Playback Designs

I got the MPD 3 after hearing the MPD 5 because of the price difference and am very happy with my choice for DSD listening. The difference in price to my ears was not worth the small increase in performance.

A couple of issues to be aware of though.

First the designer of the DAC has not done any output filtering so if you feed it into a very high bandwidth amp (the one I used had a 3db of 10Mhz) you can have problems with rustling noises etc during playback probably caused by the amp amplifying very high frequency stuff it would normally not be fed.

Secondly it's a noisy dac compared to others I own and you need to use a pre amp rather than direct connect it and use the volume control in a player on a computer. Using a pre-amp the noise is perfectly OK but otherwise its a bit annoying.

Finally via DSD this DAC blows anything I have heard away and everyone I have demoed it to agrees. However via PCM other cheaper DAC's are better - its not bad via PCM but to my ears in my system other DAC's sound better.

Thanks
Bill

I just want to post I concur with Doggie.

Via DSD to my ears the Playback Designs is simply the best source I have heard - clearly better than the very good PCM1704 DAC I own, a PDX, that to my ears is better than the Ayon. But via PCM I prefer the PDX by a fair bit actually - its not that the PD is bad that way - its just the PDX is clearly better. Blowed if I know why.

Thanks
Bill

I haven't done the comparison to be 100% sure about the noise with the MPS5. However from what the designer writes its part of the design in that he has no output filter and both DAC's should be the same in that regard.

I want to emphasise if you use a pre-amp the volume reduction it does makes the noise quite acceptable - its nothing to worry about - its only direct connecting where it is an issue.

The other problem is amp dependant - if you have a very wideband amp then it can be an issue. You need to have a look at your amp specs. But again both DAC's would have exactly the same issue.

Thanks
Bill

Yes indeed there is output filtering but is is very slow as confirmed by the designer. I still standby ny comments that it can cause problems, and I am not the only one to experience it:
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ddgtl&1346323711&&&/Playback-mpd3

The noise is quite acceptable if you use a pre-amp - but not if you direct connect.

Thanks
Bill