dkab

There may still be someone out there who's reading this, so I'll give you my impressions after having the V-DAC II for about a month now. As I mentioned in my last post the sound was very good out of the box. The only issue seemed to be a lack of focus. It's difficult to describe. Everything I like about my reference Creek CD53 was there but the sound was a bit diffuse. I felt like I was hearing distracting noises coming from another room. It wasn't enough to want to try something else entirely, but I was not 100% satisfied either. I then decided to get a regulated power supply. After a few weeks break-in for the V-DAC and the power supply, I can report that I'm thoroughly pleased with my set up. There is still a very minor difference compared to the Creek, but not an entirely negative one. The soundstage is slightly wider than the Creek, which may have been the lack of focus I was hearing, but now the 'distracting noises' have congealed into life-like ambient sounds, especially on live recordings. I have no illusions that there is a better aural experience to be had, I was recently at a high-end convention and listened to some mega-buck systems, but I've achieved my goal of getting excellent sound from my digital music without spending a fortune. Now I can relax for a while and just enjoy the music . . . at least until I get upgrade-itus again.

For those of you who may be following this thread I thought I'd give you an update. I decided to sell the V-DAC and get a V-DAC II. I haven't been able to give it a full test, and it's not yet broken in, but the initial indications are very good. I'm not able to do A/B testing with the original V-DAC as I've passed it on, but comparisons to my reference Creek CD player are promising. The missing energy, depth, soundstage etc. seem to be there. There is, of course, a difference between the 2 sources but the V-DAC II is equally enjoyable. I'll post again when I've given it a more thorough testing.

Wow Steve, thanks for all the info. It looks like you've put a lot of thought into this. Yes, I am running a PC, a dedicated HP netbook to be exact. The music is stored on an external harddrive connected to my WiFi router. By the way, I experienced a moderate improvement by streaming this way instead of connecting directly to the USB of the netbook. The V-DAC draws a lot of bandwidth which leaves little for other peripherals. I recommend you give this a try before modding your V-Link. I think my next step should probably be a V-Link as I think this will give me the best cost/benefit. Is there any sonic benefit to the V-Link II over the original V-Link? I think I read somewhere that they just put the pretty new case around the same electronics. There are some dealers offering the V-Link at bargain prices. As for the power supply, that will probably be my next step if the V-Link doesn’t satisfy. I’m in Germany now so the links to 110V PSUs you provided won’t work, but there are similar products here. Incidentally, I’m already plugged into a voltage regulated power bar on par with similar offerings from Monster in the $100 price range. Do you think this is helping or only complicating matters? BTW, thanks to you too, obt_man. When I get some time I’ll try some different players. I do rather like Winamp for the user interface though. Another thought . . . I sell the V-DAC on e-bay and get a V-DAC II?

I'm new here so please forgive me if this topic has been covered a thousand times already. If so, a re-direct to another forum would be appreciated. Also forgive me my non-techie nature. I'm not interested in theories about jitter, modifications involving soldering, etc. I just want to get good sound from my digital music. After much deliberation I bought an MF V-DAC about a year ago. A couple of months later the V-DAC II was introduced including asynchronous sampling (arrrrgh!). Anyway, I find the sound of 16/44.1 FLAC files (ripped via EAC) played on Winamp to be accurate but uninvolving. An A/B comparison of the original CDs played on my Creek Audio CD53 highlights this point. The soundstage, PRAT, and sheer power of the CD53 are missing on the V-DAC. Is there an easy and inexpensive fix? I’ve read things about USB/SPDIF adapters (HiFace, V-Link, etc) and better power supplies but I’m skeptical having been drawn in by the rave reviews of the V-DAC in the first place. Your comments and suggestions would be appreciated.