Leaderboard

Got the micro up and running. This is set for 12v. Depending on the op amp this should support from 5v to about 20v. The larger should support from 12v to 50v. Noise looks good but I really need a screened room.

More buffers - 10 transistors per board! [mention=431]Pars[/mention], interested in my two purple prototypes? Rails are 5v-50v and implements a kind of sliding bias (bias increases when load increases) centered around 10mA. They are DC coupled and low distortion. I will run all the new ones through the distortion jig in the morning and see how close they are.

Speaker boxes now clad in Black laminate, because we had enough left over from the router table project... Making a solid Cherry 3/4" thick baffle to glue on top of MDF baffles...

The new Esoteric K-07x is worth considering. The “x” upgrade resulted in a completely different sounding “house” sound, no longer sterile and clinical. It’s possible to adapt the JDM version by replacing the transformer, if you are handy at the DIY.

Test Tone @ Home live right now: http://mixlr.com/illuminator/chat

@JoaMat Here are some boards I drew up...

I appreciate that, and appreciate the opportunity it afforded me to explain Dolan to my wife.

I would respond but dont want to give any ideas to wannabe copycats.

I'm sad about this. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get a UDP-205 (or whether I should buy one) before they're gone. It's the last of the reasonable-priced SACD players with analog outputs. Sony quickly discontinued their $350 UHP-H1 player after the HDMI-only UBP-X800 4K player was released last year. Marantz hasn't updated their mainstream player (the audio-only SA2005) since 2014 and Pioneer's Elite BDP-88FD Blu-ray player is almost twice the price. Marantz's flagship SA-10 SACD player is about $7,000. Esoteric, Luxman, and Accuphase players are somewhere in that stratosphere. I wrote a CD player comparison from a listening session at a local audio store a long time ago when I was shopping for my CD player (I'd love to do an updated one with new hardware and older ears): https://www.head-fi.org/threads/5-players-enter-1-player-leaves-nad-m5-simaudio-supernova-accuphase-dp-75-audio-research-cd7-arcam-cd36.277933/ I have a small DVD collection and I've upgraded to Blu-ray in the last few years, playing them on my Super Slim Sony PlayStation 3 (its Blu-ray video and analog audio output are impressive, but its DVD upsampling quality is average at best) to my Panasonic plasma TV and Arcam stereo. The Oppo UDP-205 seems to be the magic bullet. To get analog output out of HDMI-only players, you can use the $40 boxes you find on Amazon or you can try one of these: http://www.essenceelectrostatic.com/product/hdacc-ii-4k/ But I find the idea of HDMI-analog conversion dodgy at best – my preference goes to manufacturers who are capable of putting together a top-level analog output stage in their digital source along with a quality transport and DAC. It leads to fewer boxes and cables and a reasonable budget that doesn't include power supplies that cost thousands of dollars (Naim, I'm looking at you). I was also disappointed to read that Oppo dropped HDCD support in the UDP players. Some of my favorite albums are on HDCD (the entire Roxy Music CD catalog) or SACD hybrid discs – I'm invested in nearly-defunct silver disc media, although I recently started ripping my discs to Apple Lossless files as a backup strategy. My Arcam FMJ CD36 broke down last month and I had a moment of panic (I've owned it since 2007). I wrote Arcam (now owned by Harman, which it turns out is now owned by Samsung!) and they told me that they were unable to repair this "long obsolete" mechanism. I really didn't want to get rid of my beloved player and I am against disposable products in general. After about a week of inquiries, I was able to find a local shop who repaired its loader mechanism and replaced its belt – crisis averted. Arcam has been heading towards a mass-market product range for over a decade and this was the final confirmation for me. They pointed me towards their new product, the upcoming $1,000 HDA CDS10 SACD player/network streamer: http://www.audioaffair.co.uk/arcam-cds50-sacd-cd-player-with-network-streaming. Their refusal to service my CD36 left a bad taste in my mouth. I invested in an all-Arcam system a few years after getting my CD player (Arcam C31 preamp + P1 power amps) and I think they were the last statement audiophile products from the company. Changes in the market have caught some of the major players out, but I still think there is room in the middle for people with modest budgets. My recent experiences with the Chord Mojo, the Beyerdyamic Amiron, the Focal Elear headphones, and even the Schiit Fulla 2 amp/DAC proved that it's still possible to get audiophile value for money. Additionally, I enjoyed listening to the Focal Utopias and I'll have to try them again. I still believe there is and will be a demand for high end CD and SACD players, though not a large one, and the recent cassette revival proves that obsolete audio formats can return from the junk shops. High-end cassette decks are going for quite a bit of money now, and it's possible that the same could happen to disc players (provided there is a viable parts supply, particularly their transports and loading mechanisms, as I found out firsthand). The refurbished Sony UHP-H1 is selling for cheap on eBay, so I took a chance and ordered one today... I'll let you guys know if it is any good after it shows up.

Below is a picture of my modified DIY T2. Zoom in and you can finds several resistors standing. There are also standing STN9360. You won’t find other types of STN9360. Those homemade boards have been in service for four years now. I’ve made several modifications and the boards have been very kind to me. Kevin’s t2shrinkedv10 is based on my home cooked boards. I’m confident his board is OK. But be aware if something goes wrong it could be a tricky thing working on that board as some areas are pretty crowded. Today I would make a different layout of the board as I find the board a bit obsolete.

I have finished my GRLV "portable"

Great article, Thanks! I know a few media composers who've taken the iMacPro plunge but for the most part, they're very well heeled. So far, they're pretty impressed with stuff like rendering speeds and large template launch, but when it comes to reading big ass sessions (with ridiculous amounts of plug-in loads like reverb) the old dust bins aren't that far behind. So, the direction that the iMac Pro has taken isn't a huge "real world" improvement for music and I'm hoping that Apple and their new modular Mac Pro will take that into account. It's great to hear that real life media composers are on staff now and that might explain the tremendous "real world" improvements that came crammed into the latest update of Logic Pro X. It may have put Logic at the top of the heap for that kind of work. BTW That was a "free" update!!!!

This is interesting: https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/05/apples-2019-imac-pro-will-be-shaped-by-workflows/ I think the author is right that the delay to 2019 for the Mac Pro may be somewhat due to the tepid reception of the iMac Pro. I don't have any sales figures from which to judge, but I have to imagine that the iMac Pro has flopped awfully hard. I don't think it was really the answer most "pros" were looking for, in that it is not modular at all and it is severely thermally constrained under load. It sounds like they've gone back to the drawing board, which would be a very good thing.