I recently got this headset, and wow is it good. My only issue is when certain people talk on discord, I can hear a really high pitched ringing. I fiddled with a bunch of settings, computer audio and discord, and nothing seems to solve the issue. It is primarily if not all in my right ear only. Is there something wrong with my headset, or was that ringing always there I can just hear it cause the headset is THAT good? I haven't had any issues with any other application, though I have yet to test if I can hear the ringing on a different version of discord, say on my xbox instead of my pc. Only other issue I've had is occasional static, but I can't tell if it's from the headset or the show/game/etc.
Apr 24, 2024
Nordost cables are not necessarily "made in USA", just "assembled in USA".
My Taiwanese sourcing agent showed me that all of the totl Nordost Odin cables were repurposed medical imaging cable. Before you expect to be able to DIY a cheaper cable that performs as well, I should mention that I priced out the Nordost Odin 2 (retail ~45k before discounts), and it would have cost 900 USD when using WBT silver spades as terminators.
If it sounds good, looks good, and lasts well, I'm all for overseas manufacturing when it makes sense.
I think Nordost could afford their own machines if I am not badly mistaken, and many companies use the same shops for manufacturing/assembly.\
D'Agostino, for example, manufactured his iconic design with the help of Slovenian weapons manufacturers in CT... over $50M alone in CNC machines.
@SGva Proof? It's not hard to snap a shot of your production facilities, if you in fact make the raw cable yourselves. And no I'm not talking about those abysmal cables on ebay. I'm talking about actual cable produced and sold for ultrasonic imaging machines. It's expensive, and probably well engineered for its intended purpose.
I don't really care if it is made in China, but you need to get a hold of your factory to manage 3rd shift product runs if it's an exclusive design (which I doubt). I have held the cable samples in my hand and held them up against the Odin 2 cables in person, and they are identical.
I'm willing to concede that the cable may be made with lower quality wire, or maybe using different insulating layers, but I personally doubt it. The whole point of my post was to call attention to the very likely case that the Nordost Cables are not entirely Made in the USA, rather just Assembled in the USA.
I can tell you all about D'Agostino. First of all, they are not manufactured in CT anymore. They moved their facility to carefree, arizona in 2013. They have never, not once in the company's hisotry, made their own chassis in house. Their CT "facility" was his own's house's garage. The chassis used to be, probably until 2011 or so, came from a small machine shop in CT, and since then all of their momentum chassis are made by a gigantic machine shop in colorado springs. That company makes things for the government and such, and it's fucking ginormous. The chassis for their progression line are made by a large machine shop in Tempe Arizona. I'm not saying what they are doing is bad. I'm just telling you that they never ever owned any CNC machines of any size. The largest machine they own is probably some $200 drill press. My point being, I don't know where you heard about that $50m CNC set up, but that's a lie. Even companies like that cannot afford a CNC machining system. Things are expensive.
edit: again, these companies don't get stock cables from some rando companies in china. they often design their own, and outsource raw cable manufacturing to overseas bc there are not that many companies in the US that can do that. So technically speaking, yes they are not entirely made in the US by definition, but what's wrong with that? Most manufacturing is done not only bc of the cost, but also because of lack of manufacturability in the us.
I'm perfectly familiar with wire manufacturing, and I've been in facilities tooled for wire spooling. I'm not at all suggesting that wire could be made in a printer on a desktop.
Also, the "small machine shop" in CT is actually very large. The owners won an intellectual property lawsuit against D'Agostino after he went full retard and tried to bounce town. I actually had the chassis that was entered as evidence in the trial on my bench for a while. The $50M CNC was owned by the shop, not D'Agostino. While the machine was not in the slightest related to D'Agostino, there was in fact a single 5-axis machine that was double the footprint of a semi-trailer.
Their bread and butter as a shop is precision satellite parts. They also make optics mounting hardware for guns. The D'Agostino project was just a project, certainly compared to the scope of their normal work.
and as for JVP, which I remember as the name of the shop in CT, was described to be small. But I guess that was compared to the shop in colorado springs, which has their own anodizing stations and painting facilities. I can't argue about the lawsuit, which I have heard of. I only heard it from the guy who used to work for dagositno and im sure he heard it from dagostino himself, so it's most likely skewed. Although dagostino argued he got robbed by the owner of JVP.
either way, no audio company can afford their own machines. they don't have $50m just hanging around for such investment. also, at this point, there are not that many manufacturers that can produce quality goods in the states anymore. i know a guy who works for a cable company, and while he was working on some cable design with new england wire tech, the company that essentially invented a whole bunch of cable manufacturing, straight up told him they are not capable of producing the design. so he had to outsource it to china.
yeah, there's nothing wrong with getting stuff manufactured in china. the reality is that it's really hard to find american manufacturers anymore.
Overseas manufacturing tends to be a necessary evil, but the number of audio companies getting ripped off by their manufacturers is insane.
My new favorite story of Asian extortion is GEC and Aurasound... how does getting forced out of business by your factory sound?
Non-compete --> exclusive production relationship --> threats of grey market channel sales --> 55% ownership after "bailout" forced by inflated production cost claims --> foreign reverse merger OTC listing --> total liquidation of the company through bankrupcy
GEC ends up with the patent rights, and the investors in AuraSound lost $30M on valuation.
I can see that happening in the US, not just china. speaking of dagostino, he got kicked out from krell by the investors. I know it's nothing to with intellectual properties and such, but getting ripped off by investors or a third party isnt all that rare. I still don't see the absolute reason to avoid china.
I might have the front and back and time and place backwards, but D'Agostino's exit from Krell was not at all due to him getting ripped off.
Plus he actually didn't do the heavy lifting from an intellectual standpoint on the amp. <-- this from a SVP at Harmon