Mayflower Electronics O2+ODAC Combo + Fostex T50RP V1 in depth review

[CaptainSi]

While Mayflower Electronics' naming scheme is precisely as graceful as a flying brick, their Objective2 + ODAC combo unit is certainly more useful than said adage - unless your motive is in fact to kill someone and/or be disqualified from a paper aeroplane contest with the social label “monumentally stupid”. Certainly, my unit spent the first month of its life as a flying brick on it's trepidatious journey from Murica to Straya, however, and thankfully, far from the optimal dimensions and strength characteristics of a common house brick, it arrived in good condition, as packaging was excellent. As fascinating as the science of house bricks is, I'm not silly enough to spent about $330 on a brick, especially seeing as I wanted to spend the $330 on a box that makes sounds, and, spoiler: it does, and much more effectively than a brick.

 

In tandem with my Objective2 + ODAC combo unit I also stole one of Mayflower's Fostex T50RP headsets, with the “Version 1” modification configuration, and that was about $150.

 

Included in the box with the O2 combo unit is a gold plated USB to Mini USB cable from Monoprice, and an American power supply by Triad. Alternative power supplies are available directly from Mayflower, however it isn't an option on the purchase page, and being used to proper power supplies being included with my purchases, I was caught out. This is one area in which Mayflower Electronics must look into including the right power supply in the box before sending it off, especially for obvious international orders, or at least add the option on the purchase page on their website, rather than an obscure accessory page buried behind menus. If you are from Australia/ New Zealand (or in another country that uses the AS/NZS 3112 socket) this power supply will work with your combo unit: http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=MP3059

 

The Fostex headphones ship with their stock 3.5mm to 6.5mm cable (with lock in connector design), and Mayflower again offer a replacement 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable, however alike the power supply it isn't an option on the purchase page, and for a 3.5 male to male cable it's bloody expensive. It's a strange thing that these cables are included at all, seeing as Mayflower knows that these stock cables aren't compatible with their own amplifier products, and indeed the O2 combo unit, and in the end it just makes the whole experience jarring and not user centric at all. I opted for cable from Voso instead, and used a sharp blade to carefully strip away the housing on the right angle end until it fit into the headphones. Interestingly the straight connector end is already fine enough to fit straight into the headset, so you'll have this option with this cable as well.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/VOSO-3-5mm-Male-to-Male-90-Deg-Right-Angle-Audio-Jack-AUX-Connect-Cable-2M-AU-/200852989734?pt=AU_Electronics_Portable_Audio_Accessories&hash=item2ec3c56726&_uhb=1
 

HARDWARE
Starting with the combo unit, it's precisely 1 Australian house brick's width across, about half a Swedish house brick high (or half a Germanic house brick with the rubber feet included), and a little longer than two average Danish house bricks are tall. A brushed aluminium enclosure wraps around the two circuit boards inside, with essential connectors jutting out somewhat evenly through the front panel. Three of the four screws holding the front panel on were silver, with one being black, which is either the worst aesthetic design choice in the universe or a sign that my unit met the bottom of the screw draw in the Mayflower workshop. Either way, I knew going in to this that it wasn't going to be the best looking thing in the world – if I wanted that I would have purchased a 12^th Century Iranian glazed mud brick to admire – Besides, it compliments my mirror. Centre of the front panel is a red LED which is awesomely uninstrusive, and doesn't distract you from the screen when the unit is in front of you, unlike some peripheral electronics in my vicinity (it starts with A and ends with udio Technica and is a microphone, grrrr).

 

The Fostex headphones looks roguishly nice, sort of noughties television with a splash of copper hot water plumbing. I'll make the point of not rambling on too much about the headphone's aesthetics as they spend most of their life out of sight. Also there's a big picture of them at the top.

In terms of the modification, it mainly involves clay being packed into the T50's baffles (baffles are components used to prevent interference between sound waves generated internally from waves outside of the earpads) and a bit of foam/cotton thrown about inside to dampen the relatively open design of vanilla T50 headphones. The modification essentially (and I should mention effectively) snuffs out corrupting external noises and adds a bit of punch to the bass and treble ends of the spectrum, at the expense of clarity in the mid ranges (because the driver simply has less space to wobble about in). Keep in mind these headphones have an RRP of $110, so you need to decide if this modification alone is justification enough for the $70 price hike.

 

SOUND REPRODUCTION and INTEGRATION

In terms of how these products sound, their whole purpose for existing, well, the answer is quite simple. Bloody awesome. When used in tandem, details and clarity through the breadth of the sound scape is very good, and very impressive in the bass end. The O2 amplifier has an inaudible noise floor, and no noise or corruption occurs throughout the amplification range. The ODAC component spits out noticeably clearer sound than my on-board audio, however more modern motherboards may not leave as much of an impressive improvement. It is undoubtedly a massive improvement for me, however. The unit only ever reaches a slight warmth, and as it is a completely solid state design, it can be left turned on 24/7, so it really is a hassle free addition to any audio setup. As for the headphones they work exceptionally well for their price. They sound amazing, even when powered through my phone (albeit nearly on max volume due to the impedance) and are definitely worth the purchase price. I've found they really come into their own when crunching through complex music, especially the heavier lumbers of metal and core music, and work well at ironing out the individual notes due to the supreme clarity of the headphones. The headphones are quite comfortable also, surprising given the rather daunting looking headband. The pleather earcups induce a bit of sweating which I wasn't used to, coming from cloth pads, however it isn't severe at all. As the size adjustment on the headphones isn't staggered, they do move about and change size throughout a few hours of use, tending to rest only when the top of the earcup makes contact with the top of your ear, and this is probably due to the weight of the headphones, however again it is only a marginal issue, and certainly not a reason to deter purchase.

 

FINAL WORDS

Wrapping up, these are two truly excellent products, let down only by boring, utilitarian names and an insensitive purchase page on the Mayflower website. Mayflower Electronics, luckily has an incredibly helpful and personal public relation attitude, and it's for this reason that I think these issues will be handled appropriately, and hopefully wholly resolved in the future, preferably without the need for flying house bricks to be involved. Keep in mind that these are hand made products, and will appeal more to tinkerers and modifiers more than your mainstream Beats commuter who is solely concerned about the consistency of the finish on their aluminium headband. If you are a DIYer and music/audio enthusiast and appreciate unique punctures to the severely disillusioned audio marketplace then this product is for you. I am very happy with my purchase and each of these have well and truly earned a space on my desk. Right beside my 12th Century Iranian mud brick, of course.

 

p.s. Some brief ideas which I'd like to see from Mayflower - 3.5" and 5.25" faceplates/ internal bay versions for the ODAC+O2 combo as well as tripod screw threads being drilled into the bottom of the chassis.

 

[Lays]

Good review, very in depth. I may be buying an odac+o2 soon once I can scrounge some money up.  I've been eyeballing some hifiman he-500's as well lately.

[Osmium]

Very detailed.

 

One thing I have is that Mayflower did not invent/name the O2. They just make and sell them

[SirRoderick]

I am thouroughly impressed, both by your exquisite knowledge of the brick industry as well as the review.

[MayflowerElectronics]

Fantastic review. 

 

Funny enough, we were running low on screws a while ago, I think we had to send one or two amps out with a different screw. Sorry about that, we can send down black screws if you'd like. A new website is coming soon that will make buying accessories easier and smoother.

 

The reason why we don't include a 220v power supply with international orders is because some people already have a step down converter, or their own power supply. We'd rather not add costs that are unnecessary for some people.

 

Thanks again!

[CaptainSi]

Very detailed.

 

One thing I have is that Mayflower did not invent/name the O2. They just make and sell them

 Oh of course not, I'm very aware of the NwAvGuy narrative, but it doesn't stop Mayflower from making up something. "Objective2 + ODAC combo unit" is a clunky name. Imagine trying to work it into a conversation. If they, for example, adopted a nautical naming theme for all of their products (that's just based on their logo, but whatever's clever) and called it the Mayflower "Mainsail", with their stock unit being called the "Spinnaker" it would be way better. That's what I was trying to get at.

[CaptainSi]

Fantastic review. 

 

Funny enough, we were running low on screws a while ago, I think we had to send one or two amps out with a different screw. Sorry about that, we can send down black screws if you'd like. A new website is coming soon that will make buying accessories easier and smoother.

 

The reason why we don't include a 220v power supply with international orders is because some people already have a step down converter, or their own power supply. We'd rather not add costs that are unnecessary for some people.

 

Thanks again!

It's cool man, I have plenty of spare screws and quickly found a replacement. Besides I'm sure you wouldn't be thoroughly impressed with me if I was the dude that made you ship a 3mm long screw internationally (though it would make for a great story). As for the power supplies, keep in mind that transformers are bulky, run hot and usually whine (obviously not what people want on their desk), and the assumption of ownership of their own power supply should never be made. Perhaps it's a matter of shooting off a quick email to international orders (I don't know what volume you ship internationally, but it could certainly be automated through the website) to ask if they want the correct power supply, or to completely remove the power supply from the purchase if they do indeed already have their own. I can't imagine theres a huge cost difference between the American and Australian power supplies, so really they should be optional, therefore not additional costs for customers.