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Things other than the frequency response, such, as I've recently learned, stereo crosstalk, can alter the tonality of a device in a manner that's not obvious when measuring it with just a sweep. I've compared a number of ruler-flat measuring DACs, including the Benchmark, and it very distinctly sounds "brighter". I don't know why this is though. If you have links to a full set of RMAA graphs for one, I'd be interested to see them to see if anything in them can explain what is going on.
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You don't see many high-end DACs with Wolfson chips either. However, the "sound" of a DAC is not just in the chip. If it were, we'd all just be using $99 DACs, as the chip used would be all that matters. The quality of the audio coming from a DAC is dependant on a number of things: The internal power supply components, as they have to provide the most linear power possible not to distort the tiny voltages in the DA chip and digital input circuits; the set-up of the digital input, and, very importantly, the output stage that amplifies the signal from the DA chip to line level. All these things significantly affect the sound.
If you wish to have a DA chip pissing content though: the Audio-gd DAC in question uses the Burr Brown PCM-1704UK, which is commonly used in high-end DACs, such as the Esoteric D-01 (google that) and many others for its natural reproduction of music, a result of its design (google "R2R DAC"). However, the Analogue Devices AD1852, which you seem to think is inferior, can be found in a lot of high-end audio gear, such as the Meridian G-08, Microomega and Mark Levinson CD players and the Nagra DAC. If you look at the data of the popular WM8740, it actually measures much poorer than the AD1852. Looking at Cambridge, which you mentioned, while many of their CDPs use the WM8740, the 840c uses two AD1955. Again, though, this is hardly the most important part of the design, sound-quality-wise.
Originally Posted by nick_charles /img/forum/go_quote.gif Frequency Response at Fs=48-kHz: +/- 0.1 dB (20 to 20-kHz) -0.02 dB at 10 Hz -0.20 dB at 20 kHz Frequency Response at Fs=96-kHz: +/- 0.1 dB (20 to 20-kHz) -0.02 dB at 10-Hz -0.20 dB at 20-kHz This is not bright this is utterly flat, where does this reputation come from ? I am not a benchmark owner. |
Things other than the frequency response, such, as I've recently learned, stereo crosstalk, can alter the tonality of a device in a manner that's not obvious when measuring it with just a sweep. I've compared a number of ruler-flat measuring DACs, including the Benchmark, and it very distinctly sounds "brighter". I don't know why this is though. If you have links to a full set of RMAA graphs for one, I'd be interested to see them to see if anything in them can explain what is going on.
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Originally Posted by btbluesky /img/forum/go_quote.gif So where is this DAC, and link/reference? Curious to what they would come out. And alot of China DAC is using AD1955 + AD1896, not saying their SQ since I have not heard it. But I do not see a chinese DAC with a Wolfson 64x chip. Another one with the same dac chip is Cambridge Audio Sonata CD player. |
You don't see many high-end DACs with Wolfson chips either. However, the "sound" of a DAC is not just in the chip. If it were, we'd all just be using $99 DACs, as the chip used would be all that matters. The quality of the audio coming from a DAC is dependant on a number of things: The internal power supply components, as they have to provide the most linear power possible not to distort the tiny voltages in the DA chip and digital input circuits; the set-up of the digital input, and, very importantly, the output stage that amplifies the signal from the DA chip to line level. All these things significantly affect the sound.
If you wish to have a DA chip pissing content though: the Audio-gd DAC in question uses the Burr Brown PCM-1704UK, which is commonly used in high-end DACs, such as the Esoteric D-01 (google that) and many others for its natural reproduction of music, a result of its design (google "R2R DAC"). However, the Analogue Devices AD1852, which you seem to think is inferior, can be found in a lot of high-end audio gear, such as the Meridian G-08, Microomega and Mark Levinson CD players and the Nagra DAC. If you look at the data of the popular WM8740, it actually measures much poorer than the AD1852. Looking at Cambridge, which you mentioned, while many of their CDPs use the WM8740, the 840c uses two AD1955. Again, though, this is hardly the most important part of the design, sound-quality-wise.