Quote:
Originally Posted by
zenpunk 
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Currawong 
How are you connecting it?
I had the MDAC fed through usb then using its SPDIF out (which is said to be dejittered ) to feed the Metrum. Both plugged into the Topping and level matched using MDAC volume pot (-1db) . The Topping has an electronic relay as source selector so switching DACs is gapless. Didn't matter how hard I tried I couldn't detect the slightest differences. My friend didn't even realised I had switched sources multiple times when he tried.
Interesting. Can you hear any difference when using 44.1k music versus up-sampling (eg: in software) with the Octave? I could on my system, though it was fairly slight. One thing I find helpful is, rather than trying to listen for differences in snippets (which admittedly is good for detecting differences in detail levels) is to just listen normally to my current favourite playlist with one DAC for a few days, then switch at some point to another. I tend, then, to feel something is better or worse. Often it's very slight, such a particular instrument on a particular track sounding more right, wrong or whatever.
However, I reckon if, say, the M-DAC uses a slow roll-off filter like the Octave and has similar levels of resolution, it would very hard to tell them apart.