[TheOtus]

Congratulations! = ) Used to own this DAC and it's definitely nice for the price, and I bet that I paid more for it than you did. ;D What you think of it so far?

 

[ryder78]

Thanks. I do not have any other DACs to compare with the MF M1 but feel that most comments about this DAC on Headfi and other forums have been pretty spot on. The sound has good detail and is accurate and precise. Bass is lean and tight. The DAC is used on a pair of Beyerdynamic T1 headphones and the sound is quite stellar to my ears. 
 
Although I have not listened to other costlier DACs in the $1000 to $2000 price range, I personally feel the MF M1 DAC represents great value for the money in producing a clean and accurate sound. It may not be the most revealing and transparent but is quite neutral in its presentation. I avoided the Rega DAC as from my previous experience with Rega gear(Elicit, Brio3, Apollo) I find them to exhibit a sonic signature that gives them a distinct house sound, a colouration of some sort. Some folks may prefer this sound though. 

 

[Von Soundcard]

Does anyone know how this compares to similarly priced DACs from Audio-gd ? Such as NFB-17.2 or NFB-10.2, or perhaps NFB-2.2 / NFB-3.2 (last two single ended) ?

 

[amiga505]

greetings. I hope I won't get flak here for resurrecting this old thread. I am wondering how the M1 holds up 10 years down the line. there are good used deals here in Germany and I am considering it, primarily because I want to utilise the AES/EBU out of my DDI and the fact that M1 is supposedly multi-bit based around AKM chips - exploring the sources presently. right now I am running Geshelli J2 to feed two headphone amps, one via balanced XLRs and, one via single-ended RCAs, so M1 is going to potentially replace it. in terms of DACs I have experience with a humble Topping D30 (OG, not Pro - in hindsight pretty punchy, detailed, fast, but somehow... plastic-y?), Chinese PCM56-based DAC which pairs well with my tube speaker amp and the Audio-GD R2R 11 which I really liked, but could not live with the clicks during the sampling rate changes, so returned. sound-wise the R2R 11 is something I am aiming at, I listen to a lot of vocal music and jazz, less so to hip-hop and electronica. thank you!

 

[amiga505]

... and the fact that M1 is supposedly multi-bit based around AKM chips...

sorry, scratch that - mixed it up with another DAC I was researching. TI/Burr-Brown DSD1796 for M1 (is this a PCM1796 variant?)

 

[crodrig]

sorry, scratch that - mixed it up with another DAC I was researching. TI/Burr-Brown DSD1796 for M1 (is this a PCM1796 variant?)

Well I'm about to pick one up hopefully, also use the j2 with headphones and speakers. Did you end up getting one?