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Massdrop Objective 2 Headphone Amp: Desktop Edition
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Massdrop Objective 2 Headphone Amp: Desktop Edition
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Product Description
In 2011, audio engineer NwAvGuy published a blog post titled “O2 Headphone Amp,” in which he outlined his philosophy on defining sound quality and detailed his ideal audiophile circuit design. Our version of NwAvGuy's famous O2 amplifier, the Objective 2 Desktop Edition features updates based on feedback from the community Read More
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Strad1679
106
Jul 28, 2015
Massdrop should not be using the Objective 2 name on this product. The design changes are in clear violation of the license (see below). Their desire to remove all text from the case is likely an acknowledgement of this, yet they reference the licensed name seven times on the product page. This offering could have a serious impact on the open source audiophile community and I, for one, will not be supporting it. Massdrop should either stick to the specs in the license or call this thing something else.
Below is a list of all of the changes that are different from the original spec. This list is from an extremely reliable source. I realize the final design is subject to change (red flag), but it seems obvious that they have no intention of sticking to the license.
"R25 - 5% instead of 1% - Impacts power management. More likely to cycle on off when batteries are low.
Blue LED - Requires power management circuit changes.
'Finally, the LED’s forward voltage is a critical element of the power management circuit. You can't change to a different color (especially white or blue) without making other changes as that will require more current and the different forward voltage means the power management circuit has to be altered.'
C13/C14 - WIMA 1.5uF present instead of 2.2uf. This is a critical audio path capacitor. The smaller value here will impact low frequency response! This is a serious alteration with performance implications. WIMA costs more, but red capacitors sell better than grey. Reducing value reduces cost (and performance).
R1/R2 - Generic charging resistors are present.
C6, C7, C10, C15, C17, C18 - Film caps have been replaced with generic parts.
C1 - Replaced with generic part.
C16, C21 - Ceramic caps have been replaced with film parts.
VR1 - Alps RK097 series potentiometer with 15A taper has been swapped for a lower cost part (unknown volume taper and balance).
Q1 Q2 - Power supply MOSFETS differ from standard parts. Q1 and Q2 are critical parts which affect opamp performance and turn on/off behavior. Discussed extensively in original article."
Below is a list of all of the changes that are different from the original spec. This list is from an extremely reliable source. I realize the final design is subject to change (red flag), but it seems obvious that they have no intention of sticking to the license.
"R25 - 5% instead of 1% - Impacts power management. More likely to cycle on off when batteries are low.
Blue LED - Requires power management circuit changes.
'Finally, the LED’s forward voltage is a critical element of the power management circuit. You can't change to a different color (especially white or blue) without making other changes as that will require more current and the different forward voltage means the power management circuit has to be altered.'
C13/C14 - WIMA 1.5uF present instead of 2.2uf. This is a critical audio path capacitor. The smaller value here will impact low frequency response! This is a serious alteration with performance implications. WIMA costs more, but red capacitors sell better than grey. Reducing value reduces cost (and performance).
R1/R2 - Generic charging resistors are present.
C6, C7, C10, C15, C17, C18 - Film caps have been replaced with generic parts.
C1 - Replaced with generic part.
C16, C21 - Ceramic caps have been replaced with film parts.
VR1 - Alps RK097 series potentiometer with 15A taper has been swapped for a lower cost part (unknown volume taper and balance).
Q1 Q2 - Power supply MOSFETS differ from standard parts. Q1 and Q2 are critical parts which affect opamp performance and turn on/off behavior. Discussed extensively in original article."
Will
8470
Chief Product Officer
Oct 19, 2015
Hey Everyone,
Three years ago, sitting at the IKEA dining table in our first house (Massdrop was run out of houses for the first year of our existence), we decided to add discussion sections to our drops.
Since then, we've been perpetually impressed with the time folks spend posting and the depth of content they produce. That said, there are downsides to the standard discussion structure, and while we've done our best to mitigate as much as we can, the "vocal minority" problem is one we've yet to solve.
This is a normal situation that forms when something happens that a group of members takes issue with. If the group of members is big enough, then the community will ultimately accept their complaints as reasonable, and address the underlying cause of their concern. If the group of members is too small, then the community judges their complaints as unreasonable, moves on, and the passionate members of the displeased group continue to post and derail discussions with their complaints.
In this discussion, there are ~15 people acting as a vocal minority, expressing their displeasure about the timing of this drop and the availability of the Desktop upgrade, and exhibiting the kind of behavior listed above. While the discussion has moved on, I want to address these complaints, clarify a few things, and ask a couple questions for the purpose of bettering our messaging practices. Even though the discussion has moved on, I think there’s some legitimate confusion to be resolved.
First, to make sure we're all on the same page, these members participated in the first drop, bought a standard O2 for $69.99 USD shipped, and are displeased because once all their units shipped out, we launched this drop, where members can purchase standard O2s for $79.99 USD shipped, and Desktop O2s for $94.99 shipped. The changes made to create a Desktop O2 (RCA Input, rear power jack, 1/4" headphone jack) were all requested in the discussion of the first O2 drop by dozens of users.
The overall sentiment from this vocal minority is essentially “I wouldn’t have joined the first drop if I knew the second drop would have the most requested additional options”. Here’s our response:
1. We made it clear that the first drop would not be able to accommodate those requests in this post: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-o2-amplifier/talk/246075
2. We’ve already stated our intent around creating mod-kits for purchasers from the first drop (in the same post linked above). This is something we still intend to do, and we’re working out the logistics now (specifically around replacement plates, everything else is off the shelf components).
3. By participating in the first drop, you were able to take advantage of pricing based on expected costs ($69.99) rather than pricing based on real costs ($79.99), glad to elaborate on this if necessary.
Hopefully that response covers everything. Getting to the question side of things, it’s clear this information could have been communicated better, and I’m interested in your thoughts on the matter.
Maybe we can make some kind of “discussion digest” email for complicated drops. Idea would be to take all the important questions and responses from ~50 pages of discussion, and condense it into a single email. Obviously a couple problems with that (“more emails” is never a great answer), but if you have ideas or thoughts, let me know via email (will@massdrop.com) and we’ll keep the discussion going (don’t want to hijack anymore space on this drop).
Thanks for your patience and support of this drop, hopefully this covers all the pertinent information and provides an avenue for continued discussion to those who feel most impacted.
Three years ago, sitting at the IKEA dining table in our first house (Massdrop was run out of houses for the first year of our existence), we decided to add discussion sections to our drops.
Since then, we've been perpetually impressed with the time folks spend posting and the depth of content they produce. That said, there are downsides to the standard discussion structure, and while we've done our best to mitigate as much as we can, the "vocal minority" problem is one we've yet to solve.
This is a normal situation that forms when something happens that a group of members takes issue with. If the group of members is big enough, then the community will ultimately accept their complaints as reasonable, and address the underlying cause of their concern. If the group of members is too small, then the community judges their complaints as unreasonable, moves on, and the passionate members of the displeased group continue to post and derail discussions with their complaints.
In this discussion, there are ~15 people acting as a vocal minority, expressing their displeasure about the timing of this drop and the availability of the Desktop upgrade, and exhibiting the kind of behavior listed above. While the discussion has moved on, I want to address these complaints, clarify a few things, and ask a couple questions for the purpose of bettering our messaging practices. Even though the discussion has moved on, I think there’s some legitimate confusion to be resolved.
First, to make sure we're all on the same page, these members participated in the first drop, bought a standard O2 for $69.99 USD shipped, and are displeased because once all their units shipped out, we launched this drop, where members can purchase standard O2s for $79.99 USD shipped, and Desktop O2s for $94.99 shipped. The changes made to create a Desktop O2 (RCA Input, rear power jack, 1/4" headphone jack) were all requested in the discussion of the first O2 drop by dozens of users.
The overall sentiment from this vocal minority is essentially “I wouldn’t have joined the first drop if I knew the second drop would have the most requested additional options”. Here’s our response:
1. We made it clear that the first drop would not be able to accommodate those requests in this post: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-o2-amplifier/talk/246075
2. We’ve already stated our intent around creating mod-kits for purchasers from the first drop (in the same post linked above). This is something we still intend to do, and we’re working out the logistics now (specifically around replacement plates, everything else is off the shelf components).
3. By participating in the first drop, you were able to take advantage of pricing based on expected costs ($69.99) rather than pricing based on real costs ($79.99), glad to elaborate on this if necessary.
Hopefully that response covers everything. Getting to the question side of things, it’s clear this information could have been communicated better, and I’m interested in your thoughts on the matter.
Maybe we can make some kind of “discussion digest” email for complicated drops. Idea would be to take all the important questions and responses from ~50 pages of discussion, and condense it into a single email. Obviously a couple problems with that (“more emails” is never a great answer), but if you have ideas or thoughts, let me know via email (will@massdrop.com) and we’ll keep the discussion going (don’t want to hijack anymore space on this drop).
Thanks for your patience and support of this drop, hopefully this covers all the pertinent information and provides an avenue for continued discussion to those who feel most impacted.
Will
8470
Chief Product Officer
Sep 30, 2015
Hey Everyone,
Welcome to another action packed episode of "Customs Roulette" where we make something exciting, you give us your hard earned money, and the Customs Officers of various countries try to foil our plans for on-time fulfillment.
This week, we've got some exciting news. As I write this, the finished O2s are being loaded on a plane bound for JFK. Once they land, it's an easy 60 minute truck ride to our NJ fulfillment center. If all goes according to plan, these should start shipping out by this time next week (Oct 5-7).
That said, this wouldn't be "Customs Roulette" if everything always wen't according to plan. As always, there is a possibility that the US Customs decides to pull our package aside and scrutinize it. This can happen for any number of reasons, but fear not, we're already prepared with every conceivable piece of documentation the US Customs office can request.
Shipping manifests, freshly minted FCC Certification (interestingly enough, the O2 was never certified by the FCC, we took care of that), itemized BOM list of every component, a map detailing the location of Jimmy Hoffa's grave, we've got it all ready to fax/scan/fly over at a moment's notice.
Thanks for your patience, support, on-going discussion, entertaining complaints (the un-entertaining ones.... words hurt guys... I am not made of stone), and everything else.
It's been a long journey but I'm glad we'll reach the finish line together (unless you canceled, no finish line for you).
I'll be around tonight and tomorrow answering questions but if you have anything pressing, feel free to email me as always: will@massdrop.com
Welcome to another action packed episode of "Customs Roulette" where we make something exciting, you give us your hard earned money, and the Customs Officers of various countries try to foil our plans for on-time fulfillment.
This week, we've got some exciting news. As I write this, the finished O2s are being loaded on a plane bound for JFK. Once they land, it's an easy 60 minute truck ride to our NJ fulfillment center. If all goes according to plan, these should start shipping out by this time next week (Oct 5-7).
That said, this wouldn't be "Customs Roulette" if everything always wen't according to plan. As always, there is a possibility that the US Customs decides to pull our package aside and scrutinize it. This can happen for any number of reasons, but fear not, we're already prepared with every conceivable piece of documentation the US Customs office can request.
Shipping manifests, freshly minted FCC Certification (interestingly enough, the O2 was never certified by the FCC, we took care of that), itemized BOM list of every component, a map detailing the location of Jimmy Hoffa's grave, we've got it all ready to fax/scan/fly over at a moment's notice.
Thanks for your patience, support, on-going discussion, entertaining complaints (the un-entertaining ones.... words hurt guys... I am not made of stone), and everything else.
It's been a long journey but I'm glad we'll reach the finish line together (unless you canceled, no finish line for you).
I'll be around tonight and tomorrow answering questions but if you have anything pressing, feel free to email me as always: will@massdrop.com
zoomorph
423
Jul 29, 2015
How about following the design exactly but including, as add-ons, DIY parts for custom modifications for things like rear power, etc? This way, you would not break the license, you would not incur any extra delay from the manufacturer, and users who were interested in those modifications would be empowered to make them themselves, all within the license. Massdrop could even publish instructions on how to make the modifications.
Budget_Audiophile
98
Jul 25, 2015
I've been looking at the Schiit Modi 2/Magni 2 combo but I'll definitely bite if some tweaks are made.
My preferences (to echo others): Rear power connection Rear input (preferably RCA) 1/4" output on front Keep the metal knob Stackable with complementary Massdrop ODAC when released Choice of gain levels
Personal nitpicky preferences: Matte finish on faceplace to match rest of case Symbols rather than text
Edit: Also please include rubber feet for desktop use. I see it in the prototype picture but no mention of it in the written portion of what is included.
My preferences (to echo others): Rear power connection Rear input (preferably RCA) 1/4" output on front Keep the metal knob Stackable with complementary Massdrop ODAC when released Choice of gain levels
Personal nitpicky preferences: Matte finish on faceplace to match rest of case Symbols rather than text
Edit: Also please include rubber feet for desktop use. I see it in the prototype picture but no mention of it in the written portion of what is included.
Will
8470
Chief Product Officer
Jul 29, 2015
Hey Strad1679,
Appreciate you taking the time to respond to my post! Interesting point you bring up about posts contradicting each other, not my intention, and I'm not sure where the specific contradiction lies. If you're referring to this post: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-o2-amplifier/talk/238649 where I say "The final unit will have everything as close to spec as we can get", it's worth knowing that the closest we can get is exactly the spec.
At this point I hope it's clear that we've planned to honor NwAvGuy's spec and license since the beginning (given our track record of honorably handling community designed products, re Ergodox, Infinity Keyboards, and community designed keycap sets in the mechanical keyboards community) but I can also see why my initial wording could be cause for concern.
That said, letting our contract manufacturer sub in some alternative parts to get us a prototype for pictures was definitely a poor choice we won't be making again. Think of how much pain and suffering could have been avoided if we'd waited the additional couple weeks it would have taken for sample quantities of all the proper parts to reach the manufacturer. Lesson learned there for sure.
Do you think it would be best to remove the PCB photos up right now to avoid confusion? Obviously it'd be best to post pictures of a PCB from our contract manufacturer with all the parts according to spec, but there's probably not enough time in this drop to make that happen... Actually, probably easier to add some notes on the pictures to avoid confusion instead. Let me know your thoughts on this.
Overall, I don't think you'll find me apprehensive to acknowledge the incredible work you and other community members do in discussions and polls. Much the opposite actually, this community is what makes Massdrop worthwhile IMO. Posts like yours, with intense attention to detail and strong opinions make for far better discussion than a predictable hype train.
It's been our goal from day one to give the community credit where deserving (as we have in the past when we've adjusted our course of action based on overwhelming community feedback, see this drop discussion https://www.massdrop.com/buy/corsair-rgb-gaming-keyboard-and-mouse), sadly, all this confusion is the result of my poor wording choices, for that I am sorry.
All in, you can be sure we'll continue to honor open source licensing, and I'll have a couple more people look over my choice of words before posting on sensitive topics : )
Appreciate you taking the time to respond to my post! Interesting point you bring up about posts contradicting each other, not my intention, and I'm not sure where the specific contradiction lies. If you're referring to this post: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-o2-amplifier/talk/238649 where I say "The final unit will have everything as close to spec as we can get", it's worth knowing that the closest we can get is exactly the spec.
At this point I hope it's clear that we've planned to honor NwAvGuy's spec and license since the beginning (given our track record of honorably handling community designed products, re Ergodox, Infinity Keyboards, and community designed keycap sets in the mechanical keyboards community) but I can also see why my initial wording could be cause for concern.
That said, letting our contract manufacturer sub in some alternative parts to get us a prototype for pictures was definitely a poor choice we won't be making again. Think of how much pain and suffering could have been avoided if we'd waited the additional couple weeks it would have taken for sample quantities of all the proper parts to reach the manufacturer. Lesson learned there for sure.
Do you think it would be best to remove the PCB photos up right now to avoid confusion? Obviously it'd be best to post pictures of a PCB from our contract manufacturer with all the parts according to spec, but there's probably not enough time in this drop to make that happen... Actually, probably easier to add some notes on the pictures to avoid confusion instead. Let me know your thoughts on this.
Overall, I don't think you'll find me apprehensive to acknowledge the incredible work you and other community members do in discussions and polls. Much the opposite actually, this community is what makes Massdrop worthwhile IMO. Posts like yours, with intense attention to detail and strong opinions make for far better discussion than a predictable hype train.
It's been our goal from day one to give the community credit where deserving (as we have in the past when we've adjusted our course of action based on overwhelming community feedback, see this drop discussion https://www.massdrop.com/buy/corsair-rgb-gaming-keyboard-and-mouse), sadly, all this confusion is the result of my poor wording choices, for that I am sorry.
All in, you can be sure we'll continue to honor open source licensing, and I'll have a couple more people look over my choice of words before posting on sensitive topics : )
Will
8470
Chief Product Officer
Aug 3, 2015
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for your participation in this drop and joining in the product discussion. At the beginning of this drop, we asked for your input on the final details of the product and we got lots of great responses. From there, we took all your topics of interest to our manufacturing partner and discussed what could be done without impacting the expected delivery date. As initially expected, some changes were possible, some were not, and some could be solved in the future. Here’s a list of answers to the top questions ya’ll have been asking. Feel free to reply with any questions I missed, I’ll be around and answering questions all today.
Final Case Design:
After compiling everyone’s feedback, viewing material samples, and comparing finish options first hand, we arrived at this final front panel design (see image attached):
The matte finish for the front panel will look the same as the matte metal finish this O2 currently sports on all surfaces but the front panel.
The volume knob has been upgraded to a full metal option (as opposed to hollow metal and plastic) with rubber grommets for a smooth grip.
All these changes originated in this discussion section, thank you again for your support. If you find these design changes offencive and would like to leave the drop as a result, simply head over to: https://www.massdrop.com/transactions and cancel your order (third button down the right side of the screen if this is your most recent Massdrop purchase). We’ve extended the drop until tomorrow night so you can cancel your purchase any time between now and midnight Tuesday night (11:59pm PST tomorrow night).
220v Support:
Lots of people have been asking if this amplifier supports 220v power. The answer is yes, this amplifier does support 220v power, but you need a 220v power adapter. The adapters that ship with this drop will be a 110v US plug adapters. As such, anyone based overseas will need to get a separate power supply that fits their needs.
They’re very affordable at $10.99 from JDS labs: https://www.jdslabs.com/products/73/g-e-z-15vac-adapter-for-o2/
And if you prefer, you should be able to find cheaper alternatives at most electronic parts suppliers like Digikey, Mouser, or equivalents based in your country.
Additional Features:
In the course of this discussion we’ve seen tons of people requesting additional/different features like rear power input, rear RCA inputs, 1/4” headphone jacks, etc.
While we’d like to add options like this, our manufacturing plan for these O2s has a tight schedule and any major deviations from the original design would increase wait times meaningfully (changes proposed, plan re-done, contracts re-negotiated, etc). That said, a couple of community members brought up an interesting idea here in the discussion: Could Massdrop make DIY upgrade kits for these changes?
After talking it over with our manufacturing partner, the answer is yes. While they won’t be available until some time after this drop is fulfilled, we will be exploring making DIY kits as cheaply as possible for the most requested physical changes. Based on the discussion so far, our first priority will be a kit to give you the option of having a rear powered unit (new back plate, jumper wire, power jack). Additionally, we’ll be posting the parts list for all of these kits in this discussion as they’re finalized over the coming weeks. You won’t be seeing one every week, but we want to make it easy for people to source the parts themselves if they don’t want to wait for our pre-packaged solutions.
All things considered, I think it’s been an amazing drop. Your support, your questions, your concerns, all made for a better product and for that I say thanks.
I’ll be around if you have any additional questions, otherwise, you have until this drop ends at midnight Tuesday night (11:59pm Tuesday 8/4/2015) to make changes to your order.
Thanks for your participation in this drop and joining in the product discussion. At the beginning of this drop, we asked for your input on the final details of the product and we got lots of great responses. From there, we took all your topics of interest to our manufacturing partner and discussed what could be done without impacting the expected delivery date. As initially expected, some changes were possible, some were not, and some could be solved in the future. Here’s a list of answers to the top questions ya’ll have been asking. Feel free to reply with any questions I missed, I’ll be around and answering questions all today.
Final Case Design:
After compiling everyone’s feedback, viewing material samples, and comparing finish options first hand, we arrived at this final front panel design (see image attached):
The matte finish for the front panel will look the same as the matte metal finish this O2 currently sports on all surfaces but the front panel.
The volume knob has been upgraded to a full metal option (as opposed to hollow metal and plastic) with rubber grommets for a smooth grip.
All these changes originated in this discussion section, thank you again for your support. If you find these design changes offencive and would like to leave the drop as a result, simply head over to: https://www.massdrop.com/transactions and cancel your order (third button down the right side of the screen if this is your most recent Massdrop purchase). We’ve extended the drop until tomorrow night so you can cancel your purchase any time between now and midnight Tuesday night (11:59pm PST tomorrow night).
220v Support:
Lots of people have been asking if this amplifier supports 220v power. The answer is yes, this amplifier does support 220v power, but you need a 220v power adapter. The adapters that ship with this drop will be a 110v US plug adapters. As such, anyone based overseas will need to get a separate power supply that fits their needs.
They’re very affordable at $10.99 from JDS labs: https://www.jdslabs.com/products/73/g-e-z-15vac-adapter-for-o2/
And if you prefer, you should be able to find cheaper alternatives at most electronic parts suppliers like Digikey, Mouser, or equivalents based in your country.
Additional Features:
In the course of this discussion we’ve seen tons of people requesting additional/different features like rear power input, rear RCA inputs, 1/4” headphone jacks, etc.
While we’d like to add options like this, our manufacturing plan for these O2s has a tight schedule and any major deviations from the original design would increase wait times meaningfully (changes proposed, plan re-done, contracts re-negotiated, etc). That said, a couple of community members brought up an interesting idea here in the discussion: Could Massdrop make DIY upgrade kits for these changes?
After talking it over with our manufacturing partner, the answer is yes. While they won’t be available until some time after this drop is fulfilled, we will be exploring making DIY kits as cheaply as possible for the most requested physical changes. Based on the discussion so far, our first priority will be a kit to give you the option of having a rear powered unit (new back plate, jumper wire, power jack). Additionally, we’ll be posting the parts list for all of these kits in this discussion as they’re finalized over the coming weeks. You won’t be seeing one every week, but we want to make it easy for people to source the parts themselves if they don’t want to wait for our pre-packaged solutions.
All things considered, I think it’s been an amazing drop. Your support, your questions, your concerns, all made for a better product and for that I say thanks.
I’ll be around if you have any additional questions, otherwise, you have until this drop ends at midnight Tuesday night (11:59pm Tuesday 8/4/2015) to make changes to your order.
Will
8470
Chief Product Officer
Aug 25, 2015
Hey Everyone,
It’s been about four weeks since the O2 drop closed and we’ve been hard at work pushing every aspect of fulfillment to move along as quickly as possible.
The first step in this process was the fabrication of production prototypes (slight visual update, BOM compliance). We received the prototypes, had to make a couple slight changes to better match the provided rendering, and ordered another round to be manufactured.
Now featuring only components approved via NwAvGuy’s BOM (either in the main parts section or in the notes section) and a visual overhaul, see the attached image for the final look of your O2.
Couple things worth noting, the volume knob is one piece of custom machined metal, the potentiometer is one of NwAvGuy’s specified upgrade options which delivers nearly zero channel imbalance (all standard O2s have very noticeable channel imbalance at low volume levels), and we’ve replaced film components with ceramic components where the BOM specifies the ceramics offer an upgrade. In short, we picked the best parts possible given what’s specified in NwAvGuy’s BOM.
All this said, we have encountered some unexpected delays with our parts suppliers. Where we initially expected this drop to ship on September 14th, our updated ship date is September 30th.
Glad to answer any questions you have, but in the meantime, thanks for supporting this drop and we’ll be doing everything possible to get these shipped as quickly as possible.
It’s been about four weeks since the O2 drop closed and we’ve been hard at work pushing every aspect of fulfillment to move along as quickly as possible.
The first step in this process was the fabrication of production prototypes (slight visual update, BOM compliance). We received the prototypes, had to make a couple slight changes to better match the provided rendering, and ordered another round to be manufactured.
Now featuring only components approved via NwAvGuy’s BOM (either in the main parts section or in the notes section) and a visual overhaul, see the attached image for the final look of your O2.
Couple things worth noting, the volume knob is one piece of custom machined metal, the potentiometer is one of NwAvGuy’s specified upgrade options which delivers nearly zero channel imbalance (all standard O2s have very noticeable channel imbalance at low volume levels), and we’ve replaced film components with ceramic components where the BOM specifies the ceramics offer an upgrade. In short, we picked the best parts possible given what’s specified in NwAvGuy’s BOM.
All this said, we have encountered some unexpected delays with our parts suppliers. Where we initially expected this drop to ship on September 14th, our updated ship date is September 30th.
Glad to answer any questions you have, but in the meantime, thanks for supporting this drop and we’ll be doing everything possible to get these shipped as quickly as possible.
Will
8470
Chief Product Officer
Jul 22, 2015
Hey Everyone,
Thanks for your interest in the Objective 2! Reading through your posts, it seems clear there are some points we should clarify.
Q: Did I miss the drop? A: Nope, you did not miss the drop. We know it's confusingly structured, but having a page like this (where it looks like the drop has already happened) is the only way we can have the request button, thus letting people opt in to be notified upon launch. We're working on a better solution, but it's still a ways out.
Q: Why doesn't this have a quarter inch output? (or any other question about the design) A: Because the license NwAvGuy used to publish the O2 says it cannot be modified in any way and still be called the O2. The followup question is "Then why do other companies have O2s with different outputs and inputs?" and the answer is, as far as we can tell, they're not obeying the rules of the license. Feel free to jump in and tell us if you know better.
Q: What's different from the normal O2 from other companies? A: Nothing is different, it's the same amplifier (as required by the licensing) but it'll be more affordable. Right now the market price for an assembled O2 + power adapter + shipping (pre tax) is ~$150, this O2 (with included power supply and shipping) will cost a little less than half that amount.
Q: Is there going to be an ODAC compliment? A: There will be a complementary DAC released on Massdrop very soon. It won't be exactly the ODAC (because the ODAC is not published under the same license as the O2, a company called yoyodyne consulting in Canada owns the design) but it will meet the same needs from an audio perspective and from a design perspective (it'll fit nicely with this O2 and we should have some custom interconnects to keep your desk looking clean).
That seems to be all the questions so far but let me know if you have any others! I'll be around to answer them all : )
Finally, and we'll make this clear on the product page once this launches, but we'll probably be making some minor improvements to the front panel before shipping. We'll post images as soon as we can, but essentially we're looking at removing most of the wording and replacing it with symbols and we're also considering using matte metal (like the rest of the case) instead of the brushed metal front panel you see now.
What do you think of those changes? Symbols vs text, brushed vs matte. It seems pretty clear from our perspective, but this is your chance to be heard : )
Again, thanks for your support so far and I can't wait to see this take off on Friday. 204 requests already, prepare yourselves.
Edit: Hit refresh after I submitted the post, up to 217
Thanks for your interest in the Objective 2! Reading through your posts, it seems clear there are some points we should clarify.
Q: Did I miss the drop? A: Nope, you did not miss the drop. We know it's confusingly structured, but having a page like this (where it looks like the drop has already happened) is the only way we can have the request button, thus letting people opt in to be notified upon launch. We're working on a better solution, but it's still a ways out.
Q: Why doesn't this have a quarter inch output? (or any other question about the design) A: Because the license NwAvGuy used to publish the O2 says it cannot be modified in any way and still be called the O2. The followup question is "Then why do other companies have O2s with different outputs and inputs?" and the answer is, as far as we can tell, they're not obeying the rules of the license. Feel free to jump in and tell us if you know better.
Q: What's different from the normal O2 from other companies? A: Nothing is different, it's the same amplifier (as required by the licensing) but it'll be more affordable. Right now the market price for an assembled O2 + power adapter + shipping (pre tax) is ~$150, this O2 (with included power supply and shipping) will cost a little less than half that amount.
Q: Is there going to be an ODAC compliment? A: There will be a complementary DAC released on Massdrop very soon. It won't be exactly the ODAC (because the ODAC is not published under the same license as the O2, a company called yoyodyne consulting in Canada owns the design) but it will meet the same needs from an audio perspective and from a design perspective (it'll fit nicely with this O2 and we should have some custom interconnects to keep your desk looking clean).
That seems to be all the questions so far but let me know if you have any others! I'll be around to answer them all : )
Finally, and we'll make this clear on the product page once this launches, but we'll probably be making some minor improvements to the front panel before shipping. We'll post images as soon as we can, but essentially we're looking at removing most of the wording and replacing it with symbols and we're also considering using matte metal (like the rest of the case) instead of the brushed metal front panel you see now.
What do you think of those changes? Symbols vs text, brushed vs matte. It seems pretty clear from our perspective, but this is your chance to be heard : )
Again, thanks for your support so far and I can't wait to see this take off on Friday. 204 requests already, prepare yourselves.
Edit: Hit refresh after I submitted the post, up to 217
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