Maverick Audio DAC/Amp - Page 107

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Spanky_ 

I already have preordered. I'm thinking the tube output design goes a something like this:

 

Out of the DAC > Headphone Amp

                     > Direct Button (Enabled) > Tube > RCA Outputs

                     > Direct Button (Disabled) > Volume Pot > Tube > RCA Outputs

 

If think the difference you're experiencing may be the volume pot coloring the music. Keep in mind, this is just my logic guessing, nothing based on facts :)

 Wait what, did you pre-order via mail? I don't see any given link on his site yet.
 

Pre-ordering by mail??? Sorry but that's funny :) Nah, I talk a lot with Ryan and consider him a friend. He's acknowledged my desire to have an A1 Amp and that's all I'll say. He said he expects the first units to ship on the 10th so I would imagine pre-ordering for the masses will open up pretty soon but I may be wrong.

*EDIT*

Ryan put up the product page for the A1 so I would be expecting pre-ordering to happen soon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Spanky_ 

Preordering by mail??? Sorry but that's funny :) Nah, I talk a lot with Ryan and consider him a friend. He's acknowledged my desire to have an A1 Amp and that's all I'll say. He said he expects the first units to ship on the 10th so I would imagine pre-ordering for the masses will open up pretty soon but I may be wrong.

I actually forgot an "e" before the "mail", those nasty typos. Glad to hear that we can pre-order as well soon enough though.

Edit:
 

Yeah, just saw that as well.

Has anyone compared this to the Beresford TC-7520?  I can't read 107 pages....

It's kind of weird that it has one tube pre-amp and one non-tube output.  And that both have variable volume.  Would be nice if they both were tubed, and only the pre-amp had variable volume control.  Or maybe I'm missing something? 

I would love to hear my mackies with tubes though!

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhythmdevils 

It's kind of weird that it has one tube pre-amp and one non-tube output.  And that both have variable volume.  Would be nice if they both were tubed, and only the pre-amp had variable volume control.  Or maybe I'm missing something? 

Your first two sentences are correct. However, you can enable or disable the volume control on either tube or ss output via the "Direct" button.

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Spanky_ 

If think the difference you're experiencing may be the volume pot coloring the music. Keep in mind, this is just my logic guessing, nothing based on facts :)

That's what I was meaning with my no sense making post about the direct switch :)

Small update on my "Skyline" mod: I'm going to receive the OPA-EARTH and SUN pretty soon and will install them by socket stacking. I also received quite some requests for the mod via PMs so far, many of them asking if I also install the said opamps.

Yeah, I'll also order them for you and install them, they will be removed during the shipping phase though. I'm going to stock up on plexiglass and sockets, so I think I can mod the first A1 and D1 units in around 3 to 4 weeks.

I honestly didn't expect that much feedback on the mod.

@Ultrainferno

In my experience, it depends on what combination of opamp and/or tube you are using.  I have the LT1364 and 5670 windmill getter in mine right now, and the tube pre out clips like crazy with the "direct" button pressed.  It didn't with the base Chinese tube and stock opamp, or the LT1364 and the windmill getter.  I haven't tried the stock opamp and the windmill getter though.  I believe that different parts have different amounts of gain, and if the total gain is more than the board was designed to support, then it will clip.  I think that's why the "direct" button is there in the first place.

Good work on the casing mod. From my experience you might want to have a larger opening directly on top of the tube to keep the temp down as the new cover not a good heat conductor thus traping head inside case. If I were you I will add some vent at the side panel.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by reiserFS 

Alright, I've had the Skyline on for around 6 hours yesterday and it got barely warm and obviously hot over the tube ventilation. The OPA section was slightly warm and much of the additional heat was produced by the big caps, note that this was with around 30 Celsius in my room. One last thing to note is that the metal casing got really hot when compared to the plexiglass mod. I'll write up detailed information and a how-to guide later today.

To be exact,

Out of the DAC > Volume Pot -> Headphone Amp (opamp on the right)

                       > Direct Button (Enabled) -> gain stage (opamp on the center)

                              > SS RCA Outputs

                              > Tube stage -> Tube RCA output

                       > Direct Button (Disabled) > Volume Pot > gain stage (opamp on the center)

                              > SS RCA Output

                              > Tube stage -> Tube RCA Outputs

If direct sound better, likely it's just because of cheap vol pot out of the path.

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Spanky_ 

I already have preordered. I'm thinking the tube output design goes a something like this:

 

Out of the DAC > Headphone Amp

                     > Direct Button (Enabled) > Tube > RCA Outputs

                     > Direct Button (Disabled) > Volume Pot > Tube > RCA Outputs

 

If think the difference you're experiencing may be the volume pot coloring the music. Keep in mind, this is just my logic guessing, nothing based on facts :)

Mavwong, good explanation :)

reiserFS, did you order extension leads? I hope so because I'd like to know A. If it's possible to lay one down inside the stock shell and B. What kind of differences there are in the DAC vs LF353 and LT1364. The Earth is cheap enough, I would be interested in getting one for the DAC section.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mavwong 

Good work on the casing mod. From my experience you might want to have a larger opening directly on top of the tube to keep the temp down as the new cover not a good heat conductor thus traping head inside case. If I were you I will add some vent at the side panel.

 

 

 I'll probably do that on the A1, I've had a temperature meter measure it and it's only hot around the tube section and slightly warm around the OPAs. Side vents will be added once I install the HDAMs. Thanks for the great feedback, really helps making this mod even better.


 

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Spanky_ 

Mavwong, good explanation :)

 

reiserFS, did you order extension leads? I hope so because I'd like to know A. If it's possible to lay one down inside the stock shell and B. What kind of differences there are in the DAC vs LF353 and LT1364. The Earth is cheap enough, I would be interested in getting one for the DAC section.

Spanky, I didn't order extension lead because I'm doing the socket stacking, though a mate of mine has two extension leads left - I'll see what I can do about A. Judging by the size of the HDAM though, it will probably fit right behind the AC input as shown earlier in this thread. As for B, I don't own a LF353 but instead several LT1364s. I was planning to install the Earth into the DAC section anyway and the Sun into the headphone amp section, I'll keep you posted for comparisons between the Earth and LT1364 as both are known to be natural sounding.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by reiserFS 


Spanky, I didn't order extension lead because I'm doing the socket stacking, though a mate of mine has two extension leads left - I'll see what I can do about A. Judging by the size of the HDAM though, it will probably fit right behind the AC input as shown earlier in this thread. As for B, I don't own a LF353 but instead several LT1364s. I was planning to install the Earth into the DAC section anyway and the Sun into the headphone amp section, I'll keep you posted for comparisons between the Earth and LT1364 as both are known to be natural sounding.

 

You should have a LF353, they were the stock ones :) I did some rough measuring a while back and mocked up a cardboard tube that I thought was the size of the HDAM but I measured wrong and gave up but I think it should fit by the transformer. I would be cautious though and try and add some EMI protection to the HDAM. I'm definitely interested to see what you come up with :)

I think I have a solution for the tube heat with plexiglass but I'm not going to share just yet :)

*EDIT*

I was attempting to cut material for my case mod but the screw for the mandrel on my dremel broke so I have to get a new one which doesn't look like it's going to happen soon since I need cutting wheels anyway.

My case mod teaser:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/464376/website/audio/mav_plexi/v2/DSC07190.JPG

Also, I'm wondering if various people could get high-res pictures that include the whole inside of the D1 from a top-down view and also post your units serial number. I'm going to gather some info and compare them because I found one cap in the D1 that has been changed at least twice in different batches and in later ones it looks like it's being replaced with a WIMA cap:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/464376/head-fi/mav_condensed/Untitled-1.png

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Spanky_ 

You should have a LF353, they were the stock ones :) I did some rough measuring a while back and mocked up a cardboard tube that I thought was the size of the HDAM but I measured wrong and gave up but I think it should fit by the transformer. I would be cautious though and try and add some EMI protection to the HDAM. I'm definitely interested to see what you come up with :)

 

I think I have a solution for the tube heat with plexiglass but I'm not going to share just yet :)

 

*EDIT*

I was attempting to cut material for my case mod but the screw for the mandrel on my dremel broke so I have to get a new one which doesn't look like it's going to happen soon since I need cutting wheels anyway.

 

My case mod teaser:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/464376/website/audio/mav_plexi/v2/DSC07190.JPG

 

Also, I'm wondering if various people could get high-res pictures that include the whole inside of the D1 from a top-down view and also post your units serial number. I'm going to gather some info and compare them because I found one cap in the D1 that has been changed at least twice in different batches and in later ones it looks like it's being replaced with a WIMA cap:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/464376/head-fi/mav_condensed/Untitled-1.png

Now that looks quite sweet! On another note: I got my Audio-gd OPA-Earth and Sun today, they don't fit in at all without socket stacking, so I'll have to wait until mine arrive. They're quite huge, so I guess they will stick out around 1-2cm with the stacking.

Edit: You can ground the HDAM in the DAC section to the top right case screw, the HDAM in the AMP section to the bottom right case screw. The PCB screws are just out of range for the ground wires.

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Spanky_ 

Also, I'm wondering if various people could get high-res pictures that include the whole inside of the D1 from a top-down view and also post your units serial number. I'm going to gather some info and compare them because I found one cap in the D1 that has been changed at least twice in different batches and in later ones it looks like it's being replaced with a WIMA cap:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/464376/head-fi/mav_condensed/Untitled-1.png

Mine's the one on the left (with the blue cap) in that picture.

There's also an identical one on the other side of that jack (not visible in the picture).

Is the serial number the number on the sticker? I'm assuming, since that's the only number I can find......... Mine's 200912150078.