So, I picked this up recently......
heiney9
Posts: 25,165
I have always been impressed with Eastern Electric gear. They seem to pay attention to the minute details that allow them to punch way above their price point. Sadly, no longer in business. Bill O'Connell at Morningstar "retired" from audio during the pandemic and he was the sole US importer. I also heard Alex Yeung the audio engineer went onto to greener pastures.
I have throughly enjoyed my Mini Max Plus dac which greatly improved on the original Mini Max Dac, which was a hit in it's own right. Adding discrete DEXA op-amps took the sound to new levels. IIRC, I've owned this 6-7 years now.
I have been searching for a EE Mini Max Supreme Dac for about a year. Since Qobuz does Hi-Rez I thought this would be a "familiar" way to get into Hi-Rez playback as well as DSD. It's now in a full component chassis and I like the digital playback readout.
Again improvements over the DAC Plus
DSD Play Back
Tube and Solid State (SS) switchable outputs
Phase switch
ESS9018 DAC chip channels running in parallel
Dual power transformers
Digital display for frequency and file type
USB, AES/EBU, BNC, coaxial, and TosLink inputs
USB signal type : PCM, DSD (64 & 128)
Frequency Response : 15Hz – 32KHz
Sampling Rates : 32bit 32KHz 44.1KHz 48KHz 192KHz 352.8KHz 384KHz
Output Voltage : Tube 3.2V ±0.5dB Solid State 2.8V ±0.5dB
I found this one from a Canadian seller and it had already had some professional upgrades. Same DEXA discrete op-amps already installed for both the tube output and SS output that I have in my DAC Plus
Also (2) sets of output coupling caps replaced. EE uses MultiCaps as their house brand. A pair of Mundorf - Mundorf MCap EVO Oil 450VDC caps replaced one pair of original MultiCaps and a pair of Mundorf - Mundorf MCap ZN Classic replaced another pair of original MultiCaps.
The modded parts alone cost around $320
I've only spent a few hours with it and listened to mostly hi-rez selections. It sounds superbly excellent.
Everyone likes photos:
DEXA discrete op-amps are those thin card like PCB's sticking up (single channel & dual channel)
The seller was very, very accommodating. He didn't want to do PayPal because of the exchange rate and fees. He wanted a check, then he would send when the check cleared. I wasn't sending that kind of $$$ w/o recourse. We both agreed 100% feedback rating was important so we shouldn't screw each other.
I came up with the idea of sending him 1/2 payment and when the check cleared he'd send the unit. I'd listen to/inspect the unit and then send him the other 1/2 of payment. He agreed. I am sending the 2nd payment out tomorrow.
I'm glad we could work something out, because I really wanted this piece and I got a fair deal. He bought it about a year ago off CAM and I saw what it was listed for, if he paid that, I paid a lot less as I didn't pay his posted price.
I'm a happy camper
H9
I have throughly enjoyed my Mini Max Plus dac which greatly improved on the original Mini Max Dac, which was a hit in it's own right. Adding discrete DEXA op-amps took the sound to new levels. IIRC, I've owned this 6-7 years now.
I have been searching for a EE Mini Max Supreme Dac for about a year. Since Qobuz does Hi-Rez I thought this would be a "familiar" way to get into Hi-Rez playback as well as DSD. It's now in a full component chassis and I like the digital playback readout.
Again improvements over the DAC Plus
DSD Play Back
Tube and Solid State (SS) switchable outputs
Phase switch
ESS9018 DAC chip channels running in parallel
Dual power transformers
Digital display for frequency and file type
USB, AES/EBU, BNC, coaxial, and TosLink inputs
USB signal type : PCM, DSD (64 & 128)
Frequency Response : 15Hz – 32KHz
Sampling Rates : 32bit 32KHz 44.1KHz 48KHz 192KHz 352.8KHz 384KHz
Output Voltage : Tube 3.2V ±0.5dB Solid State 2.8V ±0.5dB
I found this one from a Canadian seller and it had already had some professional upgrades. Same DEXA discrete op-amps already installed for both the tube output and SS output that I have in my DAC Plus
Also (2) sets of output coupling caps replaced. EE uses MultiCaps as their house brand. A pair of Mundorf - Mundorf MCap EVO Oil 450VDC caps replaced one pair of original MultiCaps and a pair of Mundorf - Mundorf MCap ZN Classic replaced another pair of original MultiCaps.
The modded parts alone cost around $320
I've only spent a few hours with it and listened to mostly hi-rez selections. It sounds superbly excellent.
Everyone likes photos:
DEXA discrete op-amps are those thin card like PCB's sticking up (single channel & dual channel)
The seller was very, very accommodating. He didn't want to do PayPal because of the exchange rate and fees. He wanted a check, then he would send when the check cleared. I wasn't sending that kind of $$$ w/o recourse. We both agreed 100% feedback rating was important so we shouldn't screw each other.
I came up with the idea of sending him 1/2 payment and when the check cleared he'd send the unit. I'd listen to/inspect the unit and then send him the other 1/2 of payment. He agreed. I am sending the 2nd payment out tomorrow.
I'm glad we could work something out, because I really wanted this piece and I got a fair deal. He bought it about a year ago off CAM and I saw what it was listed for, if he paid that, I paid a lot less as I didn't pay his posted price.
I'm a happy camper
H9
"Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!