New M-dac power supply

[MCRU]

Encourage punters to open up their DAC and do some soldering? Is that wise? Can't see it working myself. I like the DAC as it is, after all it's what you feed the DAC that really counts.

[sq225917]

I'm not encouraging anyone to solder anything. I'm simply stating that John has some mods. He's actually performing them free of charge for a few lucky customers, though I assume he'll start charging at some point.

Yeh its what you feed it that counts- the music.

[realysm42]

Got this in my system now, review coming very shortly, once I've stopped listening to tunes

[realysm42]

So, here it is:



I plugged this in yesterday, after twenty seconds I came to the conclusion it's never going back!

Build quality is good. Nice solid case, four rubber feet. The main thing that used to concern me badly with the M-dac was the power connector, from the unit to the dac itself, flismy and unconvincing fit. I was never happy about it (could ruin the whole thing and I worried you can break it by looking at it too hard). This has been remedied by a much chunkier plug that fits convincingly now:



Excuse the horrible quality photo, M-dac owners however will appreciate how much better this thing looks. It's a firm and convincing fit, a big weight off of my mind.

You might have read that I got some new isolation platforms not so long ago, they gave me a soundstage like I've never heard before. Adding this to the chain immediately improved this substantially!

All of a sudden my M-dac has control over the entire sound spectrum like never before.

Bass is deeper, but not overblown (drum and bass never sounded so damn good). It hits with such slam now! I didn't realise I was missing this until I heard the Lampizator a few days before, it hurt, losing that again... I feel happy to have it back and know it's going nowhere

Vocals and mids are to die for, they've always been something I've loved about my system, I worry that it can be taken too far, in this case, clarity has improved without sounding clinical, everything is so musical!

The top end is clean. Some music I have has analogue flaws added to the sound. Hisses crackles and pops sound so natural and organic. Cymbals decay properly, with the most delicate shimmer I didn't know my system could deliver.

I've not got a bad thing to say about this upgrade, every aspect of the sound has improved dramatically. I've bought a bespoke granite platform for it and some RDC cones to ensure it's properly isolated. David provided a no.27 cable to test it with. Great build quality, that's not going back either.

Thanks for letting me test this out for you David; I wholeheartedly recommend this unit to anyone owning an M-dac. My brother does too, he's extremely jealous of me now

[sq225917]

Is it an AC supply ?

[realysm42]

No idea, sir!

[lurcher]

No, +15v, -15v, nothing magic, just very very quiet DC with excess capacity.

[sq225917]

Very nice.

[realysm42]

Simon, you got the Soveriegn upgrade in your M-dac?

It's like speaking to a f*cking brick wall on that other forum, I either get ignored or told to trawl entire threads to find things...

[steviej233]

I am extremly jealous now! The M-Dac is a fantastic little unit and if i had a spare £600 i would buy one in a heart beat, but knowing what this new PSU does for it i wouldn't feel right about not adding it in to the equation.

Martin's system has come along leaps and bounds and it has been a real eye opener as to what decent cables and PSU's can achieve.