originally posted 22june2010 on another site:valacirca alyas fuseboxx and I picked up the unit at Makati PO yesterday despite the uncomfortable heat (bad timing weather ).
I decided to pull the trigger last month to put an end to my endless wondering how would an up-sampling DAC sound compared to a non-oversampling DAC.
I guess Musiland is not very well known yet but after googling and ending up in some audio (head-fi) and computer (overclockers) forums, I decided the Musiland 02 US is the one I'd like to try.
List of Musiland's other products here. I'm particularly interested with another one of their DACs already.
Anyway, here's PV&E's description for the Monitor 02 US:
Continuing the superior USB performance of the Musiland Monitor 01 US, the Musiland Monitor 02 provides the same 192K USB capability but with the addition of SPDIF conversion, separate power supply and high/low impedance headphone output.I can't upload pics from the office so here are some borrowed pics from Pacific Valve which are selling them for USD189.
The box (pretty neat):
It has two headphone output, left one is for the High Impedance cans and the right one for Low Impedance cans:
No buttons on the face and switching from Line Out to Headphone Out is done via Musiland's software that came with the unit. Manual (in Chinese), software and driver came in 1 disc.
The unit can be used to convert USB to S/PDIF. That's the yellow RCA jack which is the coaxial digital output. It also has an optical digital output. From these output, you can already connect your computer's USB to your old school DAC \m/ This unit having it's own power supply I think is already a step above other USB>SPDIF converters using the USB as power which is quite dirty as techie people are pointing out.
Just in case you are looking for just the USB>SPDIF converter, google M2Tech's HiFace. It already has very good reviews and can be had for USD150(RCA)/USD180(BNC) from US.
Initial impression on Musiland Monitor 02 US - straight from the box: I really wasn't expecting much from the headphone out and true enough, after trying both, they were very aggressive and harsh. This is just gauging of the 'amp' part of the unit.
As for the DAC part of the unit, there's already improvement on the soundstage and detail. I think the more common benefit of using an outboard DAC is the bass, with the 02us, the bass is already well defined and fast hitting. Highs already have that polished sound.
I'll let the unit burn in some more and I'll update this thread maybe next month. I am currently listening to Garbage's Ver2.0 and anyone who's familiar with this album would agree that this is one album that will make your ears bleed when played on a 'bright setup'. With my pc>02US>C2C>hp setup, I am enjoying it specially the bass and soundstage. C2C is already so impressive on laying out the soundstage and adding the DAC on the chain makes it even better.
I just hope the SQ improves over time specially losing the aggressiveness - that's the true test of a DAC.
Teaser: I've already tried the USB to SPDIF conversion and connected it to my DDDAC. While there is a night and day difference with the sound, I am still hoping Musiland will soon reach its full potential and wouldn't be shamed next time.
Here are some screencaps from the software:
(image borrowed from head-fi's Architeuthis)
Here's the Advanced Tab where you can also tweak the Bass EQ:
(image borrowed from head-fi)
Everything is controlled on these screens via sliders (volume) and buttons (selector|on/off). Pretty cool me thinks.
