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Author Topic: RSA The Intruder  (Read 12420 times)

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wiinippongamer

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Re: RSA The Intruder
« Reply #40 on: November 06, 2012, 09:45:33 PM »
Quote from: rhythmdevils on November 06, 2012, 08:07:10 AM

I think the thing most audiophiles need to wrap their heads around is that just because there is a difference, doesn't mean it matters.  If you're not sure which is better, it doesn't matter.

Truer words have never been spoken  :)p5
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fishski13

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Re: RSA The Intruder
« Reply #41 on: November 07, 2012, 01:54:37 AM »
Quote from: wiinippongamer on November 06, 2012, 09:45:33 PM
Quote from: rhythmdevils on November 06, 2012, 08:07:10 AM

I think the thing most audiophiles need to wrap their heads around is that just because there is a difference, doesn't mean it matters.  If you're not sure which is better, it doesn't matter.

Truer words have never been spoken  :)p5

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maverickronin

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Re: RSA The Intruder
« Reply #42 on: November 11, 2012, 01:57:47 AM »
Quote from: kevin gilmore on November 04, 2012, 01:51:08 PM
The rumored RSA solid state electrostatic amp should be something to behold.
Likely the APEX high voltage opamps. Because ray does not know how to do
discrete.

Is there a way to make a good amp out of any of those Apex chips or are they just not very good for audio?

Quote from: purrin on November 06, 2012, 01:36:45 AM
I guess this has nothing to do with DBT (but rather the quick switching ABX testing), which is kind of designed to fail. IMO, DBT testing for audio needs to be done over long periods of time under many different moods without any pressure.

Personally I do better with fast switching.
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Anaxilus.

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Re: RSA The Intruder
« Reply #43 on: November 11, 2012, 05:59:12 AM »
Quote from: maverickronin on November 11, 2012, 01:57:47 AM
Personally I do better with fast switching.


Depends on what you are listening for and listening to IME.  You can tell a PWD DAC from a EMM Labs DAC2 in a heart beat.  But PWD versus NAD M51, I could never DBT w/ fast switching.  I'd have to listen to at least 30sec-1minute per track on each alone to get the nuances.


Fast switching sucks IMHO because the dynamics in the track can change and your brain seems to focus on thinking rather than listening which is an unnatural process.  I'd need to reset from the start of the interval in question.  With macro differences, fast is fine and totally appropriate.  With very subtle nuance and micro detail, I'd say it's not.  Then again there's only a handful of headphones that can even A/B the subtlest of details at the very extreme of diminishing returns.
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kevin gilmore

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Re: RSA The Intruder
« Reply #44 on: November 11, 2012, 03:22:20 PM »
i will post a better picture later
http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/intruder-1.jpg

U1 is a pcm2704 and definitely not balanced, also ac coupled to
the rest of the circuit.

IC1 and IC2 are opa1632
IC3 and IC4 are THS3122

Yep, sanding off the chips really slows me down...

Charging circuit??  No reasonable charging circuit.

The apex opamps that sound good for electrostatic use are
brutally expensive. Also they are very static sensitive and
blow up easy if you don't know what you are doing.

By the way, another production of the stax mafia with diy boards coming soon
http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/ksa5.pdf
« Last Edit: November 11, 2012, 03:49:12 PM by kevin gilmore »
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fishski13

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Re: RSA The Intruder
« Reply #45 on: November 11, 2012, 04:39:40 PM »
Quote from: kevin gilmore on November 11, 2012, 03:22:20 PM


Yep, sanding off the chips really slows me down...


...and you drive a Corvette?  how diplomatic of you  :) 

any engineer/designer shouldn't be afraid to disclose what his active components are.  sanding off chips is poor form.  i wonder what Scott Wurcer would say about this type of behavior?
« Last Edit: November 11, 2012, 10:26:19 PM by fishski13 »
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Marvey

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Re: RSA The Intruder
« Reply #46 on: November 11, 2012, 08:13:35 PM »
the use of the pcm2704 is disappointing - sort of defeats the purpose of going "balanced". i'd figure the unit was going with a balanced DAC like the AKM or wolfsons.
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kevin gilmore

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Re: RSA The Intruder
« Reply #47 on: November 11, 2012, 08:54:51 PM »
seriously... ray can't do firmware.  anything fancy like that requires interface firmware...
pcm2704 not even recommended for new designs...

schematic in progress
http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/intruder.pdf
will be updated every so often.

by the way, this is exactly the same shitty implementation of the
dac that ray used in the predator. And with the same bugs copied
from the evaluation board...

also seriously, the 4.99 ohm output resistors (lets call it 10 ohms balanced)
when used with he6 kills the damping factor and reduces output voltage swing
by 20%.

This is an expensive piece of shit.  Just like the rest of ray's products.

It does point to a tougher problem.  To get any kind of decent voltage swing
people are going balanced. When they could just put in more batteries
and bump the rail voltages and go single ended. Or like others have done, use
sophisticated switchers to do the same thing.  Ray does not know how to
do switchers either.
« Last Edit: November 11, 2012, 09:33:34 PM by kevin gilmore »
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Deep Funk

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Re: RSA The Intruder
« Reply #48 on: November 12, 2012, 01:14:25 AM »
Check the new Zigis CMoy-experiments  p;)
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fishski13

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Re: RSA The Intruder
« Reply #49 on: November 12, 2012, 03:47:20 AM »
Quote from: Deep Funk on November 12, 2012, 01:14:25 AM
Check the new Zigis CMoy-experiments  p;)

link?
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