tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68900462730252657682024-03-18T03:10:30.580-07:00NwAvGuyNorthwest Audio & Video GuyNwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-2411519284436187722012-05-09T22:09:00.001-07:002012-05-30T16:40:05.617-07:00ODAC May UpdateGOOD NEWS! I just completed testing the first two ODAC boards from YoYoDyne. These are known as “first articles” and are built using the same PC boards and parts as the production boards. I’m pleased to report the performance essentially matches the previous prototype I measured in every area and has significantly lower jitter. I still need to publish my final large ODAC article with all the NwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com381tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-64145873966209310072012-04-18T12:56:00.000-07:002012-06-03T10:49:58.963-07:00ODAC ReleasedCAREFREE ENJOYMENT: I’ve been listening almost exclusively to the ODAC for several weeks now and I’ve been smiling a lot—not so much at the ODAC but at the music. When you know your audio gear is genuinely transparent it opens a worry-free window into the music. And, while I suffer from expectation bias just like everyone else, I’ve run a second blind listening test and can report the O2+ODAC NwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com316tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-87358964588999144352012-04-07T11:14:00.000-07:002012-05-18T15:39:30.345-07:00What We HearFIRST SOME UPDATES: This is a promising sign. I’ve managed to publish another article in less than a week and it’s a big one! Since last weekend’s April Fool’s article we’ve managed to finalize the ODAC design and it’s off to production. The best case estimate for availability is mid-May assuming all goes well. I plan to publish an article with the full measurements in the next few weeks. For nowNwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com227tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-50421971405610615432012-04-01T00:01:00.000-07:002012-04-25T10:24:15.604-07:00April Fools UpdateLATEST NEWS: Despite the relative dearth of articles lately I’m alive, well, and have been spending a lot of time on the ODAC project as well as the usual blog comments, emails, etc. I’ve made some good progress on the ODAC and several partial articles are coming together for the blog. Here’s a brief update and some more ODAC tidbits… WARNING (update 4/25): This article was published April 1st NwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com145tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-52432848753086498342012-03-01T17:37:00.001-08:002012-05-09T19:01:39.387-07:00ODAC UpdateODAC PROGRESS: As my articles have slowed to a trickle lately, hopefully these 5000+ words will be welcome news. After lots of professional and other distractions, I’m once again devoting serious time to the Objective DAC (aka ODAC). There’s been some good progress and I’m feeling better then ever about the ODAC’s performance. I’ve been comparing it with my Benchmark DAC1 Pre and it’s been eye NwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com200tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-71262772946833930242012-02-01T08:20:00.000-08:002012-02-01T08:49:59.963-08:00Feb 1 UpdateBLOGGER PROBLEMS: Just a quick update. I've been away from the blog for a couple of days only to find Google Blogger is having problems displaying more than 200 comments per article. Sometimes when you click “Load More” at the bottom of the comments it just gets stuck on “Loading…” and never refreshes the page with the latest comments. I’m not sure yet what the problem is, but if you can’t see NwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com186tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-66636702688852285682012-01-19T14:52:00.000-08:002012-01-20T08:26:52.208-08:00FiiO E10 DACINTRO: First off, I’m sorry this review has taken so long. I started receiving requests to review the FiiO E10 long before it was even available in the US. Finally it became available for a short time from a few US vendors but then disappeared. After many months it appeared again and I managed to borrow one in December to test. But the holidays, travel, and year-end workload, intervened. Since NwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com138tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-55956471233837529892011-12-21T20:00:00.000-08:002011-12-22T09:08:11.457-08:00Winter SolsticeHAPPY HOLIDAYS! Alas, unlike last week’s 7500 word MacBook Air review, there’s no big article today. The plan was to release more details of the Objective Desktop Amp (ODA) by the first day of winter but I’m still waiting on a few key hurdles (mostly related to the ODAC) first. So the days will be getting longer before that happens. For now, here are a few updates on assorted topics. (photo: NwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com145tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-54086972090855362622011-12-14T17:11:00.000-08:002011-12-21T12:39:57.401-08:00Apple MacBook Air 5GINTRO: Many have asked for laptop computer audio reviews. They want to know if built-in audio is good enough for high quality headphone listening or should they use an external DAC. The dilemma really depends on which laptop. I wanted to review something genuinely popular but hopefully more interesting, and with better audio, than the Dell Inspiron de jour. So MacBook Air Review seemed like a NwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com54tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-6056099984124585992011-11-30T19:09:00.001-08:002011-12-02T07:54:07.472-08:00Objective Desktop Amp (ODA) & DACINTRO: Ok, right up front you need to know this article is not one of my usual in-depth write ups. But here’s the deal. The battery powered O2 headphone amp has been more popular than I imagined with 2000+ PC boards already in circulation and more on the way. After thousands of O2 messages and comments I’ve learned many are interested in purely a desktop amp and many O2’s have gone into service NwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com208tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-20972993664266180362011-11-23T15:08:00.000-08:002011-11-24T07:00:17.225-08:00FiiO E6 AmpINTRO: I reviewed the amazingly small and inexpensive FiiO E5 back in this blog’s infancy. I was fairly impressed with the build quality and even found the audio performance acceptable considering the $20 price. But it did have some significant flaws. FiiO saw fit to release a supposedly improved successor to the E5 and named it, appropriately, the E6. It’s also interesting to see how it comparesNwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com60tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-56259307850317492682011-11-16T20:07:00.000-08:002011-11-17T07:08:10.774-08:00FiiO E11 AmpINTRO: Given the FiiO E11 is almost a direct clone of the AMB Mini3 I wasn’t sure it was worth my time to review it. The Mini3 has some significant problems mainly related to its 3 channel channel design. Using a similar 3 channel approach FiiO seemingly copied the Titanic complete with the big hole. But I’ve had many requests to test the E11 (and the similarly amplified but still NwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com57tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-58294873456284313872011-11-12T09:59:00.000-08:002011-12-14T09:44:11.899-08:00Asus U3 DACINTRO: In my quest to find a companion DAC for the O2 headphone amp I was disappointed by three different C-Media based USB DACs (such as the FiiO D5) I found a bit more money buys much better performance with the Creative X-Fi Go. But even the X-Fi had some issues—especially driving headphones or when using the PC’s volume control. Asus Xonar soundcards have earned a reputation for decent NwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com48tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-40848843630016220012011-11-09T10:57:00.000-08:002011-12-14T09:55:21.008-08:00X-Fi USB DACINTRO: I’ve been testing portable reasonably priced USB partly in the hope of finding one that’s a good match for pairing with my 02 headphone amp. The C-Media based inexpensive USB DACs from FiiO, Turtle Beach and Syba were all disappointing. What happens if you spend a bit more money ($35) for a similar DAC from one of the biggest names in PC audio? Creative offers the X-Fi Go Pro as their “NwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com50tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-40505966603053793672011-11-08T11:48:00.000-08:002011-11-09T10:50:06.855-08:00FiiO D5 DACINTRO: This is another article in a series of inexpensive USB DAC reviews including the Turtle Beach Micro II and Syba C-Media CM119. Like both of those DACs, it uses yet a different version of an all-in-one C-Media chip (the CM108). So how does FiiO’s least expensive USB DAC measure up against it’s peers? FiiO D5 USB DECODER: The D5 is a bit different than the other two C-Media DACs. It doesn’t NwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-80107475661221949822011-11-02T22:28:00.000-07:002011-11-03T12:50:30.685-07:00C-Media CM119 DACINTRO: This is another in a series of inexpensive USB DACs such as the Turtle Beach Micro II I reviewed a few weeks ago and the Behringer UCA202. It’s the least expensive DAC I’ve tested with a street price around $13. This example is from Syba but there are similar products based on the same C-Media CM119 chip. So how does it measure up against the more expensive Micro II? SYBA C-Media CM119: NwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-63036349065396631382011-10-16T17:51:00.000-07:002011-10-25T13:14:13.493-07:00UCA202 DAC Take 2INTRO: The Behringer UCA202 was the first USB DAC I reviewed on this blog back in February. It sells for around $30 and has been around for many years. I’ve revised several of my tests and I was curious to see how it compares, apples-to-apples, with more modern inexpensive USB DACs like the Turtle Beach Micro II. I only tested the line outputs in this review as the original review established theNwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com50tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-10371532705338442312011-10-12T13:20:00.000-07:002011-10-16T17:18:09.607-07:00Turtle Beach Micro IIINTRO: This is the first in a series of inexpensive portable USB DAC reviews I’ll be publishing in the next week or two. The idea is to test the DACs with a high impedance load (such as the O2 Headphone Amp) and a typical headphone load. The DACs are all small, easily portable, and USB powered. The $25 Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro II is just such a DAC. According to Turtle Beach, it’s NwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-21950519772456052762011-10-05T10:15:00.000-07:002011-10-05T16:02:52.434-07:00Roadmap UpdateARTICLE UPDATE: I’ve been publishing roughly one article a week but not always on the usual Wednesdays. Lately I’ve published and updated reference material for a guest article Tyll Hertsens asked me to write for InnerFidelity: InnerFidelity Headphone Amp Measurements and the reference articles: Music vs Sine Waves All About Gain Noise & Dynamic Range More Power? Amp Impedance NwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com95tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-3835648208076254852011-10-01T10:54:00.000-07:002011-10-03T08:58:10.024-07:00Music vs Sine WavesMEASUREMENTS & AUDIOPHILES: One of the goals behind this blog is to explore some of the more popular audiophile beliefs. Which ones are true, partly true, or completely false? When it comes to measuring audio gear there are many different beliefs but I often run into variations of these three (photo: Leon Wilson): Measurements use test signals, not music, so they’re of limited use NwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-84404360695534092432011-09-19T13:56:00.000-07:002011-09-27T12:26:20.351-07:00All About GainINTRO: For those interested in headphone amps, gain is an important topic. Here are the essentials about gain with lots of links to more information. In addition to this introduction explaining gain, there are later sections on: Excess Gain Gain Calculations Gain Details RELATED ARTICLES: The following may be useful understanding how gain fits into the bigger picture: Headphone Amps ExplainedNwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com52tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-57195847807939831622011-09-06T17:51:00.000-07:002012-04-17T18:05:33.927-07:00Noise & Dynamic RangeINTRO: Noise is generally more obvious with headphones than speakers and a relatively common complaint among headphone aficionados. There’s a lot of confusion about sources of noise, specifications, and how to make valid comparisons. NOISE DEFINED: Technically noise is anything present that’s not related to the desired audio signal. We usually only care about noise within the audible range of 20 NwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-18243207150190296692011-09-02T16:21:00.000-07:002011-09-27T08:31:53.530-07:00More Power?INTRO: While the plugs on most headphones are compatible with the jacks on most gear that doesn’t mean the two will play nice together. Headphones vary widely in their power and drive requirements and some sources are far more capable than others. Mismatches are common. If you’re not satisfied with what you have now, or you’re shopping for new gear, this article might be worth checking out. (NwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com64tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-45910535376763539222011-08-24T10:29:00.000-07:002011-11-30T18:00:11.508-08:00O2 SummaryTHE SHORT VERSION: By popular demand, here’s an “executive summary” and Q&A for the Objective2 (O2) headphone amp. There are links sprinkled throughout leading to revised information in the previous three large articles and elsewhere. QUESTIONS ANSWERED: Before you post a comment to one of the articles, forum threads, etc., please see if your question has already been answered below. WHAT’S NwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com157tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6890046273025265768.post-22155324590982617602011-08-18T01:48:00.000-07:002011-09-08T22:44:16.502-07:00Op Amp MeasurementsINTRO: In last week’s Op Amps: Myths & Facts article I covered the background for op amps, why they’re important, and some common audiophile op amp myths. This is the follow up with more technical information, a summary of many popular op amps, and some of the measurements I made. THIS STUFF MATTERS: A lot of people play around with “op amp rolling” but they mostly lack the ability to measureNwAvGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309644608738074125noreply@blogger.com57