Latest Thread Images

New Audiolab DAC
Jul 16, 2013 at 11:30 AM Post #721 of 878
I'm curious about the possibility of driving headphones via the balanced outputs on the M-DAC. Has anybody here tried this, and if yes, was the result any good?
 
I'm about to purchase an M-DAC, and having had good experiences with a balanced HD600 previously, I'm eager to try this...
 
Jul 16, 2013 at 5:33 PM Post #722 of 878
The rca/balanced outputs are driven from the same circuit as the headphone out. It should work fine and its been done before. I can't find the link at the moment, on my phone, but John Westland has confirmed that himself.

Google it and you can find it on pink fish forums.
 
Jul 17, 2013 at 12:57 AM Post #723 of 878
Quote:
eccom said:
The rca/balanced outputs are driven from the same circuit as the headphone out. It should work fine and its been done before. I can't find the link at the moment, on my phone, but John Westland has confirmed that himself.

Google it and you can find it on pink fish forums.
Click to expand...

 
It's John Westlake.
smile.gif

 
Jul 17, 2013 at 7:21 AM Post #725 of 878
John Westlake prefers the balanced connection for headphones.
ref: Pink Fish Media.
 
Jul 17, 2013 at 12:55 PM Post #726 of 878
Thanks guys - it appears that at least one person has successfully wired headphones to the balanced outputs, and found the result preferable to the single-ended output. (source: http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showpost.php?p=2022722&postcount=307)
 
Well, I got my M-DAC today, went ahead and did some quick comparisons between the balanced and single-ended output. My (very subjective and very un-professional) impressions are (using the Senn HD600:
- Much wider soundstage when balanced (but less depth),
- better instrument separation and
- better defined/controlled, but less punchy bass.
 
The Volume appears to be about 10db louder (according to the M-DACs display) when compared to the single-ended output (which isn't a good thing, as it would mean that the volume has to be reduced accordingly - in this case this could negatively affect the sound quality as the volume control is a digital one).
 
So far, this about matches my previous experience with balanced headphones. Which means, that - in my opinion - balanced operation is, with certain headphones, in many (but not all) cases preferable. However, not all headphones respond equally well, in fact I've found that some actually sound better when running single ended.
Anyway, I'll definetly make a proper balanced cable for my HD600 and conduct some more tests. The M-DAC is great in any case.
wink.gif

 
Jul 17, 2013 at 5:40 PM Post #727 of 878
Quote:
mad dude said:
Thanks guys - it appears that at least one person has successfully wired headphones to the balanced outputs, and found the result preferable to the single-ended output. (source: http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showpost.php?p=2022722&postcount=307)
 
Well, I got my M-DAC today, went ahead and did some quick comparisons between the balanced and single-ended output. My (very subjective and very un-professional) impressions are (using the Senn HD600:
- Much wider soundstage when balanced (but less depth),
- better instrument separation and
- better defined/controlled, but less punchy bass.
 
The Volume appears to be about 10db louder (according to the M-DACs display) when compared to the single-ended output (which isn't a good thing, as it would mean that the volume has to be reduced accordingly - in this case this could negatively affect the sound quality as the volume control is a digital one).
 
So far, this about matches my previous experience with balanced headphones. Which means, that - in my opinion - balanced operation is, with certain headphones, in many (but not all) cases preferable. However, not all headphones respond equally well, in fact I've found that some actually sound better when running single ended.
Anyway, I'll definetly make a proper balanced cable for my HD600 and conduct some more tests. The M-DAC is great in any case.
wink.gif
Click to expand...

A balanced signal is always 6 dB louder than it's equivalent SE signal.
 
Jul 19, 2013 at 2:15 PM Post #728 of 878
Had my silver M-Dac for a few days now, loving it, especially the treble,
both my amp and speakers are just on the warm side of neutral, so the M-Dac
fits in nicely.
 
The first weird thing happened today.
Playing Neil Youngs Greatest (HDCD I think) and display on the M-Dac, jumped 
from 17/44 to 24/44 every half second during Cinammon Girl.
 
Yes I did type 17
 
I used Foobar with no DSPs active, and HDCD component installed,
WASAPI, USB into M-Dac.
 
It certainly didn't sound right, harsh.
 
any ideas?
 
Jul 19, 2013 at 3:00 PM Post #729 of 878
Quote:
kt66 said:
Had my silver M-Dac for a few days now, loving it, especially the treble,
both my amp and speakers are just on the warm side of neutral, so the M-Dac
fits in nicely.
 
The first weird thing happened today.
Playing Neil Youngs Greatest (HDCD I think) and display on the M-Dac, jumped 
from 17/44 to 24/44 every half second during Cinammon Girl.
 
Yes I did type 17
 
I used Foobar with no DSPs active, and HDCD component installed,
WASAPI, USB into M-Dac.
 
It certainly didn't sound right, harsh.
 
any ideas?
Click to expand...

 
Only on this one song??
 
Jul 27, 2013 at 3:06 AM Post #732 of 878
Jul 27, 2013 at 11:10 AM Post #733 of 878
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. 
 
Jul 27, 2013 at 11:53 AM Post #734 of 878
Yeah Mdac is good I've found with vocals and drums...but a bit synthetic and digital with classical and slower music. Could be an 'End Dac' for electronica, rock etc 
 
Jul 27, 2013 at 12:55 PM Post #735 of 878
Got my black m-dac version something about two weeks ago. Stick to the default 0.99v firmware and prefer Optimal Spectrum besides all other filters. Feed it through SPDIF from RME Hammerfall DSP Multiface v1, sounds great with HD650 and Beyerdynamic DT250(250 OHm version). Love it's clear and non-colored sound. But it a bit bright and digital sometimes. Just a bit, seems that this is a sound signature of ES9018. Gonna buy SPL Auditor, and Lynx AES16 with AES/EBU to SPDIF cable with transformer (For current use and future DAC upgrades).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top