ECdesigns

[murphythecat87]

anyone compared the Mosaic T to the Fractal? I have the Mosaic T dac from ec designs and the Mos16

 

I will order the u192ETL, but it seems from reading a bit that the Mosaic t is quite similar to the Fractal, whereas the Fractal and MOS16 were totally different.

 

[murphythecat87]

2 hours ago, Tzougie said:

I to own the Mosaic T and the Mosaic24, the Fractal DAC is a complete other 

 

I to own the Mosaic T and the Mosaic24, the Fractal DAC is a complete other league, there best product so far, the combination UPL96 Fractal DAC is exceptional.

wow, I didnt expect someone actually having the Mosaic T

 

care to explain the improvement in sq? do you use the U192EL as source of the Mosaic T as well?

I personally love the Mosaic t but ok I'll order the fractal dac as well! thanks

[murphythecat87]

Ive ordered the U192EL to pair with my Mosaic T. cant wait to finally reuse the Mosaic T. while it may not be Fractal level, I find the Mosaic T a perfect match with my Utopia heapdhones

[murphythecat87]

Ive compared the Mosaic t + U192ETL vs the Utos + MOS16.

not close, the former setup is the most natural, transparent source, with better impact and bass.

 

My Utopia sings, thanks ec designs!

[murphythecat87]

48 minutes ago, Ben75 said:

Excellent news coming from 3 new EC Designs fans! :-)

 

@murphythecat87 : Would you expect ot lend your ECD combo to k4rstar to try on his setup? I don't like his attitude against EC Designs but this should certainly change very quickly when he will just get the opportunity to listen to ECD electronics! :-)

Ive decided to leave SBAF forum for a while , maybe K4star can contact me in another way, but I personally dont need a confirmation on how good the combo is. I used to have the yggdrassil dac that is so praised over at sbaf and I prefered by quite a margin the Mosaic T. Now that the Mosaic T is fed with a good source, I couldnt be happier.

Maybe someone here can ship the U192ETL and Fractal dac to Purrin whome ears I trust.

 

[murphythecat87]

35 minutes ago, hopkins said:

 

I see you are in Canada. Does ECD ship outside the EU  now ? May be interesting for some to know...

yes they ship to canada now

[murphythecat87]

33 minutes ago, Vincent des Champs said:

Question: what do you use for feeding the U192ETL? Just the ‘known’ applications like Audirvana/ Foobar or are have different options been tried out?

 

When my rig arrives, I will give HYSOLID a shot: little bit buggy sw, but great SQ imho (https://www.hysolid.com/).

 

 

Jriver

I find since the 21st version Jriver sound better then foobar

[murphythecat87]

10 hours ago, Norton said:

I’d recommend WTFPlay if you  are happy with text interface and local storage. Seems a natural partner for ECD kit, with similar aims.  As it’s FOC and super simple to set up, worth just trying.

Ive compared musicbee to Jriver all morning. I cannot hear a damn difference with my chain which is pc- curious usb- U192ETL- Mosaic T- iFi retro stereo 50- Focal Utopia

 

I'll blind test my girlfriend tonight, but the difference are very minimal at best. maybe wtfplay is much better? 

 

Does anyone know what ECD recommends?

[murphythecat87]

anyone have had the issue of their U192ETL simply disconnecting and not being recognized by their computer? happened to me 3 times in 5 days where I had to disconnect the usb cable and reconnect it...

[murphythecat87]

2 minutes ago, bodiebill said:

 

Actually, I happened to have this problem just now...

the annoying thing is even restarting the computer doesnt fix the issue. the only way to have the pc recognize the U192 is by removing the usb then reconnecting. this never happened with the Utos

[murphythecat87]

11 hours ago, matthias said:

 

Can loose fitting USB cable/connectors be the cause?

 

Matt

possible, it havent happened since so its not a big thing right now. 

 

[murphythecat87]

I dont think you guys realize how expensive the Powerdac will be.

the U192ETL with the fractal dac is 3 times less expensive then what the Powerdac will be.

no need to wait for the powerdac since i will not buy it

 

yes, do the test with the

U192ETL-----fractal

10k source------fractal!

[murphythecat87]

I cannot say the price as im not allowed to divulge it, but its far more then the U192etl with fractal.

[murphythecat87]

1 hour ago, hopkins said:

 

Well you just did a few posts above. If it is 3 times more, as you mentioned, that's 3000 €. I'm surprised they already have a figure, but assuming that is the case, and assuming it delivers on sound quality, I would say that's a bargain considering you get a full system (outside speakers) and given current prices for high quality equipment in hifi. At this price point, I would expect a lot of people to be interested.

 

I don't consider my current system to be super expensive, but it would be not too far from the price of the current components it would replace.

 

It is in fact consistent with the prices of their current gear... 

 

Nothing more to add on my side on that topic. 

agreed

EC designs is a bargain as always. competing with systems much much much more expensive.

Kinda dissapointed that they removed their head amp.

 

but i dunno, did I even said that the powerdac will be overpriced? Ive only said that it will be much pricier then the current lineup and that for probably many, it will be out of their budget.

 

I look forward the comparison of the U192ETL vs high end sources!

[murphythecat87]

I also know ec designs are planning to release two Powerdac. one for headphone and one for speakers. I'll be buying a powerdac for my headphone without even thinking no matter the price. the headphone powerdac can also be used as a dac to plug into a speaker amp.

 

My speaker system need EQ to tame the bass and so the powerdac for speakers would not work with my room configuration

[murphythecat87]

5 hours ago, hykbooks said:

hello everyone, I have the fractal dac with upl 192, and I am connecting it to my home system amp and sometimes on head phone amp, when i compare it to my cheap chord mojo, I find that I have to raise the volume on the ec design - amp setup much more than when i use the mojo ( whether 3v or 2v output from mojo )

 

I wonder why this is, as the volume i have to dial in when I use the ec design dac needs me to dial in at least 20% more in volume than when i use the mojo in my set ups

 

Am i missing something about the usage or how to use ec design fractal dac properly

 

I am using roon with exclusive mode and fixed volume on both the ec design and mojo

its normal

I have the MOS16 and Mosaic T and both output are much less high then my other dacs

[murphythecat87]

1 hour ago, Varinder said:

I think these DAC will not be able compete against Ecdesigns .. bcs fractal DAC technology is where the magic lies ... I have DAC 96 and it outclass Adagion Metrum , Chord Dave and my previous Monarchy DAC by miles ... 

did you compare the Fractal vs the Dave or Adagio?

if so, please share

 

Personally, I cannot wait for the Headphone Power DAC: the added bonus is that it will also feature rca outputs so can also be use a DAC to power your speaker amp as well as being the DAC-Amp for our headphones

[murphythecat87]

1 hour ago, hopkins said:

 

The ECD sources/DACs are great with headphones, for sure, and I am sure they would be good also with Stax - will be difficult to test that combo however !

 

I have another small portable headphone - Topping NX4.  When plugging the NX4 into my computer directly (it has USB input) or even using the ECD DAC as a source (it also has a line in), the sound is really poor... It destroys the benefit of using the ECD units as a source. You can read on audio “science” review how the NX4 measures really well - don't want to open up another debate (objectivity vs. subjectivity) - but it is funny to see how these excellent measures lead to such poor sound. Hard to believe what is said about it: "The DSD NX4 has impressed me greatly. It would be my choice for a portable headphone+DAC or a stand-alone desktop DAC for that matter. All the positive vibes on this unit are indeed true."

 

The ECD Mosaic UV has a good headphone section - it is bulky to use only for that on my desk, but it sounds much better than the NX4 - not even close...

 

Plugging the phones directly out of the SVC is good also, but I think I prefer using the headphone section of the UV. Must be the impedance issues we talked about.

 

I wonder whether ECD will come out with another headphone solution or not - not very clear at this point.

yeah, ASR is a joke. probably paid by topping actually

 

From what I understand, ECD will offer a headphone Power DAC and a speaker Power DAC

[murphythecat87]

30 minutes ago, hopkins said:

 

You are right to be cautious. I am too. After all, ECD did claim before they had achieved this (with the U192) only to realize after, as we all did, that we were not quite there yet. That being said, they are earnest and serious about what they do, and there always have been improvements, so I trust that the new units will offer higher quality sound (and added "convenience").

ive been buying ECD dac since the sd player sd-1 back in 2015? they claimed the same thing then that they do today "we have finally acheived the pinnacle and our search is over"...the powerdac will be yet another step in ECD developments. 

 

 

after reading john's post at diyaudio, it seems that the DAPI doesnt replace the need for the U192ETL. so the chain will be U192ETL into Powerdac into headphones/speakers. oh well!

[murphythecat87]

20 hours ago, matthias said:

 

Yes, I read it too. It makes absolutely sense from their design perspective, but the proof is in the listening.

 

Matt

I suspect the small usb to toslink that ECD will offer will be very similar to their previous Utos product. so it will be:

Utos- powerdac headphone- Focal Utopia-bliss

cant wait

 

 

[murphythecat87]

Anyone in the US-Canada have a EC designs Power amp from previous generation to sell? pm me

[murphythecat87]

2 minutes ago, hopkins said:

 

What product is that ? Do you have any links / pictures ? Thanks.

there was the Equilibrium amps, Circlotron amps, ect.

 

John talks about the Equilibrium here:

https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/79452-building-ultimate-nos-dac-using-tda1541a-573.html

[murphythecat87]

On 2/14/2021 at 3:15 AM, mevdinc said:

I do hope Power DAC has a proper built-in volume control so it can be used directly with active speakers such as mine.
 

the powerdac cannot be used with active speakers....

[murphythecat87]

30 minutes ago, hopkins said:

 

As mentioned above there will be several models (all to be "officially" confirmed by ECD, but already explained on DIYAudio). One for (passive) speakers one for use with headphones and external amplification (with fixed or variable output) so suitable for use with active speakers with analog input. 

from what i understand, there will be two dac on offer. a speaker power dac and a headphone power dac. The headphone powerdac will also have fixed or variable output so can be used also to feed a speaker amp or in @mevdinc case feed his active ATC

buying the speaker powerdac with active ATC would be a serious lost of money

[murphythecat87]

kinda dissapointed that for headphone use we will have to use a separate cable directly from the RCA

that also make it impossible to use the headphone powerdac as both a source for speaker amps and headphone as Id have to disconnect the headphone cable every time

probably a deal braker for me

ill simply get a DA96ETF