unless I did something really stupid (I cannot measure below my soundcard noise floor) my rig measures better in every way than the O2/ODAC objectively too. the dac and amp separately are superior, not by a small amount, so if you want to play that game ive got it covered.
i'm using the bal-bal 'the wire' for the amp section, its been through the audio precision system 2 and agilent analyzers pretty thoroughly, its part of what I love about it and with far fewer parts than O2. do I need this much DNR, such low THD or stupidly low output impedance? probably not, but you cant play the subjective bias thing with me. in fact i'm using a lower noise psu than that used for the tests, its unlikely to make much/any difference because of the massive PSRR, but again why not? its an overkill rig, i'm perfectly aware of that, but i'm not making any magical claims.
I like to cover both angles, i'm probably more PSU obsessed than is healthy and tweak that area to the max while keeping the analogue sections as simple and high performance as possible, with as few parts as possible to achieve those goals. The Wire fits that ethos rather well and its tiny, so win win.
I decided I would deal with a fair chunk of my battery remaining unused each cycle because I wanted a fully linear dual mono bipolar regulated supply with a real low impedance center tap ground reference, instead of a charge pump or virtual ground. because there is much more power drain on the positive rail it drops much quicker, but there is a sensor/monitor that shuts the whole thing down when the cell with the largest load reaches 3v.
every consumer has its own low noise regulator, the IV and amp stage uses high end ICs and Zfoil resistors; only 1 resistor, 1 opamp and one buffer per phase in the output stage, no caps, digital volume and as little voltage gain as I could get away with. the ES9018 is well known, the clock has 0.5ps RMS close in phase noise and the BII is a 4 layer PCB
the weakest link is my iriver.
I love the sound, I may have been able to achieve the same musical satisfaction with less, but i'm equally obsessed with paper performance. I like all boxes ticked, now I just need a sexy CNC case.
if something goes on sale, again not this, this was a personal project to stop myself buying everything new that came out, when each was more just different rather than better, but if it does come to pass, I will be charging for my time, costs and some profit, thats how the world works, but its not how some people have been indoctrinated to believe it should work.
in my reading of his first post I dont think he would have had a huge problem had the performance matched the size and outlay. this punches well above its weight.
