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John A. Westlake

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John A. Westlake
BornJuly 1970
OccupationHi Fi designer

John Alexander Westlake (born July 1970) is a British-Czech Hi Fi designer.

Early life and education

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John Westlake is a son of a Czech mother and a British father. He was born in London but spent his early years in Czechoslovakia. His father was a physicist at the Imperial College in London. He is a self taught Hi Fi designer who didn't receive a formal university education and learnt electronics by observing his father's work.[1]

Career

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John Westlake started his Hi Fi career in his early twenties while working for a Hi Fi company Pink Triangle. He designed the Pink Triangle DaCapo digital to analog converter in 1991. He then moved on to working for Cambridge Audio, designing many of their award winning products - Cambridge Audio DACMagic digital to analog converter, CD4, CD4SE, CD6, DAC 123, ISO Magic etc.[2]

He has also been working with semiconductor companies that patent some of his technologies: UK patent on Feedback controller for PWM amplifier, International patent on a signal processing circuit. John Westlake is known for his work on Class D amplifier technology.

In 2008, after years of research and working for semiconductor companies, he started his own company - Lakewest Audio & returned to designing Hi Fi products. He is the designer behind the Peachtree Audio Nova D/A integrated amplifier that was voted a Budget Product of the Year 2009 by Stereophile magazine.[3] Peachtree Audio Decco2 integrated amplifier & the Peachtree Audio iDAC – Tube Hybrid Integrated Amp with "Pure Digital" iPod Dock - voted Stereophile's Products of 2011.[4] His designs also include the Audiolab 8200 CD player – an award winning Best Product of the Year 2010 and Best Product of the Year 2011 by What HiFi Sound & Vision magazine.[5][6]

This was followed by the Audiolab 8200CDQ – an all in one CD player, DAC and pre-amplifier. His most successful addition to the Audiolab product line was the original M-DAC,[7] a standalone D/A converter. M-DAC held What HiFi Sound & Vision magazine award for 4 years consecutive years[8] and became a European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA) European Product of the Year 2012-2013.[9]

His latest cooperation involved Pro-Ject PreBox S2 Digital - DAC/Headphone amplifier, European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA) European Product of the Year 2017-2018,[10] Pro-Ject DAC Box S2+ and Pro-Ject StreamBox S2 Ultra.

He is currently semi-retired.

Crowdfunding Projects and Controversies

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Source:[11]

John has proposed several Crowdfunded Development Projects utilising his Electronic Design experience. These started in 2013 on the audio discussion forum pinkfishmedia.net[11] with the MDAC2 proposal and was followed by a VFET Amplifier, DETOX USB signal adapter and MDAC2 Streamer. The proposal for these projects was a development period of months with investors rewarded with completed design PCBs and products produced at cost. In total over £100,000 has been raised to fund the developments. Apart from a limited number of MDAC2 Streamer Boards, no project has produced a completed design and offered to investors.

Planned months of project development have subsequently turned into years with numerous planned completion deadlines failing to be realised. Instead of focussing on achievable design goals, John has allowed projects to run-off on tangents chasing new technology and ultimate performance. John refuses to accept offers of help for Project Management and maintains a self-control development model. Consequently, investor concerns and frustrations have grown and many have spoken out against John over the timescales and his project development methods. Because of these criticisms, John now mainly only discusses the crowdfunded projects on a private Closed Facebook Group page under his control.

MDAC2 DAC Project

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Source:[11]

In 2013, John Westlake used the audio discussion forum pinkfishmedia.net[12] to offer the development of an upgraded MDAC mainboard to project investors. Investors would support the development with stage funding of £400-£600[13] and be offered the upgraded DAC mainboard on an "at cost" production basis. The original development was to be months, with delivery in 2013. Under John Westlake, the project then went off on several design tangents and morphed into other projects like the FDAC [14] with a new chassis proposal. To date, no MDAC2 board or product had been finalised or produced for offer to the MDAC2 project investors. Together with the VFET Amplifier and DETOX Projects, John Westlake has taken over £100,000 from investors and delivered no projects.

Originally, upon design completion, production was to be sourced from China utilising Johns manufacturing supply chain contacts. Then there were concerns over quality from China and Europe was planned. Finally, John, with the help of further investor payments, set up a production facility in his lab in the Czech Republic. This setup was supposed to be the final solution to PCB production issues.

Due to a lack of progress and the timescales taken on the project, investors concerns grew and many spoke out on the pinkfishmedia.net MDAC2 threads. John, used this as his platform to launch the project and was highly involved in the discussions. However, as time went on, John's promises of delivery came and went and criticisms grew from investors frustrations. John now only uses a closed Facebook Group page under his control to discuss the MDAC2 project.

Some investors feel that John has used the MDAC2 project funding to kit out his lab and develop projects sold to manufacturers such as the Project Stream Box S2 Ultra. That incorporates many design features which were to be included in the MDAC2. Because of the timescales, broken promises and lack of progress, many MDAC2 investors have written-off their investment funding.

MDAC2 Streamer Board Project

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Source:[11]

The MDAC2 Streamer Board is a music streamer John Westlake offered to investors in order to fund and build an in-house PCB production facility at his lab in the Czech Republic. This was supposed to allow the production of the MDAC2 DAC PCB Boards in-house under John's quality control. Some MDAC2 Streamer Boards were produced, but some investors didn't get a product as John then proposed to incorporate the streamer board into the forthcoming main MDAC2 board.

VFET Amplifier Project

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Source:[11]

The VFET Amplifier is a similar investor backed project to the MDAC2 development which started in 2014 with delivery planned for late that year. The VFET was to be developed from the Audiolab 8000MB Monoblock amplifiers. John supposedly bought sufficient 8000MB chassis to fulfil the project investors orders at over £3,000 per pair, paid upfront. To date, no VFET amplifier completed design has been shown, nor have any amplifiers been produced.

DETOX USB Project

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Source:[11]

The 2015 USB Detox was to be a device to detox the USB signal fed to DACs. As with the MDAC2 and VFET Projects, John offered these on a development investor basis of £50 with an at cost production anticipated to be around £130 In 2016, a prototype was produced and reported to be working, but the project was then dropped by John in 2018 because it was to be incorporated directly into the MDAC2 project design.

Patents

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Designs

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Brand Product name Awards
Pink Triangle Dacapo
Pink Triangle DC
Pink Triangle Ordinal
Pink Triangle Cardinal
Pink Triangle PIPII Battery PSU
Pink Triangle Anniversy Battery PSU
Cambridge Audio DACMagic MK1,2 & 3
Cambridge Audio CD4
Cambridge Audio CD4SE
Cambridge Audio CD6
Cambridge Audio IsoMagic
Audio Innovations Alto CD player
Audio Innovations TubeTechnology Fusion
KV2 DSD based Delaylines
Quad Electroacoustics Elite FM
Quad Electroacoustics Artera (Streamer Section)
Quad Electroacoustics Solo (Streamer Section)
Peachtree Audio Nova
  • Stereophile's Products of 2009[15]
Peachtree Audio iDecco
  • Stereophile's Products of 2011[16]
Peachtree Audio iNova
Peachtree Audio iDac
  • Stereophile's Products of 2011 JOINT BUDGET COMPONENTS OF THE YEAR[17]
Warwick (company) BC20 Bass Amp designed with Jonas Hellborg
Warwick (company) BC40 Bass Amp designed with Jonas Hellborg
Warwick (company) BC80 Bass Amp designed with Jonas Hellborg
Warwick (company) BC150 Bass Amp designed with Jonas Hellborg
Audiolab 8200CD
  • 2010: What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision - 5 Star Award[18]
  • 2010: What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision - Product of The Year - CD player[19]
  • 2010: What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision - Group Test Winner[20]
  • 2010: Hi Fi Choice - Recommended Award and 5 stars[21]
  • 2010: TechRadar[22]
  • 2011: Hi Fi Choice - 5-Star Award - Best CD Player up to £1,000[23]
  • 2012: BBC Music Magazine - 5 Star and product of year[24]
  • 2012: What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision - 5-Star Award[25]
  • 2013: Hi-Fi Choice Group test winner[26]
Audiolab 8200CDQ
  • 2011: What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision - 5-Star Award(first tests)[27]
  • 2011: Hi-Fi World - 5-Globe Award[28][29]
  • 2011: Hi-Fi Choice - Recommended Award - Best CD Player up to £1,000[30]
  • 2012: Hi-Fi Choice 5 star Award[31]
Audiolab 8200DQ
Audiolab MDAC
  • 2011: What Hi-Fi? Sound And Vision - Product Of The Year[32]
  • 2011: What Hi-Fi? Sound And Vision - 5 Star Award[33]
  • 2012: Hi-Fi Choice - 5 Star Award[34]
  • 2012: Hi-Fi Choice - Editors Choice[35]
  • 2012: What Hi-Fi? Sound And Vision - Best Digital Headphone Amp[36]
  • 2012: Hi-Fi News - Outstanding Product[37]
  • 2012: EISA Awards 2012-13 - European D/A Converter[38]
  • 2013: Hi-Fi Choice - Group Test Winner[39]
  • 2013: Hi-Fi Choice - 5 Globe Award[40]
  • 2013: What Hi-Fi? Sound And Vision - Product of the Year - Best DAC £500-£700.[41]
  • 2014: What Hi-Fi? Sound And Vision - Product of the Year - Best DAC £500 - £700[42]
  • 2015: What Hi-Fi? Sound And Vision - 5* Recommended Laptop System (with Grado SR325E / Macbook Air)[43]
Creek Audio EVOLUTION 100CD (CD Servo, front panel, FM Tuner section)
Pro-Ject PreBox S2 Digital
  • 2017: EISA Awards - Best Product - EISA DAC/HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER 2017-2018[45]
  • 2018: Stereoplay Test - Outstanding Performance[46]
Pro-Ject HeadBox S2
Pro-Ject DAC Box S2+
Pro-Ject StreamBox S2 Ultra
  • 2018: EISA AWARDS - Best Product - EISA STREAMER 2018-2019[47]

References

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  1. ^ Price, David (November 2017). "Left to his own devices". Hi-Fi Choice (429): 64–66.
  2. ^ "Cambridge Audio DACMagic". zStereo. 11 July 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  3. ^ "Stereophile's Products of 2009". Stereophile.com. 30 November 2009. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  4. ^ "Stereophile's Products of 2011 JOINT BUDGET". Stereophile. December 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  5. ^ "CD Players | What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision Awards 2011". Archived from the original on 18 October 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2010.
  6. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 23 October 2011. Retrieved 3 November 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 August 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. ^ "MDAC". Audiolab. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  9. ^ "Hi-Fi Awards 2012-13". EISA - European Imaging and Sound Association.
  10. ^ "Product of The Year - EISA DAC/HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER 2017-2018". EISA - European Imaging and Sound Association. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  11. ^ a b c d e f "The John Westlake/Lakewest MDAC/FDAC, VFET and Detox". pink fish media. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
  12. ^ "The John Westlake/Lakewest MDAC/FDAC, VFET and Detox". pink fish media. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  13. ^ Westlake, John (14 June 2022). "M-DAC Next Generation Mainboard".
  14. ^ "Lakewest FDAC". mdac2.lakewestaudio.com. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  15. ^ "Products of 2009 Budget Product of the Year". Stereophile. 30 November 2009. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  16. ^ "Products of 2011 JOINT BUDGET COMPONENTS OF THE YEAR". Stereophile. December 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  17. ^ "Stereophile's Products of 2011 JOINT BUDGET". Stereophile. December 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  18. ^ "Audiolab Awards". Audiolab. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  19. ^ "Audiolab 8200CD review". What Hi-Fi. 14 February 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  20. ^ "Audiolab Awards". Audiolab. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  21. ^ "Audiolab Awards". Audiolab. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  22. ^ "Audiolab Awards". Audiolab. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  23. ^ "Best CD Player up to £1,000". Hi-Fi Choice. 10 January 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  24. ^ "Discontinued Audiolab 8200CD CD Player". Superfi. Retrieved 5 August 2018.[permanent dead link‍]
  25. ^ "Audiolab 8200CD review". What Hi-Fi. 14 February 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  26. ^ "Audiolab Awards". Audiolab. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  27. ^ "Audiolab 8200CDQ review". What Hi-Fi. 15 August 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  28. ^ "Audiolab 8200CDQ" (PDF). Hi-Fi Studio. Retrieved 5 August 2018.[permanent dead link‍]
  29. ^ Price, David (August 2011). "Pre-Position Audiolab 8200CDQ" (PDF). Hi-Fi World. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  30. ^ "Audiolab Awards". Audiolab. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  31. ^ "Audiolab Awards". Audiolab. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  32. ^ "M-DAC". Audiolab. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  33. ^ "Audiolab Awards". Audiolab. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  34. ^ "Audiolab M-DAC: Still reigns supreme class leading DAC". Audio Affair. 21 December 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  35. ^ "Audiolab M-DAC: Still reigns supreme class leading DAC". Audio Affair. 21 December 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  36. ^ "Audiolab Awards". Audiolab. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  37. ^ "Audiolab Awards". Audiolab. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  38. ^ "Hi-Fi Awards 2012-13". EISA - European Imaging and Sound Association.
  39. ^ "Audiolab Awards". Audiolab. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  40. ^ "Audiolab Awards". Audiolab. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  41. ^ "2013 DACs - Product of the year". What Hi-Fi. November 2013. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  42. ^ "2014 DACs - Product of the year". What Hi-Fi. November 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  43. ^ "Best desktop system for £2000". What Hi-Fi. 21 August 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  44. ^ "EVOLUTION 100CD". Creek Audio. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  45. ^ "Product of The Year - EISA DAC/HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER 2017-2018". EISA - European Imaging and Sound Association. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  46. ^ "Stereoplay reviews the Tube Box S2". Project Audio. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  47. ^ "EISA STREAMER 2018-2019". EISA. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
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