[peepee-king]

Alright, first of all I know I'm 2-3 weeks late. I haven't read the whole thread so I've missed plenty but I've been informed about the progress of the project by a friend of mine.

Getting down to the crunch, I'm going to post an alternative aesthetic appearance. I'm aware this has been discussed thoroughly and that the final design seems to be very much set and solid but I'd still like to chime in. The revised interface seemed to improve on the older versions greatly so most of my ideas are based on this.

I was quite pleased with the back of the unit, it's well formatted and spaced. I took the liberty of mocking it up on a real unit and can say that it works pretty well. Nothing much needs to be changed here at all.

When it came to the front however, I saw that it could do with some dramatic improvements. I'm not sure of the limitations regarding the positioning of each individual component but I tried to stay true to the original as possible. The biggest adjustment I've made is obviously the removal of the large Neutrik plug. It's a great plug no doubt, but in all seriousness it looks down-right ugly. I'm sure a smaller non locking Neutrik plug would perform very well without distracting from the design as this one does.

I also think it would be nice to have led indicators for the 'super' and current input modes. For this to happen I had to shrink down the size of the knobs. I don't know what knobs audio-gd have access to but something like the one found on Darkvoice amps would fit in quite well.

The last change I made is more of a finishing touch. I changed the silver buttons to black polished metal, it's actually the one found on the DAC-100. I've been told the size of the holes are different however.

I know these suggestions probably won't make it to the production line but with the Compass being something I'm more than likely to purchase in the near future I felt obliged to give my feedback.

EDIT: This is what the current unit with the revised layout 'should' look like.

 

[WC Annihilus]

Final design was decided probably 20 pages ago by community vote and no one really wants to get into it again.

Edit: didn't read your post too thoroughly and see now you saw that. Looks kinda nice mocked up like on an actual unit picture, but tbh I don't care for it as much, though I do agree the non-locking jack looks cleaner. Think you could do a mockup of the final design on a unit pic to show people what they really decided on? Also you have to keep in mind that several of the components were shifted in the final design to give things a more balanced clean look, so that may perhaps be why I prefer it over yours

 

[sandchak]

Really neat work, Peepee. Its always better to see it like the way you have presented it (visually)..

 

[Drosera]

Great work Peepee! I wish I had your skills with graphics editing.

I particularly love the led indicators for the input selection.

Some (constructive) criticisms:

You shouldn't make the volume knobs that small. They are perfect as they are now, they may look big in pictures but they fit perfectly when you see the unit 'in the flesh' (or 'in the aluminium'). Moreover, they have a perfect 'feel' at their current size too.

Your choice for another jack maybe more aesthetically pleasing, but I'm afraid a lot of people here seem to have a fetish for Neutrik locking jacks. Also, most other Neutrik jacks are much more difficult to attach well to the chassis. As far as I know, the majority of Neutrik jacks are even PCB-mounted. That wouldn't really be an option with the Compass.

But again, very nice work indeed. As you already assumed, probably not something that could still be incorporated in the Compass design, we seem to be past that phase (thankfully). But I would suggest this design should be shown to Kingwa as a suggestion for design aesthetics of future products. (Just something for him to keep in mind.)

 

[decayed.cell]

It should be possible to mount the neutrik with the silver plate on the other side though. It seems like a great jack, its just bloody ugly imo lol. Kingwa says he can't get the buttons in black, but he's happy to drill and solder another LED on for the Super button

 

[peepee-king]

I've already emailed Kingwa, he wanted to get Currawongs opinion on the matter first. I also suggested keeping the Neutrik plug but changing it to the all black version, unfortunately he doesn't have access to these.

 

[Drosera]

Quote:

Originally Posted by decayed.cell /img/forum/go_quote.gif It should be possible to mount the neutrik with the silver plate on the other side though.

I don't think so. The only way to do that would be to remove the locking mechanism from the jack, because in a Neutrik locking jack you need to press that red lever all the way to the silver plate to unlock it.

By the way, if a black jack (ha!) is that important to some people I'm sure Kingwa wouldn't mind it if people bought it themselves and sent it to Audio-gd for him to attach it to the unit for that person.

 

[peepee-king]

If the locking mechanism is removed (I've seen this done before, along with the plate being on the other side), do the jacks still plug in correctly? What I mean is; do they still plug in and out with the same amount of resistance other plugs typically have?

BTW It's not that it's particularly important for me alone, I just believe that it should be appealing to all consumers. We love the Neutrik plug yes, but those who aren't as tech-savvy may sway to a nicer looking unit.

 

[Currawong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by peepee-king /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've already emailed Kingwa, he wanted to get Currawongs opinion on the matter first. I also suggested keeping the Neutrik plug but changing it to the all black version, unfortunately he doesn't have access to these.

I have to say, when I started this thread, I had no idea it would become anything like it has. I imagined that I was about 80-90% right about what specs the Zero alternative should have, and that people would offer a couple of suggestions that I'd missed, with Kingwa figuring out the rest, because, after all, he's an audio engineer and I'm not.

I'm rather in awe at what has come from this, with people contributing so much towards the project. So it's rather funny to read that comment, that Kingwa would like my opinion on the jacks. I imagined, for whatever reason, Kingwa wanted to use locking headphone jacks, and didn't think as to why. My contribution was to suggest, quite strongly, that he use the real Neutriks jacks, not the poor imitation ones. There's no need though for locking jacks. I only imagine that manufacturers use them for better sound quality as a result of better contact with the headphone plugs, which aren't really an ideal design for good electrical contacts.

 

[Drosera]

Quote:

Originally Posted by peepee-king /img/forum/go_quote.gif If the locking mechanism is removed (I've seen this done before, along with the plate being on the other side), do the jacks still plug in correctly? What I mean is; do they still plug in and out with the same amount of resistance other jacks typically have? BTW It's not that it's particularly important for me alone, I just believe that it should be appealing to all consumers. We love the Neutrik plug yes, but those who aren't as tech-savvy may sway to a nicer looking unit.

Studying one of these I happen to have lying around with a flashlight (I don't want to take it apart) it's not really possible for me to say if it would still hold the jack securely or not. I would think so, but it's hard to be sure.

But, as I already mentioned in my review, I think a Neutrik combojack (without locking mechanism) would work just as well as the present locking jack. It certainly has the same secure feel in the way it holds the plug. It could be that it's slightly more difficult to attach these securely to the chassis though, at least in way where the screws would not be visible.

 

[greenarrow]

Having a lighted volume control knob is a very good cosmetic enhancment to the already beautiful Compass.

Btw, can I use the coax output from my Asus P5Q Deluxe motherboard to the coax input on the compass? Must I still use the usb to connect as well?
I can't wait to have my Compass delivers as I've a brand new K702 with me. This is for the Compass.

 

[insyte]

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenarrow /img/forum/go_quote.gif Having a lighted volume control knob is a very good cosmetic enhancment to the already beautiful Compass. Btw, can I use the coax output from my Asus P5Q Deluxe motherboard to the coax input on the compass? Must I still use the usb to connect as well? I can't wait to have my Compass delivers as I've a brand new K702 with me. This is for the Compass.

Yup you could use either your coax or usb. No need to plug in the usb if you want to use your coax

----------

Weird, audio-gd's email server seems to be down. I didn't receive the customary auto-reply

@peepee - nice work

 

[Drosera]

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenarrow /img/forum/go_quote.gif Btw, can I use the coax output from my Asus P5Q Deluxe motherboard to the coax input on the compass? Must I still use the usb to connect as well? I can't wait to have my Compass delivers as I've a brand new K702 with me. This is for the Compass.

You can use both or either of those outputs. But I wouldn't be completely surprised if the USB output ends up sounding better than the coax. No way to tell beforehand though. Try them and see which one sounds best.

 

[sandchak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by insyte /img/forum/go_quote.gif Weird, audio-gd's email server seems to be down. I didn't receive the customary auto-reply

After the 3rd or 4th mail of the day by the same person, customary auto-reply stops !!..

 

[Hens]

New to Head-Fi but I've been following this thread with much interest for some time now and wanted to commend the 18 testers for doing such a great job - the final version not only seems to deliver great sound but also looks very classy. Congratulations.

I've just taken delivery of the C-2C and am still thinking about the Compass for a 2nd system. The C-2C already sounds stunning with the AKG K702's but I'll be interested to see how it improves with burn-in - Curra, what was your experience with burn-in on your C-2C?