NwAvGuy
Northwest Audio & Video Guy
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Latest posts
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ODAC May Update
GOOD NEWS! I just completed testing the first two ODAC boards from YoYoDyne. These are known as “first articles” and are built using the same PC boards and parts as the production boards. I’m pleased to report the performance essentially matches the previous prototype I measured…
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ODAC Released
CAREFREE ENJOYMENT: I’ve been listening almost exclusively to the ODAC for several weeks now and I’ve been smiling a lot—not so much at the ODAC but at the music. When you know your audio gear is genuinely transparent it opens a worry-free window into the music. And, while I…
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What We Hear
FIRST SOME UPDATES: This is a promising sign. I’ve managed to publish another article in less than a week and it’s a big one! Since last weekend’s April Fool’s article we’ve managed to finalize the ODAC design and it’s off to production. The best case estimate for availability…
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April Fools Update
LATEST NEWS: Despite the relative dearth of articles lately I’m alive, well, and have been spending a lot of time on the ODAC project as well as the usual blog comments, emails, etc. I’ve made some good progress on the ODAC and several partial articles are coming together for…
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ODAC Update
ODAC PROGRESS: As my articles have slowed to a trickle lately, hopefully these 5000+ words will be welcome news. After lots of professional and other distractions, I’m once again devoting serious time to the Objective DAC (aka ODAC). There’s been some good progress and I’m…
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Feb 1 Update
BLOGGER PROBLEMS: Just a quick update. I've been away from the blog for a couple of days only to find Google Blogger is having problems displaying more than 200 comments per article. Sometimes when you click “Load More” at the bottom of the comments it just gets stuck on…
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FiiO E10 DAC
INTRO: First off, I’m sorry this review has taken so long. I started receiving requests to review the FiiO E10 long before it was even available in the US. Finally it became available for a short time from a few US vendors but then disappeared. After many months it appeared…
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Winter Solstice
HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Alas, unlike last week’s 7500 word MacBook Air review, there’s no big article today. The plan was to release more details of the Objective Desktop Amp (ODA) by the first day of winter but I’m still waiting on a few key hurdles (mostly related to the ODAC) first.…
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Apple MacBook Air 5G
INTRO: Many have asked for laptop computer audio reviews. They want to know if built-in audio is good enough for high quality headphone listening or should they use an external DAC. The dilemma really depends on which laptop. I wanted to review something genuinely popular but…
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Objective Desktop Amp (ODA) & DAC
INTRO: Ok, right up front you need to know this article is not one of my usual in-depth write ups. But here’s the deal. The battery powered O2 headphone amp has been more popular than I imagined with 2000+ PC boards already in circulation and more on the way. After thousands of…
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FiiO E6 Amp
INTRO: I reviewed the amazingly small and inexpensive FiiO E5 back in this blog’s infancy. I was fairly impressed with the build quality and even found the audio performance acceptable considering the $20 price. But it did have some significant flaws. FiiO saw fit to release a…
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FiiO E11 Amp
INTRO: Given the FiiO E11 is almost a direct clone of the AMB Mini3 I wasn’t sure it was worth my time to review it. The Mini3 has some significant problems mainly related to its 3 channel channel design. Using a similar 3 channel approach FiiO seemingly copied the Titanic…
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Asus U3 DAC
INTRO: In my quest to find a companion DAC for the O2 headphone amp I was disappointed by three different C-Media based USB DACs (such as the FiiO D5) I found a bit more money buys much better performance with the Creative X-Fi Go. But even the X-Fi had some issues—especially…
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X-Fi USB DAC
INTRO: I’ve been testing portable reasonably priced USB partly in the hope of finding one that’s a good match for pairing with my 02 headphone amp. The C-Media based inexpensive USB DACs from FiiO, Turtle Beach and Syba were all disappointing. What happens if you spend a bit…
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FiiO D5 DAC
INTRO: This is another article in a series of inexpensive USB DAC reviews including the Turtle Beach Micro II and Syba C-Media CM119. Like both of those DACs, it uses yet a different version of an all-in-one C-Media chip (the CM108). So how does FiiO’s least expensive USB DAC…
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C-Media CM119 DAC
INTRO: This is another in a series of inexpensive USB DACs such as the Turtle Beach Micro II I reviewed a few weeks ago and the Behringer UCA202. It’s the least expensive DAC I’ve tested with a street price around $13. This example is from Syba but there are similar products…
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UCA202 DAC Take 2
INTRO: The Behringer UCA202 was the first USB DAC I reviewed on this blog back in February. It sells for around $30 and has been around for many years. I’ve revised several of my tests and I was curious to see how it compares, apples-to-apples, with more modern inexpensive USB…
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Turtle Beach Micro II
INTRO: This is the first in a series of inexpensive portable USB DAC reviews I’ll be publishing in the next week or two. The idea is to test the DACs with a high impedance load (such as the O2 Headphone Amp) and a typical headphone load. The DACs are all small, easily portable,…
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Roadmap Update
ARTICLE UPDATE: I’ve been publishing roughly one article a week but not always on the usual Wednesdays. Lately I’ve published and updated reference material for a guest article Tyll Hertsens asked me to write for InnerFidelity: InnerFidelity Headphone Amp Measurements and the…
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Music vs Sine Waves
MEASUREMENTS & AUDIOPHILES: One of the goals behind this blog is to explore some of the more popular audiophile beliefs. Which ones are true, partly true, or completely false? When it comes to measuring audio gear there are many different beliefs but I often run into variations…