lostcause

Sure, but your mum has never charged more than 20.

Frightened by your lack of respect, I am forced to don my wizard cape and hat.

I don't know anything about the amp beyond what I've read on his blog, and I only know a little about the way nwavguy has rubbed so many people up the wrong way, but I am interested in whether or not anyone is prepared to meet either of his challenges. - an amp up to $450 that eclipses his measurements for the O2 in independent testing. - an amp which outperforms the O2 in an independent A/B test I appreciate that few of us have the resources to make either of these a reality, but I'm still waiting to see a report from someone who has built the amp and verified all of his measurements. Its fine to call the guy an 'idiot' and bag the design (I'm not refuting either of those assertions) but surely he has given the DiY community every opportunity to call him on his bluff ? Inevitably, I must be missing something here. From nwavguy's blog: THE OBJECTIVE CHALLENGE: I’ve given my critics what they asked for and hit the ball over the net, so let’s turn the challenge around! Can anyone show me a portable headphone amp that overall objectively performs better for even triple the finished assembled price of the O2? If so, we’ll get someone independent with a real audio analyzer to test both. The O2 should be available for $150 or less fully assembled so I’ll put it up against anything up to $450. May the best amp win! THE SUBJECTIVE CHALLENGE: Let’s raise the bar even further for all the subjective guys. For any amp that measures sufficiently well into the desired load (reasonably close to the specs outlined in the O2 Design Principals), regardless of cost, I’ll put the O2 up against it with any popular headphones within its drive capabilities. The challenger can pick the other amp, source, music, and headphones. The listening will be done blind using an A/B/X box and the comparison will be recorded on video for publication on YouTube. The test would be administered by an independent third party (I won’t even be present). The results, win or lose, will be published on this blog. And to sweeten the deal still further, if someone beats the O2 in a valid test, I’ll give $500 to the charity of their choice. If they lose, they give $500 to the charity of my choice.

I guess that depends how you define 'ended well', but I can see when I'm outnumbered. Best stick to discussions of the Objective2. right ?

Apparently the unflinching respect of my peers. Or a broken U-DAC. I really need to nail that down.

Its all good - I accepted a bet on another forum that I'd be banned after my first post. Anything from here on is gravy.

Thats fine - didnt expect to win any friends, simply telling it like it is.

Yep, another Head-Fi escapee here - just wanted to get my first post out of the way. To be honest, I have no particular motivation for signing on other than the recommendation of another Head-Fier who agrees with some of my cynicism on said forums, particularly in relation to some of the 'paid adverstisements' that masquerade as reviews. Nuff said.