misterdog
Not the canine kind
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MDAC First Listen (part XXIX)
- Thread starter Asphaltradler
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JohnW
pfm member
Have to add Vat to the UK Farnell Price (Whats UK Vat Now)?, but then I also need to order the 5W XLR connectors so it looks like a Farnell order is the best option.
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The Surface mount version being so none descript tiny light blue "things"
hard to justify there expense from looks alone not that its normal to care how individual components appear
. Gosh did I just say that!!! SAD!!! I do need to get out of the lab more![/QUOTE]
Maybe
Maybe
Wilky
pfm Member
PCB been issued and now in production - with any luck the bare board should be back on Friday - just before the Christmas shutdown - Guess I'll be building and testing the board over Christmas
Now that the PCB been issued I'm back working on the VERY last of the MDAC updates - while trying keep myself awake working on these units - I discovered Ben Poole on Youtube:-
Pretty good recording considering Youtube Audio compression....
F***ing amazing! I loved his playing I really loved his playing! -Jeff Beck
A Really great player! -Gary Moore
This is a young man to look out for as he is no doubt a rising talent and should be supported when he comes to a local venue. -Blues Matters Magazine
http://www.benpooleband.com/bio/
Hi John.
Saw him and his band earlier this year at a little Blues gig near me.
He's back in April 2014 so I'll grab you a signed cd and post it over to you.
Dave.
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UK VAT on this type of product 20%.
misterdog
Not the canine kind
Or do the manufacturers in Taiwan make a generic version ?
Still cheaper than Vishay resistors though .
misterdog
Not the canine kind
JohnW
pfm member
Michael (Fusion)
Your attenuators will be sent tomorrow - Hopefully they will arrive with you before Christmas.
I'm very VRY sorry for the delay I need to complete the prototype MDAC2 analogue stage PCB which has taken longer then planned.
I didn't listen to the attenuators as I only have standard MDAC ATM - So looking forward to your feedback. I did test them with an audio analyser and they are very well matched to within 0.01dB (The Vishay bulk foils are well matched).
I suggest not trying to open them as I had great problems trying to prevent the internal Resistors and wiring shorting out - the " Body Barrel" is shorter then the Rothwell body and things get a little cramped internally.
TonyB, I'll wait for feedback from Michael before deciding how to proceed with your if thats OK with you
Your attenuators will be sent tomorrow - Hopefully they will arrive with you before Christmas.
I'm very VRY sorry for the delay I need to complete the prototype MDAC2 analogue stage PCB which has taken longer then planned.
I didn't listen to the attenuators as I only have standard MDAC ATM - So looking forward to your feedback. I did test them with an audio analyser and they are very well matched to within 0.01dB (The Vishay bulk foils are well matched).
I suggest not trying to open them as I had great problems trying to prevent the internal Resistors and wiring shorting out - the " Body Barrel" is shorter then the Rothwell body and things get a little cramped internally.
TonyB, I'll wait for feedback from Michael before deciding how to proceed with your if thats OK with you
JohnW
pfm member
Cables? I would not trust the metal purity with Asian made cables - too hard to quality control, the copper could be mixed with impurity's and I'd be non the wiser!
JohnW
pfm member
Thank you for searching, the cable in the link is more for digital signals then Analogue - the Chord and Van Damme look promising, and the Van Damme is very decently priced
JohnW
pfm member
Thanks... I remember the days of 5%...
JohnW
pfm member
Dave,
I do envoy you, I so miss decent live music.... HK (before the handover), US and the UK have a great live music scene... Czechs are sadly not into Live bands - although I did missed Ben when he apparently played here last year! Prague's a good 700km return trip so we don't often visit as much as we would like...
Well, aside from local shows featuring local bands, there are these once-a-year festivals during the summer, like Colours of Ostrava, which I highly recommend, Masters of Rock, and a lot more.
National artists also tend to tour across the country.
The live performance thing might not be as global or as vast as in the UK, but it's certainly there, if one knows where to look for it.
misterdog
Not the canine kind
On the Farnell spec. sheet Taiwan is listed as the country of of manufacture for the Van Damme cable.
JohnW
pfm member
your right.... Now I understand your post... I've not been able to find any information on where Canare manufacture there Star Quad cable...I stand by my comments about problems with constancy with "Hidden" specifications such as the purity of copper... Its typical to use more then the allowed "recycled" copper... manufacturing waste product put back into big old melting pot...
We constantly had problems - purity of Aluminium for extrusions, poor ejection moulding plastic.... too much temptation to reduce waste... I'd have to be physically present during the extrusion process to insure only new Aluminium ingots where dropped into the pot...
Well, I've got samples of Surface mount Vishay resistors which are cheaper then the leaded versions.
The Small Blue devices are the Surface mount versions - compared to the larger thou-hole device on the right.
My concern is that they are physically smaller - OTOH they are Surface mounted, so directly soldered to the PCB thus reducing the number of Metal to Metal transition layers - so maybe offsetting any sonic disadvantage due to there size.
I plan to listen to both variants when I build up the prototype PCB.
Possibly:
- smaller so better control/understanding of where current flow is on a populated pcb
- less opportunity to create pickup loops (tighter, smaller pickup loops)
The smd versions somehow feel more 'right' to me as a useable component. All the other components on the board are small and compact, giving small compact circuit layouts.
JohnW
pfm member
Yes I agree, in fact its why the vast majority of my designs are based on SMD technology.
However in the case of the Vishay Bulk foil there's a little more to my concern, Bruce the Audio Precision founder and designer measured surprisingly high "thermal" distortion with the Vishay Bulk foils - although also the lowest Voltage modulation distortion... So based upon his findings I'm just "simply" guessing that a device with a higher thermal mass might result in lower thermal modulation effects - maybe one could argue that the SMD device soldered directly on to a PCB has the highest thermal mass... and with this thought is where I'll fall back onto listening tests as it will "boil" down to time constants (no pun intended)
fusion5
on the dark side of hifi...
Michael (Fusion)
Your attenuators will be sent tomorrow - Hopefully they will arrive with you before Christmas.
I'm very VRY sorry for the delay I need to complete the prototype MDAC2 analogue stage PCB which has taken longer then planned.
I didn't listen to the attenuators as I only have standard MDAC ATM - So looking forward to your feedback. I did test them with an audio analyser and they are very well matched to within 0.01dB (The Vishay bulk foils are well matched).
I suggest not trying to open them as I had great problems trying to prevent the internal Resistors and wiring shorting out - the " Body Barrel" is shorter then the Rothwell body and things get a little cramped internally.
TonyB, I'll wait for feedback from Michael before deciding how to proceed with your if thats OK with you
John,
Thank you very much! Knowing how much work you have to do I didn't expect them to be finished until January. What a nice surprise!
I'm very excited about the latest MDAC2 news. Can't wait to hear it!
Michael
Yes I agree, in fact its why the vast majority of my designs are based on SMD technology.
However in the case of the Vishay Bulk foil there's a little more to my concern, Bruce the Audio Precision founder and designer measured surprisingly high "thermal" distortion with the Vishay Bulk foils - although also the lowest Voltage modulation distortion... So based upon his findings I'm just "simply" guessing that a device with a higher thermal mass might result in lower thermal modulation effects - maybe one could argue that the SMD device soldered directly on to a PCB has the highest thermal mass... and with this thought is where I'll fall back onto listening tests as it will "boil" down to time constants (no pun intended)
OK.
The resistors that you're intending to make bulk foil
- what sort of power are they going to dissipate?
- ie. how great is the self-heating effect?
If it's relatively low, then thermal distortion will primarily be due to the environmental temperature within the case
(maybe that's a contributing factor to sound quality with the pcb in the case or out of the case (this is not really meant seriously and is intended only as a very tenuous link))
JohnW
pfm member
Renata's just returned from posting them to you so they are on there way - interested in your feedback
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