Musical Fidelity V-Dac

[unc2701]

Good question. I'm not sure, but I would imagine that the DAC wouldn't have the ability to.

I agree- it's the software. With the USB connection, the software basically sees a soundcard that can only handle 16/48 and kicks in the down-sampler.

[izafar]

A good link about using USB DACs:
http://www.benchmarkmedia.com/wiki/i..._-_Setup_Guide

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

Well we're coming up on 48 hours of burn in. I listened to it immediately upon hooking it up, and again now, a couple days later.

Wow, what a difference a couple days makes!

It was good right out of the box, but exhibited exactly what I expected with no burn-in - harsh on the high end. It may have been a little loose on the bottom end, but I couldn't tell you because the highs were overbearing. I wasn't shocked though, know that's how it often goes especially with DACs. SO I put the playlist on repeat and decided not to touch it again for a couple days.

I came back about an hour ago and decided to put the headphones on and was pleasantly surprised. The highs are ironed out and the overall tone is typical Musical Fidelity, just on the warm side of neutral. I'm not gonna go into a big story with a bunch of audio superlatives, let's just say is sounds good.

I'm running a pair of Beyer Dynamic DT880 on it. They're a great set of cans but are just a tad forward for my liking. Like I said, the V-DAC is typical MF, so it helps tame that brightness just a bit. The Woo Audio 3 tube headphone amp that I've got on order should go the rest of the way in getting them right where I want them.

I am going to get the V-Link to pair with this DAC to get me support for Hi Rez audio. I wish it had asynchronous USB support and support for 24/96 on the USB port built in, but for the price I guess I can't complain.

I did hook this up to my Squeezebox Touch via optical and played through some of my 24/96 files and it sounds phenomenal. I may end up ordering another one for the living room but want to get my computer rig fully built out first. The fact that it sounds so good playing the hi rez files gives me confidence in ordering the V-Link, because it should sound just as good on the computer rig with that in the chain.

In fairness, I did not compare directly to other DACs in this price range, but it's hard to imagine anything better out there for the price. I've read about the HRT Music Streamer and am going to order one of those for the laptop rig. It gets good reviews online and looks good on paper from what I can tell, so we'll see. I started with the V-DAC because it also has the extra inputs that I need.

[praedet]

I have a V-Link, so the following was learned with that piece of equipment...

Find a way to get the V-Link it's own non-usb power. It makes an AMAZING difference. I am using a USB cord that runs a separate line to a dedicated 5 volt battery source and the difference between the music before and after the change is quite breathtaking...

[dorokusai]

The V-Dac is better than the HRT Streamer.

[falconcry72]

I have a V-Link, so the following was learned with that piece of equipment...

Find a way to get the V-Link it's own non-usb power. It makes an AMAZING difference. I am using a USB cord that runs a separate line to a dedicated 5 volt battery source and the difference between the music before and after the change is quite breathtaking...

What's the name of the cord you're using? Sounds cool.

I'm guessing that the difference is due to galvanic isolation. Did you hear a difference with both the coaxial and toslink outputs? I ask because the nature of the optical out keeps your other equipment galvanically isolated from the computer, so I would assume that using an external power supply would only affect the sound of the coaxial out, but you never know. Theory and practice don't always align.

edit:

I found a review of the vlink that said that someone from Musical Fidelity recommended using the toslink out for the above reason.

[falconcry72]

...I am going to get the V-Link to pair with this DAC to get me support for Hi Rez audio. I wish it had asynchronous USB support and support for 24/96 on the USB port built in, but for the price I guess I can't complain....

I'm glad you're liking the vdac. I have heard that it sounds very similar to the m1, which I think does a great job!

You should hear a big difference with the addition of the vlink. It's an awesome little piece. I like having the converter and DAC separate so you can upgrade either separately. It also allows you to use any non-usb DAC that you want.

I'll let you know this week if I'll be getting rid of my vlink. If I do, you've got dibs.

[praedet]

What's the name of the cord you're using? Sounds cool.

I'm guessing that the difference is due to galvanic isolation. Did you hear a difference with both the coaxial and toslink outputs? I ask because the nature of the optical out keeps your other equipment galvanically isolated from the computer, so I would assume that using an external power supply would only affect the sound of the coaxial out, but you never know. Theory and practice don't always align.

edit:

I found a review of the vlink that said that someone from Musical Fidelity recommended using the toslink out for the above reason.

I actually got the noise from both the coax out and the toslink for what it is worth...

The cord is a new one that Dave from PI Audio Group will be bringing out soon. He has a circle over at Audio Circle...

[Tbone289]

The V-Dac is better than the HRT Streamer.

Could you expand on this please? In what ways (beside the obvious inputs) is it better?

Thanks

[dorokusai]

Could you expand on this please? In what ways (beside the obvious inputs) is it better?

Thanks

It sounds better, easy. The HRT can sound artificial and compressed even on hi-res cuts.

[Tbone289]

It sounds better, easy. The HRT can sound artificial and compressed even on hi-res cuts.

Thanks for explaining. I thought you might be comparing in terms of spec, since you simply stated that it was better.

[dcmartinpc]

Great information!

I have been looking at a HRT MS II, but I might go this route for my small system in my bedroom.

Don

[Tbone289]

Great information!

I have been looking at a HRT MS II, but I might go this route for my small system in my bedroom.

Don

My opinion differs from dorokusai regarding the HRT MS II. I don't think it sounds compressed or artificial at all. I've also seen several other direct comparisons online between the two that are favorable toward both, and none that seem to point to obvious issues with either. I have not directly compared the HRT MS II and V-DAC side-by-side, however.

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

I've got a friend who has the HRT Music Streamer II and he agreed to bring it over last night, albeit reluctantly knowing what may happen.

We were both in agreement that the V-Dac is significantly better than the MSII, even without the V-Link in the chain. Since I don't have the V-Link yet I can't really compare on hi rez material via the USB.

Mark is pretty spot on with his thoughts on the sound, although I imagine other equipment would sound different. I had seen the sound characterized "too digital" and now understand those comments. it didn't sound real at all to me. Keep in mind though that as I mentioned before my headphones are already a little forward, it may sound completely different on a more laid back system.

[EndersShadow]

I've got a friend who has the HRT Music Streamer II and he agreed to bring it over last night, albeit reluctantly knowing what may happen.

We were both in agreement that the V-Dac is significantly better than the MSII, even without the V-Link in the chain. Since I don't have the V-Link yet I can't really compare on hi rez material via the USB.

Mark is pretty spot on with his thoughts on the sound, although I imagine other equipment would sound different. I had seen the sound characterized "too digital" and now understand those comments. it didn't sound real at all to me. Keep in mind though that as I mentioned before my headphones are already a little forward, it may sound completely different on a more laid back system.

Did you guys by any chance have speakers hooked up for the demo as well?

Curious as the HRT was on my "short" list of possible DAC's along with the Musiland Monitor 02, Audnst HUD-MX1 and Yulong U100. All would be between my computer and HK3490 (and later on pre-amp)

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

We had them hooked up to my Swan active monitors, but did most of the listening on my headphone rig. The Swan are good speakers, but don't have nearly the resolution that my headphone rig has. With those cans you can hear every nuance and detail in the sound, some of that gets lost on anything but the best speakers out there.

Like I said, this DAC is typical Musical Fidelity sound, just a bit warm of neutral, so take that into account.

I did listen to the V-Dac on my main system out of my Squeezebox and it sounded excellent, but did not use the HRT on that system as it's USB only.

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

I got the V-Link in today. My initial impression is about what it was with the V-Dac, it definitely needs some time to burn in. I'll post my thoughts after it settles into the rig.

After some more time with the V-Dac and assuming that once the V-Link has the same sound signature when it settles in I can say this is probably the last DAC setup I'll ever need. It may not be the last one I buy, but I just can't imagine it getting much better than this at a price I'll be able to afford. I'd need to greatly improve my headphone and amp setup before a better DAC would help, and that's at least a couple grand and not on my to-do list anytime soon.

[falconcry72]

Glad you're enjoying the v-link; it's a great little piece of gear.

BTW, are you running your media player in one of the bit-perfect, hardware direct modes? ie: ASIO or kernal streaming?

I know that a MAC OS does less damage to the signal than Windows does, but I think it would still be beneficial.

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

I also wanted to post a note that I thought would be relevant here for anyone on a Mac using iTunes. If you're on a Mac product using iTunes exclusively to handle your music playback then you're missing out on sound quality. If you're using iTunes for playback then I recommend you purchase a program called BitPerfect from the app store, it's easily the best $5 you'll ever spend.

Apparently iTunes doesn't change the bitrate when you select tracks with different bitrates for playback, or when you create a playlist of tracks with multiple bitrates. I didn't believe this at first, but tested and it is indeed true. So if you have a regular CD track and then a Hi Rez 24/96 track iTunes will play the CD track at its native 14/44 resolution and then downsample the hi rez track to that same resolution. Or if you play the hi rez track first and then the CD track it will use it's crappy engine to upconvert the CD track. Either way its not good.

The only way around this is to close iTunes, open up the Audio Midi tool and change the bitrate then open iTunes back up, its a huge PITA...until now.

There are and have been programs like Amara and Pure Music that tie into your music library and will play it back at the correct bitrate, automatically changing the bitrate to match the track and will even upsample if you want. The problem with these, especially Amara, is that they're very expensive.

There are other programs like AudioNirvana that will change the bitrate accordingly and sound great, but don't have any library interface to speak of and aren't as convenient. I've been using AudioNirvana for the last week and it does sound great.

Then there's BitPerfect. It's still not quite as featured as something as Amara or Pure Music, but if at the end of the day all you're after is the best sound fidelity possible I think it's just as good, and it's hundreds of dollars cheaper.

BitPerfect runs in the background and integrates with your iTunes library. So you use your library and start up songs or playlists just like you would normally, except that BitPerfect intercepts the signal and handles the actual audio playback, but handles things like automatic sample rate switching for you. The sample rate switching alone is worth the $5 several times over, but there are other features like upsampling and 'hog mode' (where it doesn't allow other system sounds to use the audio device it's using). It also has a couple other things that I haven't played with yet like 'integer mode'.

Anyway, that's my input, can't go wrong for $5.

[EndersShadow]

So is the Vlink better than the VDac?

[falconcry72]

So is the Vlink better than the VDac?

The V-Link is just a USB to SPDIF converter; there is no DAC in it.

The V-Link is used for computer rigs in conjunction with the V-DAC to increase performance since the V-DAC does not have an asynchronous USB input.


edit: the V-Link could also be used with any other external DAC since it has normal coaxial and optical outputs, so if you already have a good non-USB DAC, and you want to try a computer as your source, you can just pick up the inexpensive V-Link and continue using your existing DAC.

[EndersShadow]

edit: the V-Link could also be used with any other external DAC since it has normal coaxial and optical outputs, so if you already have a good non-USB DAC, and you want to try a computer as your source, you can just pick up the inexpensive V-Link and continue using your existing DAC.

Thats kinda what I was looking for, since the VDac is 300ish and the Vlink another 100....

But since my HK does optical or coaxial (which is what I am feeding it now) I could be good to go.

Still not sure this one is for me though....

[falconcry72]

Still not sure this one is for me though....

The vLink runs 169 shipped from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Musical-Fideli.../dp/B004PH03GU


Another option is the Musiland Monitor 02. It runs 125 shipped (from China):

http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-Digital-Soun...item3cadfa1b56


A third option is the Audio GD Digital Interface. The "B" version retails for 140, but with the optional external power supply (75) and upgraded clock (23) and shipping from China (40ish) and paypal fees, it comes in at about 290, but you could get the standard version shipped for more like 180.

http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/USBface/Digital1EN.htm


I currently use a V-Link. My dad uses a Musiland Monitor 02. I have an Audio GD Digital Interface on the way. I'll do a write up of all three when I can A/B/C'em in a week or two.

I was so impressed with the Audio GD NFB-7 DAC that I bought off zingo that I had to try their USB-SPDIF converter. I went with the optional external power supply and upgraded clock cuz I'm trying to get my computer to be as good of a source as possible.

I'm not sure if it will sound better or worse than the V-Link...but I will find out one way or the other! Super solid build quality, sound quality, and customer service from Audio GD. Their email replies have been in broken English, but the slowest reply I've had so far was 4 hours; that's the best response time from any company I can remember dealing with.

There's a thread on a DAC comparison I was in the middle of that I will update soon now that I have the NFB-7.

[EndersShadow]

Another option is the Musiland Monitor 02. It runs 125 shipped (from China):

http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-Digital-Soun...item3cadfa1b56

Yeah the Musiland is on my short list as well. Will be looking forward to your write up.

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

One thing to note about the V-Link is that it does NOT require special drivers. This may be the same with the others as well, but I just plugged the MF in and it worked without loading anything.

[sucks2beme]

I saw mention of the Audio-gd stuff. I noticed that Pacific valve dropped almost the entire line. I don't know that I would ever order one straight from China.
I'm using a Headamp Pico. It's a pretty good usb only dac that's line
powered. I've been thinking about an Arcam, but really would like the Rega
DAC if I could swing the extra coin.

[falconcry72]

I saw mention of the Audio-gd stuff. I noticed that Pacific valve dropped almost the entire line. I don't know that I would ever order one straight from China....

I ordered mine straight from Audio GD in China. King-wa, the owner, has a great reputation for customer service and honoring warranties etc. He frequents a few audio forums like head-fi. This is my first time dealing with the company, and I haven't actually received the piece yet, but so far the customer service has been great!

[heiney9]

Yeah the Musiland is on my short list as well. Will be looking forward to your write up.

The Musiland is an excellent product and a great interphase for converting USB and it's asynchronous. The software to run the Musiland provided by the company is excellent as well. I have been very impressed with it. It's also a dac if you choose.

H9

[EndersShadow]

The Musiland is an excellent product and a great interphase for converting USB and it's asynchronous. The software to run the Musiland provided by the company is excellent as well. I have been very impressed with it. It's also a dac if you choose.

H9

Yup, you use it though to run into your AMC8 via digital if I remember correctly

[falconcry72]

The Musiland is an excellent product and a great interphase for converting USB and it's asynchronous. The software to run the Musiland provided by the company is excellent as well. I have been very impressed with it. It's also a dac if you choose.

H9

One thing to note about the Musiland is that there is a known problem with its compatibility with PC's running Windows 7 64 bit with an AMD processor.