Musical Fidelity V-DAC Owners? - Page 18

" Hi, i just throught id try the optical in to my V-Dac but im getting really loud clicking. I've got the Transport as my XBox360 with optical out going into the V-Dac, does anyone know what this clicking is?"

V-Dac can only decode two channel sources. If you are trying to output sound in dts or dolby digital, you will get clicking noise. Did you check that the xbox is outputting sound in analogue mode instead of bitstream?

Ah, that sounds like a good suggestion, il check the settings on my xbox
Thanks for the help

It's amazing what a source can do! The V-dAC really excels in the tonality department - things just sound right and so pleasing. Things that used to sound flat and uninteresting all of a sudden have a certain complexity to the sound. BTW, welcome to club VDAC.

VDAC and iTransport

I am using my VDAC with the Wadia iTransport via Coax and am wondering if I can even further improve the sound with adding a so called "jitter killer".
In the past the iTransport has been reported to have a reasonable high jitter and some people with their DACs seem to have seen improvements when adding a "jitter killer" (e.g. Monarchy Audio DIP).

However I am wondering what kind of "jitter reduction" the VDAC already employs and if as such the additional effect of a jitter killer would still be significant (or existing at all) in case of the VDAC. This will probably depend on the receiver chip that processes the Coax input.

And as a side question, the manual of the VDAC states a jitter of 170ps (I think as I don't have the manual in front of me now). I wonder if that is the jitter presented internally to the DAC chip, no matter the amount of the input jitter? Or how is that figure to be understood?

Thanks a lot for your support as always

v-dac and linux

Hi, I'm really interested in V-DAC, but there is one important (at least for me ) thing that I haven't seen mentioned in this thread yet. Does it work well with Linux?

Thanks!

I'm using it with Linux. Works perfectly, out of the box. I've only tested it with Ubuntu 8.10, but since all distributions are basically made of the same components, any modern distribution should do.

I'm this close to pulling the trigger on buying V-DAC. just thinking should I take V-DAC or Valab.. Hard choices when You can't test them before buying, at least not Valab.

Great! Thanks!

Well the Hi-Fi World review was not as positive as I'd hoped. Although they said the V-Dac was great for it's price, it was nevertheless an entry-level DAC that sounded like an entry-level DAC, and was only suitable as an upgrade for cheap CD and DVD players. I think my Musical Fidelity amp deserves something better. The Cambridge Audio DacMagic has now had glowing reviews in 3 of the UK's hi-fi magazines, so I think I'm going to go for that one instead. Ideally, of course, I would have auditioned both and decided for myself but unfortunately this is not possible. Hence I am relying on the reviews.

You can always sell Your V-DAC to someone, for example, me

You have to remember that these ($200, give or take $100) are really entry level DACs. There are the ones that have more bang-for-the-buck factor, but in the end of the day, they are still entry level DACs. The reason why I am looking for a DAC in this price range is to replace onboard soundcard in my puter. For that, these DACs do more than enough.

And it is very unfortunate for us who can't review/test drive before buying that we have to rely on reviews. I for one do not read "professional" reviews like What Hi-Fi or any other. I read forums like these and get some real user reviews, even though they may lack detail, have ownership colored opinions and lack "professional" terms etc.

I don't meen to push You deeper in Your misery But as someone said, there are no real giant-killers out there.

I have the vdac and have compared it extensively against Arcam cd73 and it beats it hands down. I'm just wondering what they mean by cheap cd player? Anything under 1K? If that's cheap than I will admit that the vdac probably doesn't beat your typical 1K cd player. However, reading about this "entry level" shmentry level crud gets so so annoying. Please don't simply rely on this British Hifi rag stuff. Listen to actual user reviews and comparisons. All the hifi rags across the pond have been gushing about cambridge stuff for years and I have know idea why - having owned quite a few products.

In the end you will not be rewarded by the reviews but rather the sound of the product. Good luck.

*cough* marketing money *cough*

Matsudaman does good job selling average product. Good salesman. It took little boy to mention he could not see the Emperor's new clothes.
I am a fish trader so I know all about selling old fish as freshly caught. There is one born every day. Matsudaman would make good fish trader and put me out of business.

I guess there are those that trust the hi-fi press and those that don't. I don't have much faith in What Hi-Fi but I've relied on Hi-Fi Choice before and not been dissapointed. I don't believe that marketing money has any effect on a comparitive review in a reputable magazine... such a magazine would not survive very long. Readers will eventually realise that the products they are buying do not live up to the glowing reviews. As for British hi-fi magazines raving about Cambridge stuff, I've seen a few recent group-tests where the Cambridge product was not the winner.

I believe what matters is do You like the DAC or not. If it sounds great and fits into your system, who the fcuk cares what hifi magazines write What comes to Dacmagic, my impression is that it is overmarketed and hyped (if those are real words..). It can be good, but it isn't the only dac in that price range. what comes to user reviews, it ain't the best either.