Super Best Audio Friends

This is currently a work in progress so please be patient. I also have a pretty bad Essential Tremor when working on small precise stuff so I probably isn't going to be too pretty. So far though everything has been going pretty well.

The first thing I did was paint the top plate a dark cherry. I then painted the bell cap, and the 2 PC-5 transformers. They were suppose to be more blue but for some reason the paint I used ended up looking really green. So now my Kaiju is Christmas themed. Then I glued together the wooden frame and stained it dark Walnut.

Please learn from my error. Dasacoustic (https://www.dasacoustic.com/en/index/) the once popular plinth maker is no longer functional and I believe taking orders and not delivering as a scam.

I ordered in May and received communication until August. Then I was told her family was ill and the next thing 0 communication.

I ordered through PayPal and paid for buyer protection. Unfortunately when I lodged the dispute I did not escalate in time and apparently that means I forfeit all my rights. f**k Paypal.
So I lost 1200 euro. I've requested a credit card refund with my bank but they said low chance since it's been more than 120 days.

I found a page that when converted to English explains many people have been caught out too.
https://melius.club/topic/21717-das-acoustic-esperienza-molto-negativa/
The company is only taking IBAN bank transfer now and no longer accepting paypal from what I understand. Not a good sign.

please also see 2 recent purchases on ebay where the product was not delivered: https://www.ebay.com/str/dasacoustic?_tab=feedback

It's a shitty situation for me but not the end of the world, others should NOT buy from Dasacoustic as it appears they are now just a scam site.

Have a lovely weekend

So this is a topic I've been sitting on for a while beacuse I've been trying hard not to be too snarky and, at the end of the day, I am genuinely ignorant. Unlike a very many folks on the forum and elsewhere I have no real engineering knowledge and very often get principles backwards or things outright wrong (e.g. "The Studio Jr 300B sounded *significantly* better out of XLR out so it *must* be a balanced topology amp... whoops, nope!).

Now and again I feel that ignorance can be an asset in a sense, mainly in how I pepper folks who actually know things with often silly questions that, hopefully, might generate meaningful and useful discourse down the line. At this point in time I think I'd have hoped that I'd know more concrete things about how amplifier or DAC topologies work or what sort of fine nuance actually goes into developing the analogue output stages on converters, but nah I'm as much an idiot as I've ever been and with an increasingly worsening memory.

I've got vague ideas of how pairing certain DACs and amps and transducers work, but is the ENTIRE reason that the Sennheisers love those big boi tube amps just because they can provide GOBS of voltage? Is all of what can determine how much a headphone can scale just a matter of power handling and impedance matching, accounting for those massive low-frequency humps with dynamic drivers? How about how much sense of SLAM an amp can give a transducer like that one oldish amp I got to borrow that made my HD600s kick like Focals, is it all just a matter of the OI of that amp being REALLY high so the Senns were severely under-dampened? Is headstage really just an artefact from an upper midrange dip? What about image delineation?

I know Apos requested some adjustments. I haven't had the chance to listen to the original R70x, so I can't comment on it. Honestly, I expected my experience to range from "meh" to just pretty good, but I was pleasantly surprised. Over the weekend, after testing it with various setups, I concluded that the ATH-R70x is fantastic. I believe the R70x will perform well with higher-end tube amps, but I'll need to explore that later. It sounded good directly from my laptop, and the same goes for the iFi Gold Bar. From the Magni and other mid-tier amps, it was excellent as well. I also noticed significant differences when using better DACs and uncompressed music from Qobuz, especially in comparison to Spotify. All of this suggests that the R70x has the potential to scale up nicely.

It’s all about context. I've previously mentioned I liked Tripath Class "T" amplifiers, which are another variation of Class D. The advantages of Class D amplifiers are threefold: they are lightweight, highly efficient, and cheap. They don't require massive power transformers or a dozens of output devices to generate significant power. Class D products being sold at exorbitant prices; there simply isn't enough stuff in these amplifiers to justify such costs. If you're interested, check out this discussion for more insights: Schiit Vidar vs. NC502M

A comparable example from the automotive world would be the Acura Integra Type S, which dealers are selling for around $60,000. Seriously? A front-wheel-drive, four-cylinder Honda variant at that price? That’s outrageous.

Now, let's talk about the Fosi Audio ZA3. It features the latest and greatest TPA3255 monolithic amplifier chip from Texas Instruments. The Fosi Audio ZA3 exemplifies Class D done right. It delivers impressive power (180W at 4 ohms), generates virtually no heat, is light and compact, and is incredibly affordable at $129 from Apos.

Many audio amplifiers have the following gain configuration:


The potentiometer or stepped attenuator resistance stability can influence the system low level gain accuracy and residual noise.

A selection of four volume controls will be examined for resistance stability and compared to a stable laboratory reference standard resistor:
https://www.ietlabs.com/esi-sr1-calibration-resistor.html

Background information on resistors and measurements:
https://www.vishay.com/docs/28771/basics.pdf

Additional background information may be found in this IEC standard:
IEC 60195 Method of measurement of current noise generated in fixed resistors...

Here’s the situation: the projector is mounted on the back wall, paired with an Apple TV, while on the opposite side, a DAC connects to two JBL monitors. Ideally, I’d run an optical cable up behind the back wall, across the ceiling, and back down to the projector wall, but there’s a hitch—the front wall is made of brick! I’ve broken several cheap drill bits trying to secure the screen and eventually had to use expensive carbide ones to complete the task.



Even though affordable wireless "Best Buy" audio solutions do exist, I’d prefer to steer clear of them. My long-term plan includes integrating a Syn system, adding a center channel, upgrading the speakers, and incorporating surround sound. My question is whether there’s a solution for wirelessly transmitting 2-channel Toslink audio from the Apple TV.

As much as a part of me does indeed want to just hate on the Arya Organic (henceforth abbreviated to AO), if I'm being really fair about it, the AO is not particularly bad. That being said, I also do feel the AO have some great shortfalls and still have some of the characteristics that really annoyed me about the original HE1000. But overall, as a package, I can't say the Arya Organic is a modern Hifiman that sucks; in some ways, it's the modern, super-thin diaphragm Hifiman sound implemented fairly well.



If you've heard the modern Hifimans, you know what the AO roughly sounds like; transients are fast but "soft", and overall has an airy/ethereal sound not unlike some electrostats. There is a little bit of the bouncy bass here, but not too bad and can be somewhat controlled better by certain amps. The treble in some ways actually surprised me the most; while there is still a little hash and splash and rasp, it's not TOO offensive to the point where I ripped the headphones off.

Well, I gave my impressions, and I purchased, and here it is. Measurements because why not?

Check out this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3QwCSqWsBU

Short summary:
Cameron (aka Golden Sound or @GoldenOne) reveals that dCS has threatened legal action over his negative review of their dac (Bartok), which our community should also attention to because it's about the ethics of such threats and their impact on honest product criticism in the audio industry.

Longer summary:
1. Cameron first introduces the situation with explaining some background:
- Cameron published a review of the dCS Bartok DAC in Dec 2021 that was mostly negative.
- In Oct 2023, dCS expressed concerns about comments he made about their Lina DAC, which he clarified were taken out of context.
- Recently, Cameron received a legal threat from dCS demanding he remove or heavily amend his Bartok review within 10 days or face a lawsuit.

2. The he discusses dCS's specific complaints:
- dCS claims Bartok is not a DS dac, which is not true.
- dCS claims Bartok offers way more filers than his review finds (6), which are indeed more than dCS's own documents lol.
- dCS claims Cameron misdescribe clocks that Bartok takes from external clock inputs. --> He acknowledges and corrected this mistake.
- Cameron defends his statements about dsd upsampling and ultrasonic noise, supported by measurements and others' opinion.
- He demonstrates that dsd upsampling is indeed the default mode on factory reset, contrary to dCS's claim.
- He addresses other technical points raised by dCS.

3. Finally he adds some relevant thoughts, including:
- Cameron contrasts DCS's approach with more constructive responses from other manufacturers to negative reviews.
- He wraps up with emphasizing the importance of honest, unbiased reviews and commitment to serving consumers rather than manufacturers.

The Grell OAE1 headphones are a new product designed by Axel Grell, formerly the chief engineer at Sennheiser and now the founder/owner of Grell Audio. They feature an unconventional structure where the drivers are positioned significantly in front of and away from the ears. This design choice appears to be aimed at minimizing pinna interactions and potentially enhancing spatial representation of sound. The intention seems to be to achieve a more natural and realistic audio reproduction.



Although I was not 100% sure if his claims are legit, as a huge fan of non-traditional acoustic designs, I was highly tempted to get my hands on the pair, expecting something at least different if not necessarily better. After weeks of waiting after pre-order was placed, I finally received the product this morning and spent approximately 6 hours evaluating them...

Since I planned to spend more than half of my time in San Antonio during the summer, setting up a work-from-home arrangement there seemed logical. I needed a desk, a good keyboard, and a mouse to augment my travelling laptop. I invested in a nice desk (details to follow in a review). For the mouse, I opted for a budget-friendly, lightweight Coolermaster model, deciding against splurging on a Glorious O. While I already had a basic keyboard without switches back in Corpus, this time I didn't want to deal with buying and installing switches. That's when I recalled Keychron keyboards, recommended by one of my favorite YouTube personalities, Keybored. I figured these mechanical keyboards were ready to use out of the box yet customizable later to fit my preferences.

After a brief Amazon search, I found several models available. Favoring TKL designs, I opted for the higher-end Keycron K8 Pro. It boasts programmable RGB backlighting, Gateron Brown Switches, PBT keycaps, a sturdy aluminum frame, support for both MacOS and Windows, and Bluetooth Wireless—something I initially overlooked but ended up finding quite convenient.