Musical Fidelity V-DAC Owners? - Page 21

He's considering making a cheaper version of the little pinkie for the x series, i posted on rock grotto the suggestion to make the little pinkie for the v-dac.

Although only in the thought stage for Mike at this time as his post states for any new power supply. I would think that having the ability to switch out plugs to accomadate the v-dac or use it on the x-can v3 in my case, would lead me to purchase another little pinkie as I would probably want them on both.

As a new owner I am quite happy with the output from the v-dac from my macbook pro under windows with foobar and asio setting things up using wasapi digital out through optical to the vdac.

Waiting for the x-can v3 mods and some russian tubes and my own little pinkie to sweeten things up even more. Definitely would try an upgraded power supply if it was available, or even some report back on powering the v-dac with a motorcycle battery as mentioned in a previous post.

My understanding is that the current Pinkie provides AC power to the X-Can, whereas the V-DAC is 12 volts DC. So probably not so simple.

Yep, you're right. Hopefully there will be a DC version of the Pinkie in the near future.

does anyone know more about the upcoming v-psu?
is it likely to be linear? (or switch mode)
will the output current be higher than the 500Ma of the stock unit?

if the answers are yes, wouldnt a cheaper unit from RS be just as big an improvement?

Hi im using the stock PSU with my V-DAC, im clueless about premium power supplies, do they really make a difference? or is the camp split on that one?

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/re...01-psu-391485/

Thanks brandnewgame, very good link

Update on V-Dac

(see my previous posts for first impressions)

After a few weeks of continued listening, I am ready to say that this component will not be staying. I think it is a great entry level product with excellent bang for the buck - but in my system I can detect an artificial excitement and edginess added to the sound that masks naturalness, and that is clouding my enjoyment of the music. Please understand that this is my own opinion with use in my own system (optical out from AE) - not an affront to those who are undeniably enjoying the unit. YMMV.

Just wondering what components your using with the V-DAC. It is true that an entry level dac's faults may very well be revealed with a transparent system.

I'm going to be getting some spendor s5e's in the mail soon and will update my impressions.

Thanks very much for your opinion - it is greatly appreciated.

What's the final word on the Prat that was discussed earlier in this thread? Do the V-Dac have Prat problem? And will a better PSU fix it?

Sorry if i'm asking questions that have been answered..

My humble opinion: the V-dac has much less of a Prat issue of some other MF I heard. It is not the most engaging I heard nor does it exactly get my toe tapping, but is more than acceptable, particularly considering the caliber of components the V-dac is likely to partner with. It do less well than the over-achieving Valab in this department but is easily forgiven for its other strengths. Plus, the tonality of this budget dac is amongst the best of MF I came across, and actually surpass some other more expensive MF models. I no longer have my old $6.5 K MF Trivista SACD player for comparison, but I got the impression that the V-dac actually better the Trivista in these departments. Now there is no reason to buy the expensive MF gears.

Like vicvega1972 I did not keep my V-dac neither, because I am more into the subdue musicality of the Valab. That said, I can easily see why someone would have a different take on the preference.

Dam, I've been following your posts and was hoping you would have it by now.
I'm also interested in buying the V-DAC from an Oz supplier. Can you let me know who and where they are and current priceing?. (I'm in Adelaide BTW)

It was supposed to be in the hands of the Australian Importer (Audio Marketing based in Sydney) on this Monday just gone (9th February). Apparently Len Wallis Audio in Sydney was supposed to getting them by Wednesday but I have not heard back from them.

I have sort of gotton a bit tired of chasing this product up with Len Wallis Audio (I keep getting told "two weeks") as I have been trying to get updates ever since I knew the V-DAC was coming to Australia. Possibly they are sick of hearing from me but neverthless I have been a genuinely interested customer and dealing with potential customers is supposed to be their job.

Retail price is supposed to be $499 AUD which is pretty reasonable I think. Even the ones that have been going on eBay are no better priced (and now uncompetitively priced) to Aussies.

To tell the truth, the long wait, coupled with my feeling that the dealer (Len Wallis) isn't really being as proactive as I wouldhave liked, together with my growing suspicions that this product is possibly no better than mediocre have started to dampen my enthusiasm a bit.

There have now been four professional magazine reviews that have garnered praise over the DACMagic and seemingly only that German magazine thinks the V-DAC is a winner. Then I look at the people here who have bought the V-DAC, given us very insightful and thoughtful feedback and have ended up parting with their V-DACs. All of the above indicators are not terribly encouraging and it is making me wonder if it is worth the 5 hour return trip and the associated costs in terms of fuel and road tolls to audition the thing (not to mention my concerns about lugging around a couple of grand's worth of head-fi gear in public so to speak).

You can of course enquire about the V-DAC yourself if you like I am not sure what dealers in Adelaide / SA might have it but you could always ring Audio Marketing and ask them for the names of dealers. Len Wallis do sell by mail order too, though this seems to be one product where an extended audition prior to purchase is mandatory for post sales satisfaction.

If you find anything out please let us know - I am sure there are quite a few Aussies interested in this thing but I think I am becoming more and more interested in the DACMAgic instead.

UK magazine review:

Musical Fidelity V-DAC review - whathifi.com

Cambridge Audio DacMagic review - whathifi.com