AudioCircle
Audio/Video Gear and Systems => Owner's Circles => Virtue Audio Owners => Topic started by: virtue on 6 Feb 2014, 04:41 am
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Guys,
Quick update on ONE.3 and iMake production.
ONE.3 is well into production and the long pole in the tent will be the 130w PSUs which will land on March 17th. To compress the schedule, we will try to ship units without those PSUs as close to March 1 as possible. The amp board for the iMake ONE.3 will obviously finish in Feb also.
All ONE.3 units will ship from Taiwan directly to save time. We'll send the bonus cables, etc. out there for our beloved early buyers so they ship together.
Production on the iMake pre-amp board has not yet begun and will take us out into early April. I'm not seeing any problems right now and am very excited.
Thank you all for your patience. We've got a few more surprises coming soon and another opportunity to buy in.
Seth
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thanks for the update. Looking forward to hearing the iMake !!
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Seth
Will you have extra 130w PSUs ? I am still using the original PSU that came with my ONE.2 and would like to upgrade to the 130w PSU.
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Order# 2792
Can't wait to try the new amp. Might have to put the Trends on the chopping block. Kinda sad to see it go... But, more power will be welcomed. Good news that everything is on track for shipping. :)
It's been a long wait for me and a long time sitting on the fence but like you said, $350 is no brainer and if for some reason (hopefully not) I don't like the sound I could always resell it.
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It's been a long wait for me and a long time sitting on the fence but like you said, $350 is no brainer and if for some reason (hopefully not) I don't like the sound I could always resell it.
True Dat!
Thank you for the order!
Yes, we'll have more 30/130w supplies. I ordered 30 of them for this next batch...
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Hi Seth,
Has the response been as good as you hoped?
Cheers Rod
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Hey Rod -
The response was very positive.
I'm going to be posting pictures of the inside next week and announcing some new "bonus" features for our pre-order customers.
Exciting!
Seth
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Rod,
I had a bunch of personal stuff come up this week so this isn't where I wanted it to be, none-the-less, let me pull back a bit more of the curtain on iMake.
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=95383)
There are some interesting things here including a DC-DC power supply that can drive the crap out of any Op-Amps you may choose to roll into it. You'll be able to use the amplifier board (not shown) to drive balanced headphones if the 8w you can get out of this with a 30v swing is not enough ;-) You can also drive unbalanced phones.
What I wanted to announce was that pre-orders will all ship with the IR/remote control option enabled. That means an electronic volume control and I'm going to throw in a very high-end option based on the MAS6116. You'll need an Apple remote to use it and the sensor will be on a dongle that plugs into the back panel.
I've got a crushing week at my day job and reserve the right to not answer every question just yet. Plan on catching up next weekend.
Seth
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Hi Seth,
I presume this is the remote IC volume control that you are talking about?
http://www.mas-oy.com/uploads/Data%20sheets/DA6116.pdf
Regards Rod
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Hi Seth,
Do you have any details on the headphone aspect of the iMake ONE.3?
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Quick update. ONE.3 is finished and in boxes. We are finishing the customs forms and they will ship (Monday).
The USA units will come to me and then go out USPS. DHL was just too expensive shipping direct from TW.
We're biting the bullet on the other ones which will ship door to door from TW. Tracking numbers will come next week unless the broker does not provide them to me.
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Yes about MAS6116.
So... iMake production is falling behind. We only sold a handful so far and have a few more things planned for the next announcement.
More features will go into the final version which will perhaps increase the 2nd round of pre-orders.
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Rod,
I had a bunch of personal stuff come up this week so this isn't where I wanted it to be, none-the-less, let me pull back a bit more of the curtain on iMake.
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=95383)
There are some interesting things here including a DC-DC power supply that can drive the crap out of any Op-Amps you may choose to roll into it. You'll be able to use the amplifier board (not shown) to drive balanced headphones if the 8w you can get out of this with a 30v swing is not enough ;-) You can also drive unbalanced phones.
What I wanted to announce was that pre-orders will all ship with the IR/remote control option enabled. That means an electronic volume control and I'm going to throw in a very high-end option based on the MAS6116. You'll need an Apple remote to use it and the sensor will be on a dongle that plugs into the back panel.
I've got a crushing week at my day job and reserve the right to not answer every question just yet. Plan on catching up next weekend.
Seth
Please help me understand. What the function for that Op-amp? You can switch them out for what type of difference in effect?
Thanks, Genez
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Hi,
I have an Eastern Electric Dac Plus which I've swapped opamps in and out of the dac. Depending on your flavour you can try a number of different types to tailor the amplifier to your taste. Much like tube swapping.
Cheers Rod
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Please help me understand. What the function for that Op-amp? You can switch them out for what type of difference in effect?
Thanks, Genez
A swappable op-amp is common in the headphone amp world. So I'm bringing it here. You can run the power amp itself by connecting to the line-level or pre-amplified output.
Op-amps have different SQs. Also, there is a mechanism to adjust the gain -- from simple buffer, 1:1, all the way up to ridiculous volumes. There isn't a headphone you won't be able to drive with this.
Seth
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ONE.3 units did ship yesterday after much hoopla about Bill of Lading dates and customs stuff.
Josh in Taiwan got his already (of course) and was at first confused by the new posts. Note, there are no longer 4 propellers. Just one propeller which functions as a tool -- like wrench.
Looking forward to hearing more feedback as these break in.
I've not yet received several large boxes which will be broken down for USA/Canada shipments. Stay tuned and thank you for your patience.
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How much current does the ONE.3 draw?
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Jason - I never checked idle current draw but I suspect something non trivial like 500mA.
Will let you know later since I can actually test this stuff now ;-) The iMake will be slightly less; not sure it will satisfy the EU but we'll see.
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Jason - I never checked idle current draw but I suspect something non trivial like 500mA.
Will let you know later since I can actually test this stuff now ;) The iMake will be slightly less; not sure it will satisfy the EU but we'll see.
Oh wow. So it requires < 3A LPS @12Vdc? :scratch:
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You definitely don't need 3A when used with high sensitivity speakers. We have shut-down circuitry though that will prevent 12v from working with ONE.3/iMake. You need 2 of those packs in series (24v).
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You need 2 of those packs in series (24v).
What packs?
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LPS - linear power supply. Ok! Astron has some really attractive LPS devices in the 18v+ range.
I thought you were talking about Lifpo (batteries).
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LPS - linear power supply. Ok! Astron has some really attractive LPS devices in the 18v+ range.
I thought you were talking about Lifpo (batteries).
Yes, LPS = Linear Power Supply as you know. ;) I'm confused though....I asked this
Oh wow. So it requires < 3A LPS @12Vdc? :scratch:
and you replied with
You definitely don't need 3A when used with high sensitivity speakers. We have shut-down circuitry though that will prevent 12v from working with ONE.3/iMake. You need 2 of those packs in series (24v).
So, which packs are you talking about? Link? If one is going to use an LPS it sounds as though one can use 24Vdc output 1A. Yes? Will it only work on 24Vdc or can it go say 18Vdc - 24Vdc? :thumb:
This ONE.3 is very interesting I must say. Hard to belive that it's actually better than the original which blew me away when I tried it.
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You are sweet, man.
Anything above 15v will work on the ONE.3. Higher voltage (up to 30v) is better IMO but Vinny grew a large business on 24v so what do I know.
But for sensitive speakers, 1A will be fine.
Seth
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You are sweet, man.
Anything above 15v will work on the ONE.3. Higher voltage (up to 30v) is better IMO but Vinny grew a large business on 24v so what do I know.
But for sensitive speakers, 1A will be fine.
Seth
Gotcha. I look forward to the Virtue ONE.3 tour. :P
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A swappable op-amp is common in the headphone amp world. So I'm bringing it here. You can run the power amp itself by connecting to the line-level or pre-amplified output.
Op-amps have different SQs. Also, there is a mechanism to adjust the gain -- from simple buffer, 1:1, all the way up to ridiculous volumes. There isn't a headphone you won't be able to drive with this.
Seth
I apologize Seth... I really did not read close enough to realize that it was about the iMake, not the One.3. I was wondering what the heck an op-amp was doing in the Virtue One.3. It made no sense. My goof.
Thanks! Gene
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I was wondering what the heck an op-amp was doing in the Virtue One.3.
Gene,
Not to confuse, but the ONE.3 actually has 2 op-amps and a non-defeatable pre-amp circuit. It provides 2.5x gain to the amp.
iMake is a very extensible platform with a focus on headphone usage. We had an issue with the production prototype and I took the delay as an opportunity to add some features (like configurable headphone gain) that a headphone user would want. We can do up to 10x gain in iMake. Yikes!
Seth
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Any update on the iMake ONE.3 ??
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Our new factory got the next set of boards last week and has started building the next prototypes. I'm counting on them being clean and at that point, we'll have some more announcements.
Customers pre-ordered around 10 units -- not enough to finance production. Therefore, we will do some imaginative things once I have a firm ship date.
Those who pre-ordered have been very patient with us.
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Those who pre-ordered have been very patient with us.
Yes we have, and eagerly awaiting this baby. What's the latest on ETA?
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I'm having a disagreement with the OEM about how long a prototype should take.
Will update this thread as soon as I know more.