@Sean @Gene I...

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Amp and Dac Combos

May 27, 2013

@Sean @Gene I assume you googled and went to head-fi, hi-fi, stereo-fi, etc? Let me start off my response with a solemn declaration. I'm a firm believer in the Objective measurement judgement. To that end, I will ask you to go through nwavguy's blog, and in particular his critique of subjective measurement, and Schiit products. You both of course, seem to belong to the Subjective listening measurement thought of school. We are mutually incompatible by default. In what seems to be simple logic to me audiophile means higher quality audio. It does not mean a better sounding aural experience. A better sounding aural experience can be anything to anyone. For a basshead, it may mean Skullcandy or Beats. For trebleheads like me, it may mean Beyers. For others who prefer rich warm sounds it may mean Sennheiser. Basically, your mileage may and likely will vary. This is where objective measurements come in. For a DAC at the very least, I believe should be 100% transparent. For me personally, so should the amp. In the end what I should be listening should be coloured by nothing but my headphones and the original mastering as the artist intended it to sound as. Again, I urge everyone to go through nwavguy's blog, it's an eye opening read. For audiophiles perhaps even a Matrix-esque perception-bending moment. The mind hears and sees what it wants to see, but science doesn't lie. A high THD means a high THD, whether or not you claim to like how that sounds is of consequence to you only. The reason why Schiit doesn't post measurements? My very humble observation: Because they know they'll be blasted apart from every quarter that looks at measurements before purchase instead of googling "xyz dac/abc amp review". The last time Schiit was measured, the sheer disgust from a certain man led to the creation of the O2 and ODAC. http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/ came into being. If I'm paying for a three figure DAC and amp I expect it to measure up in terms of scientifically established audio quality measurements. You may differ of course. In my world, nwavguy is a powerful figure whose words not only ring scientifically true, but have struck at the very heart of so-called audiophile circles such as hi-fi, head-fi, stereo-fi and the ilk. The members of who, regrettably, decided instead of realizing they were buying hardware over-priced as much as 4x and shoddy engineering once again blinkered themselves. nwavguy was swiftly banned, and another reasoning voice relegated to the fringes, while newbie audio enthusiasts continued to flock to the number one search result on Google for audiophile forums and beguiled by companies like Schiit.

Look at that. Would you HONESTLY trust a company like that? Read the fiasco about it on nwavguy's blog. He was banned for insisting that this was dangerous while Schiit's CEO (idk his name) continued to insist it's completely harmless and only when AKG themselves posted an official warning not to subject their headphones to such voltages with increasing number of people reporting the same voltages at amp on-off did they relent and admit "there might be a small issue with some amps". The issue was quickly hushed in typical head-fi style, with dissenters like nwavguy banned, while Schiit quietly fixed the issue. Visit nwavguy's blog for a complete and comprehensive understanding of how audio works, measurement methods, and many relevant issues to your interests as audio enthusiasts. I apologize for the essay. But this is a subject I'm passionate about, and I took out 45 minutes despite 2 term reports due in a few hours to make sure people understand what they're voting for. QED my good sirs. The decision is yours of course. Personally I'd trust a man who gave us the ODAC and O2 for not a penny in return over a bunch of people who love sticking themselves with the word audiophile and claiming to have the mythical "golden ear" without understanding what that even implies. Sean, Gene, none of this was personally directed at you of course, somewhere along the first few lines this turned into an open address to anyone reading it.

May 27, 2013