vangreen

Just finished comparing my recently purchased Musical Fidelity M1DAC with the Peachtree Audio DACiT. I figured I could compare both and return the one I didn't want. I was hoping the Peachtree would be as awesome (for the price) as it sounded in this review, because it would save me a couple hundred off the M1DAC. While the Peachtree may have a somewhat more melodic low end, that is about its only redeeming quality, as compared to the Musical Fidelity M1DAC. The high end of the M1DAC is vastly superior to the DACiT, bringing to life elements in the music that are practically non-existent in the DACiT. And the soundstage of the M1DAC is far more spacious, filled with clarity and depth. The only fault I find in the M1DAC is that it is lacking somewhat in the warmth typical of high definition music (most of my music is ALAC CD quality). I've found the perfect solution for adding warmth, however, by using the M1DAC in conjunction with the Channel D Pure Music audio player for Macs. I let the Pure Music player upsample the music to 96khz, then the M1DAC takes it the rest of the way, upsampling to 192khz. I'm not sure if it's the upsampling that makes the difference, but these two upgrades make a world of difference when combined. If you're into the high, treble end of music, and trying to live within the relatively lower range of DAC's, I recommend comparing these two before making a decision.

Turns out it is a ground pin issue per your link, unique to certain iMacs made during the time-frame mine was made. Thanks so much! I used a typical gray groundlift and it solved the problem. Everything sounds perfect. I have the ground lift plugged into a grounded surge protector. I'm thinking that will protect the computer, since the ground pin on the computer is no longer useful.

Thanks Steve. I tried all that you suggested, except turning off bluetooth. My mac won't let me turn it off so long as I'm using my wireless mouse to control it, and if I turn the mouse off, then I can't use it to turn bluetooth off (how's that for circular?). I don't have a usb cord mouse right now. So with everything done except for bluetooth, I still get the extra static on top of the music. I bought a Peachtree DACit to see if there's any difference there, but it hasn't arrived yet. Next round will be to try that and try a different mouse so that I can turn bluetooth off.

I just hooked up my new Musical Fidelity M1DAC to my iMac today and have discovered the USB connection is picking up some type of errant signal along with the music. When the volume is completely down you can clearly hear a similar sound to tape hiss, but the best way to describe it is the erratic sound of a dial-up connection to a modem, only more quiet and consistent. When I connect the M1DAC to my work laptop, a Dell, the interference goes away and the music sounds pristine, which, to me, eliminates all the potential problems from the cable downstream. I'm wondering if there's something wrong specifically with my iMac (bought mid-2010), or if there is something wrong with the interface between the DAC and iMacs in general. Any suggestions? And for all the DAC searchers out there, I will add with my limited experience, that aside from the above problem, the Musical Fidelity M1DAC sounds wonderful.