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amey01

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Well, got the M-DAC last week. Finally had an extended listen. It's fantstic! Really, it's better than the Naim DAC I was considering. I am using the Minimum Phase filter with D3E turned on, but I prefer Optimal Transient DD for piano. Some pics will follow...
 
Very cool. It's amazing what's coming out in the digital world these days. A few years ago, a DAC with those features would have cost about $2500, like the QB-9.
 
Hola... I am going to chime here. The specifications are very important, to me, it is a guide of the product design, and perhaps, quality. But, to listen it, it is a must!. I had listen many DACs with a price over $5000.00. And what I bought was a Benchmark DAC 1, a low price gear with outstanding sound. Now, the M-DAC smoked my DAC1. It is that good!. What I am getting through the DAC M, is a truly harmonic texture from musical instruments. It is my very first time, that I can stand a whole violin recording without any ear fatigue. The timbre is right and the size of the instruments too. I am playing AIFF format, with an Audirvana player, with a mac mini, usb (DHLabs) to the M-DAC and I am enjoying very much how fast I can get the music, and the quality of the sound that I am getting too. Impressive huge sound stage, like my CD-2 Bel Canto Transport. Amey is right. The sound is fantastic! Glad you liked too, Amey. Happy listening!
 
Congrats amey!! I'm looking at replacing my aging DLIII and the M-DAC is at the top of my list. Now, to find a place to audition it :)
 
Adam, glad to hear of the gains that have been recently made with respect to DAC's..........so that brings up a question....my six year old Carey CD 303/300 is it out dated ? will my redbook and SACD collection 'really' be audibly improved with the seperate DAC and transport route alot of you have taken ?
 
. It is my very first time, that I can stand a whole violin recording without any ear fatigue.

I find the biggest area of excellence is piano. A notoriously hard instrument to reproduce. I still won't be fooled into thinking that I have a Bösendorfer 290 in my listening room, but with the M-DAC it is a heck of a lot closer.
 
Adam, glad to hear of the gains that have been recently made with respect to DAC's..........so that brings up a question....my six year old Carey CD 303/300 is it out dated ? will my redbook and SACD collection 'really' be audibly improved with the seperate DAC and transport route alot of you have taken ?

Only you can answer that. But it is highly likely from what I am hearing.

Firstly - I only started using a DAC because my Squeezebox became my primary source. I'm not necessarily the blind type that thinks newer is better with digital kit - the DAC chip is only part of the equation, and no doubt the Cary has a brilliant analogue output stage, analogue circuitry, power supply, filtering, etc. But this M-DAC is absolutely amazing - regardless of the fact that it is "new". Seriously - have a listen to one and see for yourself.

The Naim DAC was brilliant a few years ago and I was about to buy one before I heard this. But this comprehensively out-performs it in most areas - funnily enough, it even out-performs it in "PRAT". Go figure?
 
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Yup, the piano is almost there, and the dynamic of it is breathtaking. Clean, transparent, window without glass, a truly listen too, does not break with the loud notes. You can understand what the left hand is doing vs right hand. The inner detail is awesome. I am glad that you are enjoying it as I am too. The decay of the musical notes are other thing that I do like it very much. The guitar is also very live like. It produces more harmonics than any other Dac even twice the price. The cymbals too are great! It sure is a very good product. Happy listening!
 
Here is a pic.

Yup Roberto - the guitar is amazing too. It really does comprehensively out-perform the Naim. The only areas where I think the Naim had a slight advantage were in absolute resolution, where it was slightly more precise. It is brighter too, if that is your thing. Not that I'd call the M-DAC dark - it was just a small difference I noted.
 

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I think that the M DAC offers the feature to have seven different digital filters, allowing this, to have the benefit to chosse a filter for a particular recording. Changes into the sound is somewhat difficult in some recordings, but in others is very evident. The trumpet and the trombone is very good, overall, wind instruments are repruduced very well. But, where I find this DAC very impressive is at the strings. Double bass and viloncello is where it shines to my ears. Happy listening
 
couple of questions amey....

are you connecting w coax between your squeezebox and M-Dac?
(duh - I just saw the picture!!)

What was your player before the squeezebox? (i.e. what cd player are you comparing the sound to?)

I have a terabyte external drive connected to my squeezebox connected via USB....Are there any known sound quality issues I should be aware of with this setup? thanks - tim.
 
Hola. I did try this past week end with a device that converts the USB from the computer to a SPDIF coax signal. This conversion allows the MDAC to get a fully 192KHz input signal. I am using AIFF audioformat only. Have some 320KHz MP3, but this is only for playing to the music for reading or hearing to it, not to listen it. The sound was a "Wow"!... Now I can use all type of frequency samples that were used for the particular song or album. Also, through the Auridvana virtual player, I can choose the option to have the same frequency that was used for this album or song. The Audirvana does an up-sample of the digital frequency, as an example, from 44.1KHz/16bit, I can get 96KHz/24bit. But I have notice that what I ears like is the double frequency, 88.2KHz/24bit, not 96KHz, and you can select this option too. 96KZ is good when you have 48KHz from a DVD. I just ordered one ULINK from Bel Canto: http://belcantodesign.com/Belcanto_uLink.html. Guys, this M-DAC has a lot of music quality to offer! This unit is challenging my Linn Sondek LP-12 turtable with my Sumiko Talisman S cartridge. It is really that good! Still, I am missing the stratch noisy surface, and the real dynamic sound of the LPs, but here is a truly challenger! The air between instruments, the right pitch, the right tonal balance, the performance of the musican(s) is right!. Analogue has it issues too. We all know that, and now I find myself learning how to listen to the music in a totally new way for my ears. It is a difficult task to enter into this digital world, but as I learned how to avoid the noise, and the missed track of the steely on some musical passages, or to have a very low rumble noise (LP-12 is one of the best in the market place even today). I am and still are an analogue man, and the analogue flaws, you can mentally suppress them, but this M-DAC is a very easy to use, well built, and incredible digital sound machine and again, for my very first time, I am enjoying digital sound this much!!! Happy listening!
 
one other note... or question for any of you... Has anyone heard the Rega DAC? This DAC seems to get good reviews as well -seems to be noted for its warm mid range and bass... Saw some threads between the M-Dac and the Rega - the consensus seems to be that the M-Dac is more detailed...more dynamic... The Rega has warmer mids and folks describe it as 'musical'... not as detailed as the M-dac... but may be more 'musical'... (whatever that really means)....

Anyway, has anyone here had a chance to hear the Rega? I think these two DACs would be my choices from what I have heard online..... how stupid does that sound?? :)
 
couple of questions amey....

are you connecting w coax between your squeezebox and M-Dac?
(duh - I just saw the picture!!)

What was your player before the squeezebox? (i.e. what cd player are you comparing the sound to?)

I have a terabyte external drive connected to my squeezebox connected via USB....Are there any known sound quality issues I should be aware of with this setup? thanks - tim.

I used a Musical Fidelity X-DACv3 before the M-DAC.

As for your HDD connection via USB, I'd be connecting by wi-fi or wired network with the hard disk in another room to ensure absolute silence in your listening room.

I've heard the Rega DAC, but didn't like it as much as the Naim. I can't comment further as the Naim was what I was going to get until I heard the M-DAC.
 
I used a Musical Fidelity X-DACv3 before the M-DAC.

As for your HDD connection via USB, I'd be connecting by wi-fi or wired network with the hard disk in another room to ensure absolute silence in your listening room.

I've heard the Rega DAC, but didn't like it as much as the Naim. I can't comment further as the Naim was what I was going to get until I heard the M-DAC.

Thanks -- that is a mini-review I guess...sort of like the 'kevin bacon game...' not sure if you know what that is... but basically you made the connection between the m-dac to the rega via the naim! :) Can you comment on what you liked better about the naim vs the rega - and what did you like better about the m-dac vs the naim? sorry if I missed the naim/m-dac comparison somewhere in the thread....
 
Thanks -- that is a mini-review I guess...sort of like the 'kevin bacon game...' not sure if you know what that is... but basically you made the connection between the m-dac to the rega via the naim! :) Can you comment on what you liked better about the naim vs the rega - and what did you like better about the m-dac vs the naim? sorry if I missed the naim/m-dac comparison somewhere in the thread....

It was a while ago now. I listened to the Naim and loved it. I heard the Rega informally. I wasn't really considering it seriously, but needless to say nothing grabbed me. I'm not an expert on the Rega sound - just that I didn't particularly like it. It certainly didn't have the detail and musicality that the Naim had.

As for the differences between the Naim and the M-DAC - have a look at post 7 and 9 in this thread.

The Naim is a great DAC and still out-performs the M-DAC in a few areas. But the M-DAC is that great that it holds its own in other areas.
 
I've been thinking about this DAC a lot since reading Adam and Roberto's comments here, but I also could not find it anywhere in the US. Has anyone found it anywhere here?
 
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