Hello Chris
sorry but I dont want to publish too many information's before releasing Nirvana.
Still , I know you have been waiting for a long time and very patiently .
Noise is way under 1uV , price is slightly more than Ifi , scheduling is very firm for April 5-))
There will be only 5 volts version?
Nirvana SMPS comes only in 5v version
Some updates , I have received an updated mass production date for Rev Dac ... Feb 16
Expect it to ship a week after .
Rev Dac , for the past 3 months (at least) we have worked only on sound quality . I have learned a lot .
Output analog stage is important , settings on ess dac are very important , MCLK is very important . Jitter matters , but its rather a combination of low jitter , low noise at RF AND low noise at DC (Hz) that make a SQ difference .
At last , pre IV filter is mandatory and it took us a long time to find the right combo ..
The way I understand it , is that clock energy will bleed on DAC current output . Reduce that clock energy and filter prior to IV is key to SQ!
Its not a figure of speech when I say ...lifting a veil .
At last...do not use CLK division on ess IC , it seems to veil the sound (while THD barely changes)
Rev blends THD and SQ in one package . I am deeply convinced now about 2 things...yes THD+N is not proportional to SQ and a good SQ Dac does not need to have bad measurements . We need both
Our team is still working on firmware changes and improvements on Rev (win and linux DSD 512 compatible of course) but I am moving on to new projects .
Some updates , I have received an updated mass production date for Rev Dac ... Feb 16
Expect it to ship a week after .
Rev Dac , for the past 3 months (at least) we have worked only on sound quality . I have learned a lot .
Output analog stage is important , settings on ess dac are very important , MCLK is very important . Jitter matters , but its rather a combination of low jitter , low noise at RF AND low noise at DC (Hz) that make a SQ difference .
At last , pre IV filter is mandatory and it took us a long time to find the right combo ..
The way I understand it , is that clock energy will bleed on DAC current output . Reduce that clock energy and filter prior to IV is key to SQ!
Its not a figure of speech when I say ...lifting a veil .
At last...do not use CLK division on ess IC , it seems to veil the sound (while THD barely changes)
Rev blends THD and SQ in one package . I am deeply convinced now about 2 things...yes THD+N is not proportional to SQ and a good SQ Dac does not need to have bad measurements . We need both
Our team is still working on firmware changes and improvements on Rev (win and linux DSD 512 compatible of course) but I am moving on to new projects .
Congratulations on the progress! You have come a long way on your DAC building journey
Agree totally about a DAC needing to sound good to the ear and to measure well also. Everything has to be as perfect as you can get it.
By the way, there is more we haven't talked about yet: Cables.
When the DAC is good enough and the Amplifier is good enough, the sound of the cables will become audible, since other sources of distortion and veiling have been pushed down to such low levels. It is an interesting area of research for Jam
True, no magic. However, the physics gets more complicated than what you described. Don't want to get into too much detail since my friend's research is proprietary.
Yep. No magic. Just technology.
BTW. @pinnocchio.
You could have simplified your worldview even further.
Impedance covers "capacitance".
It'd then be all about "impedance".
And than that logic matches well known logics like
"It's all about noise"
or
"It's all digital"
Yep. Simplistic worldviews can make life easier. Much easier.
There's a downside to it. You prevent progress with that kind of logic in mind.
And you need a friend who's running research projects to tell you that your $1.99 RCA cables simply sound like $1.99 cables.
For more then half a century nobody nailed the subject properly (afaik).
And as long as nobody has nailed it properly "It's a kind of magic" that people are experiencing differences on sound.
Enjoy.
BTW. @pinnocchio.
You could have simplified your worldview even further.
Impedance covers "capacitance".
It'd then be all about "impedance".
And than that logic matches well known logics like
"It's all about noise"
or
"It's all digital"
Yep. Simplistic worldviews can make life easier. Much easier.
There's a downside to it. You prevent progress with that kind of logic in mind.
And you need a friend who's running research projects to tell you that your $1.99 RCA cables simply sound like $1.99 cables.
For more then half a century nobody nailed the subject properly (afaik).
And as long as nobody has nailed it properly "It's a kind of magic"
that people are experiencing differences on sound. Enjoy.
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Once again, audibility claim without supporting evidence.
What about speakers and room acoustics? Why aren't you talking about the biggest bottleneck of electronic audio chain?
Yep. No magic. Just technology.
BTW. @pinnocchio.
You could have simplified your worldview even further.
Impedance covers "capacitance".
It'd then be all about "impedance".
And than that logic matches well known logics like
"It's all about noise"
or
"It's all digital"
Yep. Simplistic worldviews can make life easier. Much easier.
There's a downside to it. You prevent progress with that kind of logic in mind.
And you need a friend who's running research projects to tell you that your $1.99 RCA cables simply sound like $1.99 cables.
For more then half a century nobody nailed the subject properly (afaik).
And as long as nobody has nailed it properly "It's a kind of magic"
Enjoy.
I think Allen Wright nailed the cable subject pretty well in his supercables cookbook: The SuperCables CookBook, The TubePreamp CookBook
I advise anyone who is interesed in the effects of cables in audio to read this book. It handles the theory as well as some diy cable projects.
Regards,
Hello Chris
sorry but I dont want to publish too many information's before releasing Nirvana.
Still , I know you have been waiting for a long time and very patiently .
Noise is way under 1uV , price is slightly more than Ifi , scheduling is very firm for April 5
Looking forward to getting several of them! I presume the earth switch connects supply gnd to PE and removes the leakage current(s)? How does Nirvana compare to the iFi in Boss or Digione/sig setups?