Hi all,
Today I received the price for the B'ASS all aluminium case and as we could expect this is not really cheap.
Relative to the old price,
205 euros must be added for the case.
Copied from
this post the prices now are :
1.
With RCA-in and RCA-Out. Single Ended Stereo B'ASS. Output Impedance 33 Ohms.
Including Headphone output jack. Output Impedance 2.9 Ohms.
815 euros.
2.
With RCA-In + XLR-In and RCA-Out + XLR-Out. Balanced Stereo B'ASS. Output Impedance 33 Ohms.
Including Headphone output stereo jack (Single Ended). Output Impedance 2.9 Ohms.
995 euros.
3.
With BNC-In and BNC-Out. Single Ended Stereo B'ASS. Output Impedance 75 Ohms.
Including a pair of Blaxius BNC Interlinks of ~ 50cm / 20".
Including Headphone output jack. Output Impedance 2.9 Ohms.
945 euros.
4.
With 2x BNC-In and 2x BNC-Out. Balanced Stereo B'ASS. Output Impedance 2x 75 Ohms.
Including Headphone output stereo jack (Single Ended). Output Impedance 2.9 Ohms.
1125 euros.
It is now my question whether everybody says "never mind because we don't pay for nice cases and we like to pay for good sound only", or that half of you now says "No" which makes the case 125 euros more expensive for the other (this really is so because of overhead costs !).
Of course I'm hoping that everybody who applied so far, stays !
The above is half of the story - the other half is about the functionality. So :
Although exactly nobody complained about making it unnecessary expensive because not wanting more inputs and preamp like functions and volume control or headphone output ... I do not want to change anything around that. All I did though, was making the case suitable for it, in case it would be necessary for some. Since yesterday I have some electronics to start the testing of the additional functionalities (like input selection), so when I have some spare time I can start with that.
If you followed this topic, then you have seen that there's also more "functionality" possible for the adding of "current amplification" (maybe it is better to call that current boost). Thus, add more "amp" by means of switches. Of course this too costs money but at least that is directly related to Sound Quality and setting the best setting for your situation.
Side note regarding this (but I think I already mentioned that a while ago) : I now have another level of amp in there, and I switched that On and never Off again. But suddenly this is related to the Linear Power Supply I now use for the PC. Maybe I could sneak in
another level of amp ...
The cost for one level more is not crazy high for the components, but it costs relatively much time for the additional wiring. Think two pair of wires for 2 channels SE and 4 pairs for Differential (Balanced). This is then for one additional level which can be hooked on (or off). Make that two additional levels and we have 16 wires for Differential.
Then of course I was so "smart" to find a means of having two levels of amp by means of one switch only (a switch alone costs 11 euros) so with 4 switches we are capable of adding 8 levels (4 levels for Differential). These 8 levels really can be there (on the PCB) so when you are crazy enough you could really do it. But we can also try to be fair to those who use Differential and limit the maximum added levels to 4 (as just told, Differential can not be more than 4 anyway).
It is quite difficult to judge what the price per level is to be because it has to be done once. But also looking at the cost for components I'd say that it should be something like 125 euros for SE and double that for Differential (Differential is exactly twice all the components and work).
Hmm ... Looking back (above) at the Difference between RCA and XLR and seeing that this is 180 euros and which is for double the "amps" with 2 in there for the base, then two levels thus cost 180, or 90 per one. Now add mentioned switch at 11 and we see that 125 - 101 = 24 is left for the soldering of those wires.
I think I calculated well/fair (or consistently, if you want).
Right. Now we know a bit more about the cheapest update ever, which indeed is not so cheap any more;
If people now want input selection and volume control, this will add again. If the electronics I now have over here do their job as hoped, this adds 250-300 for Single Ended and 375-450 for Differential (all remote controlled). This is for realizing all the connections and of course the hardware, like connectors.
In between this all could be the headphone amp as such, which does not require any input selection or volume control at all. All *that* requires is just connectors of the type required and let's say that it is do or die with that, hence that someone who wants explicitly a headphone amp, just gets the connectors for that, which is diverse - see earlier posts (now you can more easily sell it, when needed).
What does that add ? when the XLR connectors are not there for other reasons already, say 45 (I have no clue, but it will be something like that, including the soldering).
I hope this is not too chaotic, but I had to write it down one way or the other, so for now this is the base. Later I can try to make a nice table of it, or something like that.
Questions ? please ask. For me, at this moment, the most important is the knowledge of how many people still apply because this is so heavily related to the price of the case.
And let's try not to forget : it might not be the cheapest upgrade any more, but it sure is the most valuable upgrade. You'll get a totally new DAC because of it.
Regards,
Peter
