[karmanfamily]

 
trying to buy an australian one, too...the one dealer i contacted will sell me one, but says i have to arrange my own shipping...aussies, what's the best post company to use to ship to the states?

USPS was the best for mine, it cost about $150 and I did not pay any customs taxes etc.
With UPS and FedEx you will pay fees, guaranteed. USP and FedEx charge a hefty fee for that, so they get better from it.

 

[kleinert86]

Has anyone compared the M51 to Marantz HD-DAC1?

I had the chance to listen to both of them extensively last weekend. I really liked the build quality of the NAD. Don't get me wrong, the Marantz is very nice, too, but the NAD felt just a bit better. The option to select headphone impedance on the Marantz is really nice, though. Regarding the sound there isn't that much difference IMHO. But I only tried them with Beyerdynamic t70 p

 

[kugino]

USPS was the best for mine, it cost about $150 and I did not pay any customs taxes etc.
With UPS and FedEx you will pay fees, guaranteed. USP and FedEx charge a hefty fee for that, so they get better from it.

usps from Aus to the states??

 

[dukja]

I am certainly interested in this M51 and its comparison with Audio-GD Ref7 or similar.  The questions was asked several time, but the answer was lacking.  A quick google comes back some:
http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/index.php?/topic/40867-nad-m51-vs-audio-gd-ref-71-anyone-compared-them/
 
It seems they may be in similar level with just these online comments.  So I am still interested in the serious comparison.
 
BTW, nothing "metallic" ever gets into my mind from my Ref7 for several years....

 

[Sonic Defender]

Just wondering, if I use the M51 only as a DAC, should I set the volume to fixed, or use variable at -1db?

 

[karmanfamily]

I would set the volume at 0dB and play with it up and down until it sounds the best for you.

 

[T.R.A.N.C.E.]

Fixed or variable doesn't make a difference as long as set to the same volume, and 0dB is the bit perfect output, not -1dB. But basically whatever output sounds best to you is the way to go. When I was using single ended output I liked -20dB, but when I used balanced outputs I went with 0dB, but I still use the volume control. I don't think it was the M51 that was causing these discrepancies, but rather the single ended vs balanced inputs on my amp.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Thanks, but wasn't there several people, and NAD even saying at 0db there was significant distortion due to the extra gain? I thought I read in this thread that this was fixed with a firmware update, but I could be wrong. I also seem to remember many people saying that -10db was a sweet spot. Anyway, I will try the 0db and experiment around that point. Cheers.

 

[T.R.A.N.C.E.]

^ That was fixed several updates ago, there is now no distortion at 0dB. As for people saying a specific volume sounds better, as I said before, that is stemming from the pairing with the rest of their system, it's not the M51 itself sounding better at a specific volume.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Cool, now I'll have to go back several pages and find the steps for finding out what firmware version is on my new to me, but used M51 and also what the steps for flashing the firmware are. I'm sure it is all rather basic. My M51 should arrive by Tuesday at the latest so I'll hope this plays out that way.

 

[karmanfamily]

It basically comes down to this: With the volume control of the M51 you can decide yourself if you want the M51 do the most of the 'amplification' or your amplifier.
 
Personally I started at 0 and went down to -20 and back up, hitting -4 as my sweet spot. Going to the + side didn't help for me.

 

[Sonic Defender]

  It basically comes down to this: With the volume control of the M51 you can decide yourself if you want the M51 do the most of the 'amplification' or your amplifier.
 
Personally I started at 0 and went down to -20 and back up, hitting -4 as my sweet spot. Going to the + side didn't help for me.

I would think my amp (NAD M3) should be the amplifier so perhaps I will try a lower volume at first. Now, not to sound ignorant, but doesn't the volume control on the M51 simply attenuate whether or not the full voltage at the output is passed to the amplifier? So in terms of amplifying at the DAC, it is per say simply passing out the analogue signal as neutral as possible at 0db. So yes, my understanding is you would never go over 0db, but you should be able to get right to 0db unless I'm missing something.

 

[dukja]

Since I am using AudioGD Ref 7 -> Aleph 3 -> HE-6 with 24-bit depth and relying on Foobar volume control, the digital volume control in M51 is quite attractive to me.  With hotter volt out of Ref7, I usually needs about -28~-30dB attenuation.  Anybody has tried such approach for digital volume control?  Before I found M51, I was thinking about using audiophilleo 1, which is quite expensive with just digital volume in mind.

 

[Sonic Defender]

  Since I am using AudioGD Ref 7 -> Aleph 3 -> HE-6 with 24-bit depth and relying on Foobar volume control, the digital volume control in M51 is quite attractive to me.  With hotter volt out of Ref7, I usually needs about -28~-30dB attenuation.  Anybody has tried such approach for digital volume control?  Before I found M51, I was thinking about using audiophilleo 1, which is quite expensive with just digital volume in mind.

I know in JRiver I simply disable the internal volume control. Is there a technical reason you require Foobar volume control?

 

[dukja]

Normally you wouldn't need digital volume control (or software vol ctrl in my case) if you are using a headphone amp (i.e. pre+power amp).  HE-6 needs the power of a speaker power amp (with no vol ctrl).  And I have tried several approaches (lightspeed passive attenuator and DCB1 buffer preamp) and in the end I like no-preamp foobar-vol-ctrl sound best.  It seems to confirm that wtih 24-bit dept even -30dB software vol ctrl does not hurt my music (large-scale soundtrack, classical, new age, etc)
 
Still, I always worry about forgetting turning down foobar volume.  A DAC with digital volume seems make a lot of sense for me.