Popular Post Superdad Posted September 9, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted September 9, 2021 1 hour ago, hopkins said: Options are great as long as more expensive equates greater value. Here they are saying: we provide different DACs at different price points but we are not going to tell you which is better. That's just stupid... IMO. That being said, the review is interesting, but I would be very confused as a prospective Schitt customer. What folks seem to be overlooking here is that DAC chip cost and availability varies greatly. As a direct-to-consumer manufacturer--with a ton of stuff packed into the big Yggy box--Schiit prices their products VERY closely. Let's take a quick look: The TI DAC8812--which the LIM version uses 4 of per Yggy--costs (assuming the better spec'd 'C' version) is $12.45 each (at 1K/pcs.) direct from T.I. So that's $49.80. The TI DAC100001--which the MIL version uses 4 of per Yggy--costs $37.28 each (again, assuming 1K pricing direct from T.I.). That's $149.12. So that's $100 more and accounts for the $150 retail price differential. Frankly it's surprising that it's only a $150 bump as even the most lean direct-sale manufacturer (like myself) will at least double parts cost. Then there is the original AD5791 version of the Yggy, the "OG." That part is now completely unavailable anywhere, and when it was it ran from $61 to $100+ per piece(!)--again at 1K/pc. pricing. I suspect that Schiit had made some big buys of that part over the past few years and those are what are being used in the OG version. I bet when their supply is gone that model will go away. We are in the midst of a worldwide chip shortage--owing to a wide range of factors (geopolitical, weather catastrophes, pandemic bust/boom cycle, limited fab line capacity)--and this is a VERY challenging time to design and produce sophisticated electronic components. Especially for small manufacturers who have near-zero leverage with the big chip companies. An example is our EtherREGEN: There are a bunch of specialized, non-substitutable parts on the board, and while I was wise enough earlier in the year to make large forward-buys of a number of the often-short-supply items (to the tune of $80K+) for future runs, there is one tiny little 3mm square clock-buffer we use (4 per board) that is nowhere to be found and I have zero stock. Our back-order with Mouser--placed months ago--keeps moving the estimate shipping date out. Started at January 2022, now it April! Normally we pay about $1.68 each for them and buy 1,000 at a time to do a run of 250 boards. Last night I was begging a Hong Kong spot-market source to find us some. If I am lucky they will come back with some at $15 or $20 each--ouch! [Though that would be nothing compared to the $259 each quoted for the normally $7.50 small Intel/Altera FPGA used on the UltraCap LPS-1.2. That forced us to discontinue the LPS-1.2. Good luck to anyone designing with Intel/Altera FPGAs as there is nearly no stock in the world up and down their whole product line!] Sorry. End of rant. It is just that there are many hidden factors which go into development and production of an audio component. And most consumers are naturally not aware of such considerations. Jud, jiminlogansquare, firedog and 7 others 2 3 5 UpTone Audio LLC Link to comment
Popular Post Superdad Posted September 23, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted September 23, 2021 2 hours ago, bbosler said: I don't know what the Auralic requires but Uptone can adjust their high end supply to voltages other than those listed on their website Clearly we are OT now, but for completion sake I can mention that the original Auralic Aries (not the mini which really does need 14V) runs great from as 12V. I don't recall if our (now discontinued due to global chip shortage) 1.14A UltraCap LPS-1.2 had enough current for the Aries, but the dual-rail 7.4A JS-2 certainly does. And yes, we can upon request adjust a JS-2 to have a 15V setting (trading away one of the standard 5/7/9/12V settings) on one output. Max current at 15V is 4.4A. The Computer Audiophile and feelingears 1 1 UpTone Audio LLC Link to comment
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