[Thetubeguy1954]

Stuart the way you keep praising the Musical Paradise MP-D2 DAC I'm biting at the bit to purchase one myself.  After all I do need a DAC to replace the Audio-gd Reference 7.1 I recently sold. About the only thing that has held me back from purchasing a new DAC is my being worried about purchasing a DAC I've never actually heard myself and my being afraid that DACs are progressing so fact that most any DAC I purchased would be almost obsolete within 1 year of being purchased.  But your posts are really starting to take those concerns away. One question, does Musical Paradise allow for an in-home trial purchase before committing to a purchase?
 
 
 
I'm listening to: Strawberry Fields Forever -- Songs By The Beatles by Daria
 
 
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata) 
 
My System:  A YBA Genesis CD-4 CDP/Transport, a Mastersound Reference 845, integrated SET amp/power amp, and a pair of Spatial Audio M3 Turbo S speakers. All ICs and digital wire are diy, made of Neotech silver/gold alloy and my speaker wires are made of Belden 9497 wire that Shindo used.

Central Florida Audio Society -- SETriodes Group -- Space Coast Audio Society -- Full-range/Wide-range Drivers -- Front & Back-Loaded Horns -- High Sensitivity Speakers

 

[Thetubeguy1954]

Hey Stuart I forgot to ask you.  What are the value of those 4 caps that are user replaceable?
 
 
I'm listening to: Strawberry Fields Forever -- Songs By The Beatles by Daria
 
 
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata) 
 
Central Florida Audio Society -- SETriodes Group -- Space Coast Audio Society -- Full-range/Wide-range Drivers -- Front & Back-Loaded Horns -- High Sensitivity Speakers
 
My System:  A YBA Genesis CD-4 CDP/Transport, a Mastersound Reference 845, integrated SET amp/power amp and a pair of Spatial Audio M3 Turbo S speakers. All ICs and digital wires are diy, made of Neotech silver/gold alloy and my speaker wires are made of Belden 9497 wire that Shindo used.

 

[stuart1927]

Hey Tom......As far as I know, MP don't do 30 day money back trials etc. Their gear is shipped directly from China so it would be difficult for them to do that, and costly.
 
I don't think you have to worry with the MP-D2, nothing is really future proof these days, but this DAC is as close to that as you're likely to get. 
 
It has all the connections (ins/outs) you are likely to need and the bonus that you can customize the tubes and caps is a fantastic feature.
 
The price to performance ratio is pretty much class leading IMHO....
 
I've just pushed the button on the Musical Paradise berry v2 music server and think that will improve things even further.
 
stuart

 

[Thetubeguy1954]

  Hey Tom......As far as I know, MP don't do 30 day money back trials etc. Their gear is shipped directly from China so it would be difficult for them to do that, and costly.
 
I don't think you have to worry with the MP-D2, nothing is really future proof these days, but this DAC is as close to that as you're likely to get. 
 
It has all the connections (ins/outs) you are likely to need and the bonus that you can customize the tubes and caps is a fantastic feature.
 
The price to performance ratio is pretty much class leading IMHO....
 
I've just pushed the button on the Musical Paradise berry v2 music server and think that will improve things even further.
 
stuart

 
Stuart thank you very much for answering my questions!  Your words have convinced me to take the plunge and purchase the Musical Paradise MP-D2 DAC. However before I make the purchase I hope you'll answer a question I think you either missed one or forgot to answer.  So allow me to please ask the question again ---{of course anyone else who knows the answer to this question can feel free to answer as well! I asked Stuart because we were already discussing the MP-D2 and I felt since Stuart has one of the MP-D2 DACs he could just look inside if he didn't already know the answer to my question}---- my question is this: What are the value of those 4 caps that are user replaceable?  
 
Oh yes, there is one more thing.  Please let us all know what you think about the Musical Paradise berry v2 music server after you've received it and tried it with your MP-D2 and if you can make any comparisons with other music servers, that would help....  a lot! 
 
TIA!
 
I'm listening to: Doll by Keiko Matsui 
 
 
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata) 
 
Central Florida Audio Society -- SETriodes Group -- Space Coast Audio Society -- Full-range/Wide-range Drivers -- Front & Back-Loaded Horns -- High Sensitivity Speakers
 
My System:  A YBA Genesis CD-4 CDP/Transport, a Mastersound Reference 845, Integrated SET Amp/Power Amp and a pair of Spatial Audio M3 Turbo S speakers. All ICs and digital wires are diy, made of Neotech silver/gold alloy and my speaker wires are made of Belden 9497 wire. 

 

[stuart1927]

Tom...not sure if I understand your question. Are you looking for an impression of the benefit of upgrading the caps or are you looking for the spec of them? You only need to upgrade all 4 if you are running fully balanced.

I upgraded just because I felt it would maximize the potential of the DAC and it was within my budget to do so. I think the stock caps would be good also. Like most things the extra expense doesn't always give such a large or obvious benefit. I didn't hear the unit with stock caps so unfortunately I can't make any comparisons. All I can say is that with the upgraded caps I'm more than happy with the sound I'm getting. In terms of the actual spec of the caps....I may have a photo that I can check.

Stuart

 

[stuart1927]

Here's a shot of the upgraded mcap....

 

[Thetubeguy1954]

Tom...not sure if I understand your question. Are you looking for an impression of the benefit of upgrading the caps or are you looking for the spec of them? You only need to upgrade all 4 if you are running fully balanced.

I upgraded just because I felt it would maximize the potential of the DAC and it was within my budget to do so. I think the stock caps would be good also. Like most things the extra expense doesn't always give such a large or obvious benefit. I didn't hear the unit with stock caps so unfortunately I can't make any comparisons. All I can say is that with the upgraded caps I'm more than happy with the sound I'm getting. In terms of the actual spec of the caps....I may have a photo that I can check.

Stuart

 
Stuart,
 
Sorry my question wasn't clearer.  I'm looking for their specs such as 4.4 uF or whatever their actual value is.  I'll be using RCA only so I'll only need to exchange two of the caps for now.
 
 
 
I'm listening to: Elixir by Fourplay
 
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata) 
 
Central Florida Audio Society -- SETriodes Group -- Space Coast Audio Society -- Full-range/Wide-range Drivers -- Front & Back-Loaded Horns -- High Sensitivity Speakers
 
My System:  A YBA Genesis CD-4 CDP/Transport, a Mastersound Reference 845, Integrated SET Amp/Power Amp and a pair of Spatial Audio M3 Turbo S speakers. All ICs and digital wires are diy, made of Neotech silver/gold alloy and my speaker wires are made of Belden 9497 wire. 

 

[Thetubeguy1954]

Here's a shot of the upgraded mcap....

 
Stuart I missed this photo, sorry!  It shows plainly the cap is 2.2 uF!   Thanks....
 
I'm listening to: Earthwalk by Max Lasser
 
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata) 
 
Central Florida Audio Society -- SETriodes Group -- Space Coast Audio Society -- Full-range/Wide-range Drivers -- Front & Back-Loaded Horns -- High Sensitivity Speakers
 
My System:  A YBA Genesis CD-4 CDP/Transport, a Mastersound Reference 845, Integrated SET Amp/Power Amp and a pair of Spatial Audio M3 Turbo S speakers. All ICs and digital wires are diy, made of Neotech silver/gold alloy and my speaker wires are made of Belden 9497 wire. 


 

 

[MiamiBoy]

  Hey Tom......As far as I know, MP don't do 30 day money back trials etc. Their gear is shipped directly from China so it would be difficult for them to do that, and costly.
 
I don't think you have to worry with the MP-D2, nothing is really future proof these days, but this DAC is as close to that as you're likely to get. 
 
It has all the connections (ins/outs) you are likely to need and the bonus that you can customize the tubes and caps is a fantastic feature.
 
The price to performance ratio is pretty much class leading IMHO....
 
I've just pushed the button on the Musical Paradise berry v2 music server and think that will improve things even further.
 
stuart

It has been a few months now that you have had the MP-D2 and I would appreciate an update on your review. Are you still thrilled with it? Does it sound better after breaking in?
 
Same with the MP Berry V2 music server as I am considering that also. I would be interested in hearing how you configured your Berry and if you compared the sound differences in storing your music on an external drive connected to the Berry via USB or if you loaded your music to an internal Berry drive? When using the Berry is there a noticeable improvement over streaming music directly from a PC over a local network?
 
TIA for any insight you share.

 

[aneep]

 

 
Hey Miamiboy, I purchased this after a short talk with Stuart. Haven't been disappointed a single minute. I tried a lot of tubes with this dac - Rohre Siemens ECC82, Radiotechnique 12AU7, Reflektor 6922 gray shields and finally 6h30Pi (Electroharmonix ARC select grade from Upscale audio). The capacitors are Jupiter copper. I think the best tubes are the 6h30Pi's followed by the Radiotechnique 12au7's.  Both are super extended across the frequency range and are super quiet.  The 6h30Pi are better than the rest by a quite a margin, though. Fantastic bass, mid-range and treble. The soundstage is completely 3 dimensional and these tubes are the quietest amongst all the ones I tried.
I use a Psvane WE replica 274B rectifier which I found to be way better than any other I tried (RCA, Bendix, Mullard and Psvane 5U4G). 
The dac is very detailed with a very natural presentation. Where it shines though, is the tonality...the tone is so..so ..so natural.  I am really happy with this dac. Its a keeper for me.

 

[stuart1927]

I continue to be impressed with the MP-D2. I can't say I noted any appreciable burn in differences....It sounded great from day one. It works with the berry music server seamlessly...Which I guess you would expect...Or at least hope!

I access the berry via my Chromebook using remote desktop. It's really convenient for me and I'm running both foobar 2000 and Jriver software. Both run really well. JRiver has a better interface, but for me too many tweaks are possible. Foobar is simpler and for me better sound wise.

I've also been trying the preamp capabilities of the MP-D2...Hooking it up to my DNA stratus headphone amp. Not done too much listening with that, but it sounded excellent.

Both of these products from MP are exceptional in my opinion and well worth consideration.


Sbb

 

[stuart1927]

I meant to add that since using the Berry v2, I don't suffer any of the drop outs and stutters that I used to get with the PC or the olive one for that matter. I have all my music on an external drive (6tb) via USB 3 to the berry v2. No noise or other artifacts. I haven't tried any music direct from the onboard SS drive but can give that a try for comparison.

Sbb

 

[nikonf]

I am absolutely thrilled with this DAC. Initially I thought it was not very musical and too detailed (typical digital sound). Having experienced this behavior with other equipment, I started playing wav files thru it for days, without listening. I believe the caps take an enormous amount of time to break in. I then had another listen and it was beautiful sounding!
Next I put some Amperex Bugle Boys in it and waited until I had more than 200 hours on it. Result - Closest to Analog sound I have experienced to date from a DAC.
AMAZING !!!
I cannot give this enough stars - Extremely musical and non-fatiguing.
 
This is the BEST audio purchase I have ever made!
 
Enjoy!
 
Mike 

 

[MiamiBoy]

Thanks for your responses to my questions. I am very close to pulling the trigger on the MP-D2. My one concern / doubt about the MP-D2 is that I have read that DAC chips need to be fully warmed up in order to sound optimal and this means  DACs should be left on not powered off. BUT it doesn't make sense to leave a tube DAC on 24/7 as this will just shorten the life of the tubes. Can you comment on whether you turn your MP-D2 off and how long it takes to warm up to sound optimal? Or have you found this to NOT be an issue?

 

[stuart1927]

This sounds a little crazy to me. I know components can benefit from burn in over a period of time, but a DAC chip needing on-going warm up time? I can't see it.
 
From my experience, I get great and consistent sound from the point  I turn on the dac. I don't notice any sonic shortfall when the uit is cold. I'm sure that there will be some influence of the tubes heating up to get the sound to an optimal level, but  I see this as no different to any tube amplifier for example. This time would usually be a few minutes (maybe 10-15 at most, depending on what tubes you are running), but this woud be tube (not DAC chip) related. As I said, I haven't  noticed this with the MP-D2 and the sound seems to be very good even when cold. 
 
I certainly don't keep the DAC switched on 24/7. I do try to avoid multiple switching on and off during the day, so once I switch on, I'll typically leave it on unless I know I won't be listening again later (which is rare!). I never keep it switched on over-night. This is all to do with the tubes and avoiding multiple cycles.
 
 
I wouldn't get too wrapped up in this, the DAC functions perfectly....I just recommend treating it as you would any other tube based component. 
 
 
Hope this helps
 
 
sbb