Musiland Monitor 01 USD 24/192 USB to SPDIF - Page 7

Very interesting device! And it looks cool too!

I bought this gadget from Jeffrey Tam's "coolfungadget" ebay site, and I am delighted to confirm bit-perfect transfer ability at 24/88 and 24/96. Here was the setup:

Monitor 01 USD connected via supplied USB cable to HP nc8430 laptop running XP Pro SP3. Updated the Monitor's driver to the latest version off their Website (this one gives you English legends in the control panel, the one on the CD is Chinese legends).

The Musiland S/PDIF Out (coax) connected to S/PDIF In of an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 PCI card. The latter was in a Dell Optiplex 755 running XP Pro SP3.

On the laptop I used the version of foobar2000 that was supplied on the Musiland driver CD. I also copied the foo_out_ks.dll on the CD to the foobar components directory. Then configured foobar to use the KS : Monitor 01 (USB) Series output. Set output data format to 32-bit (24-bit gave an error and would not play). Disabled all processing in the foobar Output screens.

I then set the latest version of Goldwave up to record on the Dell, selecting the M-Audio's S/PDIF Input as recording device, and started recording. I then played 24/96 and 24/88 WAV, FLAC or WV files in foobar on the laptop, recording them in Goldwave and saving to Raw (binary) output files.

I also used Goldwave to convert the original source clips to Raw files. (I confirmed that Goldwave was not corrupting the bits on the conversion, by reconverting back to the original formats and doing checksums.)

In order to compare the source and recorded clips, I first converted the raw files to numerical text files using a little C program I wrote which simply reads in 3 bytes at a time and then prints the values as integer text, one sample per line.

The only problem now, was that the recorded versions were of course always longer than the originals, due to silence at the beginning and end of the recorded versions (the time it took me to hit the foobar Play button after beginnning a recording, and the time it took me to stop the recording after the clip was done playing). But this was trivial, because the samples at the beginning and end of the dubbed text files were all zeroes. Using an editor I simply deleted these zero lines, leaving just the audio sample data. I then saved this text file, then did checksums of the original and dubbed data.... perfect!

A few notes:

1. I could not get bit-perfect going through the standard Wave (DirectSound) driver, nearly every sample had been mucked with.
2. I could not get bit-perfect with the foobar ASIO driver. Interestingly, in my setup, the first 4096 samples were corrupted; but the remaining sampled were bit-perfect. Using the latest foo_out_asio.dlll from the foobar website made no difference.
3. The volume control sliders in the Musiland control panel are still operative even in KS or ASIO mode. So of course be sure they are always maxed for bit-perfect transfers.
4. With the Musiland connected to my laptop, going into standby and coming out causes the video to disappear,screen blank. I must do a hard powerdown/up to resolve. Disconnecting the USB cable before entering standby solves the problem. AT Jeffrey's suggestion I will update my BIOS and power management drivers in hopes of resolving.

My eventual use of the Musliand is to feed as-yet-to-be-purchased Meridian digital active loudspeakers (which only accept S/PDIF coax in), thus having a nice high-definition audio system comprised of only two speakers and a computer.

I got superb technical support from Jeffrey from the moment I bought the item. I was new to foobar, kernel streaming, etc and he helped me get up to speed. He says the ASIO should also be bit-perfect; could be my setup.

Cheers,
eventius

Excellent I really enjoy mine also might give up the Bel Canto unit

eventius: excellent news!!!

Would you have a chance to identify the capacitors that are in the unit?

It is true. I've confirmed that.

It is async.

For 16/48, you can say most bits are perfect whatever driver you use.

For 24/192:
Using foobar with DS, it's not bit-perfect, even if you maximize all volumes.
Using KS, it is bit-perfect.
using ASIO, the first piece of data is not perfect. The following data is bit-perfect. Some devices may not lock on 24/192.

So, KS is recommended for this sound card.

Guess I can help you with that. PM me please.

Async is good! as long as its properly implemented. Takes away the hassle of messing with the computer config too much.

Never heard of this before, do you know why its doing this? How often this "first piece of data" occurs? (every time you hit play, every time it switches songs, etc). Maybe this is how they designed their custom driver. Can you (or someone) try the USB-Audio ASIO driver with it and see if its possible use it instead of Musiland's driver? There is a trial version of it that beeps every 30 seconds, but otherwise should be fine.

Also, I noticed on eBay that there is a "2009 version" of this converter that seems to add "independent control unit MU1010". No idea what it is and what difference will it make (if any).

Monitor 02 model on Musiland web site with added features

The monitor 02 version has a power supply built in which must be an upgrade from taking the power from the usb connection which I assume the 01 does as I can't see any power cable in the photos of the unit, also the 02 version includes a headphone amp which may be useful for some installations with connections for low and high sensitivity headphones, the output is rather limited 50mw but should be ok for sensitive not too load demanding headphones, and the box is a little better, the only downside I can see is the price which is around double that of the 01, however the price is still relatively cheap, its presently showing on a ebay site for around £100 (UK pounds), anyone tried one of these yet?

confirmed how? asking or SEEING/trying yourself with known working 192k parts?

I rarely ask ebay sellers anything that is 'hard'. they are salesman. they don't know.

have you DONE the experiment yourself?

I am pretty sure it won't work because Musiland is using their proprietary USB chipset in this sound card.

There is only one version of Monitor01 USD and it is using a MU1010/MU6010 chipset with is developed by themselves.

Can the attached pictures prove something?

ah, ok, real data on a device. good

just was checking it wasn't just some guys word who wants to sell these

The price is $150 and £88...

Another good thing for Monitor 02 US is it takes wide voltage 85-240v.

jtam you a dealer/seller of this product?