pmotz said
With regard to defaulting to the SACD layer, my ARCAM has the option of defaulting to either layer.
With the Sony SACD players it is a simple, cute minute button which toggles between the layers. There is a clear indication which layer is active.
I could live with the player defaulting to Scarletbook when a new dual-layer disc is inserted, but being wholly unable to play the Redbook layer is frustrating.
The default was chosen because why would anyone want to listen to the red book layer when they can hear the DSD layer? There’s no sense to that in my mind. There’s a stark difference between the two and red book is inferior to the DSD. I can understand how for shits and giggles you want to compare the two, maybe once, but on a regular basis it has my head scratching.
In any case, we did not think to add a separate toggle button. Do you really think this is a big deal? It’s a bit late to change the remote. I don’t want to add it to the touch screen because without question someone’s going to toggle that and forget about it, forever doomed to unknowingly listen to the red book layer. I consider that a disservice to the customers.
If we could figure out a simple toggle option, secret handshake code on the remote, I’d be ok with that, but where? Which button?
magister said
I agree that there should be the option to play the Redbook layer on a hybrid SACD; my old Marantz player can do this. Defaulting to SACD layer would avoid the problem of people unknowingly playing the CD layer. For the time being, putting this control on the screen would be fine. Long term, another button on the remote is the way to go. If the DMP will ship with the same remote as the BHK pre, there is that button at the lower right of the 'Transport' section that dims the remote. Use that, which would be more logical since it would in fact be function related to the transport, and put another button below the 'Transport' section to dim the remote.
It's too late to add or change buttons on the remote. What buttons do can be altered, not the remote itself.
In my present headphone-based audio system (PWT => Anedio D2 DAC => Violectric V281 headphone amplifier => HE1000 headphone), I can play the redbook layer of my SACDs using my PWT, which then sends the digital signal to my Anedio D2 DAC via a coax cable. Will my PWD be able to read the redbook layer of my SACD in the same way, or will I not be able to obtain any signal from my SACDs seeing that I do not have a DirectStream DAC and a IS2 connection?
Jeff.
No problem. If you’re connected via coax you will get something slightly better than red book through the system. With no I2S and DirectStream, you’ll get a 88.2kHz/24 bit PCM signal that sounds better (by a little) than red book.
I want to compare the DMP to my DS/Bridge II over the fiber-isolated network, and hear what differences, if any, I can...
I’m curious what you mean by fiber-isolated network? I assume you mean you have a segment of your network isolated from the rest of your network by GBIC/fiber, and on that isolated segment of your network you have a network switch which has connected to it only those bits and pieces needed for audio playback via bridge?
Yes, and slightly more. The switches by which my headphone station and speaker system are connected to my main switch are each connected to the main switch by fiber. Then, for each source device [the DACs and now the DMP], there is a fiber media converter pair to isolate the device from any potential noise from the switch and other components. The source side of the converter has a linear PSU to replace the wall wart. All the audio devices are also on a VLAN for which QoS has been optimized.
We ran into some intermittent problems in burn in where they just stopped working mysteriously, then started working again. Yikes! Looks like they found the root cause - a bit of flux that wasn’t properly cleaned off. We’ve gone through the lot and burning them in again overnight. If the problems are fixed, we’ll ship - if they’re still worried, we wait the weekend.
Exactly. Whenever a new product comes into the first stages of life, where we begin to multiply what we refer to as the Golden Sample, issues crop up and have to be noodled out. That’s a lot of pressure on engineering, especially when we have anxious customers with high expectations of imminent delivery. But giving birth is hard for any new thing or process.
Indeed. Over the last 2-3 years I have upgraded my system so that almost all my electronics are from PSA. There are other companies that make good-sounding equipment. What differentiates PSA from them is a) the value per dollar; the DS DAC and BHK components are not inexpensive in absolute terms, but they compete in SQ with products that cost more and b) the honesty, customer service, and involvement of company leaders with users. The latter is very special and makes me want to keep doing business with the company.
Ok, we look to be good to go! With fingers crossed I met with the engineering team this morning after a few conference calls I had to tend to. The units are blessed after another 24 hour burn in overnight.
We’ll release 15 today, and get more on burn in over the weekend. If our success rate is equalled on Monday, the balance should ship out.
Whew! Dave, our director of engineering, has been sweating bullets for nearly a week tracing down this damn gremlin and a few nights ago he emailed the team that he had an “aHa!” moment. One of our CMs had made soldering changes using an improperly cured flux that drove everyone nuts. Depending on environmental changes, it went from conductive to non conductive and froze the devices when conductive. As soon as they pulled the boards out they worked again.
A thorough chemical bath and they’re all better!
Attached is a picture of our hero and a stack of DMPs awaiting engineer Darren Myer’s final approval. Each has to go through FST, which normally happens in production on the AP, but beta units are instead run through FST by an engineer before release to production.
Paul, thanks for sharing so much. You guys are really special! From the photo it looks like Black is the preferred color, very interesting. On a somewhat related note, what’s the status of the special DMP HDMI cable that you talked about in Paul’s Posts? Also, will it be shorter than 1 meter? Seems that with stacked components a very short cable would be nice, but not sure how a short cable effects performance.
pmotz said
Paul, thanks for sharing so much. You guys are really special! From the photo it looks like Black is the preferred color, very interesting. On a somewhat related note, what's the status of the special DMP HDMI cable that you talked about in Paul's Posts? Also, will it be shorter than 1 meter? Seems that with stacked components a very short cable would be nice, but not sure how a short cable effects performance.
Short wouldn't necessarily be better for everyone though...have to figure the average distance a person might need. 1m would probably be a minimum to start with.
pmotz said
Paul, thanks for sharing so much. You guys are really special! From the photo it looks like Black is the preferred color, very interesting. On a somewhat related note, what's the status of the special DMP HDMI cable that you talked about in Paul's Posts? Also, will it be shorter than 1 meter? Seems that with stacked components a very short cable would be nice, but not sure how a short cable effects performance.
Short wouldn’t necessarily be better for everyone though…have to figure the average distance a person might need. 1m would probably be a minimum to start with.
Thumbs up for 1 meter. it’s a reasonable distance both for stacked and between vertically or horizontally adjacent shelving. Half meter is just too short and generally forces you to unplug even to make modest adjustments.
