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Is the ODAC fatiguing?

post #1 of 14
8/12/12 at 5:40am
Thread Starter 

People say its the best DAC in the price range but many people say it sounds fatiguing, is that true? Would the HRT MusicStreamer II be a good alternative?

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post #2 of 14
8/12/12 at 9:04am

Depends on the amp. Through my M3 (a warm amp) there is no hint of any harshness.

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post #3 of 14
8/12/12 at 9:06am

You have to understand what the "O" in ODAC means.  It means objective.  The whole goal of that project is to make a DAC that presents the source material exactly as it was recorded and rendered into the digital format.  Unfortunately, so many mixes these day are terrible digital dumps that are fatiguing on their own end.  If that's the case, the ODAC won't cover any of that up.  In other words, if the recording is fatiguing, the ODAC will present it as fatiguing.  If the recording is smooth and pleasant, the ODAC will present it as smooth as present.  Some DACS are very forgiving.  The ODAC was designed to be ruthless.
 

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post #4 of 14
8/12/12 at 10:17am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by hodgjy View Post

You have to understand what the "O" in ODAC means.  It means objective.  The whole goal of that project is to make a DAC that presents the source material exactly as it was recorded and rendered into the digital format.  Unfortunately, so many mixes these day are terrible digital dumps that are fatiguing on their own end.  If that's the case, the ODAC won't cover any of that up.  In other words, if the recording is fatiguing, the ODAC will present it as fatiguing.  If the recording is smooth and pleasant, the ODAC will present it as smooth as present.  Some DACS are very forgiving.  The ODAC was designed to be ruthless.
 

Does the HRT MusicStreamer have the same problem? (I don't know if you consider that a problem or not)

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post #5 of 14
8/12/12 at 10:31am
It was fatiguing for me. Used with an o2 and flac files through foobar. With a t1 and mad dogs . It might produce measurements showing it to reproduce what's being fed to it, but doesn't mean everyone wants that. I sold it and went back to the bi frost and to my ears, matches my sound signature better.
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post #6 of 14
8/12/12 at 10:35am

The HRT MS is less resolving and more forgiving.

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by daniel521 View Post

Does the HRT MusicStreamer have the same problem? (I don't know if you consider that a problem or not)

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post #7 of 14
8/12/12 at 1:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by hodgjy View Post

The HRT MS is less resolving and more forgiving.

 

 

Are you talking about the HRT Music Streamer (ver. 1), or the HRT Music Streamer II ?

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post #8 of 14
8/31/12 at 8:28pm

I think it depends on the the headphone you're using. A bright headphone will sound sound "nicer" through a warm amp/dac compared to a neutral dac/amp like the odac. What headphones do you plan on using with it?

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post #9 of 14
8/31/12 at 9:25pm

...how can a cheap flat response sound more fatiguing than an expensive flat response? 

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post #10 of 14
8/31/12 at 9:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by muad View Post

...how can a cheap flat response sound more fatiguing than an expensive flat response? 

.


Edited by paradoxper - 8/31/12 at 9:53pm
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post #11 of 14
8/31/12 at 9:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by muad View Post

...how can a cheap flat response sound more fatiguing than an expensive flat response? 

 

Because frequency response, which is flat for most DACs (excepting the slope of their filters as you get towards the Nyquist frequency) doesn't tell the whole story. Not to mention that the impressions people have of the ODAC will be affected by the quality of the power supplied by the USB port of whatever they plug it in to. That is the limitation of the design and why it is cheap.

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post #12 of 14
8/31/12 at 9:35pm

I'm curious... I don't know as much as some of you guys. So I asked a question to enlighten myself...

 

assuming the power supply is good and there's no added emphasis on the fatiguing frequencies, then can a cheap flat dac be more fatiguing than a more expensive dac? I've just noticed quite a few of the people that find the odac fatiguing have bright/neutral cans... its in their profile usually. I can see how this can be annoying on many recordings...


Edited by muad - 8/31/12 at 9:42pm
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post #13 of 14
8/31/12 at 9:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by muad View Post

...how can a cheap flat response sound more fatiguing than an expensive flat response? 

 

Your statement points out a logical fallacy. Flat is flat regardless of price or brand (or country of origin.)

 

Of course, this doesn't imply, logically, that the ODAC is the best DAC available. Is it? Caveat auditor.

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post #14 of 14
9/3/12 at 10:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by daniel521 View Post

People say its the best DAC in the price range but many people say it sounds fatiguing, is that true? 

 

In comparison with a Centrance DACport LX and an iBasso DB2, I indeed found the Objective DAC to be fatiguing - at least with my equipment chain.   See this post.

 

Mike


Edited by zilch0md - 9/9/12 at 11:50am
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