CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS

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Author Topic: Changstar Exclusive: O2 amp/DAC in development - Pirate Wants and Needs?  (Read 1156 times)

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HideousPride

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So one of the most requested products on Massdrop is the O2/ODAC combo. No surprise. But the ODAC board is currently out of stock and is proprietary. We had a thought - we know manufacturers who have stuff, and we know engineers. Let's try to build something that sounds good, is affordable, and has all the inputs and outputs people want.

Initial results below!

 

Specs
DAC PROCESSOR ES9023
USB CONTROLLER CM6631A 384KHz asynchronous
OP AMP JRC 2068 aka NJM2068
PCB High quality 24K GOLD 2 Layer PCB
INPUT 3.5 Ø (L/R) Channel
HEADPHONE Gold Coated 6.5 Ø JRC 4556AD+JRC 4556AD
Power control DC - DC DC5V/+-12V
Power adapter DC5V 1.5A

We have two prototype boards that we can ship out, would be curious to hear what ABS+ pirates think. Mac only for now, Windows drivers still in development. 1/4" headphone output. Wish list of what improvements we could potentially make, if a more premium chassis is something we should consider, along with anything else you can think of would be great feedback for us.

Not sure that it'll become something we actually list on our site, as of right now it's more of a "Let's build it and see where it goes" attitude. 
« Last Edit: October 02, 2014, 04:42:02 PM by HideousPride »
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No_One411

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Re: Changstar Exclusive: O2 amp/DAC in development - Pirate Wants and Needs?
« Reply #1 on: October 01, 2014, 10:12:49 PM »

This looks interesting! Is it a similar concept to the Project H?

http://www.head-fi.org/t/652306/diy-custom-amplifier-and-dac-project-h

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Thad E Ginathom

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Re: Changstar Exclusive: O2 amp/DAC in development - Pirate Wants and Needs?
« Reply #2 on: October 02, 2014, 09:07:31 AM »

Mac only for now, Windows drivers still in development.

Do not forget Linux. Ensure USB Audio class compliance!  :)p6
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mechgamer123

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Re: Changstar Exclusive: O2 amp/DAC in development - Pirate Wants and Needs?
« Reply #3 on: October 02, 2014, 11:26:35 PM »

This looks interesting! Is it a similar concept to the Project H?
http://www.head-fi.org/t/652306/diy-custom-amplifier-and-dac-project-h
Wow, someone actually remembers our project!!!

Isn't there also the issue of the O2's license not allowing derivative PCBs based off it? I also thought the general consensus on CS was that the O2 wasn't in line with very many member's tastes...
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Anaxilus

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Re: Changstar Exclusive: O2 amp/DAC in development - Pirate Wants and Needs?
« Reply #4 on: October 03, 2014, 01:01:24 AM »

I also thought the general consensus on CS was that the O2 wasn't in line with very many member's tastes...

Pretty much.  In fact, most of the members here that I know that tend to side with the objective perspective don't even use the O2 for primary listening if that tells you something.  But they tend to be the rational objectivists, not the religious zealot types.  The latter ones don't seem to last long here.  Usually ends up looking like a bird trying to fly though a glass window.

But there is a market for that ODAC/O2 so why not.  I find it funny and ironic that the ODAC and O2 are largely marketing driven with the idea that those are the last audio components you will ever need to buy to get honest, accurate and transparent audio reproduction.  Hah.

Still, the ODAC has been my portable reference DAC for awhile until the Geek Out replaced it based on cost and performance.  Marv uses my O2 for measuring headphones.  Better to let his mic listen to it than me.
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altrunox

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Re: Changstar Exclusive: O2 amp/DAC in development - Pirate Wants and Needs?
« Reply #5 on: October 03, 2014, 02:15:29 AM »


Pretty much.  In fact, most of the members here that I know that tend to side with the objective perspective don't even use the O2 for primary listening if that tells you something.

I find it funny and ironic that the ODAC and O2 are largely marketing driven with the idea that those are the last audio components you will ever need to buy to get honest, accurate and transparent audio reproduction. Hah.

Interesting, I thought the ODAC/O2 was really famous/popular here, because of its "supreme accurate audio"  :-Z

I know that it`s completly off-topic (and feel free to delete or edit my post) but what are the thoughts of people here about Nwavguy?
When I started to search about this hobby I found lots of things about him, and thought "wow, this guy is a genius!". But after a while ... a guy who appears from nowhere and disapears mysteriously and between this time develop some products that are kind of hard to make and starts to claim that all audiphile expensive things are shit my thoughts started to change...

 popcorn
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Marvey

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Re: Changstar Exclusive: O2 amp/DAC in development - Pirate Wants and Needs?
« Reply #6 on: October 03, 2014, 02:53:10 AM »

On nwavguy, basically can't believe that he become a "genius" by chaining two CMOYs together and sticking a volume pot between them and figuring out how to use a dscope.


http://tangentsoft.net/audio/cmoy/ .....since 2001.


I respect his masterful marketing of himself though. Makes sense though. He totally captured the starving student market and appealed to a good subset angry at the world because college never resulted in what was promised.
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Hands

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Re: Changstar Exclusive: O2 amp/DAC in development - Pirate Wants and Needs?
« Reply #7 on: October 03, 2014, 03:29:36 AM »

Long story short, I bought into nwavguy for a while and took his word as gospel. Then I compared the O2/ODAC combo against the Leckerton UHA-6S MkII. Both measure excellently and should thus sound identical (beyond human hearing capabilities), if nwavguy's claims were correct. I heard a clear difference that was outside the realm of placebo with a few different headphones. That's when I realized there was much more to it all than he was claiming, and I started down a different path of learning. It's good to be skeptical and understand your possible biases and limitations, but sometimes you need to trust what you hear subjectively.
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Re: Changstar Exclusive: O2 amp/DAC in development - Pirate Wants and Needs?
« Reply #8 on: October 03, 2014, 05:06:48 AM »

Long story short, I bought into nwavguy for a while and took his word as gospel. Then I compared the O2/ODAC combo against the Leckerton UHA-6S MkII. Both measure excellently and should thus sound identical (beyond human hearing capabilities), if nwavguy's claims were correct. I heard a clear difference that was outside the realm of placebo with a few different headphones. That's when I realized there was much more to it all than he was claiming, and I started down a different path of learning. It's good to be skeptical and understand your possible biases and limitations, but sometimes you need to trust what you hear subjectively.

This is about how it went with me, as well. Had O2 for a while, but bought Leckerton UHA-6s Mk II based on things I saw here, knowing I had a 30-day trial period with it. I wanted to see if I could hear the difference. Needless to say, I kept the Leckerton.
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Marvey

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Re: Changstar Exclusive: O2 amp/DAC in development - Pirate Wants and Needs?
« Reply #9 on: October 03, 2014, 05:17:06 AM »

It's all placebo you fuckers. Y'all crazee.
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