Mutec MC-3+ USB Impressions vs CDP vs built-in USB

@Marvey(if he decides to care) and Mutec users

To find out the firmware version of your Mutec MC3+USB on windows, run this program
C:\Program Files\MUTEC_Driver\MUTEC_USB_Audio_Driver\MUTECUSBAudioDfu.exe

Also to note: Mutec MC-1.2 does not have this firmware upgrade function.

 

Man, I really wish I could get away from USB. Great work Marvey! For setup E, would Wyrd improve those areas at all?

 

Interesting stuff. Was thinking about a mutec mc3+... now maybe not so much?

Can you do it again as a blind test?

 

Is this still the same one coil low pass filter as in the Cicada thread or did you add a cap and resistor for an EQ circuit?

Also did you do further mods to the Marantz after your initial comparision against the Data III back on Changstar? Back then the Marantz seemed not that great and now people at the meet were raving about how good it is, is USB really that shitty in comparison?

 

My experience using my MR816x firewire interface ->SPDIF coax->Gungnir Multibit:

• smoother, less grainy treble
• better layering and placement of instruments
• softer transients
• less bass impact, although maybe more nuanced

USB off motherboard->Wyrd->Gungnir Multibit:

• immediately better transients, more in your face
• fuzzier imaging
• ambience/reverb/note decay is less apparent (subtle)
• treble is kind of grainy or hard
• more bass impact, firm and controlled although less definition in the lows

I usually end up using the MR816x since I do a lot of recording. The smoother sound is also preferred for longer sessions.

 

Every USB implementation sounds different. My phone sounds very different from my laptop and desktop. My PC mainboard has three different USB controllers: one for 2 USB 2.0 ports, one for all the USB 3.0 ports and one for 2 USB 3.1 ports. I remember with my last PC (more than a year ago) I compared all the ports and found all of them to sound very different. In that case I actually picked the front USB ports.

 

I have been wondering about a good solution to come from my iMac to my Pavane. I tried the built in USB but preferred the Lifatec toslink cable. However, the only logical option I see is the RedNet 3. I wish there was an intermediate solution but it seems there is only really one sensible one. I just don't like the fact that with the Rednet 3 you are essentially paying for functions that you will never use and tons of channels made for the pro audio world. If they had a 2 channel version I am sure it would be a lot cheaper. Imma sit back a bit and just keep the toslink for now until I find something else or am ready to dish out a g for the RedNet 3.

It would be interesting if the same comparison was done using the RedNet. I hope there to be an addendum or comparison with it.

 

So Marv, if we want to avoid USB completely but don't want to be tied down to a CD-player or some sort of music server. Would an E22 be a good solution? I really want AES and don't want added bloom or warmth from something like the mutec..

 

I have the Mojo in the house now and I'm using it with a supra zac toslink, need more time but sounds good to me so far. Incidentally I think the designer (robert watts) said he prefers and uses toslink.

 

Marv, firmware is the latest, I updated it a few weeks ago. Its also on the device driver popup.

Try the SPDIF out to the Gungnir Multibit RCA, if you have the cable and time. You will find even more warmth, and even more Moffat bass vs. to the BNC. In some tight dry systems that helps, in warmer systems, bloomy morphs to boomy.

It is sensitive enough to show changes in the USB and the SPDIF cable, but only if the system isn't already skewed to warm which will obscure it. Like you've noted, digital is an asylum, having tried variations on a theme for subtle differences can drive you batty. Another five hours lost.

Interesting note on the Theta III to Mutec, have to try that. I was running an ARC Ref 8 CD player yesterday via Gungnir Multibit (SPDIF) and out of the player balanced line out to compare, to speakers and could note very very slight nuance changes (note spacing and microdynamics was better) , but I need to do this on a more neutral setup to validate. Against a micro rendu, the CD player won out handily on four cuts i ripped and did side by side comparisons with. Microrendu against a PC and a Mutec, sideways.

 

Yeah, the BNC does dry it out perceptibly, and flattens dynamics. I've read people say it's more neutral, but its less involving also, to my ears.

 

The RedNet 3 is one option, as you've noted. It requires special cabling (or that you make your own), is rather "obvious" in the rack (since it's a full-size professional rack-mount piece), and can be a bit fiddly to get started with. The results are excellent however.

There are other options, and I'm exploring a bunch of them as part of a post/thread I'll start here shortly (and have mentioned before) on network audio interfaces/AOIP/streamers. One is Auralic's Aries. On the upside, it's a smaller, neater, easier device to get started with. It isn't any cheaper (and in full-strength form, is 50% more expensive), but it's focused on 2-channel operation and has some other useful (for some) functions such as being able to act as a music server as well as a network interface/streamer. Certainly has it's own set of issues.

Anyway, as part of looking at those devices, I compared all of their output options (to the degree that they're relevant to Yggdrasil at least), and will be including my findings there along with their relative performance on common outputs.

Quite a few good, and not particularly expensive, options if you want COAX or TOSLINK driven off the network, fewer if you want AES/EBU XLR.

 

Guess I was correct on guessing marvey's mutec version.

Maybe other mutec mc3 users would like to chime in on their findings between the new firmware and the old?

 

Does anyone know where to download the 1.03 firmware?
I liked the added warmness to the hd800S, but now that I have the Utopia, I wonder if 1.03 might sound better.

never mind, forgot that 1.10-1.03 was also included in upgrade file.

Spent an hr and half going back and forth, 1.10 does add a bloomy sound. To me it's actually more enjoyable this way with the HD800S, but not so much on the Utopia. Won't have time today but will remove mutec from chain and see how it goes tomorrow with the utopia.
my current chain is win7 usb > mutec 3+usb via aes > Yggdrasil > isomax > zds