Review: Myryad MDP-500 Surround Pre

Category: Preamps

Based on the glowing reviews of this product I decided to try it a couple of years ago and bought one slightly used from Brooklyn Audio in Canada.About two months after owning this the unit froze and would not respond regardless of any reset sequence I tried.The dealer was great and made arangements to exchange it for me. I thought this was pretty nice as I had in fact purchased the unit used.Shortly thereafter,the second unit failed!In contacting the US distributor I was told that I WAS THE ONLY ONE that ever had these problems.I did a little digging into this and the UK distributor acknowledged that these were in fact manufactured in Indonesia (or someplace similar,I really can't remember)and had known quality issues.They actually forwarded my email to the concern that was making them in an effort to get them to tighten up their quality control.The US distributor promptly sent me a third replacement-one he had been using as a sample. I checked it out and immediately put it up for sale as things like this make me very gun shy,I did not want a repeat of a third incident.It is always frustrating to have to unhook a pre pro- something like 50 cables for various sources/amps and needless to say your system is down for a while. The buyer of the third one emailed me shortly after receiving it and told me that three or four of the inputs did not function! I told him to take it to his local tech and I would pay for the repair.He found several jacks that were either broken or never soldered to begin with! $80. later he was happy. Meanwhile,the UK distibutor emailed me back after receiving the original unit to tell me they could not fix it.I was curious as to what happened.Needless to say,I am not a big fan of these! The sound from what I can remember was very good,not good enough to offset the anxiety every time I turned it on.This was the original version,perhaps the later ones are better. Every processor will hiccup every once in awhile,these have heart attacks! The local dealer here in town stopped carrying these.I don't know if they are even in business anymore. I would reccomend several other more reliable companies,as it is obvious this was rushed to market.I have since been using Proceed which has not given me an ounce of grief.

Associated gear
Chiro C-500 amp,Apogee Duetta Signatures,Sota turntables,Sunfire Cinema Grand

Similar products
Proceed PAV/DSD,Meridian 541,Denon AVP 8000,B+K Reference 20