[dw1narso]

Thanks for clearer explanation Madwolf...
 
Your graph seems to show nothing wrong on NFB-12.
 
While I think Conexant on my PC (the chip or the driver) is actually struggling to upsample 44.1Khz to 48Khz. and I think that's where the noise coming from.
 
Curious question now... your CSD graph of NFB-12 looks s clean between 2K to 19K, while supercurio's different graph show an affected lower than 19Khz spectrum (http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/524263/audio-gd-nfb-12/480#post_7247689). Any idea?
 

 

[thuantran]

Quote:

For example you will not get better sound of Celine Dion records by going from 128Kbps to FLAC. In fact, 128Kbps may make them more listenable... Pity her, such a great artist but badly produced records...

Listen to Loreena McKennitt then, e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw_cZGrVFqw .

 

[BrianMendoza]

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by madwolf /img/forum/go_quote.gif

 

The 3 sound signature could be set by using different input data rate. 

Maybe using 44 is the "smooth musical" sound flavor

using 96 is in between "musical and neutral "

and 192 is "neutral "

 

 

 

Again, I'm new to DAC's so I was hoping someone could help me understand this a little bit more. When it comes to the NFB-12, how do you choose which input data rate to use?

 

Is it as simple as USB=44, Coax=96 and Opt=192?

 

If this sounds condescending at all, I am really not trying to be. I just really have no clue. and I'm a complete newb in the DAC world...

 

I've checked all my mp3 files (@320kbps) and even my FLAC files and they are all 44.1khz sample rate, is this what I'm supposed to be looking for?

 

[vpsporb]

Quote:

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by madwolf /img/forum/go_quote.gif

 

The 3 sound signature could be set by using different input data rate. 

Maybe using 44 is the "smooth musical" sound flavor

using 96 is in between "musical and neutral "

and 192 is "neutral "

 

 

 

Again, I'm new to DAC's so I was hoping someone could help me understand this a little bit more. When it comes to the NFB-12, how do you choose which input data rate to use?

 

Is it as simple as USB=44, Coax=96 and Opt=192?

 

If this sounds condescending at all, I am really not trying to be. I just really have no clue. and I'm a complete newb in the DAC world...

 

I've checked all my mp3 files (@320kbps) and even my FLAC files and they are all 44.1khz sample rate, is this what I'm supposed to be looking for?

 
I'm Wondering the same myself.
I have the NFB-11, using the USB input, I switched between 16/44 and 24/96 while listening to the same track. I think the 16/44 sounds better, slightly more open, dynamic sounding. While the 24/96 sounding slightly less so, and compressed-ish?
I just set the Tenor USB to 16/44 because it sounded better to me. 
I have not tried the Other inputs yet.
 

 

[Elanzer]

Quote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by madwolf /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
The 3 sound signature could be set by using different input data rate. 
Maybe using 44 is the "smooth musical" sound flavor
using 96 is in between "musical and neutral "
and 192 is "neutral "
 
 

 
Again, I'm new to DAC's so I was hoping someone could help me understand this a little bit more. When it comes to the NFB-12, how do you choose which input data rate to use?
 
Is it as simple as USB=44, Coax=96 and Opt=192?
 
If this sounds condescending at all, I am really not trying to be. I just really have no clue. and I'm a complete newb in the DAC world...
 

It's generally within your OS, but I'm assuming you're using OSX so I don't know where you would adjust that, but in Windows you just go into the properties for playback devices, double click whatever output device you're using (ie: optical, USB), and on the advanced tab you set the output sample rate.
 
But the DAC will resample to 192khz regardless. what we're talking about here is feeding the DAC a pre-resampled 96-192khz signal instead of 44khz before it gets to the DAC, which has different effects than the resampler built into the NFB-12.

 

[BrianMendoza]

Quote:

I'm Wondering the same myself.
I have the NFB-11, using the USB input, I switched between 16/44 and 24/96 while listening to the same track. I think the 16/44 sounds better, slightly more open, dynamic sounding. While the 24/96 sounding slightly less so, and compressed-ish?
I just set the Tenor USB to 16/44 because it sounded better to me. 
I have not tried the Other inputs yet.
 

You're even further ahead than me man... I don't know how to "switch" between these different rates. How are you determining which rate you are using?

 

[Elanzer]

Quote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by madwolf /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
The 3 sound signature could be set by using different input data rate. 
Maybe using 44 is the "smooth musical" sound flavor
using 96 is in between "musical and neutral "
and 192 is "neutral "
 
 

 
Again, I'm new to DAC's so I was hoping someone could help me understand this a little bit more. When it comes to the NFB-12, how do you choose which input data rate to use?
 
Is it as simple as USB=44, Coax=96 and Opt=192?
 
If this sounds condescending at all, I am really not trying to be. I just really have no clue. and I'm a complete newb in the DAC world...
 

It's generally within your OS, but I'm assuming you're using OSX so I don't know where you would adjust that, but in Windows you just go into the properties for playback devices, double click whatever output device you're using (ie: optical, USB), and on the advanced tab you set the output sample rate. This doesn't exactly enable any sort of resampling, it just sets an "up to" basis AFAIK, enabling you to use the higher sample rates.
 
But the DAC will resample to 192khz regardless internally. What we're talking about here is feeding the DAC a pre-resampled 96-192khz signal instead of 44khz before it gets to the DAC, which has different effects than the resampler built into the NFB-12.

 

[BrianMendoza]

Quote:

It's generally within your OS, but I'm assuming you're using OSX so I don't know where you would adjust that, but in Windows you just go into the properties for playback devices, double click whatever output device you're using (ie: optical, USB), and on the advanced tab you set the output sample rate.
 
But the DAC will resample to 192khz regardless. what we're talking about here is feeding the DAC a pre-resampled 96-192khz signal instead of 44khz before it gets to the DAC, which has different effects than the resampler built into the NFB-12.

OH OK, I see now. 
 
Another dumb question... How are you able to pre-resample the signal before sending it? And is this what MadWolf was saying earlier, where if you resample to 192 before having the DAC resample it, you will get a "neutral" sound, and if you don't re-sample it, leaving it at 44khz, you'll get "smooth musical" sound?

 

[madwolf]

Quote:

Listen to Loreena McKennitt then, e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw_cZGrVFqw .

That is one of my favourate song 
 

 
Quote:

Curious question now... your CSD graph of NFB-12 looks s clean between 2K to 19K, while supercurio's different graph show an affected lower than 19Khz spectrum (http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/524263/audio-gd-nfb-12/480#post_7247689). Any idea?
 

 
The amplitude on Supercurio's graph is represented by color.  The dark blue that you see between 2k and 19K are about -90db. 
At -90db, it most likely noise. 
 
Yes he does have very sensitive equipment. 
 
 Internally the NFB12 does not upsample. There are no ASRC (Asynchronous Sample Rate Converter) chip inside. 
 
 

 

[BrianMendoza]

madwolf, when you said earlier. that:
44khz = smooth and musical
96khz = musical and neutral
192khz = neutral
 
Since I'm using iTunes, am I only really stuck using 44khz? Unless I had an app that can upsample?
 
I know with the import settings you can choose a sample rate up to 48khz, but without an application, I'm pretty much stuck between 44.1khz and 48khz?

 

[Currawong]

A CD has a sample rate of 44.1 kHz. Assuming all your music is from CDs, you should import it with Error Correction switched on into AIFF or Apple Lossless files. This way you wont lose any data.  AAC and MP3 are both lossy formats that strip music data to compress the file. See here: http://www.head-fi.org/wiki/a-quick-guide-to-lossless-versus-lossy-music-files
 
On your Mac, there is a piece of software for changing the system audio settings called Audio Midi Set-up. It's in the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder. Ideally, if all your music is from CDs, you should leave the settings for the device you are outputting to at 44.1 kHz / 16-bit.  It is possible to set it to send out higher, such as 92 kHz / 24 bit.   It results in Mac OS X up-sampling the music by adding data where none exists. It's rather like the different ways fonts are smoothed on screen by adding half-pixels (grey pixels between the black pixels of a letter and the white background) but depends on so many factors about the software that is doing it and the set-up of the DAC that it's probably simpler just to experiment and see if you notice any difference. Sometimes you get a slightly smoother sound with up-sampling and sometimes you get no difference.

 

[vrln]

If you have access to a Windows computer or maybe dual boot, check out EAC (Exact Audio Copy): http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
 
It´s considered by many to be the best CD ripper software out there, and it´s free too. Highly recommended. I used it for all my FLAC´s.

 

[BrianMendoza]

Quote:

A CD has a sample rate of 44.1 kHz. Assuming all your music is from CDs, you should import it with Error Correction switched on into AIFF or Apple Lossless files. This way you wont lose any data.  AAC and MP3 are both lossy formats that strip music data to compress the file. See here: http://www.head-fi.org/wiki/a-quick-guide-to-lossless-versus-lossy-music-files
 
On your Mac, there is a piece of software for changing the system audio settings called Audio Midi Set-up. It's in the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder. Ideally, if all your music is from CDs, you should leave the settings for the device you are outputting to at 44.1 kHz / 16-bit.  It is possible to set it to send out higher, such as 92 kHz / 24 bit.   It results in Mac OS X up-sampling the music by adding data where none exists. It's rather like the different ways fonts are smoothed on screen by adding half-pixels (grey pixels between the black pixels of a letter and the white background) but depends on so many factors about the software that is doing it and the set-up of the DAC that it's probably simpler just to experiment and see if you notice any difference. Sometimes you get a slightly smoother sound with up-sampling and sometimes you get no difference.

 
AHHH, that sounds a lot more understandable. 
 
In the case of the NFB-12 though, since I'm using iTunes, the best situation would probably be to go with 16/44 since that is the rate it was imported at?
 
And if even CD's are encoded with 44.1khz, what kind of audio is encoded at 192khz?
 

 

[vrln]

There are a few online stores specialising in high resolution audio. Check https://www.hdtracks.com, that´s probably the most known one. They sell 24bit/92kHz music at least. Be warned though, the files are pretty big

 

[BrianMendoza]

Cool. I'm gunna check that out right now.
 
And hey, thanks for all the help everyone! And for not bashing all my newb-to-DAC questions.