Musical Paradise MP-D2 AK4490 XMOS BALANCED DAC DSD DOP 384Khz

I've re-read all through this discussion, as well as the one at Audiocircle and the one at Canuck Audio Mart forum. The MP-D2 is an absolutely fascinating DAC given the ability to not only rube roll, but cap roll, and with new units, even roll the DAC chip? Brilliant concept. I'm seriously looking at buying the basic unit, and then upgrading the tubes and caps. I just want to make sure I have the information right, to do so. I would not be using the unit balanced, so if I understand correctly only the following caps and tubes are involved:

2 capacitators 2.2uf 630v

2 EC88 (or 6922?) tubes

1 5R4G tube

Please let me know if I have things correct, or if other (US or European only) tube variations are possible. Thanks very much.

JC
 
You pretty much have it except for the fact that you can also with the flip of the switch use many of the 12 volt input tubes like the 12AU7's which are still more plentiful and cheaper than the 6DJ8 family. You can also use the much cheaper 7DJ8 tubes. With the rectifiers you can use 5AR4's, 5R4's, 5U4's and all their variants. You can even use the Coke Bottle tubes if you use a "socket saver" to raise the tube. On the the caps you are spot on and there are multiple companies that make replacement caps besides Mundorf. It's really a no lose situation plus it sounds great. If you don't like it they don't last long on the used market. And you are right only two of everything. Give the 6H6 stock tubes a fair listen before you swap as they are to me a better sounding cousin to the 6H30 "Super Tube."
 
Jack,

Thanks so much for the help with this. Especially about the 12AU7's as have a great pair of those available. Now if it could only run that nice pair of NOS Mullard 12AX7's I have sitting there in their boxes. And I just looked at the price of the Dueland CAST tinned copper caps for the MP-D2. They are currently on sale at 33% off, introductory price, and STILL go for $305.23 EACH! Whoa.

JC

Jack said:
You pretty much have it except for the fact that you can also with the flip of the switch use many of the 12 volt input tubes like the 12AU7's which are still more plentiful and cheaper than the 6DJ8 family. You can also use the much cheaper 7DJ8 tubes. With the rectifiers you can use 5AR4's, 5R4's, 5U4's and all their variants. You can even use the Coke Bottle tubes if you use a "socket saver" to raise the tube. On the the caps you are spot on and there are multiple companies that make replacement caps besides Mundorf. It's really a no lose situation plus it sounds great. If you don't like it they don't last long on the used market. And you are right only two of everything. Give the 6H6 stock tubes a fair listen before you swap as they are to me a better sounding cousin to the 6H30 "Super Tube."
Click to expand...
 
Give it a chance stock with the standard tubes and caps for a while and get a feel for it. I could have been perfectly happy with it that way but I had all of the tube options it allowed on hand so I tried them. All were good and I finally just settled on a set and have left it alone since the first of the year. I'm not after the last percentage I just want it to "make music" which it does so I am good. If I want a change I just substitute in the Aqua NOS DAC for a while but always switch back.
 
Jack said:
If I want a change I just substitute in the Aqua NOS DAC for a while but always switch back.
Click to expand...

Jack, how does the MP compare to the Aqua? I previously had a tube DAC and I have been thinking about trying the MP with Jupiter caps and upgrades to replace my Luxman.
 
Hi - first post here!
I took delivery of the dac this week, purchasing it based on all the rave reviews here and elsewhere. I ordered the stock unit as I have a bunch of tubes already and will figure out the best capacitor for my tastes later. But not having much luck out of the box here, so any help/advice appreciated! For setup, I'm running jriver on a Windows 10 system, into the dac via usb. Files are all flac (16 & 24 bit) and dsd's. Analog output from the MP to my Emotive Audio Sira preamp. This dac is replacing a relatively cheap Teac UD 301.

I figured I'd stick with the stock unit for now, setup with jriver was easy - running thru the WaveO!ASIO driver with DSD bitstreaming enabled. Hit play, and the sound I got was flat and muddy. Bloated low end, drab midrange and completely muted highs. Unlistenable. On my dsd files, I had to turn my volume up to about 3 o'clock to get the same volume level I was getting at 9 o'clock on my Teac. I switched out the rectifier with a NOS Phillips and put some EH 6922 gold pins in for signal tubes, thinking that maybe it was the stock tubes - some improvement, but not enough to make me want to listen to this unit.

I contacted Garry - he recommended switching to high gain and using foobar. I did both. Again, some minor improvement. I can now get some decent volume with dsd's at 2 o'clock. But foobar made no appreciable difference, so sticking wih jriver for now. Sound is still very muted and muddy. I just switched back in my Teac and there is no comparison.

I'd love to make this work and have to imagine I'm doing something wrong here given all the positive reviews of this dac. The lack of volume alone makes me think there's something fundamentally wrong. Wrong ASIO driver? Wrong tubes? Defective unit? Thinking of returning it at this point, but thought I'd check in with you guys first to see if you had any ideas.
Thanks!
 
Welcome to the forum Scot, thank you for joining.
 
Scot

Have you got a standard CD or DVD player lying around that you can try a CD or music DVD into the DAC instead of the computer? I have owned mine since last August and have yet to have an issue resembling what you are reporting hearing. I must admit I have only tried the laptop one time to test the Tidal MQA and then took it out as it was too much trouble as I don't have any "long" usb cables. Have not had an issue though with multiple streamers or transports with a large variety of rectifier and input tubes. Maybe one of the other guys that have tried it with JRiver will chime in. If it does it with a standard transport then you just have a dud and Garry needs to swap it out. Also if you have the Mk. II with the socketed DAC boards ground yourself and make sure the DAC chips are firmly seated from the long trip.
 
Scotlynn, have you tried different settings and resolution in JR. Try basic settings and resolution. If you are still getting poor sound, download the free trial version of HQ Player which is a music player that makes JR sound Low Fi. If it still sounds bad then there is probably something wrong with the DAC. Tubes take about 30 hours to break in. Caps take 20-500 hours to break in depending upon the cap. Even with new tubes and caps the sound should not be that bad.

You might also try asking people over at the Audio Circles forum. There are quite a few people over there using the DAC-

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=148213.msg1634623;topicseen#new

Whoops, looks like you have been there.
 
Thanks to you both for your replies! I do have a cd player in my system, so will give that a shot. I also will try out HQPlayer. Running around tomorrow, but have all day Sunday to try and figure this out. I realize that I shouldn't be getting optimal sound right out of the box, without a good break in period, but this seems way beyond that. My 7 days return window is up on monday, and if everything I try doesn't resolve by then, I'll ask Garry to swap it out for me. He's been very responsive so far.
 
Hopefully the CD player will be fine then you will just have to worry about tweaking the computer set-up. If the CD player works you might want to try playing something saved from your laptop's hard drive using the OS's own audio player. If that doesn't work either then you may just have a bad USB board. That will eliminate settings in 3rd party software.
 
Scotlynn said:
Thanks to you both for your replies! I do have a cd player in my system, so will give that a shot. I also will try out HQPlayer. Running around tomorrow, but have all day Sunday to try and figure this out. I realize that I shouldn't be getting optimal sound right out of the box, without a good break in period, but this seems way beyond that. My 7 days return window is up on monday, and if everything I try doesn't resolve by then, I'll ask Garry to swap it out for me. He's been very responsive so far.
Click to expand...

Have you tried the Coax port just to see if the volume is impacted there as well. And you have tried both USB ports, and I was reading on headfi about some 'High Gain switch,' I hope it works for you, I've read a lot of nice things about this dac.
 
Well I ordered the ESS 9038 DAC modules for my MP-D2. I tend to lean to the ESS flavor more than the AKM.
 
Well the DAC modules were sent via carrier pigeon and it was shot down as I never received the modules. Garry did refund my purchase but that doesn't help with my upgrade. In the meantime the DAC has developed a nasty POP when switching music formats. I am using the Aurender N10 so no driver issues to deal with. Garrys response is that is normal for the AKM chipset and I will need the ESS modules to make that go away. Really????? How did Bryston make it work in their BDA-3 which I have one. Anybody want to buy a MP-D2 with all the top tube and cap options?

nc42acc said:
Well I ordered the ESS 9038 DAC modules for my MP-D2. I tend to lean to the ESS flavor more than the AKM.
Click to expand...
 
That sucks Marty. I stay away from these types of products (direct). So many are over rated like the Schitt stuff, half baked and not fully vetted by a dealer. Had the latest Yggy. Meh. I honestly thought the little Chord Qutest with the right filter selected sounded better for less $.

Hopefully all will work out.
 
Mike this is exactly why I bought a PS Audio Directstream. This DAC has stood the test of time and has been upgradedable all along the way.

Mike said:
That sucks Marty. I stay away from these types of products (direct). So many are over rated like the Schitt stuff, half baked and not fully vetted by a dealer. Had the latest Yggy. Meh. I honestly thought the little Chord Qutest with the right filter selected sounded better for less $.

Hopefully all will work out.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top