AlanY

To be fair, the Sabre32 datasheet/documentation isn't all that informative either. Slightly better than the AK4399 though.

This is the thing. Esoteric gear isn't harsh. It's just bone dry.

The industry leader is Google Reader. If you're on a Mac, NetNewsWire is good, but in my experience desktop RSS readers are not worth the trouble. You either have to leave them on continuously or you miss stuff, or you have to sync with a server somewhere, and sync always starts to break down after a while. Google Reader has the advantage of always running somewhere on a server in the Googleplex, so it never misses anything, and there are no sync hassles. Plus NNW slows down if you keep a lot of items (it has an archive function to help out, but that's pretty cheesy) and search is hit and miss. Search in Google Reader is pretty good.

This was my impression as well, though I can't remember which piece of Esoteric gear I heard. (It all looks pretty much the same.) I wonder if it can be modded. Maybe they need a new output stage.

You were thinking of using poly on that beautiful veneer? I agree with you, lacquer or shellac!

Is this on XP or Vista?

That is sweet. I wonder if it works if you disconnect the fan.

I wonder if the Twisted Pear guys would consider going full time with the business? Seems like there's a lot of demand for their products, and going full time might help them keep some of the other boards in stock.

That 32-bit thing doesn't mean anything. It just means it can accept 32-bit input words. The PCM datapath is actually 48-bits wide, which is sweet (volume control can be done digitally with no harm to the signal), but the PCM datapath is really irrelevant for DSD conversion. The actual modulator is a fifth-order sigma delta unit. Usually manufacturers are clear if they convert DSD to PCM (e.g. the WM8741 datasheet is clear that it's optional), but the Sabre datasheet is pretty skimpy. The Twisted Pear guys might know for sure, since they have access to someone inside ESS.

Not sure why they'd do this since it's a sigma-delta DAC and could handle DSD directly. But the white paper on the Sabre design doesn't say for sure.

Does this really matter as much as Jocko Homo says it does? It's like a religion to him, but I've never seen measurements that quantify the impact. I suspect that if it made a huge difference, I'm sure there would be at least a handful of DAC vendors using BNC.

That's good to hear. I'm thinking of building an Opus (no idea what output stage, probably transformer-coupled or TPA6120A2).

That actually sounds like a very solid combo. You guys don't like the Lavry? I preferred it to the Benchmark.

Yeah, teak is seriously endangered and prices have risen like crazy, so it's no longer common. It's 3x to 5x the cost of padauk... basically on par with the most expensive woods like bocote.

It's a little odd that for that price you still don't get the ability to have it act as a standalone NAS. It must be plugged into a computer.

It turns out that ESS has a document with useful suggestions for laying out ground planes: http://esstech.com/PDF/Application_Note_Component_Selection_and_PCB_Layout.pdf Like the references Pars posted earlier, they recommend against a split ground plane.

I think this incident highlights the need to encourage Asians to access mental health services/care more frequently. I remember reading that Asians access mental health care 90% (!) less than average, for a variety of social and cultural reasons. It sounds from the news reports that this guy was really depressed and many people around him knew it. He lived with his parents so they could have helped him get treatment. Likewise, the VA Tech shooter was schizophrenic but never got treatment. There's no reason for people to suffer alone.

That's fascinating, particularly the Henry Ott links. Thanks.

I think they're following Guido Tent's advice here: http://www.tentlabs.com/InfoSupport/page35/files/Supply_decoupling.pdf and not separating the digital and analog ground planes. This goes against pretty much every suggested layout by every DAC manufacturer, but Guido may still be right. I wish there was some good resource for this.

Does Twisted Pear use separate analog and digital ground planes? It's hard to tell if they do. From the schematics of the Opus and original Buffalo it looks like the digital and analog grounds are shared?

Is there a good source for Penny and Giles potentiometers for DIYers?

Are you planning on veneering the speakers that you're assembling with screws? You're going to have to be especially careful to avoid show-thru, especially if you're using paper-backed thin veneer. It may be worth asking on a woodworking forum for more advice about hiding the screws. They might suggest using Bondo above the screw holes.

The plastic doesn't matter as much as you'd think since it's at the back of the cabinet... any resonance in the plastic will be emitted to the rear and be lost.

Great choice of projects! I'm impressed you're doing two sets at the same time. I started a pair of Zaph's speakers last summer but didn't finish the baffles and then got distracted. Hope to finish them this summer.

I was under the impression Empirical wasn't async, that their whole marketing was based on electrical termination and reflections and minor stuff like that. But I admit I haven't taken a look at their product line in a while.