Icarium

Yeah I'm definitely going hear for myself before forming a final take on the matter... I think the Alpha DAC will sound very good, but the question for me is if it is the best when it comes to redbook. Unfortunately I don't think the state of the art has moved a lot in the last 15 years. Most of where innovation has moved forward seems to be how to do things cheaper, delta sigma chips, hi-rez and usb input. The PMD100 is still considered a first rate digital filter and some believe even its successor the PMD200 is not as good (But close). Pacific Microsonics had some of the best people out there writing digital filter code and after they were bought out by Microsoft there haven't been any that are clearly better. I think the SM5847 is one of the few more modern chips that can be mentioned in the same breath but even it isn't clearly better. Of course Berkeley Audio with the many of the same principals as PacMicro is probably one of the places that could create something significantly better/more advanced technologically speaking... but even so would it close the gap between a better/fully discrete I/V, analogue output stage, potentially better dac chips?

Yeah I recommended it to him, but I think he ruled it out. I'm very interested in hearing it myself.. may take a trip weekend after the coming one. I have a transport plan. That being said I'm probably not interested in it myself as it seems to be not fully discrete, which at the asking price I'd expect (5k). Plus the Spectral SDR-2000 Pro I have now is fully discrete and designed by Keith Johnson who was a principal design figure in Pacific Microsonics (Co-creator of HDCD as well) and Berkeley Audio's Alpha dac. People who have compared the two say that the SDR-2000 wins on redbook, but the flexibility/hirez of the alpha dac is of course very appealing. I'm personally more interested in seeing how the SDR-5000 plans out and what it's used pricing will normalize to as it probably will be a fully discrete/cost no object version of the berkeley audio dac. Also I now kind of want a Model 2. I didnt realize that it could do 24/192.. a model 2 for hi rez would be awesome. I am pretty sure I could find one given time, but I suppose I'd have to really use the ADC to justify that amount of money. I wish the socal guy who has it would bring it to canjam09 and people could get some hdcd vinyl drops going.

I think this depends on how you bias it.

Enough that after scraping my face for a couple of years it becomes an issue as far as norelco blade performance goes.

I kind of feel the self cleaning is better than water cleaning. Human dead skin is pretty cloggy/clingy and factor in the oils (Water proofing)... I just don't feel water cleaning is sufficient.

Perfect. Thanks! Ordered Probably have it tomorrow.

Yeah that's what I'm looking at. Okay question.. Braun users especially long time ones.. how often do you have to change blades? I have to assume they simply last longer with the self cleaning system. And how long does the self cleaning fluid last? Should I order at least 1 pair of replacement blades and/or self cleaning fluid now? I think this is enough to order the 790c.

So I've been a long time Norelco user and I have one that I've reasonably liked... but the blades are pretty dull and replacements aren't cheap and it's an old model. Thinking about jumping ship to Braun as most of my friends that go electric seem to prefer Braun. Looking at their top of the line with self cleaning et all.. it's ~220 on Amazon.com Any people have experience in the Braun/Norelco dealio? Yeah I know manual is superior and all that, but I'm not particularly hairy and even though I have to make a lot of motions I only shave 2x a week and it's still pretty speedy.

All I've heard is that the design isn't all that from what I remember.

http://www.head-case.org/forums/portable-audio/1054-whats-beef-rsa-alo.html

I dunno isn't that guy rolling around with chains of Lawton Audio Bling? I bet he has a diamond encrusted pair of D7000s hanging on a chain flava flav styles.

Mark 1s are more like 900-1k

I've monitored results from a sonic frontiers query pretty closely on audiogon for the past several months... sfd-2 mark 2s do seem to regularly move for 900-1300 dollars.

K thanks Torpedo!

Yeah that's reasonable. Okay prototypes first then anything else next. Looks like Luvdunhill will have parts at least for one board so we can prototype before the big shipment arrives.

Nod.. that's good advice. I'm sorry if I rushed anyone or misrepresented risk. So.. I guess the main worry is that the design will not work and parts will become unnecessary/useless? How serious of a risk is that?

Yeah we want to do 3 I think... though I need to confirm that with luvdunhill again.

Yeah I've asked those questions to several parties including the board designer. There is no guarantee that even larger heatsinks will be enough essentially depending on how you bias... but heatsinks + heatsinking accessories are only ~10 bucks or less a kit so for me it's a trivial cost just to be safe. Yeah we explored whether it would be possible to do this with 2 sigmas as opposed to 4. Between me and the people I talked to 2 seemed to be enough. If it turns out to be more then I will order more. I had not heard that sigma22s might be not suitable period. Yeah it might make sense to order these things after the boards are prototyped... but one of my personal goals is to parallelize as many operations as possible and try to have as many parts on hand as possible before the beginning of summer to try and achieve an end of summer completion date if its at all possible. That being said jacob I think is going to release a release candidate board today I believe he said.. he was combing the thread to sweep for any recommendations he might have missed. He caught your latest one at the very least luvdunhill. He gave me some dimensions as well but they are on my home instance of AIM.. but it was slightly under 5 inches both dimensions. That being said as soon as the release candidate is deemed kosher by the group I intend to pin down a board maker and having prototype boards made. Who would be willing to build out a prototype board and test it? I believe luvdunhill has parts he can supply. I think he was hoping we could get 3 takers on this.

I thinkk so... someone linked some from digikey(?) and we are getting those. Would you be interested in some kits? I think we could get some for you if you do... they are ~60 bucks depending on options. The options are larger heatsinks (Not much extra I forget exactly how much) Upgraded Muse caps (2.15 after discount) Or you could also go with no heatsinks if you are set on offboard heatsinking. We are getting it without toroids and it was like 67 bucks stock and then he's giving us an additional 15 percent discount. I think its these heatsinks: HS385-ND 4 TO-220 heatsink 2.2 8.8 70.4 32 Aavid-Thermalloy 530001B02500G If you would like kits then pm me your email/address information and I'll have him write you up and email you a quote.

Ah good call.. if you want more diodes then adjust the numbers accordingly and then email me back the spreadsheet and then I'll send it to him to have him confirm and then we can do payment. His paypal address btw is: [email protected] Also.. were you guys doing separate payments or one big payment? If separate then it'd probably be good to email him a list of names so he can confirm that he's received all the payments. Oh yeah one last thing.. for the more than 2 kit buys (j4cobs and spains) wait til you hear confirmation from me to actually pay. He just let me know to wait until later today or tomorrow because he is receiving the larger heatsinks today so he can package it up and make sure that the shipping costs quoted are appropriate. You 2 kitters are fine though!

Oh I never replied to you there? Sorry, my bad Yeah those are useful. If you want those then just change the number from 0 to 1 and then the rest of the spreadsheet should take care of it. Some people like looser101 are sourcing their own with EMI filtering. I think team j4cbo is still pondering ourselves if we want to go with his instead of something similar to looser's.

Oh yeah people should probably start paying Jeff at Glass Jar Audio if you haven't already. Torpedo hopefully you are arranging things with him for payment for Team Spain. If you still need a quote or what not please let me know. Any confusion also let me know. I think he's getting in the bigger heatsinks I think Wednesday.

Updates from my end: Dynafet Group Order - Google Docs Spreadsheet is updated. So this week it's time to lock down input transformers. Now that Cinemag is an option please recommunicate your input transformer needs to me. If you have locked down your needs on the diyaudio wiki then that is fine. I will check that to make sure you are covered. Otherwise please let me know if you do not want input transformers, if you want sowter or Cinemag. I am in talks with SumR as well and waiting on a few more quotes: What I have now is this: 2/ The Encapsulation can for 160VA to 230VA is OD: 5.3", HT: 2.75" 3/ Price of the 150VA is US $ 8700 Fully encapsulated in toroid can. 4/ Price of the 230VA is US $ 98.00 Fully encapsulated in toroid can Price of a 200VA transformer with 120/240Vac primary, encapsulated into toroid can, is US $ 95.00/e 10 pcs given the above arrangement is US $ 87.00/e. Anyway given that the price break isn't amazing... I think we can be somewhat flexible on values. I am also getting pricing/size info for 250VA/300VA to go straight up into overkill. I am mostly looking at higher valued toroids with 4 secondaries for use with 2 kits. If you are interested in lower values I can get quotes there. If you have a value in mind I can get quotes and see if I can still work a price break if we have a big enough number. If not then yeah might as well just order on your own. Last thing is chassis: I think team J4cbo is mostly settled on these chassis: modushop.biz Pending confirmation that the layout we are thinking of will fit in this for sure... we will be looking at 4-6 pieces. There is a price break of 20 percent at 10 pieces. We will probably set up a group buy on diyaudio to get the numbers up as well... possibly for a bigger price break. Let me know if you are interested. We may capitalize on I think Nate's suggestion to get 2x front panel to side step the painted back panel issue. Shipping works as follows: i can make a discount of 20% for 10 pieces , for the transport I have 2 options, to send them in group, with only courier via earth approximately 20 days about 350 -400 euros in total but I must have confirmation from my courier, or with 125 euros I can send 2 pieces for time with Italian air mail to the cost total of 750 euros. (125 x 5 pieces of 2 case ) , So we can probably go with the cheaper option since I need 4-6 chassis at my location anyway and then I distribute the rest if people want in on this. Another option that we ruled out due to 10 inch height but with truly overkill options is detailed in this thread: diyAudio Forums - Aavid Thermalloy Possible Group Buy - Page 5 Dimensions are there and pictures are below. I believe he is looking at 250 for a drilled/tapped chassis with 4 heatsinks. This is probably more appropriate for pass labs designs but is a pretty sweet chassis overall. I may get one just to horde. Anyway just food for thought.. really just need action on the input transformers for now.

Spot gone pending first payment. 4 boards/transistors pending with that spot. 4 boards/transistors sets gone to digger Looks like everything's gone. Might be squeezing Smeggy in.

Actually for now you only need to send 120 dollars + fees to Luvdunhill. I think there's still space.. have a couple people interested. Perhaps he'll post here if its kosher. I'm not sure but heatsinking may become an issue as well (Not sure at all).