[Oortjes]

Hi Ruphus,

Thanks so much for your thorough review. Please allow me to make a few comments on your test.

Indeed the Mini-Dac and its power supply are “light” in the sense of weight. There is a very good reason; we designed this unit not only for a fixed setup, but also to make it as portable as possible (it even runs on batteries). As any experienced travelers knows any extra weight is a nuisance. It hurts your shoulders.

The maximum output level of the Mini-Dac is as you noted adjustable from the inside. We ship the units calibrated at +4dBu = -16dBfs. Meaning the maximum output will be +20dBu. Of course the Mini-Dac has way more gain and can go up to +26dBu. We don’t align it that way because most analog gear cannot handle these levels. Through experience and the feedback of users we found our current setting to be sufficient in most situations. An extra benefit: it will allow you to use the entire range of the front panel volume control.

It seems you have a grounding problem in your studio, since you are experiencing noise when touching the volume control of the Mini-Dac and even feel a light shock. The Mini-Dac, since it is a portable unit is of the floating ground type. In other words there is no direct connection between mains and its ground to the circuitry of the Mini-Dac. Just like an electric guitar the unit is being grounded through the I/O connectors. So if you feel current touching the unit, it means your body is making the connection between your studio ground and the physical ground (earth).
To verify this, disconnect all I/O to the Mini-Dac, plug in a headphone and listen for noise again when changing volume. If it is quiet and you don’t feel current, there is nothing wrong with the Mini-Dac. If not, then there is something wrong with the unit.

The Mini-Dac outputs have a choice of a fixed and an adjustable level as well. On the inside you can configure each line output the way you prefer it. Also we added a line output mute on the frontpanel! So you can mute your speakers instantly (without reaching to the back and guess where the switch is or having to shut down your power-amps) if you want to listen to headphones only.

Just for the record, if you do a frequency response measurement on the Mini-Dac you will see it is totally flat from 10Hz to 20kHz (and higher, dependent of the sample rate). I have no doubt the other converters you tested have the exact same response. The “hyped” lower mid-range, as you call it, is one of the many qualities that makes our converters stand out. As you noted later in your test, it is not really boosted, on the contrary, it is lacking in other converters. You hit the nail on the head there.
One thing I never liked about converters in general and therefore spend a lot of time on, in my own designs, is to make sure the lower midrange is as truthful as can be. It is a rather difficult frequency range and very often “undervalued”. But exactly that range contains “energy”, punch and a lot of the imaging. A good example are electric guitars or snares. When you eq the lower mids out, suddenly they start to sound wimpy and harsh.
A good converter maintains the energy and does not widen the overall image. Especially the latter is very often seen as an advantage; wide seems better at first. But in the end it is not, as a matter of fact the worse the converter the wider the image. A good converter should give you depth, the width as intended and a solid mono response for parts mixed to the center. (The vocal should be upfront in the middle)

Hope this explains a few things. Thanks again,