Maverick Audio D1

kidglove13

Ok, so I had a post about buying a Pioneer C90 preamp and a M90 amp.
Well a Maverick Audio D1 popped up on Ebay for $170 shipped
Guess what, I bought it.
I ditched the Pioneer deal so I could purchase the Maverick D1
I have read favorable reviews about it and there are good upgrades for the unit.
I figured it would be a better buy than buying the pioneer gear.
Plus the maverick does have the upgraded GE tube in it.
I will be using the tube preout pairing it with my Adcom 545 and the SDA 1B's
My source is a Onkyo CDP which has dual Burr Browns in it already, I dont remember which ones but the sound is pretty decent from the CDP.
I am really interested to find out what kind of effect the tube preamp will have on the Adcom and the SDA's.
We will see and I will keep this post updated once I receive the Maverick.
Thanks

organ

Looking good there Kidglove. I've always had great results pairing tube pre amps with solid state amps.
As for the effect of running a tube pre. It really depends on the design of the pre. Some of them add a lot of that tube warmth while others are more neutral. Also, swapping tubes will also change the overall sound character. Most of the time you'll get a better sense of space and a more 3d presentation.
Let us know how it sounds when you got it set up.

kidglove13

I got the Mav Audio D1 in the mail the other day.
I have it all hooked up and have been running a variety of music through it for the last couple of days
Impressions:
I tried the solid state out and like others have experienced it is harsh, I had to try it out.
I also tried out the DAC section of this little preamp, the dac section is not the upgraded version
The dac's in my Onkyo CDP clearly sounded better.
Onto the tube out preamp section, which is why I bought the unit.
The PO put the upgraded GE tube in the unit prior to selling it.
I was really interested in hearing the tube pre with the adcom
Even though this is not a high end tube pre it has a really nice touch to the sound
The tube pre has definitely made a big impact on the SDA 1B's tweeters and has really helped mellow them out well at least to my ears that is.
I only have about 16-20 hours of listening on the unit so I will report back as time goes on.
I think that $170 I spent on the unit has made a nice impact to my system.
Thanks

kidglove13

Maverick Audio D1 Update.
So I have had the Maverick Audio D1 DAC/tube preamp running for 2 months now with alot of hours of playing time on it along with my freshly rebuilt Adcom 545II.

I will do a separate thread on the rebuilt Adcom 545II when I get a chance.

It does have the upgraded GE tube.

The sound over the last 2 months has change a little bit I think because of the GE tube and the rebuilt Adcom 545II settling in for the better.
I have yet to upgrade the DAC chips in the DAC because my CDP's dac's seem to be doing a nice job, but I will upgrade the DAC chips sometime in the near future.
The tube preamp section of the Maverick has definitely added a touch of warmth to the system and has so far mated well with Adcom amp.
The Maverick does have USB input so I will also be venturing into the world of FLAC files as well once I upgrade the DAC chips
All in all I am pretty pleased with performance of the Maverick Audio DAC/Preamp but at the same time I have nothing to really compare it to either except the stuff I had before this which does not really compare.
Now it is time to look into upgrading the 1B's to take it a it further.

blairfrischx

All of the Maverick Audio offerings are definitely solid performers for the money, and they give quite a bit of flexibility. I recently acquired a Grant Fidelity TubeDAC-09 (a virtual clone of the D1 - or rather, vise versa, but that's all very political between the two companies), and I have to say I like it quite a lot. At least, until I get cables in to run my Stello to my main stereo system. :cheesygrin:

kidglove13

Stello products are too rich for my blood