[johnjen]

When you first mentioned BWD, it sorta clicked in my mind as a potentially superior means of feeding the digital audio stream to the dac, because it would be designed and meant as a high end digital AUDIO transport.
Not pro audio, nor it's cousin once removed, nor a 'universal' buss solution, nor an internal buss adapted for external use.

A TRUE SotA means of delivering those digits and bits without all of the rubbish and extraneous unwanted electrical/electronic noise etc.
A means to truly uncork the Jggy or other multibit dacs (and more?).
An Eitr on steroids?
I can see this could be a serious challenge to AOIP.

I also await to hear 'The Gadget' and compare it to my fixed offset implementation of the re-tuning of the musical scale.
I would prefer a top end device but the the ability to 'play' with the offset to dial it in is intriguing to say the least.

As for the CD transport and the floorsweeper, well, I can see where they could be very useful for some, but they don't 'fit' in my system, but then I'm way deep into one end of that bell curve, where Schiit pays WAY more attention to that fat middle portion of the bulge.

And of course there is the experiment where you married two 'pieces' together and the sparks and fireworks weren't the result of a wiring error.

Pushing the envelope always challenges our assumptions both coming and going.

JJ

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

Great news on the SOL. There's lot's of people waiting for it.
Greater news (for me) on the CD transport (as I only do digital) .
There was a statement from Philips here in The Netherlands that their CD-PRO 2 will come back in production.
Digital pre amps, usb and The Gadget are not for me.
A digital equalizer (between the Yggdrasil and Ragnarok) on the other hand (with a switchable gadget?) would be nice tough.
And of course a European Schiitr.

I hope your health is fine now.
You can come to me for some advise for the obnoxious body abusers.

 

[astromo]

The digital pre-amp SAK really got my mind contemplating all sorts of possibilities.

I'm not sure whether this thought bubble cum brain fart would make sense but it might be cool to include a crossover in there and more than one output.

Modularity with some kind of add on / plug in concept would be great for us out here to mix and match.

Looking forward to reading about whatever you cook up.

Thanks for the update.

 

[DougD]

I *LIKE* these ideas.

Yggy is on my bucket list, but one of the challenges is getting best-possible signals into it. There's not a ton of sources/transports that have AES outputs.

Agree too that now is a great time to be buying CDs. I spend $20 a month on CDs, and that usually gets me 10, sometimes more. I'm close to a local "Friends of the Library" outlet that has a standard CD price of $2 and sometimes 1/2 price sales. Thrift stores and used record stores have varying prices and selection. Lots of excellent music out there, for very reasonable prices, if you're willing/able to spend some time hunting.

 

[FLTWS]

CD "Transport", Perfect, Sweet. What size? I prefer adult sized component boxes but will buy whatever comes forth.

Yep, Solti Ring still rules for me. Had the LP set at one time. CD's; I have the original issue 414-100-2 (1984), the reissue Decca 478 - 8370 (2012), and the Blu-ray edition Decca 478-6748 (2012).

Interesting read comparing the editions including mention of the 1997, 2008, and 2009 Decca efforts.

http://wagnersocietyny.org/Special Topics/Solti's Ring Remastered 2013-07-13d.pdf

As a side note: The article was written June 2013, The Delux $300 ring set (apparently) did sell out (and used the 1997 remaster) and the 2012 remastered CD and even the BRD were issued separately which are what I have. I think those two may have hit retailers in 2015.

Apparently the 1997 remaster that was included in the Delux set is the one to avoid.

Hopefully I got my facts straight, it's a mash up, LOL!

 

[audio philestine]

So it has been a bit of time since I have posted as I have been very distracted with the Sol, which now seems to be finally ready to order parts for production. Jason and I keep slowing each other down out of an abundance of caution with this, our first mechanical product. Done with that, at least the Engineering.

...

Glad to hear your feeling well enough to post again!

Re: CD transport - for me personally, not such a draw as I prefer to rip CD's via a PC CD transport to redbook quality flacs which I play off a computer (Raspberry PI) based jukebox, and avoid streaming files of dubious provenance. Perhaps if the transport allowed ripping of SACD or other formats with bigger numbers than redbook, although I'm very happy with redbook. I know many others on this forum are eagerly awaiting a CD transport.

Re: Solti Ring / CD re-masters - following recommendations on this thread months ago, I made my initial foray in Wagner by getting the Solti Ring, but of course I didn't know better and got the re-master version. Dang Murphy! Still a good first foray, even if it's not the best. What's up with all the inferior re-mastered (de-mastered?) CD's. I just had an mind-opening revelation investigating remastered CD's of one of my more youthful inspirations - Led Zeppelin. It appears that almost without a fail, all the re-masters are inferior to the original masters.

Re: CD prices: since I am happy in redbook land, I've been enjoying the low prices to grab up low priced CD's, although for some smaller local or obscure artists, I've gone out of my way to make sure I buy direct or first-sale (not used) to ensure the profits/royalties go direct to these smaller artists.

Re: digital pre-amp - a bit of an unconventional product, but the more I think about it, the more utility I find in it. I'm constantly using the manual USB / coax S/PDIF switching on the Mimby. Plus, I'm still trying to rescue a bunch of older recordings off DAT tape, so an extra coax input or two would be very welcome. Modular is fine, I'm sure others have different tastes than I.

An integrated, defeatable "gadget" could be a nice plus.

For home 2.1 use, it'd be wonderful to have remote controlled source selection, with USB and multiple coax inputs, and perhaps a token toslink/optical input as well. It'd be the icing on the cake to have Moffat quality digital volume control.

Bonus points for digital crossover/HPF for the main 2.0 channels of a 2.1 system. the LPF for the 0.1 channel would be nice, but not essential as many sub-woofers on the market will take a full range input. Although I'd take a Moffet designed DSP LPF over the analog one designed by the sub-woofer manufacturer any day.

Re: USB board - curious to see this come alive. The prospect of more, lower-price multibit DAC's is intriguing.

 

[audio philestine]

Apparently the 1997 remaster that was included in the Delux set is the one to avoid.

Yup. That's the one I got. No wonder the price was so good. I'm such an audio phillistine

 

[yonson]

So it has been a bit of time since I have posted as I have been very distracted with the Sol, which now seems to be finally ready to order parts for production. Jason and I keep slowing each other down out of an abundance of caution with this, our first mechanical product. Done with that, at least the Engineering.

Next I will tease (Myself as well as the reader) with a variety of possible products that I am currently trying out. So for the moment allow me to emulate Jason in the sense that the following are products that are either ideas, built as prototypes, either plywood (alpha) or in chassis (beta). All of the caveats apply, which specifically are: They could never happen. They may happen in a very combined or modified form, or they may even be built as they are.

Product candidate number 1 is a CD transport. It has been built as an alpha. It works and sounds fine - I feel content with respect to its performance. It should be a $300 to $500 product. The dependencies of a workable production product are our ability to source a transport assembly in the thousands of units, and our ability to design packing and ship production quantities of fragile items, which we have not yet done. I am convinced that CDs (many/most of which can yet be easily found at a dollar and under) will become popular and enjoy a resurgence of popularity once most realize that streaming is seldom, if ever, the best possible digital source. The original Solti Ring cycle on CD (not the remaster) is by far and away the best sounding. (I know, Bosie, you hate the Solti Ring – the fact remains that is a sonic miracle and one of the two or three best recordings of the last century.) I maintain now is the time to acquire CDs before they suffer the price inflation of California coastal real estate or vinyl records.

The next candidate is a Floorsweep product which is partially built of recycled parts (think, for example, the recycled parts from old Yggy analog board). Now this would not be a current or old Yggy or Gungnir killer at all, but a scaled down product that would punch way above its price point. Much physically smaller, shorter warranty, ugly in a quaint sense. Jason suggested a hammertone finish, which I love. Gibson in the pre-WW2 days made Floorsweep banjos and mandolins, which are hugely expensive collector’s items today. One has been built, but may be integrated further before production. Or not, or may not be built at all – just a notion of how to utilize old parts that we hate to throw away.

Oh yeah, the Gadget. Already built as a digital beta product, in fact a production ready coax to coax product. The problem is how do we interface it? What inputs? USB? Coax? AES? TOS? What outputs? If we put something in production do people really want another box in the chain? Really? Probably won’t be built for that reason. Leads to the next contemplated product.

So my next wet dream is (how do you describe it??) a digital preamp or a “Swiss Army Knife”. This would have every common socket at the input, such as USB, coax, etc. Maybe BitWordData (BWD) to hook up with a transport. It would have at least coax and maybe BWD out as well. It would be mandatory that we have De-Jitter/re-clocking as well. It could also have slots for an optional Gadget and maybe for my other idea music processor as well. More on that in a future post. We already have such a device with a reduced feature set on the market, Eitr. Think of it as an expanded, upgradable Eitr.

Then we have the new USB board, which we would roll our own implementation into a generic Microchip Pic Part. Up to now, the best choices are XMOS or C-Media (which we now use). The reason we want our own USB2 algorithm living in a microprocessor is that it greatly increases our options for instrumentation DAC selections, many of which require configuration to set them up as straight audio DACs. This gives rise to opportunities for even lower priced Multibit DACs. Also helpful as many “audio” multibit DACs have bend over and spread ‘em pricing. This is in process, but very buggy and needs a lot of work, again if we implement it at all. Call it pre-alpha.

The above is a description of much of the work here at Chateau Moffat that lies somewhere between mental masturbation and could be production. I could well have forgotten something. Feedback is encouraged. Thanks for all of your support!

First of all, thanks for the update! I'm super excited about Sol, can't wait for it to be available (I'd pre-order now if I could...)

CD transport is also something I'd be interested in, especially if it would do Blu-Ray (even at double your target price), now that Oppo is getting out of the transport business, this could be a market ripe for the pick'ns!

Floorsweep sounds interesting, a mini Gumby in a Jotty size case would be pretty sweet...

Standalone Gadget doesn't really flip my switches (I do like the idea, but not enough to try as a single product, if it could be combined with another product such as a DAC, Eitr etc... it would definitely have more appeal for me, however I'd be all over the "Swiss army knife"! having a modular case that would accept modules for a DAC, Phono, Gadget, etc... would be quite awesome (not to mention the ease of implementation into a system (all those interconnects!!!)).

Updated USB board pretty much sells itself when you include "even lower priced Multibit DACs"!

Keep up the good Schiit!

 

[US Blues]

@Baldr A CD transport is an excellent idea; better still if it could play DVD-A's (I burn them myself for Hi Res material I purchase), astonishing if I could plug an external hard drive in the back and use it as a real server without all the crud that computers add to the game.

The Gadget still has my attention, another box is fine.

And thank you for Yggy 2, that is one fine piece of kit!

To your good health.

 

[nerone]

So it has been a bit of time since I have posted as I have been very distracted with the Sol, which now seems to be finally ready to order parts for production. Jason and I keep slowing each other down out of an abundance of caution with this, our first mechanical product. Done with that, at least the Engineering.

Next I will tease (Myself as well as the reader) with a variety of possible products that I am currently trying out. So for the moment allow me to emulate Jason in the sense that the following are products that are either ideas, built as prototypes, either plywood (alpha) or in chassis (beta). All of the caveats apply, which specifically are: They could never happen. They may happen in a very combined or modified form, or they may even be built as they are.

Product candidate number 1 is a CD transport. It has been built as an alpha. It works and sounds fine - I feel content with respect to its performance. It should be a $300 to $500 product. The dependencies of a workable production product are our ability to source a transport assembly in the thousands of units, and our ability to design packing and ship production quantities of fragile items, which we have not yet done. I am convinced that CDs (many/most of which can yet be easily found at a dollar and under) will become popular and enjoy a resurgence of popularity once most realize that streaming is seldom, if ever, the best possible digital source. The original Solti Ring cycle on CD (not the remaster) is by far and away the best sounding. (I know, Bosie, you hate the Solti Ring – the fact remains that is a sonic miracle and one of the two or three best recordings of the last century.) I maintain now is the time to acquire CDs before they suffer the price inflation of California coastal real estate or vinyl records.

The next candidate is a Floorsweep product which is partially built of recycled parts (think, for example, the recycled parts from old Yggy analog board). Now this would not be a current or old Yggy or Gungnir killer at all, but a scaled down product that would punch way above its price point. Much physically smaller, shorter warranty, ugly in a quaint sense. Jason suggested a hammertone finish, which I love. Gibson in the pre-WW2 days made Floorsweep banjos and mandolins, which are hugely expensive collector’s items today. One has been built, but may be integrated further before production. Or not, or may not be built at all – just a notion of how to utilize old parts that we hate to throw away.

Oh yeah, the Gadget. Already built as a digital beta product, in fact a production ready coax to coax product. The problem is how do we interface it? What inputs? USB? Coax? AES? TOS? What outputs? If we put something in production do people really want another box in the chain? Really? Probably won’t be built for that reason. Leads to the next contemplated product.

So my next wet dream is (how do you describe it??) a digital preamp or a “Swiss Army Knife”. This would have every common socket at the input, such as USB, coax, etc. Maybe BitWordData (BWD) to hook up with a transport. It would have at least coax and maybe BWD out as well. It would be mandatory that we have De-Jitter/re-clocking as well. It could also have slots for an optional Gadget and maybe for my other idea music processor as well. More on that in a future post. We already have such a device with a reduced feature set on the market, Eitr. Think of it as an expanded, upgradable Eitr.

Then we have the new USB board, which we would roll our own implementation into a generic Microchip Pic Part. Up to now, the best choices are XMOS or C-Media (which we now use). The reason we want our own USB2 algorithm living in a microprocessor is that it greatly increases our options for instrumentation DAC selections, many of which require configuration to set them up as straight audio DACs. This gives rise to opportunities for even lower priced Multibit DACs. Also helpful as many “audio” multibit DACs have bend over and spread ‘em pricing. This is in process, but very buggy and needs a lot of work, again if we implement it at all. Call it pre-alpha.

The above is a description of much of the work here at Chateau Moffat that lies somewhere between mental masturbation and could be production. I could well have forgotten something. Feedback is encouraged. Thanks for all of your support!

Hey @Baldr ,
Regarding the name, maybe you could now have Eitr for the simpler product and GrEitr for the gadget!

 

[artur9]

@Baldr love the idea of the digital pre-amp. I sort of have one now but I'm sure you can improve on it. Key feature for me is a crossover for stereo bass support. I x-over fairly high (think 150-200Hz) so stereo content is there for that. So, the pre-amp should have 4 outputs L/R/subL/subR. Digital to feed into my Gumby and UberFrost, respectively.

Also, what do you think of BluRay Audio. Absolute Sound has a review of a couple of operas on BluRay audio discs.

 

[FLTWS]

Yup. That's the one I got. No wonder the price was so good. I'm such an audio phillistine

Bummer! LOL! Enjoy it anyway!

 

[AudioBear]

@Baldr

Thanks for sharing the visions of possible futures for our electronic multiverse. More importantly, it's good to know you are back at planning and building products for our future amusement and entertainment.

I am pretty clumsy and disorganized so physical media and SOL will be a challenge for me. Thank goodness we're not resurrecting the audio cassette player! The rest sounds great. It's always interesting to see what makes it to production and sales and what gets left on the cutting room floor. Standing by.....

 

[FLTWS]

"IF" we get a CD transport it's going to need a name. I'm thinking Ymir or Askr.

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

SOL digital