[jellojoe]

Another cMoy from Rudistor, or is this a pimeta now?

 

[Uncle Erik]

Sov, you implied that the chips in this portable are not ordinary ones and, possibly, custom. Do you know if these chips were custom made for this portable? If they are custom engineered and produced, that would go a long way towards explaining the price. On the other hand, if these are regularly manufactured chips, then why would they be unmarked? I don't buy the IP arguments. First, there are better ways to protect designs than sanding off a number on a chip - anyone who is determined will figure it out without the number. Second, most DIY'ers are more interested in open designs. Finally, the biggest expense in amp building lies in casing and labor, so a cloned circuit isn't going to save much money.

 

[spritzer]

So what Sovshiller is saying is that I should be spending my time working on new designs for people to build?  Guess what, that's what I am doing with Dr. Gilmore.  Ever heard of the T2-DIY, the most extreme headphone amp ever made? The ESX fix for the Single Power ES-1/2 amps?  This summer has been spent putting the final touches on the new KGSSHV circuit and making it as user friendly to build as it possible.  This one will take electrostatic amp design a few leaps forward at the price level.  We also took the Exstata circuit and fixed it, going from 1+% distortion down to 0.01% and making it more linear and easier to build.  Just this last week Dr. Gilmore uncovered what was wrong with the Stax SRM-727 amp (which I bought and sent to him for this very reason) and we devised a simple way to fix it which will be fully documented once the amp gets here.  There are also numerous other projects in the works, a true high end preamp with a touch screen interface, a balanced EQ design for Stax and the list goes on and on. 
 
This is one of the reasons why I'm so pissed off by the crap these MOT's are selling to people at ever increasing prices.  We in the DIY crowd keep pushing the envelope but mediocraty is the name of the game for most MOT's, some are even selling the cheap all-in-one chipamps found in 200$ CDP's as high end headphone amps in a pretty box. 

 

[Sovkiller]

 
Quote:

Sov, you implied that the chips in this portable are not ordinary ones and, possibly, custom. Do you know if these chips were custom made for this portable? If they are custom engineered and produced, that would go a long way towards explaining the price. On the other hand, if these are regularly manufactured chips, then why would they be unmarked? I don't buy the IP arguments. First, there are better ways to protect designs than sanding off a number on a chip - anyone who is determined will figure it out without the number. Second, most DIY'ers are more interested in open designs. Finally, the biggest expense in amp building lies in casing and labor, so a cloned circuit isn't going to save much money.

Erick the last time I discussed this with Rudi he told me that it was a customized chip, not from the shelves, though it has no markings, Rudi had never sanded or covered any number on any chip as far as I know, what for? Chips from the shelves are good enough if choosen properly? 
 
 
And as per the Spritmore unique designs, good for them (or just him...God knows, with all these technology and proxi stuff nowadays God knows who is posting now...) and that is the spirit of headfi, keep on working that hard man, and do not worry that if the future Gilmore designs sound that good people will eventually realize that, and will jump on them, the same way there is no doubt that if the rest are that bad, people will eventually stop buying them...
 
But till that day comes I will keep on enjoying what I have, that sounds so good to this ignorant ears, that honestly I'm not even looking any further....maybe a better/more comfortable headphone will be nice, so waiting the Chroma, to see if I like it...as I do not have the means to get the ED10 now... 

 

[nattonrice]

You don't think Spritzer calling them Gilmore designs and that Kevin himself posts about them is a dead give away?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Sovkiller /img/forum/go_quote.gif
or just him...God knows, with all these technology and proxi stuff nowadays God knows who is posting now...

 

[jjinh]

I suppose there's no chance of seeing some internal pics?

 

[ford2]

 
 
Amazing how a simple thread on a new amp ends up with the maker being hung drawn and quartered.
 
It appears that not all love Rudi.

 

[rosgr63]

The Chroma got some nice comments at the Chicago Canjam, so I'll be watching out for them.
I bet some will say the design is terrible, they look horrible, the materials are bad, the price is highly inflated.... but if they sound so good...
One Head-Fier I know who had both the GSX and RP010B decided to sell the GSX and keep the RudiStor.
Two more who had the GSX sold it within a few months after they got it, I wonder.... is Rudistor that bad after all?

 

[winzzz]

if only gs-x priced at 5000...well you know for some people,MOAR MONEY MOAR BETTER !!

 

[nattonrice]

Quote:

I suppose there's no chance of seeing some internal pics?

There is an internal shot if you use google image for "rudistor portable".
 
 
 

 

[Uncle Erik]

Sov, yes, off-the-shelf chips are quite good. What matters is how they're implemented in a circuit. Perhaps you could encourage Rudi to post a little information about his custom chip procurement on his site. It would be of great interest to many.

 

[jjinh]

 
Quote:

Quote:

I suppose there's no chance of seeing some internal pics?

There is an internal shot if you use google image for "rudistor portable".
 
 

 
Yeah, I've seen those pathetic pics purporting to be the XJ-03 in the past. I was wondering about any changes to this new and improved MKII version.


 

 

[spritzer]

Ohh that is the XJ-03, the PCB is even marked XJ-03.  One could always hope that Rudi isn't trying to scam people now but going by his past actions I'd have to guess that this is the same Cmoy in a ugly chassis. 
 

 

[jjinh]

Quote:

Ohh that is the XJ-03, the PCB is even marked XJ-03.  One could always hope that Rudi isn't trying to scam people now but going by his past actions I'd have to guess that this is the same Cmoy in a ugly chassis. 
 

 
That PCB was of such great quality I was wondering if was possible to again exceed our expectations with this updated version.

 

[Sovkiller]

Quote:

Sov, yes, off-the-shelf chips are quite good. What matters is how they're implemented in a circuit. Perhaps you could encourage Rudi to post a little information about his custom chip procurement on his site. It would be of great interest to many.

Specially for two guys, or maybe just one, who knows, that unfortunatelly for many, is always around...LOL...He uses from the shelf chips in many of his designs, but he tried to avoid them as much as he can, of course for portables going discrete...Not sure...battery life will suck for sure...
 
Erik I send him this link a couple fo days back while everything was nice and quiet, before this guy showed up, but he is no longer active as a member of headfi, he decided that sometime ago, so I doubt he could post (or wanted to) so yes, I could request him that, but I doubt he will do it, and also remember that I'm no longer associated with him "technicaly"...and to be 100% honest with you, do you really believe that if all this bashing, came accross with very little-to-none information at all about his designs (same as the case of Ray Samuels, as you can see) and not even having heard them, he will have any interest on that, maybe if you email or PM him directly he will give you some information...good luck...
But seriously, could you imagine for a second, if his points of view, like many others we have here, on how a given design should be implemented differs, or does not match what others consider that must be the right ones, and the ones written on stone on how things must be done, to get this type of sound mentallity, and the recipes like one size fits all amps, how this will end?
 
I know that he do not like to discuss any details of his amps with anybody, and I can not blame him, as his english is not that good, and he found himself most of the times in a very uncomfortable situation trying to find the right words specially in the technical ground in english...
 
One thing I can tell you for sure, and that maybe is what make his amps sound that pleasant to me (and to many others) is that he does not judge any amp by its design, topology or parts used, and this was the main reason he bult the electrotatic from Kevin for his personal use while he got the Staxs, to listen them to see if he liked them, and avoid to have to work on another design himself, as he had not prejudgement on how this or that topology should sound, or could be implemented to get a good sound, and as usual he does the ear decide which is the best way to go sonically, that was why he decided to built the Egmont, that many had enjoyed for years, and that have been sold to quite a few audiophiles all over the world...
 
Besides of his technical background he is also a humble musician, and he knows how music should sound alive at least, as I have stated a few times before, he plays the violin which is a very difficult and delicate instrument, and loves classical music, he and his crew (basically a couple of friends) attend a concert as frequent as they can, and his only reference is the real life sound. He does not build any amp to sound better than any other amp, he build his amps with the idea of making them to sound as good as real life sound...And in that regard I think that the sound he got to me is not that far, or at least closer than others...