I decided to pull the trigger on a pair of Stellias and have been going through this thread while I wait for them to arrive. Now I've got a couple of questions. First, all the complaints I've read about the stock cables being too stiff and microphonic convinced me to pre-emptively replace them...

ZMF Aleph

1) 72,460 2) 75,190 3) 77,295

1) 129,327 2) 155,902 3) 185,385

Those disadvantages apply to off-the-shelf DACs that incorporate analog conversion on chip. What Slaphead is asking about is implementing just the FPGA digital logic as an ASIC, where those disadvantages don't apply. In fact, my understanding is that an ASIC implementation will usually run...

I'm surprised no one else has pointed this out, but from the picture it looks like it's a two-channel series stepped attenuator. See here for a description of the different types. 

I'm pretty sure 0.99 prebeta 5 is the current release version, so my bet is you're using it, too. EAC's been in "beta" since I first tried it some seven or eight years ago. I guess the developer is *really* committed to a bug free 1.0 release. 

They're both lossless codecs, so the decoded audio should be identical to the original source for both. The only way for them to sound different is if the encoder or player has some sort of bug.

  Quote: Bit off topic, but I've been running EAC (v 0.99 prebeta 5) in Win7 x64 without any problems. Though, to be fair, I've only ripped 10 or so CDs since making the switch.

  Quote: The mobo might not, but the γ1's coax input is transformer coupled, so it should be isolated from whatever source it's connected to. This of course assumes you use an external power supply and not USB for power.   As a side note, aren't most DAC's transformer coupled? I...

    Quote:     There's no "seventy percent requirement" that I'm aware of. The actual threshold for rejecting the null hypothesis ("cable differences are inaudible") depends on the design of the experiment. In the case of an ABX style test, the usual criterion is that the sequence...

  Quote:   I remember hearing about a study where the subjects were shown pairs of images that were different in some way that could not be consciously perceived by the subjects. My memory is vague about this, but I think their eyes were perfectly fine, it was a disconnect somewhere in...

  Quote:   Okay, I see we're approaching the question slightly differently. You're discussing the more general question of "do cables make a difference?" where as I'm looking at it from the more pragmatic standpoint of "how do I determine if I hear differences between cables, and if so...

Quote:   Correction: removing any level mismatch removes one difference, the level mismatch. All other differences should be preserved. Perhaps we disagree on this point, but I don't think a volume difference is at all interesting on its own because it's equivalent to turning the volume...

Quote: While strictly true, volume differences are not interesting unless there are other differences that go with them (distortion, frequency response, etc.). I doubt anyone would be willing to pay extra for a cable whose only effect can be nullified by a simple turn of the volume knob...