NOS DACs

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by brencho, Jan 6, 2016.

  1. murphythecat

    murphythecat GRU-powered uniformed trumpkin

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    its very interesting, im reading your Pavane vs Yggdrassil and I agree on so many things. my Mosaic T is a good example of the NOS r2r sound and the description between the Yggdrasil vs pavane really reflects my impressions with my Mosaic T NOS r2r DAC vs my Yggdrasil

    I find the Mosaic T more musical, smoother, better highs. I find the Yggdrasil with more details and resolution, better separation, more powerful bass and more bite to the sound . The Yggdrasil does seem to tilt the music more in the highs, or at least I hear more information in the highs, more resolution, but the presentation is slightly less fluid and organic or integrated vs the Mosaic T. I use the usb yggdrassil and a cheap breeze duu8 DDC toslink out to my Mosaic T. I should probably use the breeze duu8 to connect both the Yggdrasil and Mosaic T to have a better comparison.

    My grilfriend prefer the Mosaic T, I prefer the Yggdrasil. im lucky in that I dont have to choose but imo, if one can I think we need both type of DAC to suit different moods and different music genre. no way im selling my Yggdrasil or my Mosaic t, both seem to be relative bargains in the audio world.

    agreed.
    its not like you need to pay 5k for a good NOS r2r dac though. look ec designs. one reviewer prefered the ec designs Mosaic T over the Pavane.
    http://www.hifi-advice.com/blog/review/digital-reviews/spdif-dac-reviews/ec-designs-mosaic-t-dac/
    http://www.hifi-advice.com/blog/review/digital-reviews/spdif-dac-reviews/metrum-pavane/
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2017
  2. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

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    That's worth looking into
     
  3. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    I am very suspicious of the USB-only nature of that, esp. with their own homebrew USB receiver... Suspecting that working at UAC1 rates might be as much a necessity as a virtue there.
     
  4. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

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    Usb only?
    :cool: I'm cool
     
  5. murphythecat

    murphythecat GRU-powered uniformed trumpkin

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    if you research John Brown (ec desings), all suspicions should go away pretty quickly. the guy is a very dedicated designer that has been on it for over 20 years full time. he for a long time offered diy kit at very cheap prices. you can follow his DAC developments since 2006 at diyaudio http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digi...building-ultimate-nos-dac-using-tda1541a.html

    Ive been following and using ec desings dac for many years now (I have had the ec designs sd-1 player and now the Mosaic T) and one thing you see from John Brown is his no nonsense pricing and a total lack of desire to please the hifi crowd. go to diyaudio and ask himm directly rather then imply and suggest bad intentions. his prices are very reasonable, his designs well explained grounded on science AND listening (not just science) and smart developments and innovations. Just solid engineering.
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2017
  6. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    They do? Now I remember where I heard of this outfit before:

    http://superbestaudiofriends.org/in...sil-watering-the-ash.4036/page-10#post-129193
    http://superbestaudiofriends.org/in...after-yggdrasil-watering-the-ash.4036/page-12

    You appear to have a dog in the fight there, you're quite insistent about it. Not sure if @Torq ever got ears on it, though to see if it's all you claim.
     
  7. murphythecat

    murphythecat GRU-powered uniformed trumpkin

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    Last edited: Jun 11, 2017
  8. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

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    'dog in the fight':
    Means you are making some valid points. Thats a good thing:)
     
  9. ald0s

    ald0s Facebook Friend

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    Hows the onboard amp? any chances you've tried it with the usual senns?
     
  10. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    Actually, I believe the phrase means you have something personal at stake in the debate/issue.
     
  11. murphythecat

    murphythecat GRU-powered uniformed trumpkin

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    oh
    I like his products and think it represent incredible value for money

    I never made $ by praising ecdesigns or received any money from them I can assure you lol. Full disclosure, about a year ago, I was suppose to distribute demo units in Canada for them, but It never happened.
     
  12. Miracle1980

    Miracle1980 Acquaintance

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    Any news regarding the upgrade program date of Musette and Menuet? It was supposed too be during summer...
     
  13. JeffYoung

    JeffYoung Friend

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    I just emailed Cees and he said there were no hard dates yet as production was ramping up on the Amethyst and they needed all the DAC TWO modules for that.
     
  14. Miracle1980

    Miracle1980 Acquaintance

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    So probably we have to wait 1 more month, at least.
    Thanks
     
  15. nimmen

    nimmen New

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    Anyone else was able to acquire dac two chips for musette? I did write to support asking about price for dac two chips and ability to upgrade, but got surprisingly unfriendly answer, "why don't you buy a new one having dac two" kinda thing... Now thinking about contacting some resellers having metrum products and asking if they could get them or just selling musette and getting NOS dac from other company.
     
  16. JeffYoung

    JeffYoung Friend

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    I was told originally that they would be available, but then later that there was some concern about compatibility. It didn't sound like a "won't work" kind of thing, more like a "we don't want to support it" kind of thing.
     
  17. nimmen

    nimmen New

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    Interesting, I'll try writing again specifically mentioning that no support is needed, I did mention that when writing, that obviously there can be no warranty and it's my own risk(just double checking that chips are pin/socket/funcationality compatible), but their response was as I mentioned...
    I was writing to generic support email, maybe there is another source/person I could use as a contact?
    Recent years did give me some strange feeling about metrum as a company, thought maybe something did change in terms of owners/etc... But obviously thats just my own impression(mainly from the website "UX").
    On the other hand, I heard some things about different types of dac two, one having up to 192khz support, another mentioning FPGA. Not sure how many versions there are, and how many of them are compatible with musette, I listen to things on 44khz, so I'm not much worried about 192+ support :) As long time I have planned spdif/toslink update on musette, this would be interesting upgrade, if possible, otherwise I'll just try and sell it(main reason why I didn't want to do spdif/toslink update).
     
  18. earnmyturns

    earnmyturns Smartest friend

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    FPGA and DAC chips are separate in Metrum DACs AFAIK. My guess is that DAC 2 chips work together with a specific FPGA versions (an FPGA is just ane efficient, low-power hardware instantiation of a particular control/data management algorithm) and may not work with earlier designs.
     
  19. JeffYoung

    JeffYoung Friend

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    The DAC 2 chips all include the FPGA; the DAC 1 chips do not. Getting the FPGA would be the main reason (I think) to upgrade a Musette. (Of course it's possible they're more power hungry and the Musette PSU won't handle it.)

    The DAC 2 chips do indeed come in two different speeds, although I can't remember what they are (look at the Pavane options to find out).
     
  20. ohshitgorillas

    ohshitgorillas Friend

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    I am thinking about moving my Bifrost MB to my speaker setup permanently (to sit with a Saga OG) and picking up a used Metrum Musette used for about $450 for my headphone rig (heavily modded Crack>ZMF Atticus, HD800). I like lush, rich, full-bodied sound. Good idea? Bad idea? Someone stop me...
     

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