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The John Westlake/Lakewest MDAC/FDAC, VFET and Detox

Rune said:
It has been imminent for years, but I hope it is true this time at least a DAC so we can expect VFETs in 2022.
I sincerely hope it will happen so John can move on and harvest the fruits of his hard work and the stress of being beyond behind of schedule.
I also like to see some commercial versions of the DAC that will boost pride of ownership.
Munich is in September so that gives John a little more time this year.
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Sorry, but I think this is misplaced optimism. Experience to date suggests nothing of the sort, we will still be "Waiting for Godot" this time next year. Hard work? He has made over £100k but hasn't produced anything except some posts on pfm and FB, a few computer generated images of non-existent products (a.k.a. vapourware) and a lash-up of a DAC which he showed a select few.

iansr said:
Agree on all points. He now has a route to the finish line for the DAC, hence my cautious optimism.
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Such a route has existed for years (witness the DACs he has designed for others over the years) but JW has never taken it.
 
Timcat said:
Sorry, but I think this is misplaced optimism. Experience to date suggests nothing of the sort, we will still be "Waiting for Godot" this time next year. Hard work? He has made over £100k but hasn't produced anything except some posts on pfm and FB, a few computer generated images of non-existent products (a.k.a. vapourware) and a lash-up of a DAC which he showed a select few.



Such a route has existed for years (witness the DACs he has designed for others over the years) but JW has never taken it.
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“Such a route has existed for years (witness the DACs he has designed for others over the years) but JW has never taken it.”

No it hasn’t. The obstacles that have now been negotiated are specific to the MDAC2 / FDAC. The products you refer to (which by the way were necessary to keep the lights on) may feature some of the elements of the MDAC2. / FDAC but they are merely a distant poor relation.
 
iansr said:
“Such a route has existed for years (witness the DACs he has designed for others over the years) but JW has never taken it.”

No it hasn’t. The obstacles that have now been negotiated are specific to the MDAC2 / FDAC. The products you refer to (which by the way were necessary to keep the lights on) may feature some of the elements of the MDAC2. / FDAC but they are merely a distant poor relation.
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The original concept, an upgraded version of the MDAC using the same case, display and ESS chips, could have been produced four or five years ago. This would have been no more difficult to do than, for example, the Project DACs JW designed when he should have been working on the MDAC2. After all, it's not as if he hadn't been paid for it!
 
Well I absolutely agree that project management has been MIA and that the goal posts have shifted too many times. I think one of the problems is that the sponsors have different demands and expectations. Personally I have no interest in yet another ESS DAC; I want a DAC that is at least as good as the best that’s currently available and that’s what I’m expecting to get.
 
iansr said:
Well I absolutely agree that project management has been MIA and that the goal posts have shifted too many times. I think one of the problems is that the sponsors have different demands and expectations. Personally I have no interest in yet another ESS DAC; I want a DAC that is at least as good as the best that’s currently available and that’s what I’m expecting to get.
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Definitely not the fault of sponsors. Of course everyone's situation is unique but that's not a reason for not being able to design a product. The blame utterly lies on the designer and his ineptitude in producing anything viable.
 
Rosewind said:
"The rest was silence" is not strictly speaking correct: I tried two or three times to get out but John stalled me and even went as far as promising me to build a much revised power amp only version of a Quad integrated amp. In this way I hoped to get out with something showing for all my naivety, but again Janauary, February and perhaps longer went in that year without John fulfilling his promise of a very special amp. Then I basically told him I just wanted my VFETs and he could write me when he had the build ready and then I would come to where he lives south of Prague and get them. But no more contact or promises until he delivered.

Now we are in 2021. Many years have passed since 2013/2014. That was then, this is now. In the meantime, I fear that I have been sitting in a park on a bench with a few other naive bums "Waiting for John's VFETS".
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If anyone wants a current dumping design, I have one that sounds nice, my local hifi shop preferred it to a Pass Sony SIT2, I can give you schematics, board design and advice but you will have to order parts, build and test yourself.
 
Well yes if you think Amir knows all there is to know about what makes hi fi gear sound good. I’m not convinced of that. Amongst those who definitely think otherwise are Nelson Pass, Bruno Putzey, Dan D’Agastino and JohnW, to name just a few.
 
iansr said:
Chi Fi Simon?
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RME ADI-2 costs even less (£800 or so) and it's made in Germany.

iansr said:
Personally I have no interest in yet another ESS DAC; I want a DAC that is at least as good as the best that’s currently available and that’s what I’m expecting to get.
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Understandable, but that wasn't what was originally on offer. Also, as I and others have said, you can buy one today for a reasonable price.

As for the VFET debacle, if I had paid £4-6k for these, I would be suing by now.
 
I don't think the cult of Amir has anything to do with it. Putzeys makes the best measuring amps out there, and his dac likewise is within half a dB of the best measuring dacs. People will like whatever they like for whatever reason, objective fidelity is the only measurable performance criteria. Everything else is just opinion and pointless to discuss as no consensus will be arrived at.

If someone likes a certain distortion profile or house sound they should have at it. But discussing personal taste teaches us nothing.
 
sq225917 said:
I don't think the cult of Amir has anything to do with it. Putzeys makes the best measuring amps out there, and his dac likewise is within half a dB of the best measuring dacs. People will like whatever they like for whatever reason, objective fidelity is the only measurable performance criteria. Everything else is just opinion and pointless to discuss as no consensus will be arrived at.

If someone likes a certain distortion profile or house sound they should have at it. But discussing personal taste teaches us nothing.
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I wouldn’t disagree - I believe in science. However it doesn’t address my point of view which is that I’m by no means convinced that the usual suite of measurements that are undertaken by Amir etc, whilst important, don’t tell the WHOLE story and that there are as yet unidentified parameters that also influence what sounds good to most people. This would explain why the engineers I mention all say that the usual sus specs :D are important, but they only get you so far . . .

By way of example, the Purifi drivers are widely recognised as being at the leading edge of loudspeaker design. Everyone seems to love how they perform and sound. One of the reasons appears to be that they identified a particular electrical artefact as being significant for SQ which has previously been ignored by loudspeaker manufacturers. They had to build a completely new type of test equipment to be able to monitor it. Understand that I mention this purely to illustrate my point.

I remain open minded about this stuff, but that’s where I am for the time being at least.
 
The problem being that state of the art is now a considerably higher bar, than it was when John first charged us a deposit for a new DAC.

It is also considerably more affordable.

Though state of the art is the endless 'what sounds best to me' debate.
 
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