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Item: Empirical Audio Synchro-Mesh Location: Clayton, Melbourne Price: $480 posted in Australia Item Condition: As new. Reason for selling: Switching to a 96KHz version. Payment Method: Pickup - Cash, PayPal, Bank transfer Extra Info: 44.1KHz version S/PDIF re-clocker. RCA, BNC and Optical inputs/outputs. 2 months old, includes power cable + transformer. Bought from lusk just last week, but I am buying my old 96KHz unit back off katattack. Review: http://www.6moons.co...pirical4/1.html Pics:

Further information: *UP FOR SALE ANEW* I confess I suffered some "seller's dread" the first time around back in Feb and couldn't quite bring myself to do it. Empirical Audio Overdrive Diamond SX Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) - with Steve Nugent latest Duelund Caps Crystek Oscillator upgrades low hours use - you would be the third owner Matte "machined silver" style finish Check out that price! With all the upgrades available this unit was RRP US$13,500 in 2019 (of course + delivery, +customs charges if you're not in the US, +, +, +). Then I had Steve Nugent do the newer Crystek oscillator, which was a couple hundred more. At that time this was on numerous shortlists for SOTA DACs around the world...up to you to determine where it would sit now, but adjusted for value-for-money this must be positioned somewhere right up there... *VERY NEAR* offers may be entertained, but please don't waste time—yours and mine—with any low-balls... This unit is in truly excellent condition, having spent its time with me in a dust-free, pet-free, non-smoking household. I am the second owner, second only to fellow industry participant and Waversa dealer John Ketcham, and the unit came to me via Steve Nugent's bench where I had him upgrade everything with every available board and upgrade. When I checked with him recently, there were no more recently available upgrades. Reason(s) for selling? There are two: (1)—I'm trying to simplify a little; and (2) I'm trying to put together a system only with manufacturers tied to my immediate family's countries-of-origin, which for me means Australian, New Zealand and The Netherlands! The Ethernet input is one aspect that sets this unit apart. No need for a server as such. Empirical Audio never goes on sale and Diamond SX rarely is seen for sale used on the market, especially one in this truly excellent condition. There are a couple of casing pressure marks, but I believe these just have been from being held/clamped on the original workbench, so for the knowing buyer just add to the unit's esoteric boutique charm! This unit is fitted with Steven Nugent's 'Interchange' network (ethernet) renderer module—giving Ethernet direct to I2S with a *very* short internal cable length. I believe this can be switched to a new XMOS properly galvanically isolated USB module. (I prefer Ethernet for workability in my context, Steve Nugent prefers the XMOS USB in critical listening...you may be able to work out Steve doing the swap-back for you, subject to his labour & shipping costs...YMMV, caveat emptor, etc.) Happy to ship WORLDWIDE from Sydney Australia. Key design / technology points are: Low jitter Clocks Low jitter Ethernet interface module Ultra-Simple pure Class-A analog Path Optimal technology D/A Volume Control Ultra-Linear tube-like Output Stage Fully Balanced Analog Path Point-to-Point silver wiring for the analog output stages High quality output coupling caps — V-Caps and Duelunds Fast hybrid power supply and dedicated Hynes-technology regulators throughout NB: This unit is set to US (120v) voltage specification (but I believe can be re-adjusted by Steve Nugent, or perhaps with others with the know-how? As always, caveat emptor). NB: The unit is in a two-box configuration, of which the DAC unit runs quite warm. Accordingly I have been running it in a fan-forced ventilated cabinet set-up, along with a Supratek Cabernet Dual tube pre-amp which runs similarly very warm. Not that this is necessary as such; the unit has a large heatsink on the top and other owners in straight fan-less setups have reported no issues that I have seen. YMMV. NB: This unit is the Ethernet version, ie. with Empirical Audio's Interchange Network Renderer module pre-installed. It DOES NOT HAVE any USB input as it stands, although this MAY be available for alternative installation by Steve Nugent at Empirical Audio. Any such swap out would be entirely between the prospective buyer and Steve to work out, including any required costs of parts, work, freight, etc. This is a truly a wonderful opportunity. I owned a heavily modded Benchmark Audio DAC3 HGC prior to this, which was pretty awesome, and in its unmodded form is *EVEN TODAY* an A+ rated device on Stereophile's Recommended Components listing...well, for me at least, the Benchmark didn't hold a candle to the Empirical ODSX! (This was my listing for that unit:) Empirical Audio website product page: https://www.empiricalaudio.com/products/overdrive-dac The unit is a UPnP / DLNA specification so The unit does appear on Sonore's list of compatible units that CAN RUN ROON with this additional unit: https://www.smallgreencomputer.com/collections/accessories/products/upnpbridge?variant=6964135395362 Industry Commentary...on the ODSX: “The Overdrive SX puts out an enormous, wide soundstage with excellent depth perspective...The Overdrive SX DAC is very revealing from top to bottom and is superb in resolving inner detail with a lifelike presence in both timbre and dynamics. The Overdrive has extremely low noise and overall coloration.” Steven Plaskin, Feb. 2018 ...on its predecessor the ODSE: “If I were to sum up the Overdrive SE's sonic qualities in just a few words, those words would be clean, accurate, precise and fast. By comparison to the Overdrive SE, most of the other DACs I've auditioned sound veiled and slow... The Overdrive is incredibly resolving, and its detail is a result of exceptional clarity..It is outstanding in every way, outperforms many more expensive DACs and I unequivocally give it my highest recommendation.” Laurence Borden, Dagogo, Jan. 2015 ...and on the original Overdrive: “…my independent impressions of the Overdrive DAC were confirmed when I made direct comparisons to other highly-regarded DACs. The Overdrive emerged as my preferred DAC.” Ed Momkus, Dagogo, Mar. 2011 “…regardless of how I employed the Overdrive DAC I was aware that I was listening to the best USB DAC I had ever reviewed.” Steven Stone, The Absolute Sound, Feb. 2010 Award Tas Golden Ear 2010 Small The Overdrive DAC received The Absolute Sound ‘Golden Ear’ Award 2010 ----- From Steve Nugent's own website material: Overdrive® SX USB DAC/Pre: A World-Class Digital to Analog Converter with volume control and either USB or Ethernet interface, as well as other interfaces The Overdrive SX DAC is a breakthrough audio product, our third generation of this DAC. Our original Overdrive and the follow-on Overdrive SE won awards and accolades, but the sound quality of the SX is in another league. If you want the music experience that moves your soul, the Overdrive SX can deliver this. It is detailed without being harsh, dynamic from top to bottom, quiet enough to deliver the blackest backgrounds and precise enough to deliver the deepest, widest and most focused image you have ever experienced. Very 3-D presentation, provided your room setup is optimum. You will easily hear the difference between different formats, like FLAC, ALAC and .wav. Even 44.1 PCM tracks will sound like hi-res DSD or MQA. It actually makes these hi-res formats unnecessary. The Overdrive SX does not support DSD. It is available with our excellent low-jitter 192 asynchronous XMOS-based isolated USB interface or our excellent low-jitter 192 Ethernet Renderer interface (DLNA/UPnP) built-in. Either of these deliver data to the D/A with 10psec of jitter (jitter plots below). In addition to one of these two interfaces, the Overdrive also has S/PDIF coax input on BNC connector and single-ended I2S input on RJ-45 connector. The Overdrive SX has balanced and single-ended outputs, but the single-ended RCA outputs should primarily be used for a subwoofer. The Overdrive is best used with balanced outputs. If your equipment does not accept balanced signals, we can provide our Final Drives to change from balanced to single-ended. Even though the Overdrive SX is a Sigma-Delta modulator architecture, it delivers the live sound quality of NOS and R2R tube DACs, without having the tubes to wear-out. It is more accurate and more dynamic than any R2R DAC we have heard. Because of the excellent volume control technology, the Overdrive SX DAC enables you to play music from your computer directly to your amp, achieving unparalleled sound quality. All you need is the Overdrive and a PC or a Mac, an amplifier and speakers and you are ready for music. The Overdrive will also improve the playback from your CD transport or other devices like Sonos, but we recommend using our Synchro-Mesh re-clocker to reduce jitter from those first. Once you start using the computer for music, you will never go back to spinning CDs. Playback using the computer will be superior to the best CD transport you have heard, even when playing low-res CD rips, provided you use optimum playback software and quality cabling. Once you have an Overdrive, we can assist you with the ancillary things needed to achieve optimum performance, like cables, software, re-clockers, isolators etc.. The Overdrive design philosophy is minimalist, with one of the simplest analog paths ever devised. The Overdrive provides innovative solutions for the [...] most important issues with digital sources. ----- From Industry Participant and first-time owner John Ketcham (from whom I bought this unit in late 2019): "Greetings Everyone. I wanted to update you regarding Steve Nugent's Empirical Overdrive Diamond SX with the optional internal galvanic isolated Ethernet direct I2S converter cpu. I have run the unit 24/7 for over 1000 hours and I must admit the caps needed this time to break in. This will be the first dac that I felt needed over 6 weeks of almost continuous play to break in. However, this is one instance where patience paid dividends. Since we all have our own perception and certainly favor different qualities, I am not going to delve into a lengthy review. The qualities that stand out and I believe most would agree, the dac is well balanced on all fronts and certainly demonstrates design implementation is more important than the dac chip itself. Historically, I have been approached by others who felt the ODSE was overly analytical. I humbly disagreed as I found it to be detailed, accurate and perhaps unforgiving. While I found the SE emotionally engaging, the SX is addictive. The more dacs I audition, I find myself with a preference to non-oversampling design implementation. My goal is to compare this unit to a R2R ladder dac, Totaldac, and will report my results. At 4x the price, it would have to engage me on an entirely different level. Steve's dac chip is proprietary and I feel discussing design theory should be left to the electrical engineers. At first blush, I had found little difference between the ODSE and the ODSX. Over time the Diamond SX bloomed, creating an even more precise presentation of the music. Well-recorded intimate recordings immersed me into a room of musicians. Big venue live recordings placed me back from the stage, closer to the soundboard, creating a deep and viable soundstage. Both the ODSE and the ODSX have been the best interpolating PCM data and recreating an accurate presentation of the recording, especially piano, wind instruments, and particularly the mid and upper range of percussion decay. I still hold to my initial assessment years ago. I have yet to find a DSD dac that performs better than Steve’s implementation of PCM. However, I have not heard a ground up designed DSD only (non PCM) dac. ... The Ethernet DNLA/UPnP is simpler, more robust, and strait forward. Unlike USB, Ethernet packets of data are checked for errors and packets with errors are resent. The more I read about USB implementation, more validating why I despised it and found it universally inferior to AES/EBU. ROON uses its own RAAT protocol in place of DNLA/UPnP. The third party company which designed the Ethernet to I2S converter CPU chip has no interest in RAAT. ROON states they will implement DNLA but with no timeline. Because of this current incompatibility, I have not pursued ROON at this juncture. One manufacture who uses this CPU has figured a work around and was able to implement ROON RAAT. However this was not to an I2S conversion. Through Bubble UPnP and Linn Kazoo (both free) I am able to stream Tidal without any issue. Linn Kazoo is not on the same league as ROON or even Tidal’s own controller. To say it plainly, the user interface sucks. There are many third party controllers. Some are free, while some are cheap to purchase. They all work well, and I give credit to this third party manufacturer. Not all Ethernet dacs/Renderers have this level of performance. Please note: I find those controllers that send a file direct from NAS to the DAC without processing sound better. Those who have interest in this topic please PM me for more detail and discussion. I would love to learn where others have found success and discovered absolute ‘do not’s’. I wish to commend Steve on a well designed dac. Thank you for reigniting my passion for this hobby. This last year has been somewhat frustrating for me. High-end components do not necessarily play well together and this certainly has been a journey. When my wife leaves a concert and says that sounded as good as listening at home, she is complementing the venue…and Steve the credit belongs to you." Photos: