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NwAvGuy: The Audio Genius Who Vanished

posted by mrcoolbp on Wednesday March 26 2014, @01:32AM   Printer-friendly
from the or-so-I've-heard dept.

Angry Jesus writes:

There is a lot of snake oil in the audiophile world. A few years ago the pseudonymous NwAvGuy decided to do something about it. Not content to just criticize the hucksters, he designed a $130 headphone amp that competes with $1000 models. NwAvGuy released the design under the Creative Commons CC BY-ND license (attribution, no derivatives) and freely collaborated on revising it with multiple manufacturers looking to build and sell the amp. All he wanted was credit and to see that no one would take his design and degrade it with inferior modifications.

Then he disappeared. "In July 2012, NwAvGuy went silent. E-mails weren't returned, and blog posting ceased. 'He had gone quiet before -- for a month or so,' says Boudreau. But no one has heard a peep from NwAvGuy in more than a year and a half."

Since then some of the parts used in the last revision have been discontinued and one of the best values in high fidelity audio can't be manufactured anymore because NwAvGuy is no longer around to approve any changes.

 
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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Dr Ippy on Wednesday March 26 2014, @06:36AM

    by Dr Ippy (3973) on Wednesday March 26 2014, @06:36AM (#21426)

    Or even $1,000?

    You can do the job with a decent op-amp and maybe a couple of transistors for a Class AB output stage. Been there, done that; was a pro audio designer back in the '70s.

    Fools and their money are soon parted.

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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 26 2014, @06:59AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 26 2014, @06:59AM (#21430)

    I highly doubt that you have even read the specs for this amp. How about you go do that now, and report back and let us know if you still think you can do everything that one does with one op amp and a couple transistors. If so, you must be the most amazing engineer ever.

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 26 2014, @07:23AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 26 2014, @07:23AM (#21437)

    Yeah, in the 70's, you could still reasonably do it with a $2 12AX7 and actually have a class A amplifier!