Sonicweld Diverter: comments about the design, from the designer - Page 2  

Evidently I was mistaken, thanks all the same.

Any news on the availability of the Decoder?

Just curious...

Work is progressing, it is a very complex product. Hoping for release sometime in the next 2-3 months.

The first run production run is sold out, please PM, or e-mail me to discuss options and availability. I have a couple options to offer those who want one ASAP.

Peace,

Lee

Josh,

I'm a fan of your uncompromising approach to engineering. While I certainly cannot affort one of these puppies I do recognize them as works of art.

I think what most people don't get is that this stuff is hand built. An hour of my work for example costs my company about $40 and I'm not even paid top dollar compared to the top earners in the industry. Add material and engineering costs (custom machining tools etc.) to that.

Another point is that mass marketed goods sell several thousand units so even with relatively little profit per unit you end up with quite a nice pile of cash. Hand built items don't sell in such quantities just because of the fact they cannot be built in such large quantities as mass marketed goods. So if one wants to be able to make a living out of said hand built goods he has to raise the profit per unit sold.

Every engineer (selling his own goods) has a choice to make. Build the best product possible and ask the price it costs to develop and build such a product or compromise the product quality in favor of a (relatively) low selling price and therefore broader target audience.

I also second your observation that the hating on internet forums is most likely propelled by envy. Sure - everyone wants to believe that he's bought the best product possible. But that's only part of the story. On forums like these you often see threads asking for "the best" and when somebody recommends a product that most certainly is built to the hightest standards possible they back off saying that the product is way too expensive. So when they ask for "the best" most of the time they really mean "the best at a given price" (without telling what their limit is).

OK now - enough with the rambling and back to business

Josh, have you already seen this?
https://www.xmos.com/usbaudio2/

It's one of the first implementations of the new USB Audio Class 2.0 standard which allows 24 bit / 192 kHz via USB. At the moment there are only drivers for MacOS X (built-in) and Windows (on request) but built-in drivers for Windows and Linux will surely follow since it's a standard USB class. Apart from that the XMOS chips are quite interesting to play around with

Since this thread just got bumped, I will take the opportunity to update my observation posted previously.

I now have substantial experience with two different units, and have used them both extensively with five separate PCs (Acer, Dell, Sony, IBM/Lenovo, and home-built -- both under XP and Vista), with many types of USB cables (cheap and exotic), and four DACS (Benchmark, Wadia, Moodlab, and Matrix -- three of which had no USB input so USB-to-SPDIF was the only way!).

Every combo has worked flawlessly and sounded terrific. The device was recognized immediately in all cases by FB2K. I went ASIO, WASAPI, native kMixer ... all no problem.

A joy to use and listen to. On top of that, Josh has always been super responsive to a bunch of dumb questions from me, answering emails very promptly.

Sure it has a first-class price, but it is a first-class unit all the way. It is one of the few purchases I have made that I am 100% satisfied with.

I even took it (and my Sony Palmtop, and a DAC, and Grados) with me on vacation ... it was funny getting it thru airport security, considering what it looks like!

If you're on a budget don't buy it, but don't think for one moment that this is not a gem. (I have no connection whatever with the manufacturer or the re-seller, although I will tell you they are great guys).

Thanks for the kind words, Larry!

I bet is was fun getting it through airport security, ha!

Peace,

Lee

So, will we see the Decoder for reals at Canjam '10?

No, I am not attending CanJam this year due to family medical needs.  I'll have at least two Decoders (maybe more) with me at RMAF though.

 

Peace,

 

Lee

Any update on the Decoder?

There's a new one with lights that does 192k for almost double the price.

$1799, available soon.  Called the Diverter 192.  Quite different than the original Diverter (which was recognized as a best in class device), not only in that it will allow all resolutions up to 24/192, but it is also an async device. 

 

Peace,

 

Lee

Hopefully mid year.  Had to change a couple things mid stream, due to unruly parts suppliers.

 

Peace,

 

Lee

I was asking about the Decoder, not the new Diverter.  But the new Async Diverter looks nice and I'd like to hear it.

 

Lee, how much better does it sound than the last one, and can you make one with an AES/EBU output instead of BNC?

 

 

Cool, can't wait to see it.
 

 

 

Only available with BNC at this time.

 

As far as how much better it sounds than the older model, I'll leave that to the pundits to say.

 

Peace,

 

Lee