MDAC

[kld05]

Hi I have a Audio lab Mdac on home demo. I listen to music to alot of my music via spotify streaming by applt tv 3 to roksan K2 amp, the sound is great but for one reason or another i decided that a £600 M DAC might be a vast inprovement in SQ. However playing music via the Apple tv blows away the MDAC.I'm I missing somthing here apple tv cost £89 vs MDAC cost £600 the apple SQ comes out tops.

 

[eggontoast]

Explain why you think it sounds better.

 

[MakkaPakka]

Moreover, you need to confirm how it's connected up. Any difference in the volume will mean one automatically sounds better.

 

[chebby]

How is the ATV3 connected to the Roksan K2?

 

[davedotco]

How is the ATV3 connected to the Roksan K2?

Perhaps by magic?

The original ATV had analog out but later models are digital only....... :read:

 

[John Duncan]

I may have mentioned this in another thread. A curious statement.

 

[chebby]

How is the ATV3 connected to the Roksan K2?

Perhaps by magic?

The original ATV had analog out but later models are digital only....... :read:

But the OP clearly states he is using an Apple TV 3 and that he is using it instead of the M-DAC (rather than connected to the M-DAC). So unless the Roksan K2 amp contains a DAC, I don't get it.

 

[davedotco]

How is the ATV3 connected to the Roksan K2?

Perhaps by magic?

The original ATV had analog out but later models are digital only....... :read:

But the OP clearly states he is using an Apple TV 3 and that he is using it instead of the M-DAC (rather than connected to the M-DAC). So unless the Roksan K2 amp contains a DAC, I don't get it.

As I said, magic. No other explanation......

 

[chebby]

As I said, magic. No other explanation......

What if he connects the Apple TV3 to his television (with HDMI) and then connects the television to the Roksan amp with a set of RCA phono cables? (Or a 3.5mm - 2 phono lead from the television's headphone socket to the amp if the television doesn't have RCA outputs.)

 

[John Duncan]

No doubt the OP will be back to explain shortly.

 

[davedotco]

As I said, magic. No other explanation......

What if he connects the Apple TV3 to his television (with HDMI) and then connects the television to the Roksan amp with a set of RCA phono cables? (Or a 3.5mm - 2 phono lead from the television's headphone socket to the amp if the television doesn't have RCA outputs.)

That is viable, but not what the OP said. Be interesting to see if an explanation is forthcoming.

 

[chebby]

No my suggestion has to be wrong.

The OP is directly comparing the quality of the ATV3 to the M-DAC.

If the ATV3 were connected to a television via HDMI (as I suggested in my last post), then the DAC being compared would be the one in the television and not the one in the ATV3. The television's DAC would be the one doing all the conversion to analogue.

 

[davedotco]

No my suggestion has to be wrong.

The OP is directly comparing the quality of the ATV3 to the M-DAC.

If the ATV3 were connected to a television via HDMI (as I suggested in my last post), then the DAC being compared would be the one in the television and not the one in the ATV3. The television's DAC would be the one doing all the conversion to analogue.

Clearly so.

Suggests that the OP might not be 100% sure of what he is actually doing.

Now, my AEX analog out does sound better than it's digital output via an Mdac. (dives for cover..... )

Actually never tried the Mdac, but the rdac does not do much and that I have tried.

 

[Duncan1977]

Hitting this head on (ignoring the connectiviy issues still to be resolved) if we're only talking about Spotify streaming - even on the 'extreme' setting on Spotify, you're only getting 320kbps, which is well beneath what the MDAC is capable of...

Think of it as having a performance car (the MDAC) on road tyres (Spotify), compared to a regular car on those same tyres going around a track - the performance car will be hampered...

Upping the ante somewhat, my Micromega MyDAC streaming FLAC still doesn't sound as good as the line out of my Cryus CDP playing convential CDs (not bad, but thinner, digital sounding in comparison) - in my mind USB audio is still a way behind conventional 'home' based hi-fi, even when considering 24/96 or 24/192 downloads from sources such as HDTracks...