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Review and Measurements of MARCH audio dac1

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rajapruk

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What? So they have riveted on a separate panther-part? Please do not tell me it is glued on, and might fall of during a crescendo forte.
 

gvl

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The reaction though should be ignore, than pounding on Alan on why he charges a few hundred dollars for hand built products.

We are just worried he won't be able to move enough units to stay in business.
 

graz_lag

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I am not arguing that chinese dont copy others designs, my point is to not post picture of internals becose evil chinese will immediately jump on the opportunity to reverse engineer the thing is silly. Chinese copy things that are either best performance for money or established brand, March Audio DAC is neither of these.

I argue that its very hard to reverse engineer complex circuit based on pictures and even if there was some evil chinese entity looking to steal the March Audio design, they would not do it by picture, they would just buy it and take it appart.

The connectors are in same place as Khadas board and it also measures just like Khadas board...
what a coincidence. :rolleyes:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ents-of-wesiontek-khadas-tone-board-dac.4823/

I would not say "evil Chinese" ... not at all, however copying is the fastest way (not only for them of course) to get to the stage of final item, without all the costs associated to the R&D ... :cool:

Reverse engineering as you say is done also - and starting from, on the basis of pictures they take by means of their Huwaei phones over at the exhibitions, so opening up and offering your know how with HD pictures on a forum ... would be a masochistic approach of yours ... IMHO ... :eek:

Last but not least, if the folks at Khadas are open to offer OEM contracts and @March Audio down in Perth is in the need to sub-contracting them for whatever reason, I do not see where the problem is, supposing that's in fact the process ... Sub-contracting to skilled suppliers is much better than sub-contracting to ... the 1st TV repairing shop around the corner ... o_O
 
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amirm

amirm

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I heard placing a pink panther on a DAC improves linearity by at least 5dB.
Of course. You guys are completely out of touch with respect to latest advancements in DAC fidelity:

 

stunta

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Of course. You guys are completely out of touch with respect to latest advancements in DAC fidelity:


My blood pressure is lower than normal. "Audiophile" reviewers like Mr. Dorko remedy that quite quickly.
 

stunta

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Don't worry, they are already moving :)

... And will imo have the lowest sales volume of the products I will be offering.

Just checked your website - you are making Hypex amps! Neat. Looking forward to what comes out.
 
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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.

Agreed. I recently found this site and appreciate the knowledge offered by Amir and many members. I am new to the high end headphone / amp / DAC arena but not so in high end audio. I have owned Jeff Rowland Design Group product, First Watt, BAT, Linn, Plinius, Simaudio, Canary Audio, Musical Fidelity and the list goes on. Many, if not all of those products perform well. I could have purchased cheaper product than say Jeff Rowland or Plinius however, what I was also purchasing was not only performance, but the design, craftsmanship, and support. Also, when purchasing a DAC like March Audios', you're not only getting all of the above, but you're also getting an aesthetically pleasing physical design that when eyeballing or holding also makes you feel good about the quality you purchased.
 

invaderzim

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Of course. You guys are completely out of touch with respect to latest advancements in DAC fidelity:

That was the final straw in my enjoying videos on products. I was teetering at the edge (Did I just mix metaphors?) after the one from zero fidelity discussing the fine details of different audio characteristics from an entire pile of different interconnects and then the doorstop finished me off (I ran out of metaphors).

The problem is all of these people are so likable, the McGowans, the Darkos, the (whoever the Zero Fidelity guy is) and on and on just have great on camera personalities. They seem so real and down to earth; I want to buy them a beer and imagine I'm cool enough to hang out with them. But even the ones that aren't the guy leaning on the wagon selling us watered down alcohol to cure our severe disease are the guy in the crowd shouting "It worked for me! I can see now." which may be worse. And now everything they have said or will say about products is so severely tainted.

I think Darko's reply to one comment sums it all up quite well "No. It's the constant bitching from those who demand measurements and ABX from people like me who don't do them that makes the audiophile community so frustrating. The constant dick swinging and toxic masculinity. This is a €9 unit and I purposely stated that it makes no difference to two devices and that people should try it for themselves. If I hear a difference, then there is a difference for me. Subjective, yes - just like every single in-store or in-home audition int the history of in-store and in-home auditions. "
 
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Tatteredmidnight

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@March Audio congratulations on delivering a very impressive, low volume part delivering excellent measured performance at a very good price point. Ignore the people complaining they you aren't competitive with Chinese products produced at 100x the volume. I would happily pay your asking price but...

Why did you have to go the Steve Jobs route and decide what features I need/deserve for me? I don't appreciate apple doing it, I am saddened that you have, because you have eliminated me as a potential customer based on your own beliefs. I use multiple digital inputs from multiple sources with all my DACs.

I can understand omitting luxuries to hit a particular price/performance target, but it's a bit condescending to explain why I don't need features instead. You seem to have chosen the latter approach.

Overall, great job! I wish you tons of success, and I hope you decide to become more inclusive in your future designs so I may serious consuder them as viable options.
 

andreasmaaan

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That was the final straw in my enjoying videos on products. I was teetering at the edge (Did I just mix metaphors?) after the one from zero fidelity discussing the fine details of different audio characteristics from an entire pile of different interconnects and then the doorstop finished me off (I ran out of metaphors).

The problem is all of these people are so likable, the McGowans, the Darkos, the (whoever the Zero Fidelity guy is) and on and on just have great on camera personalities. They seem so real and down to earth; I want to buy them a beer and imagine I'm cool enough to hang out with them. But even the ones that aren't the guy leaning on the wagon selling us watered down alcohol to cure our severe disease are the guy in the crowd shouting "It worked for me! I can see now." which may be worse. And now everything they have said or will say about products is so severely tainted.

I think Darko's reply to one comment sums it all up quite well "No. It's the constant bitching from those who demand measurements and ABX from people like me who don't do them that makes the audiophile community so frustrating. The constant dick swinging and toxic masculinity. This is a €9 unit and I purposely stated that it makes no difference to two devices and that people should try it for themselves. If I hear a difference, then there is a difference for me. Subjective, yes - just like every single in-store or in-home audition int the history of in-store and in-home auditions. "

I had a similar thought. Have always found Darko to be a good writer and seemingly likeable character, which actually makes it harder to believe he believes his rubbish.

Interesting to hear him level the charge of "toxic masculinity" against his critics. My experience is that objectivists don't have a monopoly on this one.

Is that your pet rabbit by the way? :)
 

March Audio

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@March Audio congratulations on delivering a very impressive, low volume part delivering excellent measured performance at a very good price point. Ignore the people complaining they you aren't competitive with Chinese products produced at 100x the volume. I would happily pay your asking price but...

Why did you have to go the Steve Jobs route and decide what features I need/deserve for me? I don't appreciate apple doing it, I am saddened that you have, because you have eliminated me as a potential customer based on your own beliefs. I use multiple digital inputs from multiple sources with all my DACs.

I can understand omitting luxuries to hit a particular price/performance target, but it's a bit condescending to explain why I don't need features instead. You seem to have chosen the latter approach.

Overall, great job! I wish you tons of success, and I hope you decide to become more inclusive in your future designs so I may serious consuder them as viable options.

Thank you for the kind words.

Unfortunately whatever design decisions that are made there will always be a group of potential customers whose requirements won't be met.

There will also be a trade off / balancing act in terms of complexity and cost.

As a manufacturer you have to make a decision around these factors and what market segment to aim for. There are many minimalist USB DACs that sell well and fullfill all the requirements of their owners. As an example I used a Chord Mojo for several years and never went near the optical input or the manual volume control. I know so many people that use dacs this way.

Sadly for me the DAC1 won't fulfil your requirements. However a higher performance balanced output dac is in the embryonic stage of design and may have more features, but that won't be available until later in 2019.

Hope this helps

Cheers

Alan
 
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March Audio

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I thought you scientifically confirmed this was a must-have mod for the Chord Mojo?
Indeed. I know everyone is laughing but there is a grain of truth in this. The additional mass will change the natural frequencies of the object and may damp, possibly reduce the impact of acoustically induced vibration. I will find the link to the Mojo video I made previously. Unfortunately I have sold my Mojo so can't demonstrate this in action. Has to be said though I have not found any other Dac to be as microphonic as the Mojo and would generally consider this a non problem.

edit: found it

 
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wyrainer

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khadas tone board and march audio dac1:
even the location of usb and RCA port is same
the ring of rca is same

I think one of them must be copied.
FireShot Pro Screen Capture #025 - 'Tone Board_ Hi-Res Audio Board Designed for Music Fanatic_...jpg
 
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