Hi Dayne,
Nice to hear from you in sunny Zurich! Has the cold weather started??
What transport(s) are you're using as your reference(s) in developing the DAKSA?
We are working towards the DAKSA being transport independent. Within reason, therefore, any transport would allow the DAKSA to show its best. This is possible by use of a FIFO buffer, a reclocking system where the data stream is taken from source into memory, then reclocked out according to the DAKSA master precision clock. This takes the transport pretty much out of the loop, although tests on the Type 36 Mark Levinson some years back (which used a similar, though Phase Locked Loop system) felt that different transports were still detectable. According to the physics, picking the difference was arguable, but there, we do have reviewers with very good ears..... For our R&D we are using a Denon 1015 Alpha, a midrange CD player, nothing special, although the laser was just replaced.
Do you have a timeframe for when a 100 Nirvana super duper plus kit might be available?
I'm presently working on a 100W Nirvana for retail sale some way down the track. I am agonizing about Black Gate caps, which I feel are a ludicrous price, even in quantity direct from Japan. Paul Kaplan is investigating ZA Rubycons, made by the same company, and there is a possibility it will include these components which on paper have superior specs to BGs.
A time frame for this is unknown at present as all hands to the pumps for the DAKSA and the GK-150/160, which is swiftly nearing completion.
What's the deadline for getting in a GK-1R order? I'm very excited for Aspen that you're bringing it out as a retail product, but not very happy that my plans may be scrapped by the kit's disappearance from the market.
Don't be too concerned about this; I have quite a few pcbs remaining, and I'd say probably at least nine months. In any event, and in the interests of doing the right thing by my existing customers, those who have evinced early interest will be given preference. As an existing customer, I would certainly be expected to be treated differently to a casual inquiry off the street (or is that keyboard?), and from a business POV it is always better to deal with existing rather than new customers. Of course, I can always do with new customers, but old ones are something special!
Cheers,
Hugh
