Computer Audio Asylum

Music servers and other computer based digital audio technologies.

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the good, the bad and the ugly...

Posted by Thorsten on December 17, 2009 at 21:10:27:
Hi,

Okay, it may seem that my comments on the Musiland stuff are very negative. That is perhaps because I am generally impressed with the engineering and maturity of the product and I feel that in the light of this the issues on such basic levels as I fond them are by far more infuriating than they would be in a bad product.

If the SPDIF outputs work well for you with your DAC, all the better. I can think of some most excellent recent DAC's (using non Cirrus Logic SPDIF receiver chips) that would/could struggle with this signal though.

Okay, what I like about about Musiland monitors:

Rock solid, easy to use driver software, works well, easy to get the best on that front.

General ease of use, having tested a number of alternative options this one is great.

What I think is bad:

No Mac or Linux Drivers. No option to use external power supplies (this could help tremendously).

What I think is positively UGLY:

Wrong SPDIF output impedances and levels (and poor waveform) in the 01 USD (note, these tend to be more common in PC audio products than you may think - Musiland are not alone there), which with many will kill the potential of High Rez sound files and in my experience even CD.

Badly handled and completely unnecessary switch mode supplies in the 01 US that make a mess out of the sonic potential.

That said, compared to some other stuff out there that costs more (EMU0404 USB anyone) the Musiland devices are quite an achievement...

Ciao T