Silent One
What silence said... then nothing.
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2010
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But the moment you start focusing on business wants, rather than needs, you’re dead.
It happened to Sherwood.
Originally Posted by Baldr /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Some people are excited about DSD. A year ago, it was even more of interest. Users were demanding it at shows, the press was wetting its pants, on and on. A year ago, I went against my better judgment and produced the Loki DSD decoder. For a new audio format to succeed, it must have a variety of competing decoding hardware, and a wide variety of software (music) available from a wide variety of vendors. We are not talking releases like The Orkney Island Shepherds chant traditional “Poems of Rapturous Ecstasy” complete with happy bleats in the background. I need Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk, The Stones, Vienna State Opera, and so on to take me home. Now the problem with DSD is that there is a paucity of native DSD recordings that are not of limited interest. The music that many more of us will like that has been released are generally PCM brick-walled remasters. May as well just use a regular DAC on the far cheaper original release. Now the native DSD recordings which are available, do indeed sound good. The problem is that there are not a lot of them, and even fewer at 2x and 4x. So please do not hold your breath awaiting a 2x or 4x Schiit DSD device. Just like our industry did with HDCD, DAT, Quadraphonic records, and several more, we are doing the same thing, i.e. creating a new format with little music available, and expecting a different result (success!). Now don't get me wrong – I have a few native DSD recordings that I like and listen to. That's why I did the Loki – cheap, sounds incredible for the price, but a little hard to use. If you do not like hard to use, then why are you using DSD anyway? I think you can actually fit 20 minutes or so of 4X DSD music on a 4TB drive. I can't believe people believe they will be able to download a wide variety of files this bloated from Amazon or iTunes, but I am from a small town.
Some may think that Jason and myself stay up late at night to figure out how to delay products. Consider this: an Yggdrasil has several hundred different part numbers, with multiple quantities of parts bringing the total number of parts to well over one thousand. If only one of the parts is missing, then how are we supposed to ship them? What do we do when parts show up late from suppliers? How do we build protos and try new stuff out with late or defective parts?
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Yeah so I can order one now right?
So please do not hold your breath awaiting a 2x or 4x Schiit DSD device.
Most of my use is computer as source anyway.
Hi Does one need a balanced dac to use a balanced amp? I am new to all this stuff and still a bit ignorant of the proper uses of the technology.
Not at all. One only needs a balanced headphone connection. Balanced DACs may have two meanings. The most common is that they utilize separate D/A chips for the positive and negative half of the signal. The second is that their output is balanced. Each of these three "balanced" designs have different goals and do not have dependencies on each other.
A few musings on building products, Yggdrasil, I2S (in no particular order):
Let me begin by opining that in my last 40 years or so of being involved in audio, that audiophiles are an odd subset of the human race. Well above average intelligence, yup. Sane, well............... So that speaks volumes about me, and manufacturers in particular. This one of those audio facts that everyone seems to know, except audiophiles. Don't believe me?? Take a good look around you the next time you go to an audio meet or show.
At Schiit, poor Jason has the responsibility to publicly articulate our policy and position on audio issues. That makes him our marketeer, press secretary, public relations spokesperson, etc. etc all rolled up into one. That would be no fun for me, and totally at odds with my audio disease. See the paragraph above.
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