Rivendell61 Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Actually the DAC1 unit I was listening to last weekend was a totally stock un-modded version. I certainly don't know how it could have really been improved upon.But it was purchased through Parts Connexion so the "upgrades" ARE currently being considered. I will take a closer look at what you are saying vis-a-vis the upgrades... Well, I did not intend to imply that if it WAS modded it would sound subjectively lousy either. Most 'modders' only damage DACs--yet they are liked. In the listening comparisons you see most commonly on boards like this (stand alone, or 'shoot out' style) the correlation between quality and preference tends to be an inverse one. You will often see converters that by any standard are 'broken' and putting out very poor quality signal (like filterless NOS DACs) be hailed as better ("very analog"), etc. Take a good DAC, put lots of jitter on it, and many will like it better (at least in the test 'short term' time frame). Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemeteor Posted March 22, 2008 Share Posted March 22, 2008 Tom: I just have a hard time believing all this as I have heard firsrt hand the Zhaolu, Great March 2 and Musiland. The Great March 2 sounded the best to me as it acuruatley portrayed a sound stage with a great high end and deep bass response. As far as quality goes, I ahve had my Musiland for 2 years in a bedroom system and it sounds just wonderful and I have never had a problem. I have friends who have the Zhaolu and they swear by it - same thing, a quality DAC with no qaulity issues. Perhaps you were just having a bad day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thoppa Posted March 23, 2008 Author Share Posted March 23, 2008 Hi BM, My Musiland has been runnng faultlessly ever since my last post and I'm totally in love with it ! I have upgraded the output connectors and, just as a mark of 'pride of ownership', I polished the front wedge of aluminium into a mirror finish, and painted the case white. I haven't felt the need to upgrade the power supply but it is next on my list. As well as the ASIO sound card input, I've also got a Pioneer DVD-A/SACD player which I have modded with an AD1896 re-sampler and a Tent Labs XO so it gives a jitter-free 96Khz/24 bit output for CD, DVD-A and SACD. This supplies the Musiland and the combination has surpassed all my expectations. The AD1896 and Tent Labs XO is a stunning combination and they show the Musiland is extremely capable and much better than my initial assessment. I'm especially surprised with the headphone output providing better sound than the RCA. Have you noticed this ? I'm now exploiting this by running it into a 47 ohm load - it seems to thrive driving low impedance. The Great March is/was a bargain but the Great March 2 was abysmal by comparison. Honestly, I heard it clearly smear high-end detail, not reveal it. I spent hours listening to these DACs back to back with a wide range of music in a decent listening room, however, the issue may not be the quality of the design, but quality control. Maybe I was listening to a lemon not a peach ? Maybe I'm just a bad apple.... Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted March 23, 2008 Share Posted March 23, 2008 2) Their main objective seems to be removal of the NE5532s. That is almost a litmus test for 'not ready for prime time'. I would not want them inside my DAC.... Wait, are you saying the NE5532 is good or bad? [] I would agree that just dropping in different chips is a recipe for increased distortion since the parasitics of the chip used are every bit a part of the circuits wrapping the opamp. Throwing in a higher bandwidth, higher gain opamp is usually recipe for high frequency oscillations. There are always exceptions to the rule, but this seems like it might be one of those cases... That is why the WM8740 chip is good! (as long as it is not run at 192kHz....) Yea, great chip...and not that expensive either [Y][A] Really, no chip should be run up to 192kHz since it just raises noise and distortion. 96kHz seems to be a nice sweet spot and offers plenty of wiggle room to implement quality analog filters on the output. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted March 23, 2008 Share Posted March 23, 2008 Tom: I just have a hard time believing all this as I have heard firsrt hand the Zhaolu, Great March 2 and Musiland. The Great March 2 sounded the best to me as it acuruatley portrayed a sound stage with a great high end and deep bass response. As far as quality goes, I ahve had my Musiland for 2 years in a bedroom system and it sounds just wonderful and I have never had a problem. I have friends who have the Zhaolu and they swear by it - same thing, a quality DAC with no qaulity issues. Perhaps you were just having a bad day. Were your listening comparisons volume matched? As in actually calibrated with test equipment? Your descriptions seem very similar to what I would describe as a volume difference of about 0.5dB to 1dB. I'm not saying that is undeniably the case, but I have found it easy to fall subject to when not consciously aware of it at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thoppa Posted March 24, 2008 Author Share Posted March 24, 2008 Hi Dr ! How's things ? I think the reason the Zhaolu didn't impress me was the change of system/listening environment more than anything else. It was a shame I couldn't listen to it in the same room etc. but it also looked and felt very cheap and that put me off a lot too. As for the Great March 2, volume doesn't explain a "s" turning into a "sh". It wash shlurring the sharpsh, no queshtion. Yep, I agree, louder can seem to be better but I tried volume changes, especially with the Musiland so I don't think it was this. I also have an ear calibrator fitted recently - it is a pair of uniquely moulded earplugs that have a variable orifice control with an air pressure regulator. They fit above the ears and clamp on my head in a similar way to shooting muffs. Turn the muff-lump clockwise for louder. They are very hard to find commercially. The last time I saw them on anyone was in a movie called Star Wars and Carrie Fisher had a pair of them on the whole time. So anyway, no I don't think it was volume. I think the Great March 2 is a load of bollocks. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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