Dissident Sound on Nostr: the implication here is that higher end DACs can actually sound better than lower end ...
the implication here is that higher end DACs can actually sound better than lower end DACs if they implement better math ...
mikedilger (npub1acg…p35c) mleku (npub1fjq…leku)
i remember when after college i got Benchmark DAC1 which was $1,000 then ( about $2,000 in today's money ) and me and my friends all heard the difference and i couldn't understand why it sounded so much more detailed but now it makes sense. i expected a very slightly cleaner sound instead it was like the difference between tape and vinyl - night and day.
that DAC replaced an internal sound card. at the time i expected the difference to come from taking the DAC outside the PC chassis with its noisy motherboard power but in retrospect it's obvious the difference was from better math.
my guess is the specs probably said something about it but even after passing signal processing class in college it was still mumbo jumbo to me. i only looked at things like %THD and DB SNR and it was an order of magnitude above everything else on the market and every review was glowing and pics of internals looked like real quality so i decided it was the one to get ...
but in retrospect i know the THD and SNR of the card it replaced were already good enough, and it had to be something else that made the difference. it didn't just sound cleaner - it sounded like it pulled information from the Compact Disc that the old soundcard somehow was missing. turns out that's exactly what it was.
well it was 20 years ago so i may be missing parts of the story. i think at the time the way i tried to explain it to myself is there was some hidden high frequency boost in the DAC to make it sound extra spicy. and maybe there was. but maybe there wasn't.
even so, i wouldn't spend $$$ on a DAC today because i firmly believe that speakers make a bigger difference. the fact the DAC made a difference AT ALL is what shocked me. whereas ALL speakers sound different from each other.
mikedilger (npub1acg…p35c) mleku (npub1fjq…leku)
i remember when after college i got Benchmark DAC1 which was $1,000 then ( about $2,000 in today's money ) and me and my friends all heard the difference and i couldn't understand why it sounded so much more detailed but now it makes sense. i expected a very slightly cleaner sound instead it was like the difference between tape and vinyl - night and day.
that DAC replaced an internal sound card. at the time i expected the difference to come from taking the DAC outside the PC chassis with its noisy motherboard power but in retrospect it's obvious the difference was from better math.
my guess is the specs probably said something about it but even after passing signal processing class in college it was still mumbo jumbo to me. i only looked at things like %THD and DB SNR and it was an order of magnitude above everything else on the market and every review was glowing and pics of internals looked like real quality so i decided it was the one to get ...
but in retrospect i know the THD and SNR of the card it replaced were already good enough, and it had to be something else that made the difference. it didn't just sound cleaner - it sounded like it pulled information from the Compact Disc that the old soundcard somehow was missing. turns out that's exactly what it was.
well it was 20 years ago so i may be missing parts of the story. i think at the time the way i tried to explain it to myself is there was some hidden high frequency boost in the DAC to make it sound extra spicy. and maybe there was. but maybe there wasn't.
even so, i wouldn't spend $$$ on a DAC today because i firmly believe that speakers make a bigger difference. the fact the DAC made a difference AT ALL is what shocked me. whereas ALL speakers sound different from each other.