[AudioGal]

I came to this article by way of interest in Cold War archeology and computing history, but all you vacuum tube lovers may find other aspects of the the write up (photos, even) attractive: https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/01/the-most-important-computer-youve-never-heard-of/

Makes the Folkvangr look compact.

There's a lot of important computer history around the development of the SAGE system. Real time operating system. Core memory which was the predecessor to solid state RAM type memory. Redundant systems. They had a rather long lifespan, too.

But oh the vacuum tubes!

 

[AudioGal]

…at least go to timestamp ~10:50. If Schiits‘ übër amp glows even half as bright as this 1957 creation, then DAMN. Btw, I’m on a weird reading kick. The Wizards of Armageddon, by Fred Kaplan (1983, Stanford University Press). I wasn’t born yet when the RAND corporation was planning for a nuclear war. Important reading for 40-50 somethings… who want to help avoid national suicide (WW3).

I used to have the rack mount version of that exact counter. Actually used it up into the early-mid 90's. I always loved watching the neon lamps counting up.

 

[corndog71]

I had a flood in my condo earlier in the pandemic. Nothing could happen back then, but they’ve finally started remediation and the insurance company is putting me up in temporary digs for a month.

I had to decide what to bring with me (clothes, computers, etc.).

As you can see, my Schiit stack made the cut, as well as my LS3/5As and Meitner STR-55. Also HD-6XX and a couple other headphones. Gotta have good sound in these stressful times!

You really need to get those off the floor.
Mono price speaker stands

 

[valiant66]

You really need to get those off the floor.
Mono price speaker stands

Yeah. I tried to figure out bringing my stands, but they’re sand filled heavy monsters and I just couldn’t make it happen. And the TV stand is not wide enough for speakers plus TV (plus the TV has a power swivel feature controlled with the remote which I actually quite like). But I’m only here for 3 weeks so buying another set of stands is not in the cards.
.

 

[earnmyturns]

This has been a MAJOR omission of Roon from the beginning and has made me regret ever buying the lifetime license. It's the huge missing feature that perpetually never appears.

There's a fundamental tension between "live" distributed data systems and offline snapshots of the same. I've never, ever seen a system that does both things well, for any task, and I've been in the business since the 1970s.

 

[earnmyturns]

I think most customers care about functionality and care little about what it is "designed to support".

I'm an engineer and I understand your point, but as a Roon customer I'm not happy and expect a little more forward thinking. Giving a smart phone endpoint the ability to sync and save files locally for periods of non-connectivity doesn't seem to me like rocket science - it seems like a very pedestrian feature to add.

Really? Tell me about any reliable software system that supports that for any purpose. Folks at Xerox PARC (the same who created the tech that inspired Jobs to create the Mac) tried and they had the smartest minds in the business. Smart folks at CMU tried too (Andrew File System) and they also failed. Equally smart folks at Bell Labs, including Ritchie, Thompson (Unix inventors, Turing award winners), Pike (of Plan 9 and Golang fame) tried too in Plan 9. No cigar. I could go on. I'm still waiting.

 

[ImagesbyMurray]

There's a fundamental tension between "live" distributed data systems and offline snapshots of the same. I've never, ever seen a system that does both things well, for any task, and I've been in the business since the 1970s.

LOL - Witness Microsoft Exchange; I've made a rather serious living supporting this pig since introduced. 5 MAJOR server architectural changes, along with 3 MAJOR client access changes. Lets add several 0-Day vulns just this past fall/winter (last one just 3 days ago) PLUS 2 UNRESOLVED online Active Directory client authentication "race" issues. MS refuses to say it, but on-premise exchange is dead.

I applaud Roon for not even going there....

 

[porchwizard]

LOL - Witness Microsoft Exchange; I've made a rather serious living supporting this pig since introduced. 5 MAJOR server architectural changes, along with 3 MAJOR client access changes. Lets add several 0-Day vulns just this past fall/winter (last one just 3 days ago) PLUS 2 UNRESOLVED online Active Directory client authentication "race" issues. MS refuses to say it, but on-premise exchange is dead.

I applaud Roon for not even going there....

Y2K22

 

[Timster]

That, plus the following:

Depending on how it's implemented, software volume control destroys detail.

There are, essentially, two ways to implement software-based volume control: via output signal attenuation (though a somewhat more analog method like an integrated resistor ladder), or through digital signal processing (DSP).
If your source goes the DSP route, which it most likely is, as that's the cheapest means to implement software-based volume control, then you end up tossing resolution out the window.

Put in a HIGHLY oversimplified way, ignoring signal to noise ratios and other technical minutiae:

Let's say you have a 16 bit signal. With a 16 bit source file, the wave of the resulting analog signal that your source can put out can have up to 65,536 possible amplitude values, meaning how "far away" the signal amplitude for every given sample can be from the noise floor. A bigger amplitude means a "louder" resulting signal.
The audio data that gets piped to the DAC (integrated or external, doesn't matter) is always 16 bit for that file, with the highest values still describing the maximum possible amplitude, but if you now use DSP to reduce the volume of that signal, you will end up compressing your full amplitude into a smaller range.

Let's say you set your software-based volume level at 25%, you end up with (again, HIGHLY oversimplified! Perceived volume levels aren't linear, these numbers are just meant to draw a rough picture) just 16,384 remaining useful amplitude levels out of the formerly available 65,536. You can't use the higher amplitude levels, because then your output signal would end up louder than the 25% that you've set it to. Which means that you've essentially reduced the information contained in your original 16 bits to just 14 bits. 2 bits less doesn't sound like much, but you've essentially lost 75% of the detail, of the dynamic range that the original source file contained.

You also always face some (very) minor losses while your analog signal is traveling through your chain. If you start out with a stronger analog signal, what ultimately ends up at your power amp will have retained more of the original information than it would have with a signal that's been attenuated right out of the source.

Using an analog preamp instead of software-based volume control means that your source is free to always put out the highest possible amplitude, retaining the highest possible amount of detail/information in the signal, you face a smaller amount of overall degradation while it's traveling through your chain, and you'll be able to attenuate the final signal that goes into the power amp through analog means, retaining most of the detail you had before you attenuated it.
(Pots, resistor ladders, etc., introduce their own "flavor" into the signal, obviously, but as long as these components are at least halfway decent in quality, you will not lose nearly as much signal quality as you would with DSP-based volume attenuation.)

Complicated topic. I hope this makes some sense.

Definitely depends on how the DSP volume is implemented.
I have a Bluesound Node 2i and there is no audible quality hit (at least that I can discern) so they are probably doing at least a 24bit DSP volume. I use the volume limiter in the Bluesound to drop 15db from it's output to better match the sensitivity on the inputs of my tube amp.

 

[Andrew Randle]

Hey all, just a quick update, while I procrastinate a bit on a new chapter.

(A new chapter is coming, it'll probably just be next week.)

First, things are getting a bit calmer on my end. The endless cycle of redesign-for-various-emergencies has slowed. I hesitate to say, "ended," because I know what that means—it'll start up again with a vengeance just to spite me. So I'm working on some new things, fun things, and I'm a whole lot less tired, after taking a bit of time off. So that's good.

Second. things may be getting a bit better on the supply chain side, at least in terms of transformers. Our transformer manufacturer seemed pretty upbeat when I called him today to ask about a new transformer design, and to give him the good news that a couple of new prototypes were working well. Of course, transformers are only one of hundreds of components we use...but both Dave and I have seen some key things come back into stock, and the complaining from our purchasing partners have become less dire. That doesn't mean we're out of the woods, but I'll take any improvement we can get.

Third, both of the above don't mean a darn thing at this precise moment in time, because we're out of stock on whole craploads of stuff. This is more due to demand, scheduling craziness, the ongoing unexpected fallout from our one PCBA partner's tragedy, etc. We're working on getting back into stock, and making some progress—and it looks like we may be getting some additional capacity soon, so all that's good.

So what does all this mean for this year? Wellllll...it's too early to tell, but the mood has improved, and I am hoping that we can soon get more stuff in stock, deliver the products we missed on last year, and start introducing a couple of wacky new ideas. Beyond that, we're into pie-in-the-sky ideas, including significant changes in how we make products, that may not come to fruition for some time. Nothing's worth talking about yet, sorry. Still too many plates in the air.

I hope everyone else's 2022 is starting off well! If you're bored of streaming, look for the new chapter soon—Everyone's "Normal" is Someone Else's "Weird"—next week!

All the best,
Jason

Happy New Year to you and your company. I am sure we will see some major improvements this year both to business and life in general.

I hope I may provide a simple product idea that could be popular. Would Schiit consider offering an RCA card for the modular amps, to provide an additional line input that can be switched at the front? This would be easier when using my Mani and Mimby.

Andrew

 

[dieslemat]

Freya vs Loki Max remotes.

Even the remote is Max.

 

[Les Strat]

Definitely depends on how the DSP volume is implemented.
I have a Bluesound Node 2i and there is no audible quality hit (at least that I can discern) so they are probably doing at least a 24bit DSP volume. I use the volume limiter in the Bluesound to drop 15db from it's output to better match the sensitivity on the inputs of my tube amp.

I agree @Timster
I have compared a digital volume control with an analogue (Freya S) and in a very revealing system I cannot hear any degradation with the DSP.

I am so comfortable with the DSP that I normally run without a preamp.

I have been careful with gain staging by fitting fixed, balanced attenuators between Yggy outputs and power amps.
In normal listening I rarely need more than about 18dB attenuation from max volume, which I think equates to about 3 bits.

Almost all the digital files I play are 16 bit and the DSP is a 24 bit design.

Maybe this is why I hear no degradation in signal- I don’t really know as despite a lot of reading I still do not fully understand the science.

I just trust my ears and go with what sounds ‘best’ to me.

I have no allegiance to Benchmark and do not own any of their products, but thought that this explanation of volume controls was helpful:

https://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/application_notes/13095789-volume-control-technologies

I will use the Freya S when I have a CD transport and turntable as sources.

 

[Derrick Swart]

Care to elaborate? I'm curious about this one.
I drive through Belgium at times (mostly on the highway, which is typically busy with road works every 20km or so...), but I consider Belgians decent drivers. They don't seem to bother with speed limits, that's for sure, but apart from that they seem pretty ok to me.

If anything, I'd argue driving on the Dutch highway is way worse, as Dutch drivers are possibly the most self-centric you can find: you can come nice and quick on the left lane and they'll conveniently jump in front of you at the very last moment. It's like they don't teach the concept of "safety distance" (or "mirrors", for that matter) in their driving schools...

I know that an Italian complaining about how other people drive sounds hilarious, but I really (really!) try to stick to the book and be sensible.
Also, come on, you guys...we're not so terrible after all. Have you ever driven a car in Greece?

Good objective measure of 'bad' driving are number of accidents and dead. I don't think NL is on top of those lists. I have driven in many European countries and my analysis is that a licence linked to a point system really changes behaviour. Most upsetting driving experiences I definitely had in Italy. Complete anarchy in Naples but somehow it flows and nobody gets upset, except the foreigners of course I also believe speeding is way worse than blocking, hence the rule the one at the back is accountable if crash occurs.

 

[Les Strat]

Freya vs Loki Max remotes.

Even the remote is Max.

Stop tempting me @dieslemat
It won’t work

 

[dieslemat]

Stop tempting me @dieslemat
It won’t work

Hahaha.
Another 4 days and I will do my listening.