Andrew Cooke | Contents | Latest | RSS | Previous | Next

C[omp]ute

Welcome to my blog, which was once a mailing list of the same name and is still generated by mail. Please reply via the "comment" links.

Always interested in offers/projects/new ideas. Eclectic experience in fields like: numerical computing; Python web; Java enterprise; functional languages; GPGPU; SQL databases; etc. Based in Santiago, Chile; telecommute worldwide. CV; email.

Personal Projects

Choochoo Training Diary

Last 100 entries

Surprise Paradox; [Books] Good Author List; [Computing] Efficient queries with grouping in Postgres; [Computing] Automatic Wake (Linux); [Computing] AWS CDK Aspects in Go; [Bike] Adidas Gravel Shoes; [Computing, Horror] Biological Chips; [Books] Weird Lit Recs; [Covid] Extended SIR Models; [Art] York-based Printmaker; [Physics] Quantum Transitions are not Instantaneous; [Computing] AI and Drum Machines; [Computing] Probabilities, Stopping Times, Martingales; bpftrace Intro Article; [Computing] Starlab Systems - Linux Laptops; [Computing] Extended Berkeley Packet Filter; [Green] Mainspring Linear Generator; Better Approach; Rummikub Solver; Chilean Poetry; Felicitations - Empowerment Grant; [Bike] Fixing Spyre Brakes (That Need Constant Adjustment); [Computing, Music] Raspberry Pi Media (Audio) Streamer; [Computing] Amazing Hack To Embed DSL In Python; [Bike] Ruta Del Condor (El Alfalfal); [Bike] Estimating Power On Climbs; [Computing] Applying Azure B2C Authentication To Function Apps; [Bike] Gearing On The Back Of An Envelope; [Computing] Okular and Postscript in OpenSuse; There's a fix!; [Computing] Fail2Ban on OpenSuse Leap 15.3 (NFTables); [Cycling, Computing] Power Calculation and Brakes; [Hardware, Computing] Amazing Pockit Computer; Bullying; How I Am - 3 Years Post Accident, 8+ Years With MS; [USA Politics] In America's Uncivil War Republicans Are The Aggressors; [Programming] Selenium and Python; Better Walking Data; [Bike] How Fast Before Walking More Efficient Than Cycling?; [COVID] Coronavirus And Cycling; [Programming] Docker on OpenSuse; Cadence v Speed; [Bike] Gearing For Real Cyclists; [Programming] React plotting - visx; [Programming] React Leaflet; AliExpress Independent Sellers; Applebaum - Twilight of Democracy; [Politics] Back + US Elections; [Programming,Exercise] Simple Timer Script; [News] 2019: The year revolt went global; [Politics] The world's most-surveilled cities; [Bike] Hope Freehub; [Restaurant] Mama Chau's (Chinese, Providencia); [Politics] Brexit Podcast; [Diary] Pneumonia; [Politics] Britain's Reichstag Fire moment; install cairo; [Programming] GCC Sanitizer Flags; [GPU, Programming] Per-Thread Program Counters; My Bike Accident - Looking Back One Year; [Python] Geographic heights are incredibly easy!; [Cooking] Cookie Recipe; Efficient, Simple, Directed Maximisation of Noisy Function; And for argparse; Bash Completion in Python; [Computing] Configuring Github Jekyll Locally; [Maths, Link] The Napkin Project; You can Masquerade in Firewalld; [Bike] Servicing Budget (Spring) Forks; [Crypto] CIA Internet Comms Failure; [Python] Cute Rate Limiting API; [Causality] Judea Pearl Lecture; [Security, Computing] Chinese Hardware Hack Of Supermicro Boards; SQLAlchemy Joined Table Inheritance and Delete Cascade; [Translation] The Club; [Computing] Super Potato Bruh; [Computing] Extending Jupyter; Further HRM Details; [Computing, Bike] Activities in ch2; [Books, Link] Modern Japanese Lit; What ended up there; [Link, Book] Logic Book; Update - Garmin Express / Connect; Garmin Forerunner 35 v 230; [Link, Politics, Internet] Government Trolls; [Link, Politics] Why identity politics benefits the right more than the left; SSH Forwarding; A Specification For Repeating Events; A Fight for the Soul of Science; [Science, Book, Link] Lost In Math; OpenSuse Leap 15 Network Fixes; Update; [Book] Galileo's Middle Finger; [Bike] Chinese Carbon Rims; [Bike] Servicing Shimano XT Front Hub HB-M8010; [Bike] Aliexpress Cycling Tops; [Computing] Change to ssh handling of multiple identities?; [Bike] Endura Hummvee Lite II; [Computing] Marble Based Logic; [Link, Politics] Sanity Check For Nuclear Launch; [Link, Science] Entropy and Life

© 2006-2017 Andrew Cooke (site) / post authors (content).

Audio-GD NFB 3.1 DAC

From: andrew cooke <andrew@...>

Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2011 21:20:51 -0300

I received my eagerly awaited Audio-GD NFB 3.1 DAC today.

It's large, but not as heavy as I had expected (it says 5kg on the Audio-gd
web site, but I doubt it is that even when packed; more like 2 or 3).  Seems
well built and looks fine.  The only criticism I can think of is that the
display is very bright, and set quite deep, so difficult to read from above.
It came well-packed, with power, USB and optical cables.

Soonf after I first plugged it in I noticed some sibilance - a white, splashy
layer at high frequencies.  That disappeared as the unit warmed up (since the
design has no feedback it's not terribly surprising for the sound to change as
the temperature changes - I just hope it's stable once it gets there).

This evening I've been comparing it with my Music Fidelity V-DAC (v1).  I
don't have the equipment to do blind tests, or quickly switch between the two,
and things are complicated by the slighly higher output of the NFB 3.1, so I
am juggling cables and manual volume shifts.  With all those provisos I can
hear no differences in sound - neither between the different filters on the
NFB 3.1, nor between that and the V-DAC.  For what it's worth, I listened
(repeatedly) to "Green Shirt" (Costello) and "Maiden Voyage" (Hancock).

This is my first foray into the more "exotic" ("boutique"?) side of audio
(rest of equipment: Logitech Duet; Arcam Solo; Sennheiser 555s) and, while
it's fun to have something pretty and obscure, I'm glad I needed (in a
relative sense!) this, and wasn't buying it for an upgrade (the V-DAC is going
to be partnered with its headphone amp brother - not yet here - for listening
at my desk...; the Arcam can then get back to running speakers in various
rooms).

Andrew

NFB 3.1 - Broken and Fixed

From: andrew cooke <andrew@...>

Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2012 19:20:21 -0300

A few weeks ago my Audio-gd NFB 3.1 failed.  I was moving it to another room
and, when I plugged it back in, the front display didn't light up and the
buttons didn't work (although it continued to convert the optical input to
audio!).

I was disappointed and worried, because I thought that I would need to post it
back to Hong Kong (not only had I thrown away the box, I had been charged
extra by DHL, which I wanted to avoid, and the round trip was going to take
over a month).

But the kind folks at Audio-gd worked with me to diagnose the issue at home,
and then shipped me a replacement control board.  I received it today (at not
cost), replaced it, and everything is back to normal.

So that's some great service.

(I also am now the proud owner of a Musical Fidelity headphone amp and USB
buffer (as well as the V-DAC) so expect some listening / comparison results
soon...)

Andrew

Comment on this post