glass toslink cable currently going on.

We are using 25Mbps devices...

 

[paulski]

To be a member of the HDMI consortium you are require to pay a US$20,000 annual fee + US$10000 certification fee per device THEN royalties per unit.

Needless to say we will NOT be paying to be a member of this HDMI club.

DSD input via USB or natively embedded into SPDIF.

John

Crikey! I didn't know this but on reflection I suppose I'm not surprised. I didn't realise you could send DSD over USB, time for some more research....