Musical Fidelity V-DAC Owners?

[anadin]

No I didn't buy What HiFi, next time ill make sure I do.

[koto-in]

Originally Posted by anadin

I would be interested to know what the other two DAC's where in the test.

King Rex UD-01
Project USB-Box

[anadin]

Thank you for the info koto-in.

[Calvin&Hobbes]

What's making the V-DAC extra attractive for those outside UK: 160GBP equals today to some 175 Euro. Add 25 GBP for secured mailing and you own one for 200 Euro (oh, and you need an adaptor plug: some 5 Euro). The V-DAC is easily available via internet shops.
For comparison the Cambridge DACmagic sells in UK for 200 GBP and cannot be purchased via the internet. In the Netherlands this DAC is sold for no less than 425 Euro.
Supposing the sound quality of these two DAC's would be equal, the choice is not hard to make. To cut this story short: I ordered a V-DAC and will report on it's qualities later.

[ADD]

I tend to agree with Greeni regarding MF digital stuff so I guess I am pretty cautious about the good impressions relating to this DAC.

I have also tended to find that MF stuff can sound great initially and goes very well in showroom auditions, but get it out into the real world for long term listening and sometimes it just isn't so good. I remember, for example, with my XCan V3, it sounded terrific against the competition in the showroom, but was pretty fatiguing when I really got down to serious long term listening. OK, so decent NOS valves solved that problem completely, but MF did not ship the units that way (for obvious reasons, but nevertheless, the inclusion of the horrible JAN Philips tubes was the way MF presented the product to the audiophile public). It's often actually the stuff that doesn't leave a big first impression which is much better to live with over the long term.

The other thing is that I am not a fan of oversampling. I've done lots of listening tests over the last couple of years and time and time again I've gotton the best impressions when the sampling rate is simply left untouched. Sure, the sound at first seems to be clearer, crisper and more "defined" with a sheen and incisiveness at the very extreme high end, but when it comes down to it, I have found it less faithful to the original source when it is heard on a top notch converter at the native sample rate.

Perhaps these 24-192 DACs might be less of a problem for me, since all my source material is 48 khz, 24 bit, so this DAC would integer upsample, but I imagine most people would be running CD sources into this. And in those instances (and to a lesser extent integer upsampling), I have found that acoustic instrument timbres take a bit of a beating and end up sounding a little thinner too as compared to simply processing the data at the native sample rate.

So for me it is a shame this DAC does not have a switch on it to turn the upsampling off, as is seen is some other DACS.

Anyway, I would be interested to see some decent up-close photos from those who now own one. I am rather tired of the single, MF-sourced picture of one proliferating over the internet.

[ADD]

Originally Posted by Calvin&Hobbes

What's making the V-DAC extra attractive for those outside UK: 160GBP equals today to some 175 Euro.

Yes, the pricing is attractive if I were to buy one from the UK. With current exchange rates, were I to buy one from the US, it would cost me around $550 to $600 Australian delivered. If I were to buy from the UK, it would cost me just over $300 Australian delivered.

Given that the V-Can is supposedly selling in Australia at an incredible $999 Australian (yes, I thought it was a joke too, but apprently it isn't) I wonder what it would cost to but it here!!!???

[Herandu]

Originally Posted by ADD

The other thing is that I am not a fan of oversampling. I've done lots of listening tests over the last couple of years and time and time again I've gotton the best impressions when the sampling rate is simply left untouched. Sure, the sound at first seems to be clearer, crisper and more "defined" with a sheen and incisiveness at the very extreme high end, but when it comes down to it, I have found it less faithful to the original source when it is heard on a top notch converter at the native sample rate.

I wouldn't say that it is the oversampling technology that makes it sound odd to some. I put it down to the design of the output stage that manufacturers bolt on to their oversampling DAC. The reason I write that is because I have managed to get all sorts of different audible results from an oversampling DAC by just modifying the output stage.
This leads me to conclude that most DAC designers know next to nothing about how music should sound. Those guys seem to be satisfied that their design produces some sort of audio output once power is applied to the DAC.

[fkclo]

Originally Posted by Herandu

I wouldn't say that it is the oversampling technology that makes it sound odd to some. I put it down to the design of the output stage that manufacturers bolt on to their oversampling DAC.

I feel the same too - the outage stage has more impact on how a DAC will / can sound, probably more than the choice of converters itself.

F. Lo

[The-One]

any first hand comparisons with the CA Dacmagic here? I live in the UK so price for me isn't as big a factor.

[MatsudaMan]

I've been listening to mine all afternoon and I have to say that I'm totally thrilled with it. Mp3's that once sounded thin and compressed have body and color that wasn't there before (listening via usb connection 320kbs mp3). I don't know if it's neutral, but it is just so lush and smooth - I like! With uncompressed Flac files through Foobar, the sound is absolutely immaculate - was just listening to some Reference Recordings from HDtracks and I'm just floored....awesome. So far, I have no problems with this puppy.

Overall, I'd say the sound signature is warm, while still being extended in the bass and treble - pretty bassy actually. While I haven't listened through my headphones cause I'm so happy with the sound out of my hi-fi rig, I'm pretty confident I'll be happy when I hook my headphone amp to it.

Oh yeah, Thank God I have such an awesome wife - she gave it to me for my B-day.

[tubes]

I jokingly call my wife an enabler, she lets me get whatever audio gear I want. Dont let em fool ya though, they get even with us in other ways and we know it but don't dare say anything for fear of screwing up our audio purchases, LOL, oh crap, the wife just told me she wants a new sofa, what the hell I think I'll get myself a new amp too!!

Phill

[dallan]

Originally Posted by tubes

I jokingly call my wife an enabler, she lets me get whatever audio gear I want. Dont let em fool ya though, they get even with us in other ways and we know it but don't dare say anything for fear of screwing up our audio purchases, LOL, oh crap, the wife just told me she wants a new sofa, what the hell I think I'll get myself a new amp too!!

Phill

^That sounds way to familiar!

[MatsudaMan]

btw, I hooked up the v-dac to my x-10 v3 = sounds awesome. Oh yeah, also hooked my arcam cd73 to it via spidif....still can't decide which I like better. The v-dac is more lush and sweeter than the arcam dac. The Arcam is a little more detailed, but thinner and brighter. I have to say that I'm leaning towards the v-dac, which means I got two upgrades out of it! Also cool because I get tube sound through both computer and cd - sweet!

[ADD]

I will ask again Photos anyone please? And what is the build quality like?

[MatsudaMan]

The build quality is very solid and understated. I don't think it looks great by any means, but it feels like it's built like a tank.