Musiland MD11 to be released - Page 4

please note, the new firmware and drivers do not resolve the power button issue. Although it's minor (and worst case you may have to restart it once-twice (never had to twice)) it still occasionally happens.

I'd also be quite interested in measuring the DC offset on the HP Out. I suspect it's not 0.00 and could be the 70mv we see on the line out http://www.rock-grotto.co.uk/dcoffset.htm Problematically, I no longer own a multimeter lol http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/headphones/18404-how-much-dc-offset-allowed-headphone-amp.html http://tangentsoft.net/audio/input-cap.html.

Hello! This MD11 looks very interesting to me. I found the MD11's specification on several sites and I read here that MD11 has some nasty firmware/software problems at the moment, but I couldn't find any relevant information about the sounding in overall. Only audiophile china is telling you "it sounds EXCELLENT".

I am really curious about its sounding (after burn in) compared to a Matrix Mini-i or to a YULONG D100. I am hesitating between this dac and the matrix mini-i, which is the better idea to get.. because they are almost at the same price.

seeing how MD11 has a crapload of bugs described above (+ some AC noise issues that I don't get, but others in the musiland bbs report) and my Yulong D100 died recently (and also has its fair share of bugs and quirks), I can't really recommend either .

MD11 has slightly rolled off highs (-3db @ 20khz? look at the RMAA) compared to D100. Consequently, it sounds fuller,less harsh and you may perceive it as less detailed.
Edited by svyr - 3/2/11 at 12:40am

Thanks for the information.

I found this thread very useful, finally I've ordered the Matrix Mini-i, I hope I can grab it this week.

I hope you have a better time with it than I had with D100 or MD11

 

Thanks (d100), but as for MD11, mmm not really firmware - firmware won't fix:
1) DC offset on line out, making it ill-suited for directly coupled things connected to line out (e.g some stax amps). - You could be cool and either void the warranty to add some caps to the outputs, or put in caps in-cable , but um, not really great solutions.
2) faulty power buttons, or
3) strange grounding or ac filtering noise. or
4) the dearest engineering gents grounding the front panel ('pro-tip:' hold it as you plug in the usb cable for 500ma funtimes, preferably with wet hands) or (also nice for testing to spec implementation on your usb hub or MB ports, and possibly power adapter safety features if it's a powered hub, lol?)
5) overheating problems as well - the unit froze and played up on the 40 deg days (seems like no one rates their equipment to + 45 degrees *C these days...)

at some point i'll also measure DC offset on the HP outs, I bet it's also 70mv like on line out...(well above the generally considered 20mv max 'tolerable')

So no, it needs both a redesign, better quality components an a better release manager for the firmware/drivers (a - testing, b - change logs, delaying release until usable firmware and drivers). Still, by the looks of it they've managed to make the firmware/drivers ok a while back. (v2.0ish and 1.0.30).

Also, keep in mind that I paid $400 incl shipping for this sh!t

lovely idea to make the highs rolled off though. I like it that way since all my HP are bright (-3db @ 20k)


It would be interesting to know why MD30 has been repeatedly delayed. I hope it's for reasons of fixing the design, fw/drivers and parts issues. (I think the price was going to be something completely ridiculous as well - 3980 Yuan - around $600 + shipping and importer seller margin?)
Edited by svyr - 3/7/11 at 6:12am

All of these above are telling me that we should really care about which DAC or AMP we are going to buy... need to read a ton of reviews..

 

When I've purchased my DV SE336, I asked the seller which DAC fits the best for my setup in his opinion, and he suggested me buying the MD11 without any hesitation. Fortunately that time (I just entered this audiophile world) I found it too expensive, and bought an Audinst instead of MD11 for 170 bucks. I was lucky I guess. In my opinion it's better not to touch the MD11, probably you can get back your money or buy something different form the same seller after sending back the MD11, no?

 

I know it's a different topic, but I just got my matrix mini-i only in 3 days from China - crazy fast shipping! I like it at the moment, but it's very early to have exact opinion. Bit it looks very fancy. Still burning in.

 

Anyway, I am looking forward to hear about the MD30, too, because as I noticed Musiland basically has good reputation here regarding the dac/amp toplist.

 

Sounds like that seller needed to move the MD11s that no-one wants to buy. There are very few reviews for it inEnglish, I think this topic may be the only resource.
I wouldn't say musiland entirely has a good reputation aside from MD11. I had a Musiland 02 US before the MD11 and it was a decent unit, aside from the same driver BS (multiple bugs in the drivers and versions and of firmware too, musiland not replying to serial number promps (they need to send a license file for firmware upgrades for US 02 ), but they may have also worked it out by now (still no change logs or anything).


> probably you can get back your money or buy something different form the same seller after sending back the MD11, no?

at the time I was too lazy and though they'll fix the drivers and firmware but not it's apparent that these are not driver or firmware issues (the seller did offer to send it back, but I'm pretty sure no shipping refund). Sending it in for repairs might fix the power button at most and will cost me $80 to ship it there as it just did with my broken Yulong D100 (same seller by the way ).


>Anyway, I am looking forward to hear about the MD30, too,

Looks like there's some movement on it http://www.head-fi.org/forum/newestpost/543189
I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole to be honest, until other people on English speaking forums (not soomal) buy it and verify that there are no hardware or driver/firmware issues.

I were thinking on buying a Musiland monitor 02 US as well (only for it's USB 2 S/PDIF abilities for a dacmagic), but after  reading a lot of reviews I would give my vote for the hiFace. Going to order probably tomorrow. But this is a different topic, again.

 

Thanks for the link with the MD30, we will see... I subscribed :-)

pretty sure m2tech also potentially screwed its customers http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/503323/hiface-sensitive-information but don't know if that's still going on... their MOT is kinda banned now.
Edited by svyr - 3/12/11 at 9:29am

Hm.. this looks very valuable information for me.

 

I will look after this issue, thanks a lot! Not to mention that I am also from Budapest like some of those guys in that HiFace topic....  UR great 

And I also found the modded HiFace at Mapleshade.. But it's quite expensive.

 

 

new drivers and fw:
http://www.musiland.com.cn/downloads/drivers/MlCyMD_1.0.4.0_build20110303.exe
http://www.musiland.com.cn/downloads/utils/MlCyMDFlash.exe

the firmware is now V3.0 and there look to have been some UI changes. Or rather - a change. The vol control now displays the vol from 0db (formerly 99) to -62 db (formerly 0). I suppose it may mean the vol control is no log, not linear...

meh.
Edited by svyr - 4/1/11 at 4:53am

the good news is that the SQ improved in v3 firmware and 1.0.40 drivers... The noise floor seems to be a bit lower now, which is pleasing.
The bad news is I tried the unit with 300ohm GMP450 PRO headphones and it's absolutely awful. The FR changes, becoming mids-centric, there is also audible distortion across the whole FR and an even higher noise floor than usual... I don't think musiland was entirely truthful when saying it's ok to drive 300ohm HP. On the other hand Yulong D100 did ok with the GMP450, even though the amp there can output 2x less power...

interesting, the new firmware has a soft-mute feature for line out.
The vol control is cyclic. After you pass -62db or 0db in the min/max direction respectively, you get to 'oo' = mute. Interestingly enough, Musiland were bright enough not to put the same thing for HP (it's really quite easy to damage your HP if you cycled from -62db - 0 volume to 0db - max vol for IEMs).
Still debatable whether your gear is safe for line out with this feature, but I like it. (ext amp tuned to 0db volume so it's safe).
Still, perhaps it's sensible to be able to go from 0db to mute (max to mute), but not from min to max in 2 vol notches.


as a side note for re: soomal measurements:

What I really don't like about soomal and their measurements for HP out specs is that they don't quote the impedance of the HP used and the power out. (or provide a power out vs thn+d plot)
I think the quoted measurement results are effectively meaningless. (the same is true for the MD11 soomal measurements and review)

What they could do is provide those figures or even better results for different impedance loads and at different power output (a surrogate for different impedance hp and vol levels).
This would at least tell us how the gear performs with higher impedance HP and at higher volumes, since MD11 does a very poor job in that area.
Edited by svyr - 4/16/11 at 6:59pm