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Massdrop Made DAC

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etchmaster
Apr 23, 201984 VIEWS
Is Massdrop ever gonna make their own DAC in the form factor of the THX AAA 789? I'm talking balanced, DAC only (no headamp) with NOT off-the-shelf technology. Maybe FPGA based? The Massdrop DACs I see so far are all toys or combined with amps...
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rastus
1391
Apr 23, 2019
They have the collaborative R-2R Airist/MD DAC that will have its debut soon. I couldn't wait, and I wanted native DSD, so I got a Denafrips Ares. I would hold out on saying that MD is making toy DAC's... I would sooner wait until we hear what this new MD R-2R debutante can do... I truly think they have chosen a solid path here; CTH/R-2R/THX -- Elex, HD6XX etc. mash-up.
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etchmaster
Apr 23, 2019
rastusnot symmetrical... not interesting...
JJayJJ
472
Apr 23, 2019
Off the shelf tech is what allows Massdrop to be what they are.. bringing products to the Masses. You think the 789 is some sort of mythical custom solution or something, when in fact all of its parts are essentially off the shelf, their implementation from THX's AAA philosophy with feed forward error correction (a sort of null wave test that then filters distortion at the end of the chain) is what allows it to be as good as it is(the second and arguably more miraculous portion is it's efficiency, the numbers with respect to energy usage are unbelievably with respect to wattage). It's not some insane boutique hardware implementation containing an FPGA. THX is responsible for all the legwork here. With respect especially to the power delivery implementation and the genius philosophical design of approaching the efficiency vs sound fidelity aspects. One of the chief architects spoke about how they focused simply on the analogue portion of audio as addressing the digital portion was not an issue they were trying to solve for their internal systems of heat and such. He spoke about how this was enough work as it is, and they didn't have much interest at the time addressing DACs (naturally as it seems DACs in generally presently don't have as much of a bottleneck and issues as pure analogue AMPs do, and did). So when you ask for a DAC from Massdrop, you have to specify why you're looking for this. If you're simply looking for the same sort of enclosure for aesthetic purposes to match a stack. That is understandable. If you're looking for performance, then you're wasting your time with desires of botique FPGA implementation desires. ESS/AKG have wonderful DAC chips (with some insanely low distortion numbers with their latest chip specifications that should be hitting products at latter half of this year and going into the next year). Aside from the ESS "hump" that engineers are now actively looking to sort out, DAC's are reaching numbers where inaudibility will be commonplace.
etchmaster
Apr 23, 2019
I'm not asking for a THX product but a DAC product just as inovative as the 789 (in the amps category) from any partner...
JJayJJ
472
Apr 23, 2019
etchmasterWhat do you mean? You were asking for a THX product at first though.. Also you just said prior you want something to aesthetically fit? So you want innovation + aesthetics? I take it also you want to to measure at a high level of transparency as well by that metric as well? Here is a list of a few DACs that have been scientifically measured for performance: It's up to you to choose which you find preferable at this point. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?attachments/best-audio-dacs-reviewed-2019-png.25198/
Heefty
1387
Apr 23, 2019
etchmaster
Apr 25, 2019
I am only concerned about the output level - XLR delivers higher voltage.
Heefty
1387
Apr 25, 2019
etchmasterIn what way does that benefit the interconnect between the DAC and the amp?
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