Musiland monitor 02us dac soundly outperforms Asus Xonar STX

[akash01]

ki likhbo vabe pacci na,.........

so .........ami akon likte parbo na........

tum

 

[chinesekiwi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBSCIX /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well a great deal of the STX audio prowess is in swapping to higher grade opamps. It sounds good out of the box but can sound much better when fitted with better opamps.

He compared it with the STX having 3xLME49720NAs.
You know, the weak US dollar (= cheaper for us overseas non-US Head-fi'ers) isn't helping me resist the temptation of buying the Musiland Monitor 02.

Musiland Monitor 02 and the Sansa Fuze...the bargains to be had in terms of bang-for-buck SQ wise in their respective categories?

 

[ROBSCIX]

If you want one and it offers what your after then buy one.

 

[chinesekiwi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBSCIX /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you want one, buy one.

I dunno whether I should or maybe say, invest in discrete opamps such as the 'Earth' ones for the STX.....
(I like 'natural' sounding much like the Fuze's sound signature..it sounds very natural indeed however of course significantly less fidelity than my home setup).

I hate choices sometimes

I just want the best sounding setup for my budget you see lol.

Amp + headphones = beyond sorted for my tastes and budget hehe.

 

[ROBSCIX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chinesekiwi /img/forum/go_quote.gif I dunno whether I should or maybe say, invest in discrete opamps such as the 'Earth' ones for the STX..... (I like 'natural' sounding much like the Fuze's sound signature..it sounds very natural indeed however of course significantly less fidelity than my home setup). I hate choices sometimes I just want the best sounding setup for my budget you see lol. Amp + headphones = beyond sorted for my tastes and budget hehe.

Well, you gotta use what works for you. I had great results with the discrete opamps in many circuits and there are a few ST(X) owners that use them and enjoy them over the chip opamps.
I find they offer more of a "tubey" analog sound as compared to chip opamps. Just depends on what type of signature you like I have also had great results using a combination of discretes and chip opamps.

I think we are all trying to get the same thing, which is the best sounding system for our budget and needs.

 

[Shahrose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by macrog /img/forum/go_quote.gif Power supply used is a Zalman 650W but I have also used a corsair 750w Speaker used are monitor audio platinum (PL) 300s Amps are Linn Kairn Preamp (with slimline brilliant power supply) and 2x Linn lk280/Spark power amps for biamping. The only headphones I have tried on the stx or musiland so far are my shure se420 earbuds. Robscix thanks for the info on audio-gd discetes I will get on to ordering 3 earths initially and see what difference that makes. Strangely I really wanted the stx to be better. The thought of a single box audio / computer solution that rivalled the sound quality of cd players of the same cost really appealed to me. Thanks for the help guys.

There are a couple reasons stopping me from buying a Musiland 02 for myself right now after reading your comparison.

1) You've only used an IEM with both (for headphones) and performance for IEMs does not translate linearly with full-sized headphones. I can cite many reasons for this...some of them include the higher voltage and current requirement of full-sized phones, lower-noise floor, less sensitivity etc. (I'm only interested in full-sized headphones)

2) You are comparing the unamped line-outs of the STX with the Musiland's amped output. (I assume so otherwise you would have opted for the 01US DAC-only).

 

[macrog]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shahrose /img/forum/go_quote.gif There are a couple reasons stopping me from buying a Musiland 02 for myself right now after reading your comparison. 1) You've only used an IEM with both (for headphones) and performance for IEMs does not translate linearly with full-sized headphones. I can cite many reasons for this...some of them include the higher voltage and current requirement of full-sized phones, lower-noise floor, less sensitivity etc. (I'm only interested in full-sized headphones) 2) You are comparing the unamped line-outs of the STX with the Musiland's amped output. (I assume so otherwise you would have opted for the 01US DAC-only).

I am comparing the line outputs of the musiland monitor 02us with the line outputs of the xonar stx. The monitor o2us has the advantage of the seperate psu so that is why I didnt buy the monitor 01us. I did however also buy a monitor 01usd.

Yes you are totally right about my headphone comparrison. I acknowledge it is a flawed comparison.

I think however my line out comparison of the monitor 02us is pretty robust having compared it to the xonar stx (with 3x lme49720nas), Cambridge dacmagic and cambridge 840c.

 

[Shahrose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by macrog /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am comparing the line outputs of the musiland monitor 02us with the line outputs of the xonar stx. The monitor o2us has the advantage of the seperate psu so that is why I didnt buy the monitor 01us. I did however also buy a monitor 01usd. Yes you are totally right about my headphone comparrison. I acknowledge it is a flawed comparison. I think however my line out comparison of the monitor 02us is pretty robust having compared it to the xonar stx (with 3x lme49720nas), Cambridge dacmagic and cambridge 840c.

Thanks for clarifying. The 02US has been added to my shopping list.

BTW, how do you feel the 02US stacks up against the DAC Magic and 840C?

 

[macrog]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shahrose /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for clarifying. The 02US has been added to my shopping list. BTW, how do you feel the 02US stacks up against the DAC Magic and 840C?

Much better than the dacmagic on a usb input even at 44.1khz 16bit.

Not as good as the 840c particularly in depth and impact of bass.

Value wise nothing comes close to the musiland.

 

[macrog]

My Xonar ST arrived about a week ago and with 3 lme49720na's is at least on the same playing field as the monitor 02us.

Sound is different on the ST but not necessarily better or worse. The musiland will handle a 88.2khz sample frequency that the Xonar wont.

It suprises me that the sound quality improvement from the stx to the st is as significant as it is. I'm thinking about getting another 2 Xonar STs to replace my xonar stx and d2x (also now have an unused d2).

I could live with either the Xonar st or the musiland monitor 02us but the monitor 02 is clearly way better value and one of the best values I have ever stumbled across in HiFi (and that is in 25years addicted to it).

 

[i am the one]

old thread but going through a lot of dacs i'd like to say..
 

 

[Radioboy86]

Musiland suprised me. I bought a monitor 01 US and updated drivers. BAM! i got full 32 bit API sound bit depth in Windows 7 64 bit! I think the drivers are great now. simple tweaks and just awesome playback! I am very happy with 192Khz 24/32 bit Sound through ANALOG 2.1 great quality DAC!