[davidcotton]

One quick question. I have an older tube style mf xpsu lying about. If I got the vdac would I be able to use that psu instead of the wallwart? I've narrowed it down to the vdac and possibly a keces. Will be used with either a usb or optical out from mac mini to some audioengine a2s.

Cheers

 

[ADD]

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidcotton /img/forum/go_quote.gif One quick question. I have an older tube style mf xpsu lying about. If I got the vdac would I be able to use that psu instead of the wallwart?

No you won't - the V-Can requires 12 volts DC whereas all the X-series components (inlcuding the older tube shaped series) have AC input.

 

[ADD]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oskari /img/forum/go_quote.gif They do? How much?

The batteries themselves are not actually that expensive. A 12 amp hour SLA seems to work fine with the V-DAC. Mine is still holding 12.24 volts after some 20 hours listening, so anything much more than 12 amp hours might arguably be overkill, unless you plan to have the V-DAC powered up 24 hours per day (in which case, get as big as you can afford - I have seen them up to about 18 amp hours and after that most of what I have seen are marketed for cars).

Mine cost me $60 AUD which is only about $40 US. It's the charger that is the more expensive bit though if you want a good quality one that is battery friendly. I bought a cheap charger, but now that I have decided to stick with the batteries I will be getting a good quality charger. That might cost me about $150 AUD.

So batteries in the end are initially probably about as expensive as getting an audiophile quality aftermarket power supply. For me the extraordinary amount of detail retrieval and smoothness of presentation from a battery is more than worth any of the shortcomings. Of course a battery won't last forever and I guess you can say it would last perhaps as long as one does in a car. At least a good charger shouldn't need replacing though.

 

[josep]

I think Oskari was asking about the noise of a battery as a PS

... They do have, less than a mediocre mains unit and so they need less filtering. But they do have a highish output impedance too, several times that of a well done mains PSU, even if our V-DAC with its 0'3A is not a big trouble to drive.

A good charger can be cheap too, but it will provide years or a lifelong service not only for your audio things, but for your car/bike/whatever too. Find and use a 'smart' one, not just a wallmart with a PS inside: lead-acid (be it SLA or gel or car open or whatever) chemistry batteries need ideally a CC/CV charge. This means 'Constant Current' (usually 1/10th ot its capacity, so 1'2A for a 12Ah one) first, until a defined max Voltage (14'4 to 14'8), then switch to "Constant Voltage" (keeping this 14'4V and lowering gradually the current until is less than 1/100th of the capacity: then the battery is 100% charged).

To do this a 'smart' chip is needed, but a quick search showed this one in the US:
Universal Smart Charger(1.5A) for 12V Lead Acid Battery en venta en eBay.es (finaliza el 01-abr-09 07:58:43 H.Esp)

See, this other one is more expensive and it is just a PS without smart circuit inside (so avoid it)
12V 9ah 10ah 12ah SLA Sealed Lead Acid Battery Charger en venta en eBay.es (finaliza el 07-abr-09 00:13:39 H.Esp)

And for people here in EU I have CTEK units (swedish), IMO the best ones (I have two of them).

With such chargers any SLA not discharged below 50% of its capacity can provide many many years of service. And they (chargers) are great for your car/bike too, they are smart so you can let them wired 24h/7d.

 

[dukja]

Thanks for all the discussion about PS. If one is looking for a PS for Head-fi purpose, what kind of spec should he/she look for? I mean if we have some choices from Google, how do we know one may be better than the others? Form this thread, it seems the max current, noise level of output DC, output impedance, etc. matters. Could someone in this field of work lists the critical spec (or even better the priority of importance) that we need to watch in a search for PS?

Or maybe we just use a scale and choose the heaviest one?

Thanks!

 

[Oskari]

Quote:

Originally Posted by josep /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think Oskari was asking about the noise of a battery as a PS

Indeed I was, but thanks to you both. In fact, I don't have a V-DAC nor any other audio equipment that would take 12 VDC. I was just curious. Anyway, the CTEK XS 800 seems potent enough and could be bought locally for €39, which is not that bad.

 

[Dat_Dude]

So I read through some of this thread and this sounds like a fantastic DAC for the price. I haven't seen where you can actually purchase one, however. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[josep]

In the past Audio Advisor was distributor of Musical Fidelity in US... see its web?

As far as PS units, in DealXtreme I saw a cheap 12V5A (60W) unit ($16 or so). I ordered one ot see if it is an absolute crap or not and if it can serve at least as a 'base' for something... It even may be good as is, one never knows.

The CTEK XS800 is perfect for this, using sealed lead acid batteries from 7 to 12Ah capacity. I have one of those (and one XS3600 for bigger ones). In US or AUS equivalent units are available from local (or chinese...) manufacturers, they need to be 'smart' or 'intelligent' chargers, and with 3 or more stages.

 

[Dat_Dude]

I will check it out. Thanks.

Another question. I read the owners manual and it does not list Vista in it's compatibility list. Are there any H-Fi'ers that are currently using the V-DAC with Vista? I can only assume it will work but before shelling out $300 I need to make sure.

Thanks!

 

[T_K]

Using it perfectly fine with Win 7. Just plugged it in with USB, it was ready to use in less than a minute.

 

[Oskari]

Quote:

Originally Posted by josep /img/forum/go_quote.gif The CTEK XS800 is perfect for this, using sealed lead acid batteries from 7 to 12Ah capacity. I have one of those (and one XS3600 for bigger ones). In US or AUS equivalent units are available from local (or chinese...) manufacturers

... and even from CTEK. They do have 120 V models for the North American market.

 

[Xoton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dat_Dude /img/forum/go_quote.gif I will check it out. Thanks. Another question. I read the owners manual and it does not list Vista in it's compatibility list. Are there any H-Fi'ers that are currently using the V-DAC with Vista? I can only assume it will work but before shelling out $300 I need to make sure. Thanks!

I have Vista...the V-DAC works great!

 

[Xoton]

I have two questions....

1) What should I do to get the ASIO-thing working?
2) Without going mod-crazy...what the easiest PSU to purchase?

 

[dukja]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xoton /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have two questions.... 1) What should I do to get the ASIO-thing working? 2) Without going mod-crazy...what the easiest PSU to purchase?

I am also waiting answer for your Q #2, some have and will post their results.

As for Q #1, I use Foobar with ASIO plugin (download from Foobar site), and then install the ASIO4All driver. You will see additional "output" device in Foobar's configuration: DS: USB Audio DAC. I believe this is the DirectSound, Change the 24-bit output and you are good to go with that one.

After install ASIO4All and add new one under "ASIO Virtual Devices" in Foobar's configuration, click the "configuration" button in "ASIO Virtual Devices Editor" and select the USB DAC, then you will see ASIO: ASIO4ALL v2 as another output and this is the ASIO output. You cannot set the bit depth on this one, and I am not sure if it is 32-bit (show in Virtual Device) or 24-bit (V-dac spec) or 16-bit(shown in Editor). Judging from listening ASIO4All seems to have more extended high than DS, but I am sure it is not placebo effect.

If you are using optical digital output, then it seems 24-bit output is used from some snapshots on some tutorial.

Enjoy!

 

[hilbi]

I've been reading this thread with much interest.

One question came up, how does the v-dav select it's source?

I mean I would like to attach my digital tv signal to the coax input and my cd player to the optical input, can that be done? Or can you only connect 1 source?