SBAF Spring Cleaning

not discrete, I think discrete ladder DACs are in general a travesty. they cannot match laser-trimmed ICs in linearity. I learned this the hard way. you can feel free to PM me any time if you want some hot takes that are not safe for public consumption. I try to be really careful these days of saying anything flat out sucks publicly, not because anyone takes my opinions seriously but because I think it's really important people try things for themselves, within reason and within their means, and formulate their own conclusions

the Soekris stuff is interesting because turbo-objectivist philosophy was applied and we got a discrete ladder that outclasses anything from Asia (DENAFRIPS, Holo spring) for linearity, but it's really held back in terms of dynamics, expression and emotional mobility by a cheap SMPS (I see he's switched to discrete parts now instead of Meanwell modules) and kind of wimpy output buffer. the other thing with discrete ladders is that it invites the DAC designer to do all sorts of pants-on-head retarded things with the rest of the design (again, DENAFRIPS). with time tested chips like the TDA1541 you have to work around the chip and address a set number of technical requirements with ideal solutions. this is kinda-sorta related to what's going on in the Yggdrasil with the AD5791BRUZ but that's like Dante Must Die mode compared to any fool slapping a resistor to the Vout of a TDA1543 and calling it a day (BorderPatrol)

Valhalla is da bomb. If you are a sennheiser or ZMF user, go OTL and never look back!

now that we're talking about DACs again I think the thread has come full circle.

 

What I can‘t get my head around is, ok a place you liked may have changed or you may have changed, well then move on and maybe even bitch about that place at your new favourite place but why insist on coming back here and spoil the party for the ones who still enjoy this place. I was taught not to crap at the place I eat at and I think life is too short to spend time at places I find of no interest.

 

• The Holo Spring is awesome off a good clock if you avoid its USB. It’s not neutral but off its own USB, it’s chi-fi bullshit. Imagine an amalgam of everything bad about every Schiit dac possible but aliased in mono. Reclocked? Quite okay.

The Soekris is veiled, boxy shit. Reminds me too much of RME’s crappy digital clock that’s jitter free but instant boxy sound effect. It’s just puny. You can get 8 channels of puny, lofi warm, detail free but not too offensive sound for 300 bucks from Focusrite.

 

Bob has measurements for both the Spring2 and the May posted in the Source Measurement sections. They didn't garner much interest when he posted them up.

I still think that inexpensive OTL amps in general should be thought of as specially amps for those who value speed and detail retrieve above everything else.

 

So looks like I got the infamous tag too.

@purr1n You have the screen grabs and know what I said, I won't repeat it here since it's between you and me, and also because the context is vastly different here. I've been increasingly deceived with the way SBAF evolved since its creation, as I have periodically expressed here, especially asking for a smaller community vs the big population that it is now. As a lot of people, I was hoping for a CS v2, which didn't happen, but that was never my decision anyway.

I have always had a low online presence, and you might not remember me from Head-fi but we have crossed more than once, and you might remember that I've always been after a joke, sometimes good, sometimes in bad taste. Please keep this in mind for later.

For the record, I do have a respect for Jason and Mike, for they are entrepreneurs like me, even if I have diverged on my way to audio reproduction. They took a direction for their dac that didn't suit my taste, but that's strictly linked to their product. I thought the toilet gif was an unnecessary attack on persona and told so to @RobS directly in PM which might have lead to him apologizing to you, or not, he can confirm if he feels like it.

Now, we have also butted heads on some occasions and obviously we don't see eye to eye on what sound we prefer. You also get to direct your house whichever way you feel like, which is why I never peed on the carpet here and voluntarily backed down at times in that spirit. I will echo MrTie and Josh to say that the gif itself wasn't created by a member from our discord. The drama has been of some entertainment for sure though, but no more than what happened in the CS days when there was some shitposting going on with HF. Hell, I even remember taking a stand there for Schiit back then.

In a nutshell, while my presence here dwindling quite rapidly is likely the result of my lack of interest and disconnection with the current community, and might give you some ground for stripping me of the friend status ; I would also want it known that my posting has also served in the past to try and push some members to better their content, as well as some early and modest contribution to some of the good things here with Sorrodje. Hence I feel like the tag isn't warranted.

 

My lack of involvement isn't recent, that much is obvious. So I was in disagreement fairly early, and didn't hide it, despite providing a contribution for the creation of sbaf itself. The first wave of big subscription openings comes to mind, after the release of the SDR, which brought in a lot of randos. The loss of early CS friends over time also, which is why I was glad to see RD back.

 

I think it's normalizing sensitivity to words by calling a person a victim is a terrible precedent. This trend is what is responsible for the authoritarian PC culture that we see now that enforces conformity and stifles free speech because people claim to be victimized by words. It's not too much to ask to ask people to show thicker skin. I'm sure most of us did that as children when playing sports or something else we were inevitably called something unpleasant and were reminded not to be bothered because "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me". That is healthy advice and something I think we should continue to strive for as adults.

 

That's a good boot licker!

All is forgiven!

 

There is always one f'ing idiot who mistakenly thinks he's original and cool because he dares to be a contrarian. And you just know that he's living in his mom's basement sitting around in his stained tighty whities thinking "Man! I got em good!"...

 

I think every situation needs to be evaluated differently, depending upon the people involved. While "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me" may have been good advice in fifth grade, when everyone was more or less equal, as @Jay pointed out, even if it's only a few people out of a hundred, it hurts, for some/most people. In the context of SBAF, you're saying Marv should have thicker skin, no? If he didn't give a shit what anyone was saying behind his back, it would make it easier. Most people don't work that way though, they're affected mentally by what others say about them, whether it has much merit or not. Unless Marv is getting rich running SBAF where he would be less likely to give a shit what a handful of people said about him, wouldn't you expect him to be aggravated and say to himself "Why the f**k am I doing this?"

That said, as a new guy, when I see so many people who have been "Executed" as I read through threads, and I'm not talking randos, but people who had been a "Friend", it makes me uncomfortably cautious in what I say. I'm not saying that they weren't "Executed" with good reason, but the red label reinforces to me, be careful in what you say and how you say it, because I have no idea why those people lost their SBAF friend status. Maybe Head-Fi is the same way, but the number of "Banned" people seem smaller to the overall people posting. That's my perception anyway.

 

And here we go again.

 

I have read quite a bit of it, but it's also like 160 threads in that forum. When you say "complete asshat", there are people who posted 1000's of times with 1000's of likes, and relatively few dislikes, then they mysteriously are "Executed". I'm not saying it wasn't warranted, I'm saying that every one of their postings is now shown with a bright red "Executed" label, along with their like/dislike stats prior to being "Executed".

I'm the guy that reads every single relevant posting in 10-15 "Vinyl Nutjob World" threads, before asking a turntable question. By doing such, I see lots of people with the bright red banner "Executed" next to their name. The randos who don't bother to read before asking a question, don't see that. Many of the friends who have been here for a long time don't see that, because they aren't re-reading threads from beginning to end. The new postings obviously aren't from people who have been "Executed".

I'm not being critical of your decisions on who deserves to get the boot or not, I'm trying to provide you with the perspective of someone who has read many threads from beginning to end recently; seeing who has been "Executed", because many of those "Executed" people appear over and over again. It makes me hesitant to say anything at times. The red "Executed" badge is saying, don't do what they did, even though they were actually providing useful information in that particular thread, so I have no idea what they did wrong.

 

Sometimes I wonder if my bs filter is way too low, or maybe way too high... I didn't even notice the original thread was stirring things up, and I've already forgotten who even wrote it. I read a thing relating to gear that I've owned, skimmed all the non-relevant hyperbole, wrote comments relating my own experiences with the aforementioned gear, and promptly moved on with my life. Somewhere in there I also made a jab at Psalm, and somehow that got way more likes than my actual informative post. I feel like that's a lesson of some sort. *shrug*

My apathy is fighting with my narcissism and curiosity on this too.

 

Like Chacha said, it’s not actually that hard to not get executed and to enjoy yourself here. Here’s a few tips:

- don’t be a dick to people
- don’t hold extreme views and/or ignore the information being provided from people who probably know way more than you do
- try to contribute, add value and help others where/when you can - don’t just use SBAF for your own benefit