always appreciate your posts as i’m sure we all do. it is noteworthy imho you did not mention comps to Horizon 360 via xdmi.
also you say “We can already see massive resistance by a lot of people here. It does not have my favorite tube, so it can't match my current DAC. It does not have XX DAC chips (5000?) in parallel, so it can't be good. It's just a small board in a very noisy computer environment, and it can't be better than my DAC. It does not have the analog stage of my X or Y DAC, and it can't be that good. It does not have the fancy (5-digit priced) clock on my DAC, so it can't be taken seriously. The resistance from quite a few people here so far has been so big, that they refuse to pop in the XDMI analog card they have on hand and have a listen to it.”
Really do not know what “massive” resistance that you are referring to? or “resistance has been so big that they refuse to pop in the XDMI analog card”’…. are you implying SteveW? others?
Many of us are just hoping for an honest comp between analog XDMI out versus Digital XDMI out to Horizon or MSB compatible XDMI. would never describe this as “massive resistance” or some refusal to believe.
you say “A lot of pushback... and yet, almost everyone who dared to listen to the XDMI analog card has decided to stay with it and sell their previous favorite DAC. That includes a wide range of what were considered state-of-the-art DACs ranging from $50K to $150K and from quite a few really good manufacturers.”
almost everyone? “dared”? Has anyone sold their Lampizator or MSB xdmi compatible dacs? have they said olympus analog out is superior to them? Please share as noone has posted that here. Have you done those comparisons?
Hey
@ctydwn, let me clarify a bit more.
When I talk about "massive resistance," I mean the broader skepticism I encounter almost daily. Out of every 10 people I explain the Taiko Olympus XDMI to, about 9 fall into the "resistant" category. I’m not even trying to sell it - just suggesting they give it a listen in their system.
For example, one person recently spent close to a million dollars on equipment and still doesn’t believe a server can make any difference. He would buy the most expensive DAC there is but skip the server as a non-believer. Another refuses to even consider a "computer" in their setup, so both the Extreme and Olympus are a no-go. Then there’s the usual criticism: it doesn’t have this, it doesn’t have that, it’s a small card in a noisy computer, so it can't be good, the analog section makes the DAC, so that little card can't be good, etc. Little do they realize how much they’re missing out on their digital source.
I’m relatively new to the industry, but I’ve built pretty much everything myself over the years - speakers, amps, preamps, phono stages, turntables, servers, DACs, you name it, and have a good technical understanding of how things work. What really bothers me is seeing people spend massive amounts of money on the wrong solution for the problem they have. Like someone having an untreated room causing issues, and their dealer selling them more expensive amplifiers to solve the problem. And 6 months later they sell them the upgraded version of these amplifiers. And another 6 months later they sell them a more expensive amplifier because the last 3 did not resolve the problem. They are out $200K when all they needed to do is add a couple room treatment panels for example. People keep chasing their tails for years and years and are never happy with their sound. It really hurts me when I see that.
Ironically, that same industry has created a vision in people's heads about what's good and what's bad. For example, someone with DAC X may value the clock above everything else and won’t even consider another DAC (Olympus included) unless it has a more expensive clock (because his dealer said so). And even if I had first hand experience with that DAC and suggest that the Olympus XDMI would sound better, they won’t take it seriously. Yet as soon as DAC X announces a better clock, they’ll jump on it - even if the upgrade costs more than the Olympus.
To be clear, I wasn’t pointing fingers at anyone specific (and definitely not SteveW). I’m just saying that some here have the capability to do meaningful comparisons but don’t for one reason or another - whether it’s valid or just skepticism about the XDMI analog card.
So, now that we've covered "massive resistance", where does that leave us? Ah, yeah, more data points. I want more data points too. I would love to hear these comparisons firsthand too.
Also, my mention about some people selling their expensive DACs did not imply that it was done after comparing XDMI analog to XDMI to Lampizator or MSB. I just like you am waiting to see more of these data points.
