[smallcaps]

The fabrication is more expensive, ie less profit. The idea is something cheap that you can sell a lot, and to increase profit you keep production costs at minimum.

Sorry I dropped this: /s. My bad.

 

[Hyp0xia]

Why couldn't they have at least copied a balanced version? It's like breaking into a bank and stealing a roll of pennies.

My prediction is they'll announce the balanced version once all the single-ended versions have shipped out.

 

[smallcaps]

My prediction is they'll announce the balanced version once all the single-ended versions have shipped out.

I suspect as much, as well. Alternatively, it would also be nice to see this DAC integrated with one of their amps, such as the THX that will release soon. Hope they do this as a continuation of the CTH + SDAC.

 

[Th3Drizzl3]

Will said the balanced will be sometime 2019 most likely and it will be a balanced sdac first.

 

[Th3Drizzl3]

Why couldn't they have at least copied a balanced version? It's like breaking into a bank and stealing a roll of pennies.

Thats kind of what i was thinking lol

 

[Lawrenceho]

Funny - people DO NOT stop buying Samsung phones, even after court has ruled they violated Apple design copyright. Still, people are banning MD product for unproven allegations.
Guys, there is a huge gap between similarities and being copied. Look in your house - don't all TVs / refrigerators / microwave ovens / dishwashers / kitchen cabinets / etc. looks very similar to any other model?! So it is OK for all of those (and many more), but not cool when someone claims his DAC design from 2 or 3 years ago was allegedly copied?? I honestly do not understand it...

As much as I want to continue this discussion by telling you I do not own any samsung products, it is a topic completely irrelevant to this thread, in terms of context & background.

I am 100% sure Massdrop and Airist are discussing the situation and coming up with an official response. The drop is for 24 more days (I think), and I am sure official comments would become available many days before the drop closes. Give them more time - obviously, they have not planned for that scenario...

I wholeheartedly hope you are right, although I am curious how can you be so certain, like 100%.
Massdrop has yet made an announcement about their involvement & actions-to-be-taken.

 

[Lawrenceho]

Consumers always have a choice. But in fairness, don't think this is the right 'forum' to be 'judging' and passing 'sentence'. Issues of 'copyright / patent' may be best addressed in court of law.

That why people are arguing to have it suspended for further investigation.

 

[Lawrenceho]

Guess everyone just so happens to forget "Innocent until proven guilty". Typical mindset now a days.

But the point is, either innocent or guilty, they need to prove.
Any signs that show MD / Airist are trying?

 

[Zachik]

As much as I want to continue this discussion by telling you I do not own any samsung products, it is a topic completely irrelevant to this thread, in terms of context & background.



I wholeheartedly hope you are right, although I am curious how can you be so certain, like 100%.
Massdrop has yet made an announcement about their involvement & actions-to-be-taken.

My bad. You're right - I cannot be 100% sure. Knowing CEE TEE and Massdrop past record makes me believe that Massdrop would make it right. One way or another.

 

[Alcophone]

Funny - people DO NOT stop buying Samsung phones, even after court has ruled they violated Apple design copyright.

Yupp, cause people are selfish. I'm sure some stopped, just like with this drop, but most won't care. Just like with this drop.
I have no doubt it will surpass the THX amp, in part because Massdrop did a much better job providing reviews upfront this time.

Apple also patents laughable stuff like rounded corners, which makes me less sympathetic to them, and copy plenty of stuff from others as well. They sue hoping to fight a competitor and to get a big chunk of cash, not for justice or hurt feelings. If it had to do with feelings, they would stop buying Samsung's display panels for their own phones. They also have the resources to patent things and fight those who infringe on their designs. No need for customers to voluntarily support the little guy there.

But it's all about priorities. If this thing seemed like an Yggdrasil killer for $350, I'm not sure I could pass up such a deal myself. Alas, it seems like there are comparable alternatives and better DACs still within my financial comfort zone. I don't blame anyone for joining the drop. But for me it's easy not to. And in this case I feel better not joining. See, I too am selfish.

Guys, there is a huge gap between similarities and being copied.

Exactly. William Tse himself posted this picture:

From left to right: RDAC, Soekris, Hibiki, Denafrips, Rockna

They all look similar. But two of them look almost identical. That's more than just taking inspiration. It's copying.

I have no doubt that most of the device is an original design, but that part? Good one.

 

[smallcaps]

Until Nathaniel Baldwin is acknowledged by Bose, Beats and Sennheiser, Hifiman and Audeze as the inventor of the headphone, I will boycott their products.

 

[elephante211]

You forgot the /s again.

This is obviously a volatile subject currently, but there is definitely a difference between manufacturing something within a product category vs releasing a product within said category that has obvious unique structural or conceptual similarities to a previously released product/design.

 

[CEE TEE]

Hey Everyone,

This is a week that I was looking forward to for a long time. Finally, the release of the RDAC!

It’s not easy to hold back when people keep asking about the matching DAC. But, this project has taken longer than we anticipated (for different reasons, including getting the power supply to a high level) and so it has been best to ensure we had the samples in-hand so you could read several impressions on day one. I’m not only happy that we finally have it available and out of the bag, but I really like the sound and presentation.

Monday, I snuck in a couple songs with a new HD 58X sample that I have.
RDAC > CTH > HD 58X
I am confident that many will be very happy with this and other combinations.

People around me or that helped provide feedback for prototypes know how much I have waited for this week…

We had early prototypes kicking around in 2016 that I passed around and Airist steadily made changes to every aspect of the design over the time period I have been working with them.

Since we have more questions about the origin right now than the evolved result, everyone is retracing the first steps to the design and the references used. We should have even more to share. Also, we need to know more about the Hibiki design and we don’t read Chinese. We are getting some help with that to fully understand the differences between the designs. (The only thing similar right now is the way the simplest part of the circuit, the ladders, and top PCB parts are laid out. Were they both working from similar references or are these totally different designs?)

While we wanted to answer enough questions about sound (through review samples) and about the design & value (so you could make a purchasing decision), we have also been trying something new in Audiophile: a Q&A perk for launch purchasers. There is some secret sauce in areas of the design which are now important to highlight early due to questions about design differences and origin. William Tse is also an International Man of Mystery right now and we thought we had a whole month to figure out what we could share about him. He’s much more interesting than his (partial) academic bio that we have seen on the Airist site. The best way to describe him is not really engineer...scientific researcher? Yeah, that probably. So, there will be more Q&A before we even get to the “perk”. (We may have to figure out something else fun and special for that perk after we’ve satisfied everyone’s current curiosity.)

This launch feels a bit like how I FINALLY proposed to the love of my life this past weekend. I had all these awesome ideas for getting her to meet me in France, such as when I “have to visit Focal...come meet me!” Or, I was going to propose to her in Hawaii next week on our family trip. In the end, I needed to spill the beans early because she couldn’t understand why I was pushing her to do something and she was getting mad at me. In some ways, I spoiled the surprise...but in other ways I did what I should have already done and it turned everything around.

Been working across time-zones and continents the past couple of days/nights. Things are always slower than we like. Thanks for being interested, caring about the little guy, giving this DAC a chance, and for your patience as we unravel mysteries and share what we find as soon as we can.

Best Always,
Christian

 

[iamalex]

There is some secret sauce

It's all about that secret sauce

 

[Baten]

Hey Everyone,

This is a week that I was looking forward to for a long time. Finally, the release of the RDAC!

It’s not easy to hold back when people keep asking about the matching DAC. But, this project has taken longer than we anticipated (for different reasons, including getting the power supply to a high level) and so it has been best to ensure we had the samples in-hand so you could read several impressions on day one. I’m not only happy that we finally have it available and out of the bag, but I really like the sound and presentation.

With all the prototyping work, since it is now "released" on massdrop is there any big reason as to why the drop will ship in 6 months time at the earliest rather than sooner?

Besides that, there will not be any costs cut between the prototype (looking at all the raving positive reviews of the review units), right? The 'Hibiki' author made the following comment on the massdrop Discussion page:

[about components on the current PCB design on the massdrop page...] 6656 using here is not suitable for ladder because it produce 50uvrms noise, while my design(6654) can go deep to 1uvpp that make the sound purer, darker. This should be a costdown point for Airist. 6654/6656 share the same footprint. It is simply a costdown(probably from 3 USD to 2USD), but 350 times noisier.

For the record I don't want to come across as too sceptical or anything, I have my pre-order for the R2R placed, it's rather out of concern of receiving the same quality unit as is spoken of in the preview/reviews on the massdrop description page and here on head-fi. It would not be the first time a prototype unit is of higher quality than the final mass production units.