[jtwrace]

This is an interesting article. 


The comments below the article are good too.

[mgalusha]

I exchanged a few emails with him almost two years ago, he never added a name of any kind to the emails, the "From" was Northwest AvGuy.

While at RMAF last year I spotted a vendor in the headphone room with a Prism dScope as part of their display. I recognized it because I own one and the purchase was prompted by NwAvGuy. Talking with the guy in the booth I learned he was from JDS labs (I think) and we discussed the seeming disappearance of our mysterious friend. No one really seems to know and if you look up the domain, it's a private registration via proxy.

[goskers]

Very odd and interesting indeed.  Hope he pops back up on the radar at some point.

[adydula]

Hello,

I read that article awhile back.

I emailed this person several times and am in his blog site in the comments and at DIYAUDIO.COM.

He certaintly was a direct person.

I have several of the O2 amps and ODACS.

They all work wonderfully here.

I wont go into the hows and whys he did things the way he did except to say that he made a lot of people take a look at what they were buying, the specifications and what they really mean.

It helped to make some manufacturers take notice about certain things in there designs.

I am working with a person that has designed a desktop type of O2, the ODA over at DIYAUDIO.

Really close to completion..

All the best
Alex

[ajzepp]

I had no idea he was so mysterious...I thought his name was Howard and he was well known to several of the guys at head-fi until they banned him.

[dB Cooper]

I heard Harold, but who cares really.

A fellow audiophile (who also owns an O2) said he looked up the domain and it had just recently been renewed, so he's out there.

Wish he had released his intended version of the ODA before doing his Jack Kerouac impression. Love my O2 though, and unless I get some really challenging planars, it will do me (via my HD650s) just fine for the foreseeable future.

[Norman Tracy]

http://www.head-fi.org/t/701900/schiit-happened-the-story-of-the-worlds-most-improbable-start-up/765#post_10463052

[Norman Tracy]

While NwAvGuy was active my impression was he was technically competent, even outstanding. However the attitude and his firm belief that he was the universe's gift to those of us in the great unwashed masses grew tiresome after about 15 seconds.

[adydula]

I never got that feeling.....and many of us enjoyed his challenging people and vendors to think about what they were doing, selling , designing etc...

Yes he really upset some people and wasn't as forgiving as many are used to.

He was abrasive in that sense....

Rather than just putting something together in a nice case with all kinds of bells and whistles he showed the world how to design a headphone amp with the a very small set of components that meets specifications that make it a world class performer.

I am not here to defend him or knock him, just thankful he came along and produced the Objective 2 amp and ODAC.

Great audio performance that is very affordable.

Dale I agree with you 100%.

Alex

[dB Cooper]

Agree with Dale; even if he is an a-hole, who cares, I don't have to interact with him directly. If all the egotists got out of audio it would be a lonely field indeed.

NWAvguy castigated manufacturers for things like producing "high end" headphone amps that dumped enough DC into headphones at shutdown to physically deform the drivers. (Follow this link if you want to see it) Some people didn't want to hear that, and you can argue about the validity of the measurements he focused on, but he backed up his assertions with data. It's not "trashing" a manufacturer to report when their product has the potential to destroy peoples' headphones or when a product misses its own performance specs by a wide margin. "As Harry Truman used to say, "I don't give 'em hell,I just tell the truth on 'em, and they THINK it's hell."

Maybe he should be referred to going forward as "MIAVguy"? 

[Bear]

I don't understand how anyone(aside from some manufacturers/competition) could have anything negative to say about this guy.  He was ,in my opinion, unjustly banned from head-fi.  It has been a long while since I read any of his posts over on that site but, I don't recall him being overtly disrespectful even in the face of a massive flame campaign.  I liked his syle, no B.S.

I own is O2 and ODAC, which I managed to fit into the same case.  It is excellent in my opinion.

.02

Be well

[Noseyears]

I don't understand how anyone(aside from some manufacturers/competition) could have anything negative to say about this guy.  He was ,in my opinion, unjustly banned from head-fi.  It has been a long while since I read any of his posts over on that site but, I don't recall him being overtly disrespectful even in the face of a massive flame campaign.  I liked his syle, no B.S.

I own is O2 and ODAC, which I managed to fit into the same case.  It is excellent in my opinion.

.02

Be well

True.
He made some interesting contributions to the audio community, and even helped manufacturers to fix some problems on their units (i can name a few manufacturers here  )

Seems like certain company created a direct competition for the O2/Odac recently.

[eclein]

Isn't his venture still making amps and DACS?? The navavguy that is??
 

[cujobob]

I don't know if anyone collects pocket knives here but there was a similar case with a man named Cliff Stamp who was unjustly banned on the most popular knife forum for merely pointing out flaws and backing them up with solid data. Forums are a business usually and hurting those who pay the bills is often not loved, even if you do so respectfully. Head-fi and bladeforums are very similar. Quite shady at times.

I have an O2 amp and like it, it's possible one of the similar amps to come out afterwards is the same guy's design. The mystery is rather amusing to me.

[jtwrace]

Isn't his venture still making amps and DACS?? The navavguy that is??
 

He only designed them.  Never produced them.  JDS Labs in the USA is allowed to make and produce them. 

[dB Cooper]

Isn't his venture still making amps and DACS?? The navavguy that is??
 
[/quote

What the previous guy said.

[eclein]

Ok I got it now thanks guys!!!!

[adydula]

Actually anyone that agrees to the Creative Commons License" and doesn't modify it it anyway can make and or sell this amp.

From Nwavguy:

" I’m making the O2 design available to everyone under a Creative Commons License. "

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/

[adydula]

There is a person that has developed the ODA that, to me is an electrical engineer that has taken up the torch so to speak and has brought into fruition the ODA desktop version that I have just completed.

AGDR over at DIYAUDIO has shared most of his secrets and design philosophy to make the ODA a reality and a really great headphone amp.

Alex