Micromega MyDAC DAC Review

[bidn]

May I respectfully comment, that while 'historic' (obsolete) equipment is interesting, the time spent on them subtracts from the time Amirm has to evaluate current offerings?

Thus I propose that evaluations going forward focus on products, say 2018 - and later?

There can always be exceptions that have historic significance, but other than that, anything older really needs to be ignored. There are far, far to many newer items that need amirm's scrutiny..

Sorry Cahudson42, but like many other I strongly disagree with your proposal.

It is nice that you clarify the unclear word "obsolete" by setting at 2018 and later, so that you make clear what you mean thereby, i.e. only testing devices issues for the first time during the current year and the year before.

As others pointed out, this would rule out the majority of the devices which can be bought new from the stores (not so many are put on the market), not to speak of the of those on the used market. And as they said, Amir gets only what people ship to him, returning the devices, unlike those many professional audiophile reviewers who get paid or receive super expensive stuff for free in return for faking to be experts and praising expensive pure garbage with seductive meaningless jargon.

I have an additional argument:
Testing not so new devices like the present and inexpensive Micromega MyDAC is not only useful re. the device tested per se, but also sheds light and gives an idea about what could be expected from newer or more expensive products of that same and rather unknown company (unless it is one of these scam companies already exposed on ASR) when Amir doesn't get the chance to receive those products for testing. Concretely I would like to give the following personal example:
Micromega has just produced the brand new and much more expensive ( € 2500) headphone DAC-amp Arche (two AKM 4490 in dual mono) for the Focal company. I recently had the opportunity to audition the Focal Arche and compare it with some other DAC-amps for driving the super revealing Focal Utopia headphones. While the Questyle CMA Twelve Master would make the sound fuller (I assume due to added distortion, in typical "analog" audiophile manner), I found that this [Micromega] Focal Arche would produce a sound akin to that of the Benchmark DAC3 or of my RME ADI 2 Pro, i.e. was playing in the league of professional HiFi, and was not one of those "analog" audiophile scams.
I had never used any Micromega device before nor ever seen any measurement. Now this positive test of this six times cheaper and six year older device is very useful for me because it corroborates my impression of what this Micromega company did with their brand new, high-end Arche DAC-amp, while it might take years of waiting, assuming Amir is still in business, for him to get hold of an Arche DAC-amp for testing.

You succeeded in having many members write something ...
All the best,
bidn

 

[GrimSurfer]

It might be interesting for @amirm to revisit "new" equipment six years from now. Does their performance drop off because the cheapest caps known to man were used to engineer the price point down to, say, $49?

What about the more expensive gear? Do we see a correlation between msrp and performance "drift"?

 

[ohtoulouz]

Hi Amir
Very happy to see this review. I bought one (in fact two of these) DAC next year when it was on sale in France (as you know, Micromega is a french brand). It was my prefered DAC before I bought the Sabaj D5. In France, you can still find it at 99€, and even 75€ from time to time while stocks last. It uses an old Cirrus Logic CS4351 chip but, at this price it is a real bargain.

 

[amirm]

Good to know it is available and sells for low cost. Buying local brands brings with it good support and buying experience so having that option in France is a good one.

 

[Labjr]

It might be interesting for @amirm to revisit "new" equipment six years from now. Does their performance drop off because the cheapest caps known to man were used to engineer the price point down to, say, $49?

What about the more expensive gear? Do we see a correlation between msrp and performance "drift"?

This is why I'd like to see some optional upgrades to the cheap stuff. Doesn't have to turn into an over-hyped gold/platinum version thing. Just a few select components in areas which may help to improve long term reliability.

 

[GrimSurfer]

This is why I'd like to see some optional upgrades to the cheap stuff. Doesn't have to turn into an over-hyped gold/platinum version thing. Just a few select components in areas which may help to improve long term reliability.

What do you mean by "optional upgrades"?

 

[Labjr]

What do you mean by "optional upgrades"?

Well, most of these recently made DAC's and headphone amps come only one way. So if they have cheapo caps, pots and connectors etc., which is my pet peeve, then you're stuck with what you get. So not necessarily anything to improve the specs. Just things that will improve longevity. Cheap caps tend to be unreliable and under-rated. Inexpensive pots don't track well etc. I do like that they usually use linear supplies when they're internal, since they're generally more reliable and less noisy.

 

[Aprude51]

Thank you @amirm. It's interesting to see that this few year old piece has performance above plenty of newer models. It was certainly price-incompetitive (it's $369 at HiFi Heaven in stock, though competitive used on eBay at under $200); but it really shows that there really is no excuse for manufacturers today to not exceed this level of performance.

A bit off-topic, bit HiFi Heaven is a bait & switch retailer that regularly lists for sale products they don't actually have in stock. They appear to be scraping listings from other sites. I've seen them list items exclusive to non-US markets without even bothering to change the product copy.

 

[GrimSurfer]

Well, most of these recently made DAC's and headphone amps come only one way. So if they have cheapo caps, pots and connectors etc., which is my pet peeve, then you're stuck with what you get. So not necessarily anything to improve the specs. Just things that will improve longevity. Cheap caps tend to be unreliable and under-rated. Inexpensive pots don't track well etc. I do like that they usually use linear supplies when they're internal, since they're generally more reliable and less noisy.

The assembly of these devices makes modification quite difficult. The circuit board traces are thin and anything with surface mounted devices is too small to repair/replace by hand.

The pots can sometimes be replaced and any improvements in tracking are more noticeable to the user than tester. (I suspect that gain switches/pots are only adjusted to find an appropriate setting prior to the commencement of testing.). It's the same for connectors too... as long as an RCA or Ethernet jack doesn't break right away, then it's generally overlooked by the tester.

I very much agree with you that these sorts of things add a level of quality to the ownership equation. @restorer-john often adds this kind of analysis to things, as his long experience in the repair business gives him a perspective that retailers simply don't have or wish to acknowledge.

 

[Jimster480]

Lets have a poll then and let the community have a say. I am willing to bet $100 that the ASR community will prefer new gear reviews over old ones. Are you in?

I have read through alot of the discorse in this thread now.... And originally I agreed with the first comment.
Seeing old gear that isn't available anymore is pretty pointless in terms of measurements... as we know that companies can hit or miss with each product they release. So a prior "well measured" product doesn't mean that their newest offering will be in the same ballpark.

Although has gratz_lag has now posted; this device is available on french Amazon for 99 Euros. That means it is competing in the current market and for 99 Euros (while its not the best offering) one can certainly do worse (especially in the European market). So those who are basing their ideas only on the USA market and what is available here (basically everything) isn't a good way to think about a "global" site such as this one.

 

[Labjr]

The assembly of these devices makes modification quite difficult. The circuit board traces are thin and anything with surface mounted devices is too small to repair/replace by hand.

The pots can sometimes be replaced and any improvements in tracking are more noticeable to the user than tester. (I suspect that gain switches/pots are only adjusted to find an appropriate setting prior to the commencement of testing.). It's the same for connectors too... as long as an RCA or Ethernet jack doesn't break right away, then it's generally overlooked by the tester.

I very much agree with you that these sorts of things add a level of quality to the ownership equation. @restorer-john often adds this kind of analysis to things, as his long experience in the repair business gives him a perspective that retailers simply don't have or wish to acknowledge.

Oh, I understand about the PCB's. I work on the stuff all the time. It's becoming very difficult to repair without turning into a disaster. Even with good desoldering equipment. Expensive JBL powered PA speakers have pots that go bad and are nearly impossible to replace. I end up ordering a new board 7 times out of 10.

 

[Xulonn]

Lets have a poll then and let the community have a say.

One defect in a democracy is that the will of the majority can become the tyranny of the majority. Allowing some consideration for minority interests helps to make democratic systems work, and that burden often falls on the leadership of the organization.

Your call for a vote that you think would overpower the desire of many here to have a mix of new and old, which paints a more comprehensive spectrum of the industry's offerings, is quite selfish.

 

[Killingbeans]

It's also important to remember that no internet forum is a democracy. They are all absolute monarchies. Like it or not.

 

[LLL]

But sure let’s have a poll. We love referenda in Britain.

We certainly do, don't we. (I am a Brit transplanted to Seattle).

 

[LLL]

It's also important to remember that no internet forum is a democracy. They are all absolute monarchies. Like it or not.

ASR is a great benevolent dictatorship, I think.

 

[LLL]

A bit off-topic, bit HiFi Heaven is a bait & switch retailer that regularly lists for sale products they don't actually have in stock. They appear to be scraping listings from other sites. I've seen them list items exclusive to non-US markets without even bothering to change the product copy.

Good to know. I was just going off Google Shopping search.

 

[LLL]

Although has gratz_lag has now posted; this device is available on french Amazon for 99 Euros. That means it is competing in the current market and for 99 Euros (while its not the best offering) one can certainly do worse (especially in the European market). So those who are basing their ideas only on the USA market and what is available here (basically everything) isn't a good way to think about a "global" site such as this one.

Indeed. And a quick search on eBay shows that it is widely available as used and new at around $100-150, which makes it pretty competitive. I have used Micromega DACs since I was still living in Edinburgh over 20 years ago; and that's how I got to know them. I bought this MyDac (saw it on eBay for $120 shipped!) out of curiosity and sent it to Amir just for kicks, and glad to see that it measured pretty well.

 

[LLL]

Lets have a poll then and let the community have a say. I am willing to bet $100 that the ASR community will prefer new gear reviews over old ones. Are you in?

Feel free to have a poll, but betting is not my thing, nor is it reasonable for this case.

Let's say the poll says the members want to see more new items. Are you going to supply these items to Amir? Are the members whom voted for testing new items going to send in new items? If not, then what's the point of knowing the results?

We aim for results here. And it must be fair to Amir, whom has started this space, is single-handedly doing all the tests, and he is either procuring equipment himself or just accepting members' loaners. It would be unfair to make any demands unless one is happy to supply the pre-requisites.

 

[amirm]

ASR is a great benevolent dictatorship, I think.

That is exactly what it is!

 

[Cahudson42]

Sorry Cahudson42, but like many other I strongly disagree with your proposal.

It is nice that you clarify the unclear word "obsolete" by setting at 2018 and later, so that you make clear what you mean thereby, i.e. only testing devices issues for the first time during the current year and the year before.

As others pointed out, this would rule out the majority of the devices which can be bought new from the stores (not so many are put on the market), not to speak of the of those on the used market. And as they said, Amir gets only what people ship to him, returning the devices, unlike those many professional audiophile reviewers who get paid or receive super expensive stuff for free in return for faking to be experts and praising expensive pure garbage with seductive meaningless jargon.

I have an additional argument:
Testing not so new devices like the present and inexpensive Micromega MyDAC is not only useful re. the device tested per se, but also sheds light and gives an idea about what could be expected from newer or more expensive products of that same and rather unknown company (unless it is one of these scam companies already exposed on ASR) when Amir doesn't get the chance to receive those products for testing. Concretely I would like to give the following personal example:
Micromega has just produced the brand new and much more expensive ( € 2500) headphone DAC-amp Arche (two AKM 4490 in dual mono) for the Focal company. I recently had the opportunity to audition the Focal Arche and compare it with some other DAC-amps for driving the super revealing Focal Utopia headphones. While the Questyle CMA Twelve Master would make the sound fuller (I assume due to added distortion, in typical "analog" audiophile manner), I found that this [Micromega] Focal Arche would produce a sound akin to that of the Benchmark DAC3 or of my RME ADI 2 Pro, i.e. was playing in the league of professional HiFi, and was not one of those "analog" audiophile scams.
I had never used any Micromega device before nor ever seen any measurement. Now this positive test of this six times cheaper and six year older device is very useful for me because it corroborates my impression of what this Micromega company did with their brand new, high-end Arche DAC-amp, while it might take years of waiting, assuming Amir is still in business, for him to get hold of an Arche DAC-amp for testing.

You succeeded in having many members write something ...
All the best,
bidn

How about refining the 'obsolete' definition? For pure DACS, maybe 2018 perhaps is not too bad. For Power Amps, earlier. Maybe even 2000. For USB dongles, maybe even 2018 is too far back. For AVRs, 2015?

Clearly, I oversimplified. Each link in the chain is going to be different.

But rather than try to fix dates for those, I am happy with Amirm explanation of his selection filter.

My only reason for bringing it up is that I am deferring purchase decisions awaiting evaluation of recent equipment. I became a bit frustrated when it appeared reviews of es100, BTR3, as301/501/701 etc. took back-burner in favor of 'obsolete stuff' .

So, at the end of the day, I remain in favor of at least tipping the balance a bit more to currently available and recent equipment.

I am an 'everything is a shade of gray'-type individual, my shade supported by scientific fact - of course..