Mutec MC-3+

[mourip]

Cool thread and of great interest for me as I would like to try the AES input my Yggy.

 

Question. I use Windows 2012R2 and JRMC. Right now my PC "speaks" to my Yggy via the Schiit WASAPI drivers.

 

If I hook up the Mutec MC-3+ USB then I assume that I will need new drivers for the OS to communicate with it and that my Schiit drivers will no longer have a function?

 

Does anyone know if the Mutec drivers work with Audiophile Optimizer in Core Mode?

 

Thanks!

 

Paul

[mourip]

There you go mourip. Remove the Schiit drivers for the Yggdrasil and use the Mutec ones instead. You'll find the ASIO drivers top class, compared with WASAPI. AES3 cable required. That's probably next on the list to discuss as to which one. At the moment though, am impressed with Cat5e, yup, unshielded twisted pair 25m with AES3 to RJ45 adapters. For short runs...wide ranging discussion like all cable topics.

 

Thanks 1.5!

 

The cable was my next question. I had also heard somewhere that Mogami Gold AES/EBU worked well.

 

Is this the type of adapter you mean? TecNec DMX-3XM-CAT5 3-pin XLR Male to RJ45 Adapter

 

 

Also has anyone heard both the Mutec USB and the Berkeley USB in an apples to apples comparison? I was originally going to find a used Alpha but this seems to be very promising!

 

Best,

 

Paul

[mourip]

Yes, Mutec provides downloadable drivers. I would check with Mutec to see if the MC-3 + USB is compatible with Server 2012. The driver download section does not specifically list this OS. Can't say about AO. I have purchased a license (back in November) but am waiting for W10 version to be final before I install. I can also say that the Mutec works fine with Jplay in dual PC config with Roon, HQ Player, JRMC and Bughead. Within Jplay I can select three different Mutec selections (Asio, Wasapi and KS).

 

Edit: In looking thru my manual it lists the MS OS's supported as XP, Vista, 7,8,8.1 and 10.

 

The Mutec driver is compatible with Windows Server 2012R and works fine with AO.

 

Thanks! Good news...

[mourip]

I set up Mutec with Toslink, Coax, AES and BNC connectors to Yggy and spent some time switching back and forth. Wish I had a definite preference but Toslink, AES and BNC all sounded great and were essentially indistinguishable to my ears. Coax was the one connection that did not sound quite as good. Did not use any megabuck cables. This surprised me a bit because with straight Yggy I had a preference for AES over Coax and Toslink (Just got BNC cable today). As always, your mileage may vary.

 

Would you say that AES with the Mutec was a worthwhile upgrade over straight into Yggy USB?

[mourip]

Sigh, it helps to change to different references. The Sony MDR-Z7 headphone isn't as revealing as the Audeze LCD-3. Whereas the Sony could only tell a minor difference between cables, the LCD-3 had no trouble in showing quite a large difference, especially in the control of the treble. Back to the drawing board on the testing, and USB cables still make a difference for the input to the MC-3+USB.

 

Thanks for taking one for the Team!

 

I would be interested in knowing which cables you are trying and if possible how you rank them when done.

 

Best,

 

Paul

[mourip]

Personally I'm a bit hesitant to buy one due to the expert level and matching price level (which- given the quality ánd functions- seems to be very fair). So I would love to see a trimmed down version with less functions, at a lower price. Or perhaps too much wishful thinking :-)

 

I received mine yesterday. It was very easy to set up. Basically just one menu choice to make for me. I was also glad to read in the manual that you can defeat most of the display lights during use.

 

Using AES into my Yggy it sounded clearly better in my headphone rig which normally uses a regular USB port and a REGEN from my CAPS-like PC. I plan to move it into my main speaker system and see if I still need the REGEN and AQJB. Would be nice to drop all of those USB "fixes".

 

I totally agree that a simplified version would be wonderful. USB in and AES out with perhaps optical. No need for external clock for this simplified version. I would like to buy a second one now but spending $1k was a bit much. At ~$500 it would be a no-brainer. Another suggestion would be to drop the internal SMPS and use a DC wall-wart. This would allow those of use with an LPS to use that.

 

This was a very nice upgrade...

 

BTW. Markertec has excellent service. They called me twice. First to say that they would not have stock for a few days and did I want to cancel. Second call to say it was being drop shipped.

[mourip]

Getting to know the Mutec...

 

I have my Mutec USB running in my headphone system. Easier to try different settings than in my main system where it will live soon. I am running Windows 2012 with JRiver 20 and Audiophile Optimizer feeding my Yggy via AES.

 

First off it sounds great both in GUI mode and in Minimal Server mode. JRMC would not launch in Core Mode. Have not figured that out yet. I was using the Mutec ASIO driver.

 

Punted and am now in Minimal Server mode and trying the various Mutec drivers available. Under Options I see ASIO, WASAPI, Kernel Streaming, and Direct Sound. So far I have tried ASIO and WASAPI and both sound very good but different. WASAPI seems warmer.

 

When using ASIO I was surprised to find that the volume slider in JRMC was working. I thought that meant that is was somehow using Windows Sound and so would not be bit perfect or am I confused?

 

If anyone out there is using both JRMC and AO I would be interested in what your settings are...

 

Thanks!

[mourip]

Getting to know the Mutec...

 

I have my Mutec USB running in my headphone system. Easier to try different settings than in my main system where it will live soon. I am running Windows 2012 with JRiver 20 and Audiophile Optimizer feeding my Yggy via AES.

 

First off it sounds great both in GUI mode and in Minimal Server mode. JRMC would not launch in Core Mode. Have not figured that out yet. I was using the Mutec ASIO driver.

 

Punted and am now in Minimal Server mode and trying the various Mutec drivers available. Under Options I see ASIO, WASAPI, Kernel Streaming, and Direct Sound. So far I have tried ASIO and WASAPI and both sound very good but different. WASAPI seems warmer.

 

When using ASIO I was surprised to find that the volume slider in JRMC was working. I thought that meant that is was somehow using Windows Sound and so would not be bit perfect or am I confused?

 

If anyone out there is using both JRMC and AO I would be interested in what your settings are...

 

Thanks!

 

Well for those of you waiting breathlessly for the outcome of this all is well.

 

Phil from AO responded and reminded me that I had to run AO again once I switched to Core Mode otherwise JRMC would not work...

 

JRMC running in Core Mode with ASIO driver using Audiophile Optimizer into the wonderful Mutec.

[mourip]

Adding this to the thread in hope that someone else will benefit.

 

Today I moved my Mutec USB to my main system. This audio server uses a Paul Pang v2 USB card. Hooked up the USB cable directly from the PPA to the Mutec. Everything else seemed good. With ASIO drivers pre-installed there was no audio device recognized in Windows(2012 Server). On a hunch I moved the cable to one of the on-board USB ports. The Mutec was now recognized. I then moved the cable back to the PPA and it worked!

 

The Mutec with USB to AES is a big upgrade over the USB with REGEN.

[mourip]

What I really would like to know is if there is any difference in sound with the Mutec connected to the Paul Pang versus onboard usb port? I've been wondering if the Mutec makes audiophile usb cards unnecessary.

 

I will try it and report back. Will try adding the REGEN back in also...

[mourip]

^This.

Have yet to see an engineered reason why "doubling units with galvanic isolation" is needed.

Swapping out my LPS fed Regen for a Mutec 3+USB in a week to go AES into Yggy and be done with USB band aids.

 

Try your REGEN with it before you sell it. I wanted to have a simpler setup but I found that it still made a positive difference added to the Mutec/Yggy in my setup.

[mourip]

...going AES into your Yggy also?

 

Yes.

 

“CAPS-Like” PC to PPA card with AQJB in second port to Supra USB cable to REGEN to Mutec MC-3+USB to Apogee Wyde Eye AES/EBU cable to Schiit Yggdrasil...

 

Not done with experimenting but sounds MUCH better than USB input with USB tweaks. I really wanted to discover that I could just use the on-board USB straight to Mutec but so far have found the USB tweaks still help.

 

Let us know what you find...

[mourip]

Just some ideas why things have gone quiet.

The initial phase was discovery of a new technology, and the months that went on, was trying to figure it out. Trying this and that, and finally reaching a goal where everything just sounded right. Nothing much else to talk about since everything is working and the SQ is excellent, no more work to do or jabber now, just listen.

 

....Happens with most threads though, the CA thread is a few more pages in length

 

+1

 

I think that those of use using one are just enjoying it. Quiet is MUCH better than what happens in some other threads on CA where the Trolls eventually crawl out and start a contentious brawl. Just drop in to the Yggy thread to see how badly things can go!

[mourip]

Sorry to ask the obvious but you did cycle the Yggy to choose SPDIF?

[mourip]

Figured things out, crew. Thanks.

 

What was the key?

[mourip]

I just tried DoP over spdif input of the Mutec and it didn't work. Does it only support DoP over usb? I assume DoP over AES isn't supported either?

 

I do not believe that it supports DOP. It does directly convert DSD to PCM192 and these files sound very good in my system.

 

It only has USB for input so it could not output DOP over USB anyway. Searching the manual it does not even mention DOP.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Hope I am right.

 

:-)

[mourip]

Interesting. I don't doubt that the Mutec sounds very good, and will know soon enough. I am just curious as to why, apart from the Mutec related sites, I haven't read any comparisons. Don't read anything into this, I don't know myself, yet. I have Mutec on the way, and can report back, soon enough.

 

There is a very busy thread regarding DDC's over on Head-Fi. The OP of that thread does a lot of testing, listening, and subjective ranking. He has a Mutec USB on the way so hopefully the headphone brothers will get an introduction soon.

[mourip]

Yes, it will work.

No output selection needed - all output do have the same signal.

hth

Ulli

 

If I understand this correctly it will work but you will just need to make sure that only one input is playing at a given time.

[mourip]

I have been using my MC-3+USB to convert from USB to via AES to my DAC. This has worked really well.

 

I know want to us it to re-clock the output from my REDNET D16 to my DAC to see if it improves the SQ.

 

I have read through the PDF but cannot figure out how to set this up. My D16 will put out a constant 192K so I want the Mutec to simply re-clock this and put out 192K which is the limit of my DAC.

 

I assume that I set it for INTERN and RE-CLK. Not sure what to choose after that.

 

I hope to have have 192K AES in and 192K AES out.

[mourip]

Hi there,

 

It really is as simple as setting the MC-3+USB to INTERN and RE-CLK in the mode menu and then selecting AES3/11 in the reference menu (bottom two LEDs are lit). If the input is 192 kHz, the output will be 192 kHz as well -> there is no sampling rate conversion happening inside the MC-3+USB (with the exception of the DSD ->PCM mode). Once the blue lock LED comes on, you should see the status LEDs on the far right indicating 192.0 kHz as well (bottom two LEDs are lit here as well).

 

Hope this helps!

Julian

 

Hi mourip

 

After you've selected the reclock /intern mode the reclocked signal will be available on all outputs. So no need to do anything else after setting the reclock mode.

 

Cheers

 

Thanks a lot! Will give this a try tomorrow when my second AES cable arrives...

[mourip]

Added the Mutec 3+ USB back into my chain as a re-clocker for my REDNet D16. I used AES in and out at 192K. This brought the SQ definitely up a notch from the already stunning quality of the D16. More refinement and clarity.

 

Thanks!

[mourip]

And will be for another 30 days :-D

 

 

12 days...

[mourip]

And counting .......

 

Well not for me actually as mine was recently shipped with this new firmware

 

You are either really evil or really lucky. Which is it?

 

...Or both? :-)

[mourip]

And counting .......

 

Well not for me actually as mine was recently shipped with this new firmware

 

OK. So I will bite. Assuming that you did get a newer version of firmware did you notice any increase in sound quality or any new features?

 

I am surprised that they have not announced it officially or perhaps this was just an interim fix and not the big upgrade they were teasing us with?

 

I love my Mutec USB. I have it doing re-clocking after my RedNet D16 and the SQ is just remarkable as a combination.

[mourip]

The V1.10 firmware update will be available for download on July 28th. No joke ;-)

 

Julian

 

Thanks Julian. The Mutec has already made a wonderful difference in my system!