[Tassie Devil]

Quote:

There is a recent review on 6 moons audio reviews about this Usb dac .
Scores very high on dac ability but as suspected headphone out although ok, but not on par with dac quality .
 
Ah well , we cant have it all in one , I guess.
 
Enjoy the music.

Thanks for the tip - I'll follow up tomorrow (off to bed now).
 
Yes I have to back down and admit a head amp is necessary if one want to glean the best results.  I have a Blockhead on the way to solve that situation.
 
Ye Gods, does this madness ever terminate?  I guess it does it we die but seemingly no stop to it otherwise!!
 
John

 

[longbowbbs]

Quote:

There is a recent review on 6 moons audio reviews about this Usb dac .
Scores very high on dac ability but as suspected headphone out although ok, but not on par with dac quality .
 
Ah well , we cant have it all in one , I guess.
 
Enjoy the music.

Generally, I would suspect anyone buying a dac of this caliber would likely have a dedicated amp in the chain rather than looking for an all-in-one solution.

 

[ardilla]

Quote:

There is a recent review on 6 moons audio reviews about this Usb dac .
Scores very high on dac ability but as suspected headphone out although ok, but not on par with dac quality .
 
Ah well , we cant have it all in one , I guess.
 
Enjoy the music.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/m2tech5/3.html

 

[squallkiercosa]

One day 

 

[wild4sound]

""Generally, I would suspect anyone buying a dac of this caliber would likely have a dedicated amp in the chain rather than looking for an all-in-one solution.""
 
 
I got into headphones a long time ago , before Head-Fi even existed , because of a Marantz cd player that had a headphone socket . And it also had a volume control , diminutive little dial just for phones , WOW, it blew my mind .
And years later here we are , the same reasons headphones made sense then, still holds true today.
 
That Marantz cd 85( I think ) was a one stop shop and although crappy sound compared to what we have today, was just FAB.
 
Even at this price and especially at this price point, I would expect the maker to pull out all the stops and match the quality of dac and amp , for goodness sake, look at the space available . Rightly so the maker does not tout the amp section but focus on the brilliant usb dac .
 
Just imagine if the amp section was on par with a LF or LL or other top amp ,I can assure you the Vaughan would be the FOTM on Head -fi and would up the stakes for competition , and we all would benefit, greatly.
 
Enjoying Mary Black SACD  " Full moon "

 

[longbowbbs]

It is nice to see Srajen appreciating the USB implementation. M2Tech seems to have gotten it right. 

 

[Sharklordy]

wow why u sold ur m2tech vaughan? Did u regret buying it or something?

 

[rudi0504]

I sold mine because i want upgrade to music server + dac all in one from
T+A or audionet gernany.
Look like yhe trend to all in one music server
These two are not coming yet
Vaughan is excelent product for me
I would try all in one high end music server

 

[DarKu]

Quote:

I sold mine because i want upgrade to music server + dac all in one from
T+A or audionet gernany.
Look like yhe trend to all in one music server
These two are not coming yet
Vaughan is excelent product for me
I would try all in one high end music server

What if your next music server + DAC in the same package will sound worse than Vaughan ?
I got the Vaughan yesterday in my house and have been listening to it quite much.
A very very good DAC, among the best ones heard in my life.
I will have it for the next 2 weeks and will try to do an in depth review.

 

[rudi0504]

What if your next music server + DAC in the same package will sound worse than Vaughan ?
I got the Vaughan yesterday in my house and have been listening to it quite much.
A very very good DAC, among the best ones heard in my life.
I will have it for the next 2 weeks and will try to do an in depth review.

I have more interest on the latest pre amp Dac Dac music server from Audionet , they have the same Dac chip like my previous Vaughan .
If the new Audionet sound worse than is my bad luck

Vaughan is one of the best Dac I ever heard to date

 

[ardilla]

Anyone into high end music streamers should check out Linn: http://www.linn.co.uk/all-products/network-music-players....
Quote:

I sold mine because i want upgrade to music server + dac all in one from
T+A or audionet gernany.
Look like yhe trend to all in one music server
These two are not coming yet
Vaughan is excelent product for me
I would try all in one high end music server

 

[rudi0504]

Anyone into high end music streamers should check out Linn: http://www.linn.co.uk/all-products/network-music-players....

Thank you Ardilla for your information

One of my wishlist :

http://cybwiz.blogspot.com/2012/11/ta-ph-3000-hv-integrated-amplifier.html?m=0

 

[DarKu]

Quote:

Thanks for the tip - I'll follow up tomorrow (off to bed now).
 
Yes I have to back down and admit a head amp is necessary if one want to glean the best results.  I have a Blockhead on the way to solve that situation.
 
Ye Gods, does this madness ever terminate?  I guess it does it we die but seemingly no stop to it otherwise!!
 
John

Hey John did you receive that Blockhead yet ? It is better that XLR out from Vaughan or not.
I'm listening right now to Vaughan on HD800 to some jazz and folk and the sound is nothing more than breathtaking, it is really something special..
I'm curious if the XLR out on the back conected directly to HD800 is better than the single ended headphone output, I really don't want to recable my HD800 just for that
Could you compare a bit the headphone out to the XLR out on HD800 ? Would appreciate that.

 

[Tassie Devil]

[size=16.0pt]Living With the M2Tech Vaughan DAC[/size]
 
[size=12.0pt]My First Experience [/size]
 
[size=12.0pt]Unfortunately my first rave review of the Vaughan DAC was inaccurate and misleading basically because there was a severe mismatch between the XLR output and the Sennheiser HD800 headphones and this caused bloated bass.  A quality headphone amplifier was required.[/size]
 
[size=12.0pt]Enter the Headroom Blockhead Balanced Head Amp & Other Toys[/size]
 
[size=12.0pt]This head amp [/size][size=12.0pt]http://www.stereophile.com/headphones/614/index.html[/size][size=12.0pt]  is no longer in production but I purchased one from a Head-fier here with gratifying results.  In an experimental mode I purchased a new Yulong D100 + a Slee Solo amp to use with Sennheiser HD650’s for a secondary system.  Unfortunately this combination produced a rather flat an uninvolving sound, well resolved, but a bit too hot at the top end for my liking. Various combinations were trialed with the Yulong feeding through the Blockhead in balanced mode to the HD800s but the audio quality was not to my liking so both the Yulong and Solo were sold.[/size]
 
[size=12.0pt]Next items to arrive were a used Woo WDS-1 DAC [/size][size=12.0pt]http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue61/woo_audio.htm[/size]  [size=12.0pt]and a demo BUDA Headamp [/size][size=12.0pt]http://www.headphone.com/headphone-amps/amplifiers/headroom-balanced-ultra-desktop-amp-buda.php[/size][size=12.0pt]  – progress was being made.  On some pop material the Woo was close to the Vaughan but as soon as a group was involved, particularly with classical music, the differences between the Vaughan and Woo, using the Blockhead and HD800s, became obvious.  The Woo managed a very creditable sound, well resolved and well balanced but when replaced by the Vaughan the music opened up with more air, space and musicality. This is difficult to accurately describe and, to be fair, many would wow and be very satisfied at the digital to analog processing of the Woo.  But the Vaughan is consistently better, yielding a velvet touch to the music, seeming to extract every last ounce of magic from the input.[/size]
 
[size=12.0pt]Now the Woo/Buda is capable of balanced use with the Sennheiser HD650s so I decided to construct my own cabling with Neutrik and Cardas plugs using Cat 7 LAN cabling in between.  And it worked well.  No, the Woo/Buda/HD650 combo was not close to the Vaughan/Blockhead/HD800 combo but was capable of impressive sound with good input.  If someone had not heard better, they would be very satisfied with the audio quality.[/size]
 
[size=12.0pt]And that is the catch22 with this whole “hobby” with an important lesson to learn.  That is that there will always be something better out there BUT if you like the AQ of what you have, sit back and enjoy the music with it.[/size]
 
[size=12.0pt]There is another aspect of all this that can be overlooked – the quality of cabling feeding into the DAC. For some time I had been using what looked like reasonable quality 110 ohm cable to take feed from the Meridian server to the Vaughan.  It was a shielded twisted pair so appeared capable of handling the digits over a 3 meter length – wrong!  When it was replaced with much better Electrus Disribution WB-1534 cabling http://www.electusdistribution.com.au/product  The difference to the bass that the Electus cabling made was astonishing.  The bass had always been there and was clean but lacked weight.  With the Electus cable it suddenly appeared in full glory, still articulated but now with the weight and punch one would expect with a quality system.[/size]
[size=12.0pt]Is the Vaughan worth the high price?  Possibly not for most in the context of other financial demands, but if you can afford one you will be rewarded with superb AQ provided you feed in a clean signal and use high quality headphones.  And of course this is the catch 22 with the Sennheiser HD800s – GIGO applies with a vengeance.  That is why I did not like the AQ using the Yulong.  They are highly resolving headphones and deserve the best input.  Conversely the difference between the Woo and the Vaughan was not great using the Sennheiser HD650s. So, IMHO,  spending heaps on DACs and amplifiers is a waste of money if all you have is the HD650s or similar.[/size]
 

 
[size=12.0pt]So I am now one happy camper with the Vaughan/Blockhead/HD800 system fed from a Meridian server to my man cave chair.  I guess that yes, there are better DACs out there than the Vaughan, but the law of diminishing returns has already set in severely and anyway, I’ll be highly unlikely to hear anything better.[/size]
 

 

[longbowbbs]

TD, loved this review. I agree, too that the HD650's scale well, but only to a point. The HD800's require compatible quality in the chain or they are either not as good as people say or they will be "off" because of poor synergy. But, if they are happy HD800's...

 
Enjoy the Vaughan and keep the impressions coming!