[charmerci]

Someone here said they got something from Muse Audio and it sounded pretty good so I bought this.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270725554906

I thought great, a little audio system with a USB DAC that I could take overseas with my computer and play decent sounding tunes. So after over two weeks, it arrived today.

First of all, when you look at the DC input plug on the back, it doesn't tell how much voltage. It just says "DC." It comes with no instructions. I looked on the description on ebay and couldn't find it there. Fortunately, I have an adjustable DC adaptor. I set it at 6V. Positive inside - only because I found that another Muse product had the positive inside.

I hooked up my computer and connected the USB wire to the Muse amp and plugged in a cheap pair of headphones into the headphone jack. It made popping noises until I switched it to "line." When I switched it back to USB, the noise was gone - BUT the headphone jack is loose. The music sounds like it comes from the back of a large warehouse and only from the left channel. Unless I press the connector to the side, then both channels work and the music still sounds very distant.

So then I hooked up a pair of speakers. After the initial "pop" sound when you turn the amp on, a constant ticking noise comes from the right speaker.

So how does it sound? I don't know. No music from the speakers - unless I pull out the headphones and music plays for a quarter second until there is a "pop" and it goes silent.

WHAT A PIECE OF SH**!!!!!!

Do they have quality control checks? Obviously not. They just assume that the person does the job well.

charlie

[JohnR]

It's surprising it works at all at 6V... the power chip will accept up to 26V, so it's probably designed for something up in that range - 18 or 24V. You could perhaps ask them what the correct voltage range is, they seem keen to be helpful on the eBay listing.

Edit: the listing does say 20V.

[JerryM]

Edit: the listing does say 20V.

Yes, many Muse listings state "1) 20V4A the MINI USB AMP a dedicated power supply."

Some things just don't get translated well at all.   Pick up a 20V, 4 amp power adapter and you may have better results. 

Have fun,

Jerry

[charmerci]

Yeah, they wrote back and said to use a 19V 3A adaptor.

I'll try again today.

Who uses an 19V 3A adaptor?

When I tried to use it at 12 volts - the woofers would push all the way out and suddenly "pop" back inward.

Also - in all the rush and excitement  I forgot that the each one of the boxes' corners were slightly crushed in shipping from Hong Kong.

[fredgarvin]

Did you stub your toe too?

[Noseyears]

Muse audio? Aren't they headphone manufacturers from Australia?

[charmerci]

OK - so I look for a 20V 4A AC adaptor - after going to my local Radio Shack looking for a wall wart type adaptor - I go on-line and find laptop adaptors! My laptop's is 19V 3.5A. It's a tight fit but it works - literally. The CD player hooked into the rca inputs does fine. Sounds pretty good.

When I use their USB > DAC connector, I start to play my FLAC files from my QUAAL Player program. OK, it sounds good..... until POP. No sound.

This happened before. The software program pauses the music and it won't play the song back until I disconnect the connector from the Muse amp.

The in-line CD player continues to play fine.