The Ware for May 2010 was roundly and soundly guessed, even from just a partial photo of the system. The winner is Michael L., please email me to claim your prize.

I particularly love this snippet of his answer:

NAD is known for their single sided blue PCBs, as well. That’s what made me shout “NAD!” when I saw the picture. :)

I love my NAD C352. It’s a huge upgrade in terms of sound quality from my previous integrated Sony and rackmount QSC amps. I find the NAD C352 has a greater depth of sound at 1/10th the power of my rackmount QSC; it can deliver a sharp, punchy bassline that keeps my head bobbing through the night whilst I design circuits. The only trouble with my system is that it’s finally accurate enough to bring out the compression artifacts of 320kbps mp3s, so now I’ve got to find or make FLAC’s for my favorite music. I am also much more aware now of the production quality of music, so I’m starting to pick artists based on, in part, the quality of their producers (or finding artists that are also stellar producers).

As for my usesthis interview — that was a typo (my fault), I had swapped the last two digits of the model number when I wrote it originally. Whoops!

The Ware for May 2010 is shown below. Click on the image for a much larger version.

I love any ware that includes big, fat, copper bus bars.

It was tough picking an angle for this Ware that didn’t make it too easy to guess the exact model and make. Hopefully this is not too obtuse; if it is, I’ll post another angle that will give more context and make it easier to guess!

[edit: well, that was quick. Below is the context image I was holding in reserve. It’s a nice look at some of the other circuit techniques NAD employs, such as the ferrite bead on the base lead of the output stage transistors, and of course, more big sexy copper bus bars]

The ware for April 2010 was an Intel 8749. Below is a shot of it nestled in its quartz window.

Back when I was in grade school, I was given one of these and even though I didn’t know how to use it, I had a vague inkling of what it could do. I would gaze at the silicon chip through the quartz window in fascination for hours at a time, sometimes using the hand-held magnifying lens that I’d also use on sunny Michigan summer days to burn holes in paper and fry ants on the driveway. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d eventually own a “real” microscope; making a micrograph of the chip was like a walk down memory lane.

Judging this competition was tough, because Michel had the correct answer first, but I really enjoyed reading Devlin’s detailed analysis and explanation. Since the spirit of the competition is learning hardware through the examination and sharing of observations (expedience and accuracy are secondary criteria), I think I’ll pick Devlin as the winner this time. Congrats, send me an email to claim your prize!

The Ware for April 2010 is shown below. Click the image for a larger version.

I’m struggling to come up with meaningful commentary that won’t also give away the answer, so I’ll save the comments for when I provide the solution!