Review and Measurements of MARCH audio dac1

[amirm]

I'm not wasting any more of my time in this discussion. Clowns.

Let me give you a bit of serious news. Had it not been because of Alan and his March Audio venture, I would have never reviewed the Khadas Tone Board. Yes, the company had made an offer to loan me one earlier but I basically ignored it as I could not make heads and tails out of their website on what this was. But once I heard Alan has tested it and gotten excellent performance, I decided to get samples to test it and here we are.

So imagine now this conversation if I had never reviewed the Khadas Tone Board. Few of you would have known what it is, or that it performs so well.

There is no ill intentions here. On the contrary, everything is to serve the community as a whole. This is the case whether you choose to get the Khadas Tone Board or March Audio dac1.

 

[gvl]

Let me give you a bit of serious news. Had it not been because of Alan and his March Audio venture, I would have never reviewed the Khadas Tone Board. Yes, the company had made an offer to loan me one earlier but I basically ignored it as I could not make heads and tails out of their website on what this was. But once I heard Alan has tested it and gotten excellent performance, I decided to get samples to test it and here we are.

So imagine now this conversation if I had never reviewed the Khadas Tone Board. Few of you would have known what it is, or that it performs so well.

There is no ill intentions here. On the contrary, everything is to serve the community as a whole.

It just puts your criticism of Schiit products in a slightly different perspective, in my view anyway.

 

[amirm]

It just puts your criticism of Schiit products in a slightly different perspective, in my view anyway.

That's fair and I will accept that.

In this world there are good guys and not so good guys. The good guys get slightly more lenient treatment from me in words. Measurements however, speak the same truth either way.

 

[Krunok]

In this world there are good guys and not so good guys.

Allow me please to correct you slightly: IMHO, in this world there are good guys and not so good guys. And then there is Thomas. What I don't get from him today is..

 

[amirm]

Allow me please to correct you slightly: IMHO, in this world there are good guys and not so good guys. And then there is Thomas. What I don't get from him today is..

He used up all of his wisdom yesterday....

 

[Krunok]

He used up all of his wisdom yesterday....

I refuse to believe in that. Wisdom of his Lordship is infinite. And so is his sense for justice.

 

[Purité Audio]

[

It just puts your criticism of Schiit products in a slightly different perspective, in my view anyway.

Schitt are still shit, that hasn’t changed.
Keith

 

[infinitesymphony]

One of the most disappointing aspects here is the assertion that supporting March Audio is somehow superior to supporting "Chi-Fi" when purchasing this product indirectly involves purchasing the Chinese product inside anyway. On a forum that purports to be about science and uncovering truth, why not just say it's a really nice case for the Khadas Tone Board and be done?

There is no ill intentions here. On the contrary, everything is to serve the community as a whole. This is the case whether you choose to get the Khadas Tone Board or March Audio dac1.

Oh...

 

[graz_lag]

Indeed ... a little too serious ...

 

[Krusty09]

I'm glad you are setting the record straight. I think he would have been better off being in the case biz. It looks nice and he would of had no problems . Probably would have made more money.

 

[DonH56]

I have the knowledge and skill to produce a decent DIY version using the Tone Board. What I do not have is the time nor really the interest. And a lot of audiophiles do not have any of the above. Knowing how things work in the business world and what things cost, I don't have a problem with March Audio charging to put it into a decent case and package it as a commercial product I can buy to plug and play. The performance is good, unlike many Schiit products, and the price is in line with a lot of other similar products (higher than some, less than others). I don't care if it is a $1 or $1000 DAC in that $400 box. To me this forum is about the technical aspects and those are good. Maybe my perspective is warped because many real-world products leverage prior art and utilize the same or slightly modified versions of the same basic parts to produce competent, reliable products with reduced development cost. Reuse and all that jazz.

My surprise is with the amount of vitriol about using a known-good board to produce a product vs. rolling your own arguably worse boards to use in essentially the same product. If it was $10k it'd be in the "insanely outrageous expensive audiophoolery" thread but at $400? If the price is too high, just don't buy it. Let the marketplace decide. This seems too much like "shooting the messenger" when we get the inside track on a commercial product development and then scream bloody murder at the result. Way to drive away a good contributor. Heck, he could have just not provided a test sample and avoided all this.

I personally tend to not post negatives, not because I do not have strong opinions about some products, but because I was raised in a "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything" household. If it's not worth the price, it will cease to exist as a product.

Now about those amps...

 

[Jimster480]

Why are you disappointed? I never made any indication this would be aiming at the performance crown - but it clearly is top tier. I published many times the performance of the DAC in prototype form, so why the surprise?

You are correct however that it doesnt compare to the DX7S, the DAC1 performance is better. Without wishing to make the same mistake twice, I went to Audiophonics.fr and its out of stock, but including shipping to Oz it comes to E435 which is $496 US. You could order from Shenzenaudio at $400 with free shipping but have you ever had something delivered from China that wasnt via DHL? It will be a month.


BTW just for clarity the DAC1 price is US $380 + express DHL insured shipping, no more than US $430 anywhere in the world.

I got my DX7 on ebay shipped via DHL and it came in 3 days. Total price was $275.
Obviously this deal cannot be had every day, and at this moment right now I checked and don't see any such deal.
Still in the price tier, the DX7S is a much nicer unit while offering around the same performance.

With the amount of competition in the DAC market, its hard to sell a single ended DAC with no features for $430. Even if its performance is slightly higher than some other products.
Also the channels imbalanced performance of 4SINAD is quite large. Do you know the reason for that?

 

[Krunok]

Now about those amps...

Exactly!

 

[graz_lag]

OK, chapeau to Alan, indeed

#1st - He knows how to identify very well measuring yet relatively inexpensive hi-fi electronic items
#2nd - Thanks to his skills, he has been able to find out a gem in the ocean of the Chinese D/A converters
#3rd - If, as it is the case, 2,500 or so members of this forums plus the thousands of visitors, are today aware of the existence of the Tone Board, all that's thanks to him

With or without his well made black hard-coated aluminum case.

Chapeau !

 

[helloworld]

I am Chinese and once studied in US as a physics major for 4years, I love this forum and I kept recommendding this forum by social media in China for months. But I am extremely disappointed with what Thomas did yesterday, he gave a warning to AresHarvest who “accuse” this dac1 overpriced while do nothing to Graph Feppar and graz_lag who accuse Chinese thief. I was hoping this forum to be pure science but looks like I am wrong.

 

[Purité Audio]

aresharvest levelled an accusation of lying, which was not the case.
It appaears to me that the only mistake Alan March has made is not stating straightaway that his dac is based upon the Khadas board , which he researched and tested.
No one has batted an eyelid that his amps are based on the excellent NCores.
Keith

 

[Veri]

I have the knowledge and skill to produce a decent DIY version using the Tone Board. What I do not have is the time nor really the interest. And a lot of audiophiles do not have any of the above. Knowing how things work in the business world and what things cost, I don't have a problem with March Audio charging to put it into a decent case and package it as a commercial product I can buy to plug and play. The performance is good, unlike many Schiit products, and the price is in line with a lot of other similar products (higher than some, less than others). I don't care if it is a $1 or $1000 DAC in that $400 box. To me this forum is about the technical aspects and those are good. Maybe my perspective is warped because many real-world products leverage prior art and utilize the same or slightly modified versions of the same basic parts to produce competent, reliable products with reduced development cost. Reuse and all that jazz.

My surprise is with the amount of vitriol about using a known-good board to produce a product vs. rolling your own arguably worse boards to use in essentially the same product. If it was $10k it'd be in the "insanely outrageous expensive audiophoolery" thread but at $400? If the price is too high, just don't buy it. Let the marketplace decide. This seems too much like "shooting the messenger" when we get the inside track on a commercial product development and then scream bloody murder at the result. Way to drive away a good contributor. Heck, he could have just not provided a test sample and avoided all this.

I personally tend to not post negatives, not because I do not have strong opinions about some products, but because I was raised in a "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything" household. If it's not worth the price, it will cease to exist as a product.

Now about those amps...

What rustles my jimmies is the 'preview' measurements in the march amp thread, previewing a seemingly new, great product. Misdirection is not the best marketing.

 

[Krunok]

aresharvest levelled an accusation of lying, which was not the case.
It appaears to me that the only mistake Alan March has made is not stating straightaway that his dac is based upon the Khadas board , which he researched and tested.
No one has batted an eyelid that his amps are based on the excellent NCores.
Keith

Very true. If he had said it at the beginning it would have made no fuss at all.

 

[Krusty09]

I think he needs to say something right away to clear the air. Just say what u want and be done. Not saying anything is not good.

 

[folzag]

Maybe, and I'm just spit-balling here folks, MA's goal was to produce nice amps and the DAC was necessary pre-requisite, a means to an end, a check list item from a marketing stand-point? Something he could outsource reasonably easily and cheaply. Would that make his product line (and business plan) more or less "pure" in you-who-are-outraged's humble estimation?

What if, now hear me out gang, what if his amps are ODM'd as well? Would that ruin it for you? Kind of like finding out Prince wrote Sinead's "Nothing Compares to You." /sarc