Lessloss Audio Products

I think floating point (given the same N bits, say 16 or 24) will give you more dynamic range at the expense of worse quantization error on near-full-scale signals - because you "wasted" some of your N bits on the exponent. Most modern pop/rock is highly compressed, and thus already fully optimized for our fixed-point based players In any case, even 16-bit fixed point has plenty of dynamic range, you can easily hear the recording noise floor on typical classical recordings.

I don't see why a floating point based music player couldn't be implemented, just nobody bothered, probably for the reasons I mentioned above...

PS: what has any of this to do with a 300 Euro DIY DAC board in a wooden box priced at 5500? That is just daylight robbery.

 

Wait, wot, like this?

The Attraction DAC

 

"... the complete electronic assembly of the Attraction DAC is vibrationally optimized, as the pcb is flat-press-mounted on a specially treated spruce-board. This construction is time-consuming during manufacture, but improves sound quality, as all components are mechanically coupled to a musical sound board."

Edit: Basic Model EUR 12000

Sven's review: http://www.mother-of-tone.com/Reviews/sven.html

 

Lol. But this doesn't have a box, and it costs 12000 up to.. 15500 EUR??

Anyone want to buy an exclusive, one-of-a-kind Modi Multibit PCB stuck to a "reclaimed" (from my garden) house brick? It's well known that brick is both cheaper and has better vibrational damping than spruce. 200 and it's yours.

Edit: upgraded version (iFi iPurifier in a flowerpot) only +100 extra.

 

Good God, @bengo, don't sell yourself short. At least stick another zero on those prices....

 

Looking at all those dots and the nonsense content- Is Sven a Big Deal?

 

I think our Big D goes by Dennis. Maybe this is the brother, Big S...

 

I call it listening with your eyes. It looks like it should sound better so it does.

 

It's a shame that there's so much of this abject nonsense in the audio world. At the same time, I feel a growing temptation to offer a version of my imminent little audio product to address that market. And by "that market" I mean the "more teeth than braincells" and "more expensive is obviously better" crowds. That's a bit at odds with my intent with this box ... which is to try and quell some of the interface nervosa while helping to get people off USB connections, without them having to spend an arm and an leg to do so.

Since I'm not interested in being a sell-out here, the basic box will still be priced sensibly ($299-$399 depending on a couple of pending feature options) ... and the product information will make it VERY clear that the basic version is all that anyone needs to buy, with no audible benefits proclaimed for the higher-priced units - outside of some very specific circumstances.

But it's bloody tempting to offer a version in a cosmetically different form, tweak up a few parts and bump the spec (for the sake of numbers/bullets/copy, not actual realized performance), write some quasi-scientific twatwaffle, and label it the "Reference MUS*ic Edition" or some such, and offer it at 10-20x the price of the base unit just to see how many people go for it.

--

*The "MUS*ic" part would, of course, be a decorated acronym for "Made Up Shit".

 

Some people really do want their Sherpa pilgrimage carried rocks to line the garden, and will pay exorbitant amounts. It's been my observation most Engineers want no part of this type of business, though it can fund new R&D, and if you don't, someone else will. There is something to be said for the middle grey area, offer honest products, and an option to order with gold plating.

 

You've wandered atop my soapbox. When you think about all the qualities that people want to obtain by purchasing an object the price structures start to become logical (even if they might not make sense )

Engineer wants the best audio quality: Purchases "The Attraction DAC" for 12000 Euro or @Torqs gear for $400 because it sounds the best. Engineer is happy to pay that price.

Newbie wants inclusion in the "audiophile" scene: Purchases the cheapest Schitt gear for $99, or Aficianado for $3000, because everyone has it or is talking about it. Newbie is happy to pay that price.

"More teeth than braincells" guy wants to show off status, or wants exclusivity: He buys Susvara for $6000 or BHSE for $8000, because (he believes) they show status and exclusivity. MTTB guy is happy to pay that price.

Etc., etc, etc.

Audio-wise perhaps these people get their money's worth or not, but from a viewpoint of what they want to get out of the purchase I hesitate to fault their decisions. They certainly are willing to pay and happy with what they get. ( Note I'm not excusing sleazy salesmen who lie about features, or the marketing culture in general but that's another post )

So maybe there is a buyer for the gold-plated "Reference MUS*ic Edition".

And im not a salesman, btw.

 

The problem I have is MTTB guy goes around the typical sites passing himself off as engineer guy, telling newbie guy that the only way for their audiophile souls to ascend to sonic nirvana is through $$$, Christmas tree Elises and Beyer T1s, or HFM 6K$ and Singularity 19. And when engineer guy speaks up, he is brow beaten and ridiculed, logic is objectified to counter common sense, to the point engineer guy just gives up and let's the idiots spend the money - why bother. It's such an issue it literally creates entire markets for $91k shit.

TL;DR - I have issues with head-fi.org.

 

It's not just them.

On another forum entirely, where I used to spend time, newbee asks about getting started with computer sound. A few reasonable answers about soundcards and DACs, and then the wealthy guy chips in with it being necessary to have two computers, separating the file-serving and audio-processing and vital to have a master clock to control one's DAC. It goes without saying that this guy was really into cables. Including, of course, network cables. Could mention that this guy was actually relatively new to PC audio himself. Naturally, according to him, it needed a lot of money throwing at it to work at all.

And no, I'm not talking about computeraudiophile. Let's not even think about that place.

 

I've long held to the Engineer belief don't sell BS, but also have been trying to be more open to the marketing point of view. It's not just the Audio industry either. For example, for an additional $84,000 you can shave off 80 pounds of your Porsche 918 Spyder, for a grand total of ~$900,000. Oh and I happen to be a fan of the model, but yea, really that much? Okay well reducing weight has a valid Engineering argument behind it, even if the car's average speed per year is 0 MPH (garage queen), but if it wasn't that, it could just as well be the person who spends it on a multi-layer lacquer job, or a body kit that makes the car 'look' faster.

Agree with @Elnrik too, but am also trying to be more open to the marketing point of view... the customer is happy with spending more for a visible feature, so let them enjoy their tulips (that's a reference to the Tulip Mania).

 

I think Sven is just another extremely happy customer. I looked at a handful of "reviews" here - http://www.mother-of-tone.com/Reviews/ - and his struck me as the silliest of the silly among those.

 

But this point of view is also often used to justify the big audio-bullshit ripoffs. The guy is happy with his $000 network cables: no harm done!

I don't agree with that.

 

I can never fully get my head around it emotionally, and have quit a good job because I wanted no part of selling snake oil, but hey, I'm also someone who just uses good old copper and cheap cables, because I don't believe electrons are that picky or care about whether the cable looks cool.

About the only analogy I can give is I've gotten into buying more live music performances on DVD of Blu ray. Even if the audio is not up to snuff, I realize I enjoy the visuals, it turns on parts of my brain that listening only does not. So if someone enjoys their audio gear more because their visuals are enabled or enhanced, who am I to say they are wrong for enjoying it?

 

One thing Lessloss do offer is a really pretty* power cable ...

But if you want something that's either similar, identical, or even better looking then Maze Audio's Ref4 series of cables are rather nice, and less than half the price of the entry-level Lessloss cables. Of course, they were a lot nicer when I bought mine as they were $80 cheaper then. So now I just roll my own (to a very similar design, but with some options for double (or more) shielding, odd geometries (internally per pole to preserve the exterior appearance) and special combinations of sheathing to yield even more interesting visuals**.

--

*No, I'm not getting drawn into discussions about the audible effects, or lack-there-of, of power cables. This is purely an aesthetic appraisal.
**No, seriously, it's all about the visuals here ... my cables are half-visible in my headphone rig and I like them to look good.

 

HAHAHAHA!!!!

 

I take my hat off to you!

I don't mind if they look nice. Chunky-solid plain well-built, though, trumps that. I like Bluejeans stuff.

I really don't mind people wanting stuff to look nice, whether it's the speakers, the electronics, or even the cables. We and our co-habitants do have to live with the stuff. But looks nice is just that. Looks nice.

Oh wait, it can be more. When it comes to milled-from-a-solid-block and that kind of stuff, we can drool over the way it was made and all that too. Especially if we are the kind of guys that watch videos at night. Like us guys do, right?

Y'all know the kind of videos I mean.

All that engineering and workshop stuff!