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MDAC First Listen (part XXVIII)

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Just want to say had mine for 3 months now:
Dell XPS8700/Foobar WASAPI/Free USB cable from old printer/M-Dac/Cheap 5m QED interconnect/Prima Luna Prologue 2 integrated amp/Townsend Isolda/Rogers LS5/9

....and it sounds amazing, and I have no technical issues or questions whatsover,
thanks to the multitudes of threads here, mind you I have not touched firmware yet,
having already wasted days of my life sorting out firmware on various Chinese Digital Portable players.
Am using OT XD.

And no wish/desire to upgrade so I need to stop reading!

Just loving my 24/96 Needledrops!
 
PhilCTTE said:
Best amp I owned was a very reasonably priced Copland hi bred valve/solid state CSA515 uses 2 x ECC82. Rated at 125watts / 8 ohms. Problem was I regularly made it shutdown by playing it too loud.
I had it re-built after an accident with my youngest, and sold it during the repair, when it came back, wow it sounded good, lucid and lovely mids with open top end, wish I never let it go.

Must be getting close (50hours on MDAC) to giving the 8200mbs a proper audition. I'll reserve judgement until then.

Are you sure you gave them chance John ?

Its very obvious the improvements in bass , big powerful and controlled , no flabby mosfets or flappy valves here ! :)

Interestingly I've read of someone who salvaged the orig TMA 250mr transformers and popped them in the 8200mbs.. So in your opinion was the Tag Mclaren 250mr's over rated as well ?
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I upgraded to 8200MBs from the old 8000Ms & found the MBs to be more detailed, smoother, have more control & better bass, overall more enjoyable
 
fusion5 said:
Yes, thirteen :D

I was about to order four pieces but this guy on ebay was selling his remaining stock...

I'll send them over and you can use the remaining adopters for Tonyb or anyone else who is in need. Well, unless the quality isn't satisfying.
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That's generous of you Michael, thanks, however I already have my adapters. I'm not going to admit what I paid for them though, suffice it to say that they came in a jewelery box and have probably very thick gold on the pins! (some people just have the knack of getting things done cheap - not me!)
 
JohnW said:
I must say that Wintoid's MDAC sounds REALLY good - sadly it will be shipped out this evening, then back to Phils (Ex) standard Black MDAC :(
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Great, I thought you might have said after all those lovely fusion units that my toy unit just didn't compare. I've got a lot of listening to do!
 
Obi1 said:
I am actually using all channels, bi amping my front speakers, and using the fifth channel for my centre speaker when I feel like enjoying a movie. The M-DAC actually suits the Rotal as a glove IMO, bringing some wormth the the sound without loosing any details and not to forget dig out the last of the deepest bass without loosing the control. I love this combination in my system.
The old Rotel mono amps are now serving my surround speakers some much needed power.
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Nice!
 
fusion5 said:
Great! I should receive 13 Hicon HI-X3X3-FM any day now.

a_4312_otsi1.jpg
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Will you be testing them out against normal attenuators?

I can't remember if you said you had any to try?
 
I could send you mine to test. If you're at all interested.

They were made by John with ordinary 0.5w metal film resistors.

Interesting to see if there's an appreciable difference perhaps?
 
Thanks for the offer! Shipping to Germany could be quite expensive. Anyway, let's wait until John has finished the attenuators.

Arthur, did you compare your Adams with and without internal attenuation?
 
Aha...for some reason I thought you lived in Hampshire...?

I have checked the Adams with the gain in the middle ( that is removing the -10dB on the rear panel ) and it does seem to fill the bass out a bit...not too sure.

I'll be doing it all properly at the weekend to see what's what.
 
jirij said:
I came across a nice "song" I enjoy for both the bass line and the distorted sounds of an electric guitar, both very well represented even by my Toy MDAC. My usual listening levels on (balanced) headphones are around -20dB, but for this rather quiet song, I use -9 to -6dB, just to enjoy the sharpness of the guitar.

It's called Sonho Dourado by Daniel Lanois, I don't know if I can link it from youtube here, but it doesn't matter anyway as the youtube version is nowhere near the CD/flac version.
I really recommend it for bass-based relaxation. :)


There was a vinyl video of Old Time Rock 'n' Roll by Bob Seger which I used to demonstrate the audio quality dependency on video quality, as many friends didn't believe me, because it's not that apparent on vast majority of videos. I guess you need a special music signature to highlight the differences in whatever algorithms Youtube uses. On that video, it was not just subtle, but a whole different song for each of 240p, 360p, 480p and 720p. Too bad I can't find the video anymore. :( edit: found it, OfLu7EFWCnI
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4Sqjlyfb8U Nice one Jiri!
 
John, PFMers,

Last night I tried to "update" the firmware on my MDAC from A.10 to 0.90 but unfortunately in the middle of the process the MDAC suddenly went blank and the transfer got stuck around 19%. :(

I had no problems performing the update before several times, and don't know what might have happened. Maybe the controller is faulty... I remember John mentioned a long time ago about 2-3% of units had a problem that would prevent them from upgrading successfully.

If I try to power on the MDAC nothing happens (screen remains off), no clicking sound.

The unit is about 18 months old so I might be out of luck for a warranty repair; still I'm trying to contact the distributor to see what the options are. Anything else you that that you think I could try?

Thanks!
 
Does the computer still 'see' the MDAC if it's powered on? If so, just try to reflash.
 
ag66 said:
John, PFMers,

Last night I tried to "update" the firmware on my MDAC from A.10 to 0.90 but unfortunately in the middle of the process the MDAC suddenly went blank and the transfer got stuck around 19%. :(

I had no problems performing the update before several times, and don't know what might have happened. Maybe the controller is faulty... I remember John mentioned a long time ago about 2-3% of units had a problem that would prevent them from upgrading successfully.

If I try to power on the MDAC nothing happens (screen remains off), no clicking sound.

The unit is about 18 months old so I might be out of luck for a warranty repair; still I'm trying to contact the distributor to see what the options are. Anything else you that that you think I could try?

Thanks!
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There are a very few units which don't have the bootloader - but these would prevent any software being uploaded, so the fact that you have been able to upload firmware in the past says that this is not your issue.

There is protection to prevent "Bricking" a unit, the firmware is only transferred to the Memory once the upload process has been completed - so the fact it got stuck at 19% is very very odd indeed - no corruption should have occurred - It makes me wonder if your unit just so happened to have "Died" during the upgrade process - otherwise I'm at a lost to explain what's happened.

I can always take a look at your unit, but shipping to Czech Rep. is going to be retentively expensive - about GP 100 for both ways - so if your in the UK its might be best to return to the IAG service dept.
 
Thanks for the suggestion. I was lucky and the PC was able to "see" the MDAC and I was able to re-flash 0.9. :)

I still don't know what might have happened. Maybe a faulty USB cable. But all is good now.

So now it's back to waiting for MDAC2.

Thanks again!
 
JohnW said:
:D :p :D

Ohhh Somebody noticed :)

Well one things for sure, atleast your Bass is tight and firm like...

Heres a great live recording that I use to test that the systems Bass "gels" read as "times well", foot taping etc :) ...


Sadly is MP3 so you can hear the MD/HF getting"Messy" when it gets complex... but still a great recorded Bass line / drum kit, gets my little speakers going...
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Only tried via headphones as was late getting in...

Here's one of my favourites .. Fast paced great bass , pedal steel guitar, "Ted's Jam" by Robert Randolph and the Family band. Live at the Wetlands.

Not sure of quality via headphones , search you tube and spotify for different versions. Just noticed the D3E flashing on and off as it's locking between 16/24 bit

Just a thought but are we not supposed link music "needle drops" as per Tony,s request.

Removed you tube link , spotify wetlands version is so much cleaner btw.
 
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I suppose the MDAC Premium Fusion is still burning in, but my first impressions are:

- Such b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l mid range! This is something that can make a new country music fan out of a metal head :). It is just so natural and...analogue. I got goosebumps when listening to (women) singing. Even my wife says that.

- Highs are well integrated too. No sibilance problems or weird/forward sounding cymbals.

- Bass, most changes seems to happen there during burn-in, so no comment yet. The unit sounded a tad smooth/"less articulate" on the bass the first hours, but its already much better. Reverting back to my favorite firmware A.09 made a difference there too.

- Sound stage is amazing as well. Well, I already got quite wide sound stage to before the upgrade too. I was a bit worried about this "extra wide" sound stage everyone was talking about if it sounded stretched and unnatural on my setup, but everything seems to be fine. The reverberation and 3D space effects (if present in the song) are very believable and immersive.

- Its very hard to remember how the original M-DAC sounded, but in addition to the absolutely beautiful mid range there seems to be separation between the different instruments and maybe each instrument sounds kind of "bigger". I guess its just better all around now.

Loving it so far...and why would that change. Thanks John!
 
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