[limpidglitch]

Quote:

 
Hard to say when barely anyone has even built one yet. With over 500 (or was it 700?) PCBs on order, it's not easy to not talk about it.

800


Quote:

 
i think by far and large seasoned DIYers fall on the side of measurements/objectivity, but correlate to what they hear, subjectively.  if it measures better and sounds better, then it is better etc.  
 

I think you're perfecly right. Builders pride can be just as powerful as buyers pride.

 

[kiteki]

 
Quote:

 
Aim for the stars buddy. Much lols will ensue if you get a nice tube amp =P.
 

I was just really close to selling my Hifiamn RE272 and picking up a NOS DAC on ebay, but the guy won't accept my $200 offer when it's mint condition and $249 RRP... then someone else turns up willing to trade a Hifiman HM-601 LOL so I ended up with a NOS DAP on the way now instead...

 
Quote:

Hard to say when barely anyone has even built one yet. With over 500 (or was it 700?) PCBs on order, it's not easy to not talk about it.
 

I noticed there's a cheaper "battery only" option... are people going to be carrying these around as portable amplifiers..?
 
 
 

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

I noticed there's a cheaper "battery only" option... are people going to be carrying these around as portable amplifiers..?

Considering the size, probably transportable more than portable. It packs some punch on battery power, too, so for those who don't have excessively hard-to-drive headphones, batteries work fine and can move with you.
 
For me, because of the size, I'm just waiting for the desktop-only version.

 

[Willakan]

I fail to understand the objectivist hate. It's not KoolAid, it's rationality. We're just applying the same rules we apply to everyday life to audio.

 

[Shike]

It's funny how those that have contributed the least to this thread are some of the most vocal, and curiously have based their arguments not against the amp but the designer and taking personal swings at members.  Insecurity knows no bounds it seems.
 
I'm still thoroughly enjoying my O2 to say the least. ^_^

 

[Willakan]

Oh, don't worry, we're all idiots taken in by NwAvGuy. How could I not see through his facade? 

 

[Armaegis]

Quote:

 
I'm all about balance, but is there much lower to go than the all mighty $30 amp? Hell, I just said I was doing the test for some lols, not to one up the subjectivists or anything like that. If you have a good recommendation, I'll be happy to build it for some three way action, but as I would have no use for it because I don't have any proper dynamics, keep it really cheap.
 
Personally, I wouldn't bet my left nut on being able to tell my computer sound card from my beta22 or the obj2. Then again, I have the critical listening abilities akin to a bucket of rocks.
 

*shrug* I thought ~$100 was the more realistic value. You could probably build a JDScmoy for around $30 too.
 

 

[bcg27]

Quote:

It's funny how those that have contributed the least to this thread are some of the most vocal, and curiously have based their arguments not against the amp but the designer and taking personal swings at members.  Insecurity knows no bounds it seems.
 
I'm still thoroughly enjoying my O2 to say the least. ^_^

Has anyone really contributed to this thread? As far as I can tell it has pretty much just been bickering so far, and probably will continue to be the same until people get boards in their hands. As far as I know deadlylover is the only one who has actually built one of these? This is the DIY forum, I think other discussion should be moved elsewhere or not had at all.

 

[Soaa-]

Quote:

It's funny how those that have contributed the least to this thread are some of the most vocal, and curiously have based their arguments not against the amp but the designer and taking personal swings at members.

Are voltage swings okay then? /shot

 

[ujamerstand]

I have never seen such a hostile DIY thread before. Can we stop the cheap shots against each other here? It does not benefit anyone.

 

[wakibaki]

The good thing about this thread (one good thing) and about many subjective/objective threads, is that while it's sometimes a bad-tempered argument more than a discussion or conversation, it is still a conversation to some degree. Many threads just die out because because of lack of steam. A bunch of people all going 'isn't so-and-so great' and congratulating each other on their good taste and judgement on buying it can get a bit boring. Being on the objectivist side myself, and not being able to afford $6000 worth of test gear, I sometimes find it a bit difficult to enthuse about my latest creation, because even though I may be well pleased with it, I don't necessarily find a great audible improvement over my last great creation, because  (apart from anything else) I generally think that they're all pretty much beyond the threshold of audible distinction. I'm not much given to hearing 'veils lifted', or 'increased texture and detail' or 'greater air and soundstaging'. Over the years I've heard some improvement in the intelligibility of vocals from, say, Mick Jagger or Van Morrison, but this pretty much reached a limit quite some few years ago.
 
As far as point-to-point or perfboard builds of the O2 are concerned, I think the nwavguy may be being a bit oversensitive about their potential defects. I'm not criticising him in this, he has every right to be defensive about his creation and wish to see it set off only in the best light, but this may lead him to be overly prescriptive about the build.
 
Some things about any build using his schematic are not going to suffer from the layout. The output current into a given load is pretty much governed by the two driver chips per channel, as is the output impedance, and obviously the peak-to-peak voltage can easily be matched or even exceeded. These are 3 of his main complaints about various marketed designs. The intrinsic noise and distortion due to the components are likewise not subject to any more variation than can be expected by any build on his design of PCB. The noise due to the topology remains the same. The feedback loops are local only, so there is no likelihood of pickup in a global feedback arrangement with a large physical loop area. Instability again is more likely where there are circuit loops with a large area, a neat build is all that is required to avoid these, the chips themselves do not have a huge slew rate and bandwidth, contributing to a reduced tendency to oscillate.
 
This is not to say that THD + N might not be adversely affected by inductive or static pickup particularly from the power traces or because of a poorly implemented grounding scheme, but if you don't hear any hum, the chances are that there will be no audible difference between a build on his PCB and any other, the standards he has set for THD and noise performance almost certainly exceed the threshold of audibility by some margin. Many people have built cmoys and other headamps with evident satisfaction on perfboard, judging from the enthusiasm with which they defend their builds.
 
w

 

[kiteki]

There's a lot of THD+N in this thread, but it's all in good measure.
 
The whole DIY conquest, it has it's plusses and it's minuses.

 

[n3rdling]

When are the PCBs scheduled to ship?

 

[deadlylover]

Quote:

When are the PCBs scheduled to ship?

In about a week or two, I think they're currently halfway in production or something like that.

 

[kingpage]

The mention of O2, in another thread unrelated to amps here at Head-fi (it was about cheap sound cards), has helped me catch up with what's been happening in the last 6 months while I was absent from Head-fi.

This is really eye-opening for me. I really liked head-fi until reading about these recent incidents. I think I'm liking my onboard laptop sound card and my new $4 CM119 USB sound card more and more.

I look forward to a desktop (no batteries) version that can fit into my Edifier HA11 amp enclosure (79mm*61mm*36mm), so if I ever want to build it, I can use my existing cool-looking golden case rather than buying one. I wouldn't be surprised if NwAvGuy designs a DAC that will go well with the Objective 2 amp.