[spahn_ranch]

I also emailed stoneaudio: no reply. Emailed MAD England: quick reply. And quick delivery, and cheaper, and adpater thrown in for free. No regrets giving them the business.

 

[brandnewgame]

Rang Stone Audio and they explained the problem with the order was chasing up Van Den Hul for interconnect stock. The guy I spoke to sounded like he was dying with flu and he explained they had barely any staff working currently due to a flu making the rounds in their small office. They said it should arrive by the end of the week so I'm happy.

 

[oldson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brandnewgame /img/forum/go_quote.gif Rang Stone Audio and they explained the problem with the order was chasing up Van Den Hul for interconnect stock. The guy I spoke to sounded like he was dying with flu and he explained they had barely any staff working currently due to a flu making the rounds in their small office. They said it should arrive by the end of the week so I'm happy.

my enquiries spread over two months. dont think the flu is an excuse.
maybe that wasnt what you were trying to say , though

 

[chaostheory1980]

i had the same issue with stone audio not replying to my emails, although i did get the v-dac within a week, but i still didn't get a reply to my email i sent regarding delivery. I checked on their website and it did say 14 days delivery time which is why they might not have replied. But even so i would have expected them to have said something!
Although their customer service is bad i have always received what i have ordered from stone audio, and i have ordered quite a bit...

 

[oldson]

i doubt they are a bad company.
they just need to sort this communication problem.
i would still buy from them if required, as they are only an hour from my home.
(i would probably opt to collect any purchase, though.)

 

[ADD]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaostheory1980 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Although their customer service is bad i have always received what i have ordered from stone audio, and i have ordered quite a bit...

Let's hope you never have a problem with it then, since bad service before or during a sale is for me a red flag as to what might happen in the event of a warranty claim.

 

[chaostheory1980]

maybe some one should send link to this post to stone audio as this should be a wake up call for them to sort out their customer service or risk loosing quite a lot of business in what is a fragile market place at the moment...

 

[oldson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaostheory1980 /img/forum/go_quote.gif maybe some one should send link to this post to stone audio as this should be a wake up call for them to sort out their customer service or risk loosing quite a lot of business in what is a fragile market place at the moment...

would they read it???????????????

 

[brandnewgame]

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldson /img/forum/go_quote.gif would they read it???????????????

 

[geering]

Somebody should connect the V-DAC to a battery to see if it improves the sound quality. If you have an old 1.3mm DC power wallwart lying around, just cut the wires immediately before the wallwart and rewire directly to a car battery or motorcycle battery. The stock walwart is 12VDC and a battery will give you about 12.5V. The power going to the V-DAC will be cleaner so you'll have a lower and blacker noise level and the slight increase in voltage my improve the sound quality.

I can't believe with all the reviews in this thread that nobody has tried this DAC with a decent power supply. Musical Fidelity is planning on releasing one in the next few months, so surely there is a need for a decent power supply when using this DAC. The stock 500mA is completely impotent. Its the kind of power supply used for charging cell phones, a bit of a joke really. There is a long list of DAC's that have a significant improvement in sound quality from a change in power supply. Just read this thread on the improvements to the Kingrex UD-01 dac when the power supply was upgraded. http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/re...01-psu-391485/

All the complaints about the lack of PRAT for the V-DAC is exactly describing the typical consequences of a week power supply. Too bad nobody is taking the initiative to find out what this DAC is really capable of. I guess all the V-DAC owners in this forum are content with mediocre sound.

 

[fkclo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by geering /img/forum/go_quote.gif Somebody should connect the V-DAC to a battery to see if it improves the sound quality. If you have an old 1.3mm DC power wallwart lying around, just cut the wires immediately before the wallwart and rewire directly to a car battery or motorcycle battery. The stock walwart is 12VDC and a battery will give you about 12.5V. The power going to the V-DAC will be cleaner so you'll have a lower and blacker noise level and the slight increase in voltage my improve the sound quality.

This makes pretty good sense. But with a better power supply, MF won't be able to shock the market with such a low price any more.

F. Lo

 

[brandnewgame]

Quote:

Originally Posted by geering /img/forum/go_quote.gif Somebody should connect the V-DAC to a battery to see if it improves the sound quality. If you have an old 1.3mm DC power wallwart lying around, just cut the wires immediately before the wallwart and rewire directly to a car battery or motorcycle battery. The stock walwart is 12VDC and a battery will give you about 12.5V. The power going to the V-DAC will be cleaner so you'll have a lower and blacker noise level and the slight increase in voltage my improve the sound quality. I can't believe with all the reviews in this thread that nobody has tried this DAC with a decent power supply. Musical Fidelity is planning on releasing one in the next few months, so surely there is a need for a decent power supply when using this DAC. The stock 500mA is completely impotent. Its the kind of power supply used for charging cell phones, a bit of a joke really. There is a long list of DAC's that have a significant improvement in sound quality from a change in power supply. Just read this thread on the improvements to the Kingrex UD-01 dac when the power supply was upgraded. http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/re...01-psu-391485/ All the complaints about the lack of PRAT for the V-DAC is exactly describing the typical consequences of a week power supply. Too bad nobody is taking the initiative to find out what this DAC is really capable of. I guess all the V-DAC owners in this forum are content with mediocre sound.

Without a car battery to try this with, I've got an old Hewlett Packard laptop power supply which is 12V/2.5Amps. Would it be worth reterminating the power supply and giving it a try?

 

[russelk]

Quote:

Too bad nobody is taking the initiative to find out what this DAC is really capable of. I guess all the V-DAC owners in this forum are content with mediocre sound.

You've just accused everyone of having a lack of initiative AND being content with mediocre sound. If you're trying to get helpfull information from forum members I don't think this is the way to go about it.

 

[Patu]

Good point by geering.

I just had V-DAC one day for audition. I liked the pleasant sound of V-DAC. High end was easy to listen to and there was no harshness or sibilance there. Midrange had nice body and there were plenty of bass. The problem was control of the low register. Basses got little muffled with faster double basses like in some Dream Theater tracks. Also the bass wasn't as punchy as it's in Bel Canto's integrated DAC. All in all, more control needed. Otherwise the DAC was ok. I'd think that the problems I mentioned could be fixed with proper PSU. The one which comes with the DAC is ridiculous.

 

[brandnewgame]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patu /img/forum/go_quote.gif Good point by geering. I just had V-DAC one day for audition. I liked the pleasant sound of V-DAC. High end was easy to listen to and there was no harshness or sibilance there. Midrange had nice body and there were plenty of bass. The problem was control of the low register. Basses got little muffled with faster double basses like in some Dream Theater tracks. Also the bass wasn't as punchy as it's in Bel Canto's integrated DAC. All in all, more control needed. Otherwise the DAC was ok. I'd think that the problems I mentioned could be fixed with proper PSU. The one which comes with the DAC is ridiculous.

Other members in this thread mentioned burning in helped with the bass to some degree.