[HamilcarBarca]

Quote:

No I dont think its because of any compromise of a "limited power budget" whatever that means.....the specs speak for themselves....
 
All this talk about missing detail or bass notes not being as full etc is just a line of crap.

 
Lorriman posted a great series of articles, maybe in this thread, about how various types of distortion are perceived by listeners (as lacking in bass, "soundstage", etc.) They'd be a good introduction to the effects of non-neutral DAC's and/or amps. His methods and conclusions, unfortunately, are heretical to people who absolutely must hear a difference between different makes or models of audio equipment even when there are none.
 
In any case, how good it sounds is up to the listener's discretion regardless of whether he or she is unwilling or unable to understand the cause.

 

[Hi Rez]

Quote:

No I dont think its because of any compromise of a "limited power budget" whatever that means.....the specs speak for themselves....
 
All this talk about missing detail or bass notes not being as full etc is just a line of crap.
 
Most likely something in your source to transducer chain is not set optimally.

Thanks for all the detail, unnecessary though, as I am quite familiar with the USB specification and how to optimize a computer for USB playback.  One of my systems is a dedicated Mac Mini with the DAC connected to a dedicated high speed USB bus.   The other is a MB Pro with the only USB peripheral being the DAC.  As the only system changes were switching out the DACs for comparison, I can only conclude that the differences I am hearing between the ODAC and my other DACs are differences in the DACs themselves.
 
In my opinion, it is a nice little DAC at it's price point.  I just didn't find it to be deserving of its place on a pedestal where so many of it's vocal proponents seem to want to place it.  

 

[Hi Rez]

Quote:

 
Lorriman posted a great series of articles, maybe in this thread, about how various types of distortion are perceived by listeners (as lacking in bass, "soundstage", etc.) They'd be a good introduction to the effects of non-neutral DAC's and/or amps. His methods and conclusions, unfortunately, are heretical to people who absolutely must hear a difference between different makes or models of audio equipment even when there are none.
 
In any case, how good it sounds is up to the listener's discretion regardless of whether he or she is unwilling or unable to understand the cause.

 
 
Thanks for the lead on the articles - probably not going to read 110 pages of this thread on the chance they might be there.  I am not unfamiliar with distortion signatures - there are good examples of typical audio distortions available for listening if one knows where to find them.
 
I started reading your second paragraph and almost thought you were going to leave it at "how good it sounds is up to the listener's discretion", but then you went and again implied the lame Sound Science argument of, to paraphrase, "If it doesn't sound like the ODAC, your DAC must be distorting the signal."  Now I understand why the ODAC is the butt of so many jokes here on Head-Fi.  It is kind of sad, as I actually found it to be a nice little DAC.  Too bad a lot of folks don't give it it's due because of all the BS that vocal proponents use trying to raise it on a pedestal. 
 
I believe the ODAC performs well at it's price point.  I didn't find it to be the ultimate DAC that it's some on this forum make it out to be.  Since we are all here because we love music, maybe consider more listening to music and less proselytizing?  You might  actually get more converts that way.
 
Quote:

What the heck are you talking about?
religious cult? A little bit over dramatic aren't we?
What's just as bad are those that think all neutral devices must sound exactly the same if they measure flat.
Then they claim they know exactly what something sounds like without actually having tried it.
FYI nobody here is claiming they're right, but just trying to figure out what causes all the changes we're hearing. Nothing wrong with that.
What's more cult-like are those that think the ODAC is so transparent that everything that sounds very slightly different must obviously be colored.

tdockweiler - well stated!
 
I think I am going to go enjoy my music now.  I have a new DAC to listen to....

 

[hamburgerladdy]

 
I think I am going to go enjoy my music now.  I have a new DAC to listen to....

 

[adydula]

Some folks listen to their equipment others listen to the music.....
 
Alex

 

[HaVoC-28]

My gone ODAC souded the same as my also gones NFB-2/NFB-17.2 and my current FSA Sptifire HD .
 
I am deaf or any of this DACs is beyond the threshold of audibility , at least i am no more subject to evil placebo (was many times tricked by it) and carreful level matching saved me from the upgrade spiral . I would say that peraphs the A-GD could have some effect on sound with their roll off selectable effect, but this i am not even sure .
 
But the best bang of this 4 is the ODAC by large margin swapped to Sptifire only due to needs of multiple inputs , and drop out with ODAC when i power off my stéreo amp (peraphs electricity as to be redone , but ...) well now i am done with DACs

 

[adydula]

HaVoc-28...
 
You have hit the nail on the head....ditto....
 
back to the music!
 
Alex

 

[JakeJack_2008]

Quote:

 

What DAC?

 Objectively speaking, does it sound (much) better than the ODAC?

 

[hamburgerladdy]

Quote:

What DAC?

 Objectively speaking, does it sound (much) better than the ODAC?

 
I was quoting (not endorsing) "Hi Rez"...however...
 
The EMM Labs DAC2X should be way better.
 
At only $15.5K an online expert wrote:
 
"This DAC brought me so close to the music and evoked such emotion when the music called for it that I seriously wanted to delay writing this review indefinitely."
 

 

[HamilcarBarca]

Quote:

Quote:

What DAC?

 Objectively speaking, does it sound (much) better than the ODAC?

 
I was quoting (not endorsing) "Hi Rez"...however...
 
The EMM Labs DAC2X should be way better.
 
At only $15.5K an online expert wrote:
 
"[drivel omitted]"

 
That's what happens when you listen to the sound of money flowing through your equipment. It's better to listen to movies, music, and other audio instead. In my opinion, anyway.

 

[JakeJack_2008]

I plan to swith to Windows 8 soon.
Will the ODAC work fine on Windows 8?

 

[FlySweep]

Originally Posted by JakeJack_2008 /img/forum/go_quote.gif

I plan to swith to Windows 8 soon.
Will the ODAC work fine on Windows 8?

 
Yes.  I've been using Windows 8 with my ODAC for quite some time.  No problems whatsoever.

 

[Poimandres]

I had no issues with windows 8 either.

Are you still enjoying the pcstep flysweep? Have you ever listened to pico amp/dac?

 

[schmalgausen]

Hi all,
 
How do you think if it is possible to use both ODAC output at the same time connected to two different amplifiers? 

 

[Hi Rez]

No.  From the JDS Labs website:  "Note: The ODAC supports only 1 output; do not use 3.5mm and RCA jacks simultaneously."