Empirical Audio DAC

[BobH]

Here's something from a different manufacturer!

 

http://www.jitter.de/english/engc_navfr.html

 

 

 

[serengetiplains]

I've likewise owned some excellent digital equipment, including Emm Labs gear. Steve's products bettered it all, including the latter for rather less money. His Pace Car is to my ear a special product. My own impressions are in line with what he has said about it above.

 

[vortecjr]

Steve does not have to be here you know. I personally like that he is involved and dont mind him plugging his products! Besides have you looked around....he is the only one really addressing this and that is a great thing!

 

We complain when companies dont pay attention to us and here we have attention and we are bashing him.

 

How about asking him to make a poor mans PaceCar (Pacebuggy)

 

Lets not fight....I will ask him.

 

Steve, can you consider making a PaceCar type interface with a lower target price?

 

Thanks

 

vortecjr

 

ps Steve I looked for a used unit and no luck...you were right.

 

[vortecjr]

I would not try plugging just any i2s into the PerfectWaveDAC or the Overdrive DAC. I spoke with PS Audio and its a proprietary signal. It has to be compatable and you should ask first!

 

regards

 

jr

 

[BobH]

And I'm sure we all appreciate Steve's expertise, but other contributors have been banned for doing the same thing. (Though perhaps not with as much good grace! )

 

[Audio_ELF]

I'd like to set straight a couple of points that I've made:

I've never deliberately made any comment doubting the quality of the Empirical Audio equipment (I've never heard it)

I'm sure Steve's comments about jitter are accurate from a pure science point. How they relate to what people hear at the transducer (speaker / headphone) in real world situation can be debated (e.g some CD players / transports with high jitter levels have in blind tests done well).

Steve, from what I've seen on this forum is very passionate about high quality digital audio and for a manufacturer to be passionate is good (I'm a fan of Musical Fidelity amplifiers and Anthony Michaelson is known for press statements using doubtful superlatives - he never presents them as unbalanced advise though as far as I've seen).

 

However:

While there are many supporters of Steve's equipmet I'm sure others feel that there is better equipment available.

I'm sure his "brand" has become better known through his participation in forums such as this at basically no cost to himself so we shouldn't be hankful on bended knee for his opinions

My opinion is that as a manufacturer he should be wary of making comments about his own equipment which appear to be OTT (e.g. it's the Bomb) as (IMO) it does him a diservice.

 

Hopefully this reads as balanced and considered as it was intended.

Eloise.

 

[serengetiplains]

Eloise, it seems to me your comments regarding the appropriateness of any of Steve's posts should be directed to Chris to deal with without need for public comments like you've made, several of which sound ad hominem to my ear. You admit as much that they are---your posts are about Steve, not his equipment. These boards should be left for discussing technical and other audio related matters.

 

[vortecjr]

and I dont mind!

 

His equipment is well known, because its the only one that will take the crappy spdif output and clean it up. This you keep your crappy computer/server and plug it into your existing dac and off you go to utopia

 

jr

 

 

 

 

 

[audioengr]

"Steve, can you consider making a PaceCar type interface with a lower target price?"

 

The Pace-Car 2 is tough. Customers are asking me for more features, not fewer, such as new asynchronous modes and 176 support. The guts of this thing is a like a Tektronix oscilloscope. Expensive connectors, board, and cabling throughout.

 

I wish I had time and energy to do this. The problem is I'm just one guy, wearing all of the hats. I decided long ago that I would offer the next step-up from my mods that I used to do (after lots of requests from customers), and not top-to-bottom price-points. I have to keep my product line simple, but deliver good value for the money. Performance is what I'm about. I dont want to be in the high-volume business. If I only had mid-line products, what would I demonstrate at shows? How do I distinguish my products from others?

 

Having modded Benchmark and BelCanto DACs and the like for many years and modded lots of different computer audio devices, I decided this was the market that I needed to address. My business model is different that any other audio company. I dont want employees. I design everything myself. I even assemble some of the boards myself, but hopefully not for long. I set the pricing and I decide when to launch new products etc. This keeps me in touch with all aspects of the business and allows me to change products to adapt to the market and what customers want relatively quickly. Customer service is a priority.

 

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

 

[vortecjr]

Like I told a few days ago via e-mail, I respect and admire what your doing. Its not for everyone, but we all wish we had one!

 

Can you help us understand why the unit can't reclock all the sample rates it receives and why you need one clock for each sample rate?

 

Thank you in advance

 

Jesus R

 

[audiozorro]

Personally I like it when professionals in the music and audio industry contribute to our discussions, even if they are biased. I have stated in other posts that I expect the manufacturer, vendor, artist or technical professional to be somewhat biased. I would hope that these individuals are fair and honest, and passionate about their livelihood. I believe the rest of us who may just enjoy music and audio would hold these individuals to fair and honest and when their work proves to be one of excellence, share the passion.

 

I also greatly appreciate the skeptics in our community, for it often takes tough crowd to weed out the BS and offer pertinent questions and comments that may bring superior results. In a similar manner I would hope that we skeptics are fair and honest in our skepticism or criticism and that at times we keep an open mind and recognize that our statements may not be true for everyone.

 

I am fully aware that I could have asked SteveN my questions on his website or by email, but the CA website is one of my preferred 'watering holes' and I feel that most, if not all readers benefit from these discussions.

 

[audioengr]

"Can you help us understand why the unit can't reclock all the sample rates it receives and why you need one clock for each sample rate?"

 

It does not need one clock for each sample-rate, but it does need 2 clocks to cover several sample-rates that are non-related. All asynchronous solutions need this.

 

For instance one 49MHz clock covers:

96 and 192

 

One 22MHz clock covers:

44.1 and 88

 

When I finish my 24/192 USB async USB interface, it also needs two clocks, 49MHz and 45MHz. this will make it more expensive than my current Off-Ramp 3, which synthesizes all clocks from one clock.

 

Steve N.