[Solrighal]

That's precisely why I gave up with Hifi magazines years ago. All they do is keep themselves in a job.

 

[PTom]

  PTom, you're in an O2+ODAC thread. Take the vitriol elsewhere.
 
None of us care that you felt a $1000+ amp sounded better than our $65 amp. For $65 I think we can all agree it sounds really damn good.

Calm down, no need to be rude. I think you need to put things in perspective, it's just an opinion about a headphone amp, not something important enough to take personally, lol...

 

[anthk]

  Btw, I was trying to sell my LCD 2 recently and a potential buyer came to listen to it at my house. He brought a Hugo Chord DAC/amp which cost north of $1000 and it definitely sounded better with the LCD 2 than the O2/ODAC. I didn't do a blind test but I felt there was a big difference. The O2/ODAC is the most expensive setup I had ever tried till that point and I was quite skeptical about the benefits of expensive setups based on what I've read on the sound science part of town till trying the Hugo Chord.
 
I honestly don't believe it was expectation bias or anything psychological.

What were the differences that you heard?

 

[Whitecitadel]

   
Only reason i did the Mouser route was because i wanted to use better components, but i agree the kit form is better value.
 
Also agree about the front panels aesthetics, i sourced my odac and o2 enclosure from them for that reason.  The red/gold PCB is just lovely too, all their parts have a quality feel to them.
 

Whilst I was paying the shipping I got a second PCB in case I want to build a second o2 later (in a B3-80 with the ODAC as batteries), agree very high quality as far as I can tell.
 
I like what you did with the separate ODAC, also what I am planning, what LED did you use in the ODAC the same as the o2? I notice the panel is nicely printed, where did you get it can I ask?

 

[adydula]

The whole idea behind the O2 was to build an amp that was as perfect and transparent with the least amount of parts and cost and work with 98% of the headphones out there. It has opened many eyes, pissed off some, and helped keep the business lean towards the open and honest side.....
 
Some of the items mentioned that might measure better may not have been available when the designer went thru the process.
 
If your transducers in your head cant be improved, that's your EARS, then using parts that spec better wont really matter a hill of beans, but there isn't anything wrong in using them etc... it cant hurt, but may cost more.
 
Having a car be able to go faster isn't a real great comparison to the finite capabilities of the human ear.....but I like fast cars but would rather have one that had a great suspension etc..
 
The O2 for the cost (some folks hate that comment) performs very well and competes with many other higher cost alternatives.
 
Its not fancy and its not really the most durable construction.....if you want billet aluminum knobs and a chassis that weighs a few pounds then this isn't the item for you....but I guess you could put an O2 in a BIG aluminum case with a few bricks and if you don't tell anyone I wonder if they would know....
 
All the best
Alex

 

[mcandmar]

  Whilst I was paying the shipping I got a second PCB in case I want to build a second o2 later (in a B3-80 with the ODAC as batteries), agree very high quality as far as I can tell.
 
I like what you did with the separate ODAC, also what I am planning, what LED did you use in the ODAC the same as the o2? I notice the panel is nicely printed, where did you get it can I ask?

 
You can squeeze an ODAC and batteries into a regular B2 case, but the B3 will give you a bit more spare to add RCA's and a 6.5mm headphone socket if you wanted to.
 
LED is the same one as used in the O2, and now that i think about it the O2 front panel i used on that one may have come from Mayflower electronics. Its all so long ago i cant really remember, i just liked the clean look without any vendor markings on it.

 

[anthk]

  The whole idea behind the O2 was to build an amp that was as perfect and transparent with the least amount of parts and cost and work with 98% of the headphones out there. It has opened many eyes, pissed off some, and helped keep the business lean towards the open and honest side.....
 
Some of the items mentioned that might measure better may not have been available when the designer went thru the process.
 
If your transducers in your head cant be improved, that's your EARS, then using parts that spec better wont really matter a hill of beans, but there isn't anything wrong in using them etc... it cant hurt, but may cost more.
 
Having a car be able to go faster isn't a real great comparison to the finite capabilities of the human ear.....but I like fast cars but would rather have one that had a great suspension etc..
 
The O2 for the cost (some folks hate that comment) performs very well and competes with many other higher cost alternatives.
 
Its not fancy and its not really the most durable construction.....if you want billet aluminum knobs and a chassis that weighs a few pounds then this isn't the item for you....but I guess you could put an O2 in a BIG aluminum case with a few bricks and if you don't tell anyone I wonder if they would know....
 
All the best
Alex

As an owner, I do wonder if the combo would break down soon.

 

[Xenophon]

As regular readers know, I think the ODAC and especially the O2 have their limitations and are not the end-all.  However, for the price (there, I said it) they do perform very well.  
 
I own the Epiphany Acoustics build.  It's small, it looks flimsy.
 
And it's been sitting on my desk in New Delhi for the past 2.5 years, being used at least 10 hours/day and exposed to temperatures (summertime, like right now) of >40 centigrade during the day to an average in-use ambient temperature of I'd guess 34 centigrade with the ac on.  During monsoon, add >90% humidity.  And dust the entire year, currently on my 2nd cinema display due to fine dust getting in.  
 
Haven't had a problem with it yet and though I'm only a single owner I believe it can safely be said that though it's not built like a tank, it won't fall apart after one month either.

 

[mcandmar]

Its so simple there isn't really anything to go wrong.  The parts that will fail first are either the cheap filter capacitors that are only rated for 2000 hours, or the volume pot will go noisy.  Either will only cost a few $ to replace.   High ambient heat will drastically reduce the capacitor lifetime, and dust wont do the volume pot any favors, but lifes too short to worry about it.

 

[jring]

  Its so simple there isn't really anything to go wrong.  The parts that will fail first are either the cheap filter capacitors that are only rated for 2000 hours, or the volume pot will go noisy.  Either will only cost a few $ to replace.   High ambient heat will drastically reduce the capacitor lifetime, and dust wont do the volume pot any favors, but lifes too short to worry about it.

 
Well, electrolytics certainly do age, but I'd say we're safe with the O2 for quite some time. First of all, the stuff from the BOM ist rated for 3000h and also this is a worst case value at the maximum allowable temperature which is 85 degrees centigrade or higher and with maximum voltage and ripple. The rule of thumb is to double the rated lifetime for every 10 degrees centigrade below that. Since we tend to have 20 degrees room temp over here most of the time and the caps do not really get warm, I'd say the caps have 35 degrees maximum so I'd start thinking about the caps after 96k hours or some 11 years of permanent runtime. So for india it's maybe half of that but stil a lot of listening time.
 
Joachim

 

[Smugsie]

  Its so simple there isn't really anything to go wrong.  The parts that will fail first are either the cheap filter capacitors that are only rated for 2000 hours, or the volume pot will go noisy.  Either will only cost a few $ to replace.   High ambient heat will drastically reduce the capacitor lifetime, and dust wont do the volume pot any favors, but lifes too short to worry about it.

2000 hours... Hmm.... Welll..... should I be worried? I think it's ~4000 hours of usage by now...

 

[adydula]

The things I would be most concerned with is the number of insertions in and out of the jacks....the jacks are not the highest quality....but they are rated at something like
2000 + insertions etc.
 
There are better mechanical jacks etc...
 
That said I am not in the least worried about that....I use a 3.5mm to 1/4 phone adapter cable that I leave plugged into the amp and just plug and unplug with the 1/4 side.
 
Also I am building, nearly complete and ODA both 3.5mm and 1/4 jacks.
 
Alex

 

[miceblue]

As regular readers know, I think the ODAC and especially the O2 have their limitations and are not the end-all.  However, for the price (there, I said it) they do perform very well.  

Yup and yup.

 

[adydula]

To be fair that can be said for many other amps and dacs as well........
 
Spend you money wisely...
 
yup and yup...
 
A.

 

[r010159]

I am trying to determine the one difference between the C5 and O2. The thought I have is the O2 is a bit more transparent. Anyone want to take a stab at this?

PS: I needed some warranty work on the C5 which turned our to be a trivial problem. The unit was received, fixed, and shipped the same day. Thanks JDS Labs.