[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] advice needed: Audiolab m-dac or m-dac plus with SBT?

[tusken]

I am looking for some advice please on whether to go with a mint but
second hand audiolab m-dac for £340 (RRP is £600) - or go the whole hog
and buy the new upgraded version, the m-dac plus for £800. The m-dac
plus can do 24/192 via USB (and DSD, but i am not interested in DSD) and
has an upgraded power supply. the m-dac can only do 24/96 via USB.

Ive not owned a separate DAC before and have simply used the DAC on the
touch and the analogue outs.

my system is
arcam 7R pre-amp and 8P power amp -biamped into B&W CM9 S2s

if i use the coaxial or the toslink to output from the touch -i can
output 24/192 to the m-dac anyway -so the question is, just how
important is the ability to have specifically usb 24/192? am i really
going to notice a difference between usb 24/192 and coaxial 24/192? i do
have quite a lot of 24/192 flacs and i will use the EDO plugin

what would you go for, given the price difference?

any advice appreciated -but i am not really interested in other DACs so
i would prefer to keep the discussion to just these 2 DACS and the
merits of USB out versus coaxial and optical.

thanks


------------------------------------------------------------------------
tusken's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=39322
View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=105541

[badboygolf16v]

Get the second hand one. It's a nice well made piece of kit.

If you've got money to burn, spend it on speakers.

I doubt very much you would be able to hear the difference between any
of the digital outs.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
badboygolf16v's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=19486
View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=105541

[Julf]

Post by badboygolf16v
I doubt very much you would be able to hear the difference between any
of the digital outs.

And if you can hear a diffence between 24/96 and 24/192, the
implementation of your DAC isn't very good...



"To try to judge the real from the false will always be hard. In this
fast-growing art of 'high fidelity' the quackery will bear a solid gilt
edge that will fool many people" - Paul W Klipsch, 1953
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Julf's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=42050
View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=105541

[Archimago]

Hey Tusken,
I concur with BadBoy, I'd get the second hand with the deep discount as
well - the deeper the better :-). Assuming it's in great shape and all
of course...

After years of owning a DAC capable of USB 32/384 and DSD128, I've never
found myself in need of these extreme sampling rates and the Logitech
Transporter's 24/96 is more than good enough. This is even with the fact
that I have a number of DSD albums as well. I also routinely downsample
24/192 music because the vast majority are not real 192kHz recordings or
are obviously not of high enough quality to deserve that kind of
bitrate.

Questions:
-1. if i use the coaxial or the toslink to output from the touch -i can
output 24/192 to the m-dac anyway -so the question is, just how
important is the ability to have specifically usb 24/192?-
- It's not important in my opinion. Like Julf said, one should really
not hear any significant difference especially with a good internal DAC
chipset like the Sabre32 9018.
-
2. am i really going to notice a difference between usb 24/192 and
coaxial 24/192?-
No IMO. If you want to get technical, most likely objective data would
suggest jitter would be better with the asynchronous USB interface. But
I don't believe a good DAC like this should have audible jitter.

Have a great time with the new DAC!



Archimago's Musings: (archimago.blogspot.com) A 'more objective'
audiophile blog.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archimago's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2207
View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=105541

[Mnyb]

toslink and 24/192 can be hit and miss , sometimes it works , but it is
not in that standard ,but it can work if both sender and receiver are
good enough .

Spdiff always works inleds something is broken .

USB it should be this new asynchronous mode ,otherwise it's no point .
USB implementations can also vary not all do 24/192 .

Technically depending on DAC and source one of these could be better ,
but the difference should be to small to be audible .

24/96 is not really a limitation , but if the USB is only capable of
that I would suspect other limitations too .

DSD it's rarely any DSD exclusive content to bother with except for some
very niche audiophile labels , so this is not usually a format to bother
with if one wants to enjoy music .



--------------------------------------------------------------------
Main hifi: Touch + CIA PS +MeridianG68J MeridianHD621 MeridianG98DH 2 x
MeridianDSP5200 MeridianDSP5200HC 2 xMeridianDSP3100 +Rel Stadium 3
sub.
Bedroom/Office: Boom
Kitchen: Touch + powered Fostex PM0.4
Misc use: Radio (with battery)
iPad1 with iPengHD & SqueezePad
(spares Touch, SB3, reciever ,controller )
server HP proliant micro server N36L with ClearOS Linux

http://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mnyb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=4143
View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=105541

[drmatt]

I would agree with the previous posts.. I wouldn't worry about 24/192
you're really not missing anything there and if you're happy with the
sound of the (much) cheaper DAC then I'd go for that. Try them out if
you can, is all I can suggest.




------------------------------------------------------------------------
drmatt's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=59498
View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=105541

[tusken]

thanks for all your advice. In the end ,the used m-dac turned out not be
mint -the seller had "forgotten" to mention the ding on the front, so i
passed on that one. I think i will audition the m-dac plus in my home
and see what impressions I have


------------------------------------------------------------------------
tusken's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=39322
View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=105541