[HolyCheese]

Ah damn I don't want digital and bright. Hmmh I guess I should audition it again sometimes. What would be another good dac on this level without a sigma delta chip?

 

[SirBenn21]

Quote:

Ah damn I don't want digital and bright. Hmmh I guess I should audition it again sometimes. What would be another good dac on this level without a sigma delta chip?

 
The M-DAC is hardly digital and bright. It's neutral and that's good.

 
The M-DAC sounds better than gear double it's price. Go to here and see all it's awards it's won!
 
EDIT:
If you want have a look at the M-DAC's little brother the Q-DAC HERE.

 

[Chris J]

I'm interested in this dac. Very much actually and I have heard it once at a meeting and it really impressed me at the time. Now I wonder how the insides are. I see it uses a sigma delta chip (which I don't prefer) and I see op-amps (which I also don't like) 
Where are the opamps placed? Are these for the headphone output or are they used in the signal path of the dac itself too?

I'm going to use this dac for the fidelio x1 and in the future a hd650 (I have a o2 amp but i'm going to make a few tube amps too). I'm planning to keep this dac as my end dac. 

You know the O2 uses Op Amps, right?

 

[HolyCheese]

Quote:

You know the O2 uses Op Amps, right?

Yes ofcourse I know that. I built it myself, it sounds okay but it's just a temporary thing for me to get into DIY and it's cheap. In the end I will be using tube amps probably. Maybe that side of the chain can get rid of some of the 'brightness' of the dac if there even is any. The fact that it impressed me should be enough and I really like the functions like the remote and many inputs. 
 
The Q-dac seems nice but I might miss the functions of the m-dac and it's loaded with op-amps. 
 
I found a shop which has both the m-dac and q-dac so I'm going to have a listen soon!

 

[aphinity]

Quote:

Ah damn I don't want digital and bright. Hmmh I guess I should audition it again sometimes. What would be another good dac on this level without a sigma delta chip?

Dangerous Music Source (American Company):
 
http://www.dangerousmusic.com/products/source
 

 

[Chris J]

Quote:

Yes ofcourse I know that. I built it myself, it sounds okay but it's just a temporary thing for me to get into DIY and it's cheap. In the end I will be using tube amps probably. Maybe that side of the chain can get rid of some of the 'brightness' of the dac if there even is any. The fact that it impressed me should be enough and I really like the functions like the remote and many inputs. 
 
The Q-dac seems nice but I might miss the functions of the m-dac and it's loaded with op-amps. 
 
I found a shop which has both the m-dac and q-dac so I'm going to have a listen soon!

 
Try some of the Schiit product if you

 Op Amps.
Apparently the analog stages are completely discrete.
 
I'm not sure, but I think the output stage in the M-DAC is discrete.

 

[Taliesin]

has anyone tried an hd800 our of the M-DAC

 

[Baxide]

Quote:

has anyone tried an hd800 our of the M-DAC

Unless I am not mustaken, it has been mentioned moe than once in this same thread.

 

[daniel_hokkaido]

definitely was .. i was in that conversation. MDAC + hd800 not a fan. i like warmer sig of auditor with it

 

[Orland]

Purchased Lynx AES16 today. Sound quality changed significantly in a better way. For me, it's enough to just forget about RME. Strange, but overall sound move more to the dark side on my opinion. There is no brightness at all now. Enjoyable changes.

 

[Namkung]

I recently picked up the M-DAC and am using it to feed my Bryston BHA-1. I noticed that the M-DAC could be used as a "stand-alone DAC" by setting the "Internal Preamplifier" in the options to "Disabled". Once in this mode, volume and balance functions are disabled and obviously, because the volume control is disabled, the decibel (volume) indicator disappears from the LCD screen. I was just wondering if this is how M-DAC owners who are using it strictly as a DAC to feed a headphone amplifier have their options set as.
I've looked at some of the pictures from this thread and I was seeing the decibel indicator on their M-DAC even though it was connected to an amp so I was a little confused as to why they chose not to set the M-DAC on "Fixed Volume" mode.
 
From their manual :
USING THE M-DAC WITH A PRE-AMPLIFIER
The M-DAC can be operated as a stand-alone DAC. Volume and balance functions are disabled as these are carried out from the preamplifier.
Also under notes it says :
NEVER set fixed output level if the M-DAC is connected to an amplifier without a gain control!
(I believe most amplifiers have gain switch? I see the gain switch on the BHA-1)
Or I suppose it wouldn't matter if you set the output level at 0db?
 
Secondly and slightly off topic but...
At this time, I have the BHA-1 and M-DAC connected via XLR balanced interconnects.
However, I have not yet received my balanced cables for my HD800 so I have been plugging it into the Single Ended out on the BHA-1 (obviously).
However, I noticed that I could still listen to music with the balanced interconnects connecting the BHA-1 and the M-DAC.
(No RCA interconnects present)
Is it ok for me to be listening like this until my balanced cables arrive? Could I possibly be causing some kind of damage on either the amp or the DAC?
Thanks

 

[Chris J]

I recently picked up the M-DAC and am using it to feed my Bryston BHA-1. I noticed that the M-DAC could be used as a "stand-alone DAC" by setting the "Internal Preamplifier" in the options to "Disabled". Once in this mode, volume and balance functions are disabled and obviously, because the volume control is disabled, the decibel (volume) indicator disappears from the LCD screen. I was just wondering if this is how M-DAC owners who are using it strictly as a DAC to feed a headphone amplifier have their options set as.

I've looked at some of the pictures from this thread and I was seeing the decibel indicator on their M-DAC even though it was connected to an amp so I was a little confused as to why they chose not to set the M-DAC on "Fixed Volume" mode.

From their manual :
USING THE M-DAC WITH A PRE-AMPLIFIER
The M-DAC can be operated as a stand-alone DAC. Volume and balance functions are disabled as these are carried out from the preamplifier.
Also under notes it says :
NEVER set fixed output level if the M-DAC is connected to an amplifier without a gain control!

(I believe most amplifiers have gain switch? I see the gain switch on the BHA-1)
Or I suppose it wouldn't matter if you set the output level at 0db?

Secondly and slightly off topic but...
At this time, I have the BHA-1 and M-DAC connected via XLR balanced interconnects.

However, I have not yet received my balanced cables for my HD800 so I have been plugging it into the Single Ended out on the BHA-1 (obviously).

However, I noticed that I could still listen to music with the balanced interconnects connecting the BHA-1 and the M-DAC.

(No RCA interconnects present)

Is it ok for me to be listening like this until my balanced cables arrive? Could I possibly be causing some kind of damage on either the amp or the DAC?
Thanks

There's no reason why you can't use the Bryston with a balanced input and a single ended output. You're not going to damage anything. The Bryston is actually designed to be versatile.
You can also use a Single ended input and still get a balanced output!
Cheers!

 

[Namkung]

Thanks for the reply!
That's interesting. How does that work o.O ?
But if you used single ended input and balanced out, that wouldn't truly be balanced would it?
Or as in my case when using balanced in, single ended out, I can probably expect some difference once I go "full" balanced?

 

[Chris J]

Thanks for the reply!
That's interesting. How does that work o.O ?
But if you used single ended input and balanced out, that wouldn't truly be balanced would it?
Or as in my case when using balanced in, single ended out, I can probably expect some difference once I go "full" balanced?

The Bryston BHA-1 takes the balanced signal and converts it into SE.
The balanced input stage rejects noise picked up over the interconnects if it receives a balanced signal from the DAC.
This is then used to drive the output stage, which can be used in either SE mode or balanced mode.
So Balanced headphones will see a true balanced output.
A lot of people say they hear more space and separation with balanced headphones.

 

[Namkung]

Quote:

The Bryston BHA-1 takes the balanced signal and converts it into SE.
The balanced input stage rejects noise picked up over the interconnects if it receives a balanced signal from the DAC.
This is then used to drive the output stage, which can be used in either SE mode or balanced mode.
So Balanced headphones will see a true balanced output.
A lot of people say they hear more space and separation with balanced headphones.

Ah I see. What an awesome amp the BHA-1 is!
There is definitely a difference in noise between the balanced / SE.
When I was using SE input, at max volume, I was hearing some static noise (little, but still some). Using XLRs, it was dead silent at max volume!
 
Enough of the BHA-1 in the M-DAC thread though..
Coming from HRT MusicStreamer II+, the M-DAC seems to be an amazing improvement though it is difficult to tell just how much because I got both the BHA-1 / M-DAC nearly at the same time.