[Skordeath]

I'm interested in grabbing a cheap DAC for my desktop to run to my speaker amp. I'm also interested in a headphone amp to drive my fairly sensitive IEM and Headphones, so I really don't need much in the way of power...at least not yet. Anyways, I'm more interested in the DAC portion to run to my speakers. I'm seriously considering the Fulla 2, but the consistency issues have me scared and they sound fairly prevalent on this thread. I also found a newish DAC/amp from iFi called the Nano iDSD LE which, from what I can understand, is basically the same as the Nano iDSD which I've read is fantastic. Would this be a good competitor? Anyone tried both?

 

[Jimster480]

I'm interested in grabbing a cheap DAC for my desktop to run to my speaker amp. I'm also interested in a headphone amp to drive my fairly sensitive IEM and Headphones, so I really don't need much in the way of power...at least not yet. Anyways, I'm more interested in the DAC portion to run to my speakers. I'm seriously considering the Fulla 2, but the consistency issues have me scared and they sound fairly prevalent on this thread. I also found a newish DAC/amp from iFi called the Nano iDSD LE which, from what I can understand, is basically the same as the Nano iDSD which I've read is fantastic. Would this be a good competitor? Anyone tried both?

The Fulla isn't good for sensitive iems, you have basically 0 volume control.

Topping d30/a30 stack or whatever dac you want into a30 amp.
Also the o2 amp w/ custom low gain isn't bad at all.

 

[Ancipital]

The Fulla isn't good for sensitive iems, you have basically 0 volume control.

Topping d30/a30 stack or whatever dac you want into a30 amp.
Also the o2 amp w/ custom low gain isn't bad at all.

 
I found the Fulla 2 worked fine with SE535, which are reasonably sensitive. Fine with UM Martian too.
 
I'd be very suspicious indeed of any advice which called an o2 "not bad at all". It's an awful-sounding amp, and often barely worth the effort. Save your money until you can afford something better, rather than buying or building any sort of o2.
 
I have a Fulla 2 as a DAC hanging off an old Raspberry Pi going into a small integrated receiver for a non-critical listening system, and it's surprisingly good; certainly better than the receiver's own DAC. It has quite some hours on it now, and other than initially having to loosen the screws to re-align the casing for the USB sockets, it has been fine. Not everyone likes the 4490 "velvet sound" DAC chipset, but in this context, it sounds decent- for $99, it's surprisingly tolerable, especially compared to various shonky ChiFi out there.

 

[Skordeath]

Any comparisons to the iFi Nano iDSD LE? This one looks like a great contender for only a few more dollars.

 

[Jammin72]

Well an analog pot gives variable resistance so at the low end there should be less hiss than at the high end. I'm sure there's ways to implement this with digital control but my DACports had constant noise no matter what the volume level was. Low gain was too much for my iems and even my K553s

 
 
Wouldn't the opposite be true? At the low end you're passing the signal through more of the resistor, hence the decrease in the sound level.  At the upper or louder end you're passing the signal through less?  
 
Maybe that's overly simplistic but that's the way I've always had it in my head.

 

[SomeTechNoob]

Wouldn't the opposite be true? At the low end you're passing the signal through more of the resistor, hence the decrease in the sound level.  At the upper or louder end you're passing the signal through less?  

Maybe that's overly simplistic but that's the way I've always had it in my head.

That's how it works. The hiss doesn't come from the pot though, it's from the amp. Reducing the current reduces the volume and generally reduces noise floor along with it.

 

[Jimster480]

   
I found the Fulla 2 worked fine with SE535, which are reasonably sensitive. Fine with UM Martian too.
 
I'd be very suspicious indeed of any advice which called an o2 "not bad at all". It's an awful-sounding amp, and often barely worth the effort. Save your money until you can afford something better, rather than buying or building any sort of o2.
 
I have a Fulla 2 as a DAC hanging off an old Raspberry Pi going into a small integrated receiver for a non-critical listening system, and it's surprisingly good; certainly better than the receiver's own DAC. It has quite some hours on it now, and other than initially having to loosen the screws to re-align the casing for the USB sockets, it has been fine. Not everyone likes the 4490 "velvet sound" DAC chipset, but in this context, it sounds decent- for $99, it's surprisingly tolerable, especially compared to various shonky ChiFi out there.

The o2 sounds aweful? LOL
 
And the Fulla2 is good with IEM's? Maybe you are just deaf.
I guess if "good" means that you have 0 volume control and that you cannot use IEM's with 3 tip plugs then sure.

 

[WoodyLuvr]

  I'd be very suspicious indeed of any advice which called an o2 "not bad at all". It's an awful-sounding amp, and often barely worth the effort. Save your money until you can afford something better, rather than buying or building any sort of o2.

What exactly offended you regarding the O2?

  Save your money until you can afford something better, rather than buying or building any sort of o2.

How does the Fulla 2 not fall into the same category? 

 

[Jimster480]

What exactly offended you regarding the O2?
How does the Fulla 2 not fall into the same category? 

Personally he's probably someone who is never heard it and it's just a hater. Overall the Fulla 2 isn't better than the o2 stack.

 

[Ancipital]

  What exactly offended you regarding the O2?
How does the Fulla 2 not fall into the same category? 

 
Sounding poor, mostly. Crushed dynamics, prone to clipping etc.. It doesn't offend me, it's just not good. A shame, given all the hype at the time- I was hoping for something that sounded clean and didn't harm the sound. Having heard a few off the shelf pre-built ones, as well as one built by a very competent DIYer, I've probably heard more O2s now than are healthy- due to hoping that the first one wasn't representative. 
 
The Fulla 2 is a lot easier on the ears. It uses nicely-chosen op-amps on the output, the device achieves remarkable efficiency and manage to kick out most of that paltry 500mA that the device is allowed to draw. Don't expect it to sound like a Krell or somesuch, but for something that you can throw in a pocket and costs $99, its pretty slick.
 
As to the "how", the Fulla 2 doesn't fall into the same category as it has been designed by a skilled and experienced amp designer- Jason Stoddard. He carefully finessed the BOM and power budget to hit a target. It's not his first rodeo, and he knows the tradeoffs. His designs tend to maximise quality at a given pricepoint. He's not perfect, he screws up sometimes, but he's a smart cookie, and his stuff works.
 
The O2, on the other hand, is a poor design from an inexperienced amp designer, in an attempt to rig a very specific set of measurements with no care given to how the device actually sounds. That doesn't mean that being objective can't give you solid, decent sounding amps, of course. For example, Tom Christiansen is an almost obsessively objective engineer who has designed some decent amps that also measure beautifully, but he does so with his eyes open.
 
Simply, the O2 isn't very good, there are better choices for the price. Simply, if the answer is "an O2 amp", you may wish to rephrase the question. I'd stick with the headphone outs of my phone/laptop/whatever in preference to using an 02. Hell, even a little CMOY would sound better.

 

[Seret]

"The Fulla isn't good for sensitive IEMs, you have basically 0 volume control."
 
I play the Fulla 2 with my Etymotic HF5s and the range is from 7 to 10 oclock.  The potentiometer is precise: I listen from soft to quite loud with minor adjustments. 
I also listen to the Fulla 2 with my HD650s.  The range of the pot goes from 8 oclock to 1 oclock.
 
If you want the pot to operate it's full range from 7 to 6 oclock with sensitive IEMs, just reduce the volume output in your system preferences.

 

[xuan87]

   
Sounding poor, mostly. Crushed dynamics, prone to clipping etc.. It doesn't offend me, it's just not good. A shame, given all the hype at the time- I was hoping for something that sounded clean and didn't harm the sound. Having heard a few off the shelf pre-built ones, as well as one built by a very competent DIYer, I've probably heard more O2s now than are healthy- due to hoping that the first one wasn't representative. 
 
The Fulla 2 is a lot easier on the ears. It uses nicely-chosen op-amps on the output, the device achieves remarkable efficiency and manage to kick out most of that paltry 500mA that the device is allowed to draw. Don't expect it to sound like a Krell or somesuch, but for something that you can throw in a pocket and costs $99, its pretty slick.
 
As to the "how", the Fulla 2 doesn't fall into the same category as it has been designed by a skilled and experienced amp designer- Jason Stoddard. He carefully finessed the BOM and power budget to hit a target. It's not his first rodeo, and he knows the tradeoffs. His designs tend to maximise quality at a given pricepoint. He's not perfect, he screws up sometimes, but he's a smart cookie, and his stuff works.
 
The O2, on the other hand, is a poor design from an inexperienced amp designer, in an attempt to rig a very specific set of measurements with no care given to how the device actually sounds. That doesn't mean that being objective can't give you solid, decent sounding amps, of course. For example, Tom Christiansen is an almost obsessively objective engineer who has designed some decent amps that also measure beautifully, but he does so with his eyes open.
 
Simply, the O2 isn't very good, there are better choices for the price. Simply, if the answer is "an O2 amp", you may wish to rephrase the question. I'd stick with the headphone outs of my phone/laptop/whatever in preference to using an 02. Hell, even a little CMOY would sound better.

 
As a current owner of both the O2 and the Fulla 2, I'll like to offer a counter opinion. The O2 is my current oldest gear still in use (be it headphones, earphones, amps or DACs) and the Fulla 2 is my 2nd newest audio acquisition. I still frequently bring out my O2 amp to audio meets and stores when demoing earphones and headphones and it was because of its pairing with a Dita Answer that causes me to pay for one, at that time my most expensive earphones, and right now, my oldest earphones still in regular rotation.
 
So I have to respectfully disagree with your comment that the O2 doesn't sound good. You're right that the O2 is designed to measure extremely well rather than how it sounds, resulting it in being a very flat amp, and most definitely not for most people. I have no knowledge in circuit design of any kind, so I cannot comment on whether it's a good or bad design, but I did read before that it's a standard by-the-book Lin design. I've used mine for many years with no incident or issue, it didn't blow up any of my earphones, there is no hiss, and the only criticism that I can give is the channel imbalance that occurs at low volumes, which is a problem if your earphones is extremely sensitive.
 
The Fulla 2 is a different animal altogether. Similar to the O2 amp, I plan to bring it out with me for demo sessions in the future. It may or may not be able to be powered from my dap but I can always hook a power bank up to it.
 
I see an use case for both O2 and Fulla 2 in my gear selection and I should caution if you treat them as an "either or" recommendation.

 

[Letmebefrank]

Many here would call me a schiit fanboy, (I own 8 of their products) but I like to say I'm a satisfied customer who finds no reason to buy other brands unless I'm looking for something they do not make.

My fulla 2 has had a scratchy pot since about 2 weeks after I got it, and I bought it on day one. I might have to send it in for repair because it's getting louder to the point where it's almost uncomfortably loud for the first turn or two. The scratchy pot seems to be a recurring issue, and while I do believe Jason that the number of complaints to the number of units sold is proportionally low, I've never had an issue with alps pots in my other schiit gear. Perhaps there was a bad batch. Either way I think I will start the repair process tomorrow and use my CEntrance Dacport slim at work for the time being.

That being said, I'm still a very satisfied customer and I'm sure schiit will take care of me like they have in the past.

 

[SomeTechNoob]

Let us know how the repair/replacement goes. I wrote up a review for the Fulla 2 on here a couple of days ago, and the pot is the borderline deal breaker for me.

http://www.head-fi.org/products/schiit-audio-fulla-2/reviews/18347

I really don't want to ask Schiit for a 3rd RMA but if it comes to it I might have to ask for one. The right channel gets scratchier by the day it seems.

 

[HipHopScribe]

Many here would call me a schiit fanboy, (I own 8 of their products) but I like to say I'm a satisfied customer who finds no reason to buy other brands unless I'm looking for something they do not make.

My fulla 2 has had a scratchy pot since about 2 weeks after I got it, and I bought it on day one. I might have to send it in for repair because it's getting louder to the point where it's almost uncomfortably loud for the first turn or two. The scratchy pot seems to be a recurring issue, and while I do believe Jason that the number of complaints to the number of units sold is proportionally low, I've never had an issue with alps pots in my other schiit gear. Perhaps there was a bad batch. Either way I think I will start the repair process tomorrow and use my CEntrance Dacport slim at work for the time being.

That being said, I'm still a very satisfied customer and I'm sure schiit will take care of me like they have in the past.

 
I'm wondering if the number has grown since he said that, because I didn't have any issue early on, it only appeared over time. The proportion of bad units could have grown significantly since he responded to the discussion before. It is obviously hard to judge based on a forum discussion because the bad reports will be amplified, but it does seem to be a good number.