Music Fidelity V-dac - how good is it and where in India is it available?

[anm]

Is it a good dac, and would it compare with CA and Beresford dacs commonly discussed here?
Any other DACs recommended in 15k INR range?
regards

 

[venkatcr]

The V-DAC does have rave reviews and may actually be better than both DACMagic and Beresford. If you can get it at the International price of $299, I am sure you will be happy. Companies such as Music Fidelity will be careful about the product they release, and you usually cannot go wrong with them. The specs are quite good.

Up sampling: 24 Bit/192kHz
Output impedance: 47?
Maximum output: 2.2V
Total harmonic distortion: 0.004% @ 20Hz-20kHz
Frequency response: +0, -0.1dB @ 20Hz-20kHz
Crosstalk: -104dB @ 20Hz-20kHz
Signal / noise ratio: -116dB A-weighted
Total Jitter: 170ps @ -89dB
Power requirement: 12V DC 500mA

Some (filtered) professional comments:

"You'll Marvel at the Musical Fidelity V-DAC"

"The V-DAC sounded extraordinarily quiet, as if I were hearing an absence of digital processing," reports Sam Tellig in the May 2009 issue of Stereophile. "If you lust after a silken, sweet (but not oversweet) sound, you'll marvel at the Musical Fidelity V-DAC."

"Terrific Bargain - Enthusiastically Recommended"

"Feed the V-DAC with a digital audio bitstream from a disc player or from your computer, and you'll soon be enjoying sound quality that was once the exclusive province of disc players with four-figure price tags," observes Chris Marten in Playback, Issue 20, 2009. "This product is a terrific bargain and is enthusiastically recommended."

"Impressively Sophisticated Sound"

What Hi-fi? magazine's online review lauds the V-DAC for its "rich, detailed midrange, and impressively sophisticated sound." According to the review, "The V-DAC is an attractive product for a very reasonable price, and renders an impressively dense and sophisticated musical picture for such a cheap upgrade."

Cheers

 

[anm]

thanks venkat. I read the what hifi review. The cost was 169 pounds. It concluded by saying there are better dacs in the price class, without mentioning a single one.


regards

 

[venkatcr]

thanks venkat. I read the what hifi review. The cost was 169 pounds. It concluded by saying there are better dacs in the price class, without mentioning a single one.

I have more faith in what Stereophile says than what WhatHifi says. Beyond a certain basic technicalities, all these reviews become very subjective.

Cheers

 

[psychotropic]

now the obvious question that comes to my mind is...how does this compare to the Asus Xonar Essence STX?

 

[anm]

Good Lord! Some people here are mind readers! :lol:

now the obvious question that comes to my mind is...how does this compare to the Asus Xonar Essence STX?

 

[magma]

now the obvious question that comes to my mind is...how does this compare to the Asus Xonar Essence STX?

here we go again!

im not too experienced in DAC's or sources ( actually im nt so experienced in any music equip)
however ive heard some gear

i heard a KECES DA-131 DAC

this is what i feel in general about DAC's and sources till my opinion changes as i gain more experience

now dacs and other CDP's have acertain kind of flavour attatched to them
You should not compare these directly with Soundcards

The asus Xonar Essence for example has one of the best SPECS that any dac has.it probably has the best specs
however as i stated before specs do not mean everything.its the flavour you may like more even in a humbly spec'd CDP or DAC

the xonar no doubt may sound excellent(ive not heard the xonar but im speakeing on experience with another card) but you may still like a CDP

soundcards tend to be more transparent and i felt that though they might be so transparent they offer a very differnt sound than a CDP which tends to give its own blend
its this transparency that probably prompts moser and other user to say the the Essence is more detailed than even more expensive CDP's

but thats just it moser enjoys that transparency and detail.however some may not.they might enjoy a flavour that the CDP adds.
maybe that CDP/DAC complements the rest of their equipment more that an Xonar.
its very possible.

hopefully a friend will send me a beresford for testing too.
then i can make an een more informed opinion.

I would say do not always be swayed by the spec of the Xonar or feel you may be missing something.
if you like a particualr dac or CDP thats all you need.

P.S sometimes i wonder actually one of us should suggest to asus that they shoud try building a DAC on the linesof thier SC's
hey moser mail them na?hyeah:

 

[jai1611]

There is a long thread on this DAC on head-fi with a lot of user feedback that might be of interest (Musical Fidelity V-DAC Owners? - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio)

 

[arj]

I have more faith in what Stereophile says than what WhatHifi says. Beyond a certain basic technicalities, all these reviews become very subjective.

Cheers

unfortunately Stereophile propogates MF brands rather shamelessly ! Musical Fidelity made great products some years back..these days you can do more for the money. not that they are bad..but price for sound quality is much higher.
beresfod seems to be very highly mentioned in most forums..also some chinese DACS like the ZhaoLu are great for the money.

 

[moserw]

@magma - Very well put. Man you're becoming a pro at this stuff! A DAC is not everyone's cup of tea and also a DAC is very much dependent on others i.e. what's the source a CD or a DVDP, what's the content MP3, Audio CD, FLAC, etc. This is precisely why a DAC will work very well for some and there will be others who will not find much of a difference with the addition of a DAC. I'm personally a stickler for detail and really don't like coloration of any sort that's why I disable all DSP settings and such that.

Personally I feel that with its price advantage and also excellent performance the Asus would be a better choice. This is mainly because not everyone can hear or appreciate what the Musical Fidelity V-DAC will do when compared to say an Asus. Don't get me wrong, but many actually cannot find the difference between MP3 rips at say 80-100 MB and the Audio CD at 700 MB. Technically the Audio CD will hold 7 times more data here than the MP3 rips, but I'm sure in a blind test many will not notice a difference. Of course there will be many who will notice the difference and for such the Musical Fidelity V-DAC would be priceless. Of course this is just an example, I'm not sure which is better the Musical Fidelity V-DAC or the Asus Xonar, but I'm perfectly happy with the Xonar and can assuredly say it's the best output I've heard in a long time and also better than many expensive setups.

 

[gobble]

Even if the Xonar card is good, the smps power supply of the PC will corrupt the signal to some degree. You need a mobo with an independant power supply for audio circuits like this new one: ASUS Unveils New Motherboard Catering Specifically to HTPC Users | NordicHardware

Then again the proximity to other hi-speed data circuitry of the mobo might create subtle interference ...

Cheers

 

[psychotropic]

it does have an EMI shield to guard against the interference, perhaps this might help to some degree?

Even if the Xonar card is good, the smps power supply of the PC will corrupt the signal to some degree. You need a mobo with an independant power supply for audio circuits like this new one: ASUS Unveils New Motherboard Catering Specifically to HTPC Users | NordicHardware

Then again the proximity to other hi-speed data circuitry of the mobo might create subtle interference ...

Cheers

 

[anm]

actually I posted a thread where I asked if we can ourselves make a casing for a sound card to be used as usb/ spdif dac.

regards

P.S sometimes i wonder actually one of us should suggest to asus that they shoud try building a DAC on the linesof thier SC's
hey moser mail them na?hyeah:

 

[venkatcr]

One of the biggest problems with connecting an external DAC to a PC is that the PC establishes a transfer rate based on its own clock. This always clashes with the clock inside the external DAC leading to jitter.

If one is looking for a DAC to connect to a PC, I would reckon a DAC inside the PC on a card has a better chance of matching the two clocks or using a single clock and resolving the jitter.

Cheers

 

[gobble]

Hi Venkat

Dont many DACs re-clock the signal? Anyways even with local EMI interference from mobo circuitry and smps, I am personally quite sold on the idea the Xonar will sound great even in that "hostile" environment.

Thanks to Moserw's evangelism for the product!! :lol:

Cheers

 

[venkatcr]

Dont many DACs re-clock the signal?

Literally all of them do and that is why the clash occurs. Unfortunately if it finds a fault, the DAC cannot ask for a re-sampling, and has to make do with the data that it has received. Remember the old days when the tape drives used to sing at at different speed, and deliver Latha's songs with the voice of Mukesh? or vice versa?

Just joking before you panic. But the basic theory behind clocking is the same.

Cheers

 

[arj]

I am not very sure of this..but i believe very few dacs actually reclock as they dont really have a internal clock (they could have an upsampling clock though). they are driven in slave mode by the SPDIF signals clock. You can of course add a reclocker in the chain.

 

[magma]

actually I posted a thread where I asked if we can ourselves make a casing for a sound card to be used as usb/ spdif dac.

regards

and what was that threads rsult?

has anyone ever done it
used an Asus as an ext DAC?

now if thats possible jackpot!

 

[anm]

It seems no one. Maybe someone diy audio.

 

[dinyaar]

Is it a good dac, and would it compare with CA and Beresford dacs commonly discussed here?
Any other DACs recommended in 15k INR range?
regards

HI ANM,
A friend recently bought this DAC in UK for 160 GBP. IMO a great buy. Before he bought it he had called the Audio people in chennai and was told that the V dac was not available.
I have not heard too many dacs so tough to choose one over the other. This Dac definately improved my friends set up. Now he plans to buy the MF power supply which is claimed to improve things.
Rgds