[Audio addict19]

If anyone here has some experience on the V850 I’d love to hear it, I’ve never had a matching stack of gear before and I imagine I’ll be living with this amp, DAC, and headphone for quite some time and it’s hard to ignore how it’ll look over the next few years even though I can typically shove looks aside...

 

[ruinedx]

Wow thanks for the instant responses! To my knowledge tidal streams at 44.1/16bit in hifi, and if you don’t have a MQA DAC master quality is 88/24 or 96/24 so nothing too major is needed. I mostly listen to modern stuff anyways so 70-80% of my library is CD quality. What really jumped out to me about the RME is the EQ onboard, it’s always nice to be able to EQ a touch when the song or mood calls for it. The V850 is so darn nice looking combo and stack on my desk I’m definitely considering it. I haven’t heard of the MX-DAC but now I need to go research that too! I guess my real question is between those 3 are there really major sound differences, will I even notice a big step up from a modius? I’ve always gotten cheap DAC’s is because I’ve never thought a file decoder could impact sound that heavily.

In my experience dacs make a smaller impact than the amp but can still be a notable difference. It's not just a file decoder, because that would be all in the digital domain if that was all it was. Converting the digital signal to a high quality analog signal can be more complex than it seems, but whether you notice a difference will depend upon the headphones - like an HD800 will be much more noticable any differences in the chain than HD650.

The v850 looks nice but lacking DSD decoding is a significant downside given the semi-popularity of DSD downloads. It seems a bad value compared to either RME or MX DAC . MQA is a scam IMO so I wouldn't worry about that personally

Musical Fidelity isn't well known in USA as they are a British company and don't have many USA distributors, but they are arguably the most experienced DAC maker of them all. They released the first outboard DAC in 1989 called the Digilog. The MX DAC is made in EU, btw, if that is of any consideration to you. I would also argue the MX DAC is their best DAC product to date, better even than their newer models.

I would say it really depends on whether you are truly going to use the RME features whether to get that vs MX DAC. As I said before the MX DAC is totally hassle free and sounds amazing, no special drivers needed either. And it's like $400 cheaper to boot. But if there is some feature you want in the RME then there is that to consider.

 

[thecrow]

Hello everyone! After slowly build up my headphone Arsenal again it’s time for something “endgame level” Got a pair of LCD-X and love them, placed amp order for a V280 from drop yesterday since the X and THX 789 don’t get along great IMO, now that just leaves the DAC. Full disclosure I’ve never been a big believer in DAC’s but I’ve never spent big $ on one I’m willing to try. My setup is as follows, PC-> Modius-> THX AAA 789 (V280 when it gets here)-> LCD-X. I exclusively use Tidal for music so I don’t need crazy file compatibility, or even MQA support (couldn’t tell enough difference between MQA and typical files), I just want some great sound. My current source and amp are playing the measurement game and come off very flat which can be a good thing for some, but I prefer a more musical authentic presentation. I see a LOT of people here using the RME ADI2 DAC and I’m considering it, or the Violectric V580 DAC since it’s on sale for 1099. Any advice or opinions would be great, I can’t wait to have my new amp in hand!

the v280 is great
if it's in your budget definitely have a look at the chord qutest - imho

both the qutest and v280 are very versatile

all the best

https://darko.audio/2018/11/a-short-film-about-the-chord-qutest/

 

[Audio addict19]

In my experience dacs make a smaller impact than the amp but can still be a notable difference. It's not just a file decoder, because that would be all in the digital domain if that was all it was. Converting the digital signal to a high quality analog signal can be more complex than it seems, but whether you notice a difference will depend upon the headphones - like an HD800 will be much more noticable any differences in the chain than HD650.

The v850 looks nice but lacking DSD decoding is a significant downside given the semi-popularity of DSD downloads. It seems a bad value compared to either RME or MX DAC . MQA is a scam IMO so I wouldn't worry about that personally

Musical Fidelity isn't well known in USA as they are a British company but they are arguably the most experienced DAC maker of them all. They released the first outboard DAC in 1989 called the Digilog. The MX DAC is made in EU, btw, if that is of any consideration to you. I would also argue the MX DAC is their best DAC product to date, better even than their newer models.

I would say it really depends on whether you are truly going to use the RME features whether to get that vs MX DAC. As I said before the MX DAC is totally hassle free and sounds amazing, no special drivers needed either. And it's like $400 cheaper to boot. But if there is some feature you want in the RME then there is that to consider.

Okay awesome thank you for your input! As nice as DSD file support would be I’ll never have any DSD files most likely, tidal is my primary platform and if I ever buy music it’s just a CD. I’ll definitely look into the MX DAC sounds like a great value. The RME would be nice too for having something more portable and didn’t want to lug around the amp and the EQ is nice. I do like the volume control of the V850 a lot and the looks are tough to beat. Has all the file support I’ll ever need most likely too. Touch choices...

 

[Audio addict19]

the v280 is great
if it's in your budget definitely have a look at the chord qutest - imho

both the qutest and v280 are very versatile

all the best

https://darko.audio/2018/11/a-short-film-about-the-chord-qutest/

Great to hear the amp rocks! I’ve heard wonderful things about the Chord products but the Qutest is out of my range. Max I’d be willing to spend is around 1K USD. V850 is on sale here for $1099, RME can be had around $1150ish and the MX DAC is very appealing being cheaper than everything else.

 

[ruinedx]

Okay awesome thank you for your input! As nice as DSD file support would be I’ll never have any DSD files most likely, tidal is my primary platform and if I ever buy music it’s just a CD. I’ll definitely look into the MX DAC sounds like a great value. The RME would be nice too for having something more portable and didn’t want to lug around the amp and the EQ is nice. I do like the volume control of the V850 a lot and the looks are tough to beat. Has all the file support I’ll ever need most likely too. Touch choices...

Are you planning to use the dac with only the v280 or also into a power amp? Because if just going DAC > v280 you would want fixed max DAC volume output for best quality, with v280 controlling volume.

 

[ruinedx]

Great to hear the amp rocks! I’ve heard wonderful things about the Chord products but the Qutest is out of my range. Max I’d be willing to spend is around 1K USD. V850 is on sale here for $1099, RME can be had around $1150ish and the MX DAC is very appealing being cheaper than everything else.

Also the qutest lacks balanced output which is a tremendous disadvantage if you plan to use with a PC

 

[Audio addict19]

Are you planning to use the dac with only the v280 or also into a power amp? Because if just going DAC > v280 you would want fixed max DAC volume output for best quality, with v280 controlling volume.

Most of the time straight into the V280 but I’d love the option to use it with my 2.1 speaker setup as a source as well which is why the V850 was jumping out at me too.

 

[ruinedx]

Most of the time straight into the V280 but I’d love the option to use it with my 2.1 speaker setup as a source as well which is why the V850 was jumping out at me too.

So, my ideal setup would be:

MX-DAC -> blue jeans cable XLR Y-cables
Y-cable device 1: Violectric v280 > headphone
Y-cable device 2: SPL Volume 2 active balanced preamp > 2.1 system

This would give you the max resolution and quality for both your headphones and 2.1 system while also giving you completely independent volume control of both your 2.1 and headphones (I assume your 2.1 has no preamp and this is why the dac knob is desirable). The SPL volume2 runs 399-499 so money saved on mx dac can be spent on this

Info here on that one
https://6moons.com/audioreviews/spl/volume2.html

This type of setup also allows you to swap/upgrade/repair any of the devices in the chain without losing out on multiple functions and being limited in what you can replace it/upgrade it with

So if for instance if down the road you do want
to upgrade to a mqa dac, or if the DAC breaks etc, you won't have to worry about finding a replacement one with a preamp or volume knob

 

[ruinedx]

No kidding. I have to force myself not to get involved with any more "my 100 dollar DAC from aliexpress has 2 ESS9038Pro chips so why does your RME only have one AK? Mine is better, you wasted your money" threads.

These are like the fun "why does my Topping A90 make weird buzzing noises" threads

 

[Tuneslover]

I have the RME ADI-2 DAC and the V280.

The RME is very detailed and has low noise and distortion levels. The RME is feature laden with all sorts of goodies to maximize sound quality, my favourite is the parametric equalizer which has taken my LCD-2C and LCD-3 to whole other level. The RME's detail rich signal pairs nicely with the effortless power and warmth of the V280.

Although the form factor of these 2 components are quite different (I have one beside the other), rest assured these are seriously good sounding components that ROCK.

P.S. I had the THX 789 for less than a month when the first V280 drop happened. I bought the V280 and returned the THX. I'm very happy how things turned out.

 

[Audio addict19]

I have the RME ADI-2 DAC and the V280.

The RME is very detailed and has low noise and distortion levels. The RME is feature laden with all sorts of goodies to maximize sound quality, my favourite is the parametric equalizer which has taken my LCD-2C and LCD-3 to whole other level. The RME's detail rich signal pairs nicely with the effortless power and warmth of the V280.

Although the form factor of these 2 components are quite different (I have one beside the other), rest assured these are seriously good sounding components that ROCK.

P.S. I had the THX 789 for less than a month when the first V280 drop happened. I bought the V280 and returned the THX. I'm very happy how things turned out.

Thank you for your info! Super happy to hear the THX doesn't stack up to the V280. Exactly the kind of upgrade i'm looking for. Feature wise the RME is pretty perfect for me, but the form factor next to the V280 would bother me in the long run... Time for more review watching

 

[Audio addict19]

These are like the fun "why does my Topping A90 make weird buzzing noises" threads

Speaking of the A90 I got the chance to demo it last weekend. I wasn't particularly amazed to be honest, pretty much the same thing as the THX. Maybe a touch wamer, but that's a heavy maybe. Don't know why everyone is saying it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

 

[Ichos]

Because now the trend is measurements...

 

[Audio addict19]

Because now the trend is measurements...

You're absolutely right, I'll be honest I fell for the hype and Audioscience review etc... but here I am back on the forums searching for more honest answers and people's opinion on sound. I took a few years off from the hobby but am really happy to be back in it but I miss Tyll from Innerfidelity a lot. Shame they took the site down at the beginning of the month, I always enjoyed his balance of subjective opinion and having measurement to "confirm" what he heard. Hope he's enjoying life and retirement.