Review and Measurements of MARCH audio dac1

[March Audio]

I am honestly disappointed with the performance.
I was hoping for March Audio to blow all the other designs out of the water and possibly take the performance crown.

Instead at 109 SINAD on the weaker side... this is the same performance as the D50.

Now if he brought both channels upto the same spec and went about +1.5sinad... he would basically be on top.
But to be objective here... the competition is stiff and he needs to be closer to the top to be able to charge more money.

While this could be a nice device in AU... if I order it then it will be over $500 which really doesn't stack up well vs something like a DX7S for $400.

Also where are these built?

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.

 

[March Audio]

Now all we need is March's amp <3

The headphone amp PCB off for manufacture after the Christmas break. The power amps are arriving tomorrow.

 

[derp1n]

The headphone amp PCB off for manufacture after the Christmas break. The power amps are arriving tomorrow.

Where are the PCBs made?

 

[March Audio]

Where are the PCBs made?

The first batch, as I want a quick turn-around and ease of communication, Australia. Later to move to China as its the only cost effective option.

 

[Veri]

The headphone amp PCB off for manufacture after the Christmas break. The power amps are arriving tomorrow.

GREAtttt

 

[Thomas savage]

Asking about the price vs. competitors is a legitimate thing for me to do, and you're being combative on top of making a very selective mistake.

Casting these kind of aspersions towards a respected member (post #28) of our forum is unacceptable. You have outright accused @March Audio of being dishonest and then come back with this ‘ very selective mistake ‘ remark over something that’s obviously a honest mistake. You don’t know him at all but I can tell you from my dealings with him he’s almost too honest for his own good.

You are free to comment on the products he sells and if you find they are not for you that’s totally fine in fact I’m sure he welcomes constructive criticism. If you want to question his character and be deeply insulting frankly you can go elsewhere as I won’t have it.

This stands for all our respected members , low level personal insults wont be tolerated.

 

[derp1n]

Why didn’t you address the IMD hump in the design?

 

[Thomas savage]

The way I see this product is it offers great performance and has been constructed in high quality fashion wrt to fit and finish. There’s a small price premium, whether that offers ‘value’ to you is a question for each person individually. It’s a high quality small production unit created by someone who cares and has high standards .

It’s not a race to the bottom diy board or mass produced item. There’s choices out there for a reason, You could of course choose to spend £10k on a DAC that offers no performance benefit..

Personally I can’t see a reason to be over critical here and I think Alan has hit the mark wrt price / quality and performance.

 

[Thomas savage]

Why didn’t you address the IMD hump in the design?

We have a thread on that issue https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/ess-thd-‘hump’-investigation.5752/ maybe Allan can pop over there to prepare for version 2.0 lol

 

[graz_lag]

Indeed.
You buy a crafted item, in which you feel the love and passion of the craftsman who's created it ...
This alone justifies the price premium !
Ohh ... as well as the QC on each unit, in a sector where the infant mortality or defective rates is quite a serious issue as confirmed by the many reports in this forum as well ...

 

[AresHarvest]

Casting these kind of aspersions towards a respected member (post #28) of our forum is unacceptable. You have outright accused @March Audio of being dishonest and then come back with this ‘ very selective mistake ‘ remark over something that’s obviously a honest mistake. You don’t know him at all but I can tell you from my dealings with him he’s almost too honest for his own good.

You are free to comment on the products he sells and if you find they are not for you that’s totally fine in fact I’m sure he welcomes constructive criticism. If you want to question his character and be deeply insulting frankly you can go elsewhere as I won’t have it.

This stands for all our respected members , low level personal insults wont be tolerated.

Casting aspersions will not be tolerated?

Shall I respond with American sensibilities, or Australian? They differ greatly.

 

[Thomas savage]

Indeed.
You buy a crafted item, in which you feel the love and passion of the craftsman who's created it ...
This alone justifies the price premium !
Ohh ... as well as the QC on each unit, in a sector where the infant mortality or defective rates is quite a serious issue as confirmed by the many reports in this forum as well ...

Love and passion, it’s all in the nuts according to @restorer-john

 

[Thomas savage]

Casting aspersions will not be tolerated?

Shall I respond with American sensibilities, or Australian? They differ greatly.

These red warnings are not intended to be a reference/starting point for a debate. For your convenience..,

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aspersion

Further commentary regarding this matter will be removed , any continuing confusion on your part can be addressed through the conversation system .

Cheers

 

[Timbo2]

lol this forum lol

Amen. It's an honest product with obvious care taken in its design and manufacture. The manufacturer has been straightforward with folks here during its development and very responsive.

Sadly, the price performance curve for me doesn't work given alternatives in the marketplace. I'd either spend a bit more and get more features or spend less and get similar or possibly better performance. But that's how markets are supposed to work.

Running a small business is heck of an endeavor. I wish March Audio nothing but the best and I'm really interested to see their amplifiers.

 

[Graph Feppar]

I would like to defend March Audio about the pricing. Sure there are cheaper chi-fi alternatives that measure just as good, but measurements dont tell the whole story. Reliability, lack of bugs and customer service matters, also I much rather support Australian than someone from China, I dont like that everything is made in China these days.

I have read alot about chi fi gear and I find that very often it contains some bugs, design faults and problems. Generali, their stategy is to brag about their DAC chips and op amps but often the engineering is quite poor. There is reason why stuff like Benchmark, RME and Violectric sells. I am not sure if March Audio will be as good, only time will tell, my point is the price isnt bad IMO.

 

[DonH56]

Heaven help me if I ever post in an Australian-based forum and forget to convert USD to AUD since I am so used to thinking in USD...

I think it's really cool we have a design that has been laid out from prototype to commercial product. Nice to follow something like this and see where it goes. As for "value", that is pretty individual. A $10 USB plug-in DAC with 60 dB SINAD may be a good value to a youngster or someone on a limited budget who just wants to listen on his computer speakers or whatever. $10k USD might be a value to someone making a million a year (USD, again) and is willing to pay for the looks and bling. Time will tell if the market is there.

Asking what it offers over less-expensive products is reasonable and was reasonably answered IMO. Badgering the guy for referencing his native currency, hmph.

The ESS "hump" is interesting and I wonder why they choose to do that. Seems like something inside is switching in as levels increase to bump that noise floor. I remember the original outcry over noise decorrelation in audio DACs (though it had been used in other DACs, and ADCs, for years) until people understood the reasons behind it so am willing to wait. But ESS is pretty secretive in providing data and the couple of articles I have seen didn't really help.

 

[Tene]

I just wonder why the "ESS hump" looks much more similar to the Tone than compared to any other ES9038Q2M devices, similar implementation?

2 red curves = March dac1 and Khadas Tone

 

[gvl]

If it looks like Tone, measures like Tone, spec'd like Tone, perhaps it is Tone?

 

[March Audio]

Heaven help me if I ever post in an Australian-based forum and forget to convert USD to AUD since I am so used to thinking in USD...

I think it's really cool we have a design that has been laid out from prototype to commercial product. Nice to follow something like this and see where it goes. As for "value", that is pretty individual. A $10 USB plug-in DAC with 60 dB SINAD may be a good value to a youngster or someone or a limited budget who just wants to listen on his computer speakers or whatever. $10k USD might be a value to someone making a million a year (USD, again) and is willing to pay for the looks and bling. Time will tell if the market is there.

Asking what it offers over less-expensive products is reasonable and was reasonably answered IMO. Badgering the guy for referencing his native currency, hmph.

The ESS "hump" is interesting and I wonder why they choose to do that. Seems like something inside is switching in as levels increase to bump that noise floor. I remember the original outcry over noise decorrelation in audio DACs (though it had been used in other DACs, and ADCs, for years) until people understood the reasons behind it so am willing to wait. But ESS is pretty secretive in providing data and the couple of articles I have seen didn't really help.

I am actually already investigating the IM hump, we will see how it goes, there are a few things to play with

 

[Thomas savage]

I am actually already investigating the IM hump, we will see how it goes, there are a few things to play with

Just wait for the Khadas folks to sort it out ..