[schneller]

Yep, we're working with a lot of BB-branded parts from TI--op-amps, etc.

I wish the DAC line had been kept up. It would be nice to have another alternate to ESS for the lower-end products at least. I keep asking TI, but they don't really understand what the price/performance needs to be to go up against competitors like AKM and ESS. I'm not surprised they aren't big on expanding in that market, though. I can't imagine it's a big opportunity for them, given their size in other areas. Another sometimes-bad decision. It could be the right decision for a different company.

In happier news, TI is now working direct with us for the higher-end DACs (DAC8812, etc) that are bottlenecks for other products. I expect to see Modi Multibit 2 in a week or so and Bifrost 2 later this month. Finally.

Does this mean that Modi MB 2 is going from AKM to TI like Bifrost 2/64?

 

[EricDH]

I took a break from making knives and I am enjoying my shop system a lot right now. Elac speakers and sub driven by Carver gear I picked up and repaired for next to nothing. Folks on here went to great lengths to help me with the Elacs so they have my appreciation.

I am building a final set of mini radial speakers as I wait for more drivers in late June. I am about to try my hand at making a couple chess boards and then I hope to refurb a remarkable Sansui receiver from what I consider to be the golden age of receivers. Time for a little audio archeology.

https://www.audioholics.com/editorials/70s-stereo-gear

Very interesting read, thanks for sharing.

 

[Paladin79]

Very interesting read, thanks for sharing.

You are most welcome. Specific audio vacuum tubes can be a great investment but specific turntables, receivers, and amps are really gaining value as well. I hope to refurbish one Pioneer, one Marantz, and one Sansui. That should keep me out of trouble this summer. Then I might look at Technics and Sanyo.

 

[DougD]

MQA was the answer to a question no-one asked.

I think of MQA as a brilliantly designed attack to virally inject a royalty harvesting mechanism (and new digital rights mgmt) into the world's music distribution system.

It's my opinion that was the primary objective, but it's debatable and plausibly deniable.

Either way, it's dead now, we're moving on, and that's a good thing.

 

[corndog71]

Seen at Axpona…

 

[Ripper2860]

 

[Plautus001]

Seen at Axpona…

VU meters! At least someone is listening to ORT

 

[Alex Martin]

@Jason Stoddard does this have to do with the wait time for Bifrost 2/64 and Modi Multibit 2?

The delays with Bifrost and Modi Multibit 2 are related to shortages of essential chips. We've had these DSPs and DACs on order for over a year. Modi Multi 2 is going back in to production now. We're waiting on a delivery for the Bifrost. If those chips come through we will be back in production within a couple weeks of their arrival.

 

[fendermke]

Good article.

I bought my DAC specifically because it supported MQA and I was curious.

Was the sound quality better? Yes.
Was it worth the extra $$ per month? Nope. I dropped it and never looked back.

MQA was the answer to a question no-one asked.

I was listening to a panel and they described MQA as 2015 solution for a 2005 problem.

I never bothered doing a listening comparison as I couldn’t see the benefit of it.

 

[Ripper2860]

HDD storage capacities and low price per GB along with Internet speeds/bandwidth and typically low mbps price have eliminated any potential value that MQA offered as it relates to streaming and storing of Hi-Res files.

 

[ArmchairPhilosopher]

Jason: “Mike, I need a blurb from you for this MQA press release I’d like to put out. Can you send me a paragraph or two by Monday?”

Mike: “MQA is a blatantly obvious money grab that also sounds like ass and I’d rather go broke than add that bull to my DACs.”

Jason:

Mike Moffat concurred, saying, “In addition to the market questions outlined by my partner, there are many performance questions (about MQA) that cause great concern. Actual decoded bit depth for both MQA and non-MQA DACs, claims of ‘lossless,’ the need for MQA to tweak their decode algorithm for a specific DAC (and their ability to perform this optimization on-schedule for a DAC manufacturer who might be, well, a little smaller than HTC,) the impact on the DAC manufacturer’s own proprietary technology and product development, and the impact on the DAC manufacturer’s own competitiveness.”

Moffat further opined that Schiit Audio considers the further development of in support of the primary 16/44.1 PCM format to be of the most value to its customers, citing extremely strong sales of Schiit Audio’s multibit DAC products, and the positive reception to its “DACs for the music you have, not the music you have to buy,” message.

Asked if there was any chance Schiit Audio might support MQA if it became the dominant format in the market, Moffat answered, “If it becomes the dominant audio technology, or even a very popular second-place format, we would have to evaluate it in the same way we evaluate other lossy compression standards, such as home theater surround formats, Bluetooth codecs, and MP3 variants.”

It's my opinion that was the primary objective, but it's debatable and plausibly deniable.

Is it, though?

 

[feverfive]

MQA was great for MQA. For consumers, not so much.

 

[Ableza]

The delays with Bifrost and Modi Multibit 2 are related to shortages of essential chips. We've had these DSPs and DACs on order for over a year. Modi Multi 2 is going back in to production now. We're waiting on a delivery for the Bifrost. If those chips come through we will be back in production within a couple weeks of their arrival.

Bifrost is worth waiting for, if you ask me.

 

[dhcarquinez]

I was HUNDREDS of posts behind, but I've caught up, I'm so proud of myself. A couple non-audio comments, both of which involve my Dad (RIP, missing him today):

My parents saw Harry Belafonte at the amazing venue Red Rocks way back in 1959. I've been lucky enough to see a handful of shows there, and caught this picture for them in the downstairs display of historical acts (fuzzy photo, but you get the idea):

And regarding motorsports, my Dad and I both used to ride street bikes for basic transportation, and we attended a Superbike race at Laguna Seca. For skill and bravery it's hard to top these guys, dragging a knee in the Corkscrew, and accelerating out of a curve on the edge of one tire:

 

[Balthazar B]

Aside: when Amazon went FLAC, it was over for MQA. When Apple did the same, it was beyond over.​

​

Apologizing in advance for the following pedantic comment, Apple didn't go FLAC. They went with their own in-house lossless format, ALAC, released way back in 2011 (3 years before MQA's breech birth), and they've always supported that in their own software ecosystem, and not FLAC. In principle, I prefer FLAC for all the reasons, though in the grand scheme of things, both protocols are open source and amicably licensed, equally supportive of compressed lossless audio, and most people won't care (unless they insist on trying to play FLAC files through the Apple Music application; most playback apps support ALAC). So to use the underwear analogy, to me FLAC is like a pair of BVDs, and ALAC is a pair of BVDs with a skidmark. They're functionally equivalent and will equally get the job done, but I'm slightly less enamored of one than the other more for reasons of form rather than function.