Musical Fidelity V-DAC Owners? - Page 8

I'd like to hear what anyone else has to say about this aspect of the dac.

Thanx.

Go back and read many of the posts in this thread and you'll see that others have also elaborated on this aspect of the V-DAC. Have fun reading.

My impressions of the V-DAC

I am new to this forum but have been researching it for a while and bought the V-DAC as an experiment. I have a Musiland MD10 which I have used and enjoyed for the past two years. The V-DAC in comparison is considerably smoother in the upper frequencies. Female voices sound less harsh/ grainy with just as much detail. Overall, the sound is mellower and warmer than the MD10. I would also say the V-DAC is deeper (or more three dimensional) although maybe not as wide a soundstage as the MD10. The MD10 certainly is good, it may have slightly better bass but the overall smoothness of the V-DAC is what will make me keep it around over the MD10. I can listen to this with somewhat less fatigue. My setup is ripped lossless via USB to the V-DAC to an Adcom 565 pre, Carver TFM-15CB amp and ESS speakers. I also listen with Grado SR80's thru the Adcom. I am looking to upgrade all of this around the V-DAC someday (Maybe not the Adcom, it's nice).

Does anyone recommend getting a good soundcard to allow toslink connection rather than the USB, and why if so?

Pulled the trigger on the MF V-DAC!

I reviewed a DACMagic and V-DAC side by side at the dealership with my old man, and it wasn't a hard decision at all - the V-DAC sounded superior to both of us. What was immediately obvious was that the V-DAC was a quieter unit, with a blacker background, and an inherent musicality that we felt the DACMagic lacked (a bit like the CA 840C). So I bought it.

It's been burning-in for about 5 days non-stop so far, and I've done a couple of A-B comparisons (using a Cambridge Audio 640C's built-in DAC for comparison). The V-DAC is not the last word in soundstage, but my word, how it handles large-scale, multi-layered music! The 640C is great for a budget CDP, but isn't as good as seperating vocals from the rest of the orchestra/band; in that respect the V-DAC is very satisfying.

Buying the V-DAC makes me want to get better headphones.
I'm very, very happy with it.

dacmagic vs v-dac

Thanks: Impressions of side-by-side comparisons are useful to me.

PRaT

I reviewed the thead and found a few additional comments, but I dont think they commented on the dacs ability to be involving (or to cause toes to tap, which youve singled out as the physical correlatve of PRaT). I have however downloaded the Martin Collums article; perhaps if I am clearer on the concept, I can ask the questions I want to ask.

Hey, congrats on getting the V-DAC. I'm listening to mine right now (Sibelius violin concerto). I just love the sound of the violin through this thing. Indeed, the V-DAC is awesome at working out complex musical textures. You should hear it with big orchestral works like Mahler and Richard Strauss (if you already haven't) - nothing get's lost in the mix.

Thanks a lot for giving us this head-to-head review vs. the Cambridge DacMagic. Interesting to hear. I had a an old Cambridge D500se that was great but not the best for large-scale music.

Have fun breaking it in.

Shame to hear the issue with PRaT, it is quite important to portray the rhythm of the music correctly. Although most everything else sounds good about this DAC, nonetheless the search goes on...

The "PRAT" will come just be patient, i've had my V-DAC for over 6 weeks now and this thing is still not finished "cooking burning-in".

This DAC gets more dynamic as time goes on believe me.

What equipment are you using with your new dac?

I have mine now for roughly 2 weeks and it is burned in with ~100h.

I use it via Coax from the Wadia iTransport into a ATH HA 5000 Amp.
HP used so far are the ATH W5000 and the JVC DX1000.

I have to say that I am very happy with it. It has a slightly warm, lush and smooth signature with still lots of details.
It also has a rich mid range which helps with the DX1000 which sometimes I find a slightly bit dry in the mids.
All this should be taken with care as I find differences between digital source when implemented properly to be very fine (not comparable to differences in HPs).

I have been mainly listening to small jazz combos and I find the VDAC to be toe tapping enough to not be too much concerned with any potential PRAT issues yet.


I have not done any side by side comparison with my Pico yet but as of now I would be surprised if I would find out that I like the Pico more as a DAC than this one.

At 160 GBP I find this one a bargain so far. Let's see how this develops as time goes by...

My current headphone Amp is a Graham Slee Solo W/ PSU1.

Headphones to date are Sony MDR-SA5000, Ultrasone Pro 900 and the Beyer DT880 '05/250.

Nice gear you have there anadin.

Hello. On the VDAC, do you have to hit a switch to choose between USB and coax inputs? Is the DacMagic the same (in other words, excuse my ignorance, but they don't switch themselves when input is presented with streams, and neither has remotes).

Yes it is manual switching, kinda makes the small formfactor not so usefull since it will need to be placed where you can reach the switch rather than being hidden behind your stack. Switches in front and cables in back has worked so well for so long.