Digital outs sound differently - why

[dpristin]

Hi,

I'm quite new to the whole "computer as a source" subject, so there is a good chance that my question is dumb. I have a FLAC collection which I play from my laptop using Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro, foobar with kernel streaming. kmixer is not involved (or at least windows volume control has zero effect on the output). I use digital optical out of the TB to my receiver (Marantz SR8400). The sound is very different comparing to the one I get from my CD changer (using optical output as well) - laptop produces much more bass. In fact, I have to correct the amount of bass on the receiver because it's just way too much. TBAA's equalizer is disabled, same is about foobar's one. Can anybody explain me how (theoretically) pure digital signal can be so different in those 2 cases?

Thanks,
Dmitry.

 

[Orestes]

The TBAA isn't really "audiophile quality".

 

[jjcha]

That's not quite it. Dmitry is right that he seems to have set it up properly to get a bit-perfect digital signal out of the TBAA.

Dmitry, the sonic differences you are hearing go beyond that of differences due to jitter or differences between transports. I don't know where the issue may be, but I'd wager somewhere you've got some settings that are altering the sound. I'd pursue that even more.

Best,

-Jason

 

[K2Grey]

I don't believe the TBAAM's output is bit-perfect (remember seeing an email about it once).

 

[grawk]

The TBAAM resamples everything to 48/16, so it's definitely not bit perfect.

 

[dpristin]

OK, so is there any inexpensive USB alternative that would provide bit-perfect output?

 

[Tachikoma]

Quote:

OK, so is there any inexpensive USB alternative that would provide bit-perfect output?

The phillips aurillium or audiotrak optoplay are bit-perfect, me thinks.

 

[Xakepa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grawk The TBAAM resamples everything to 48/16, so it's definitely not bit perfect.

Here's your answer

 

[dpristin]

OK, thanks a lot to everyone who replied, even though I still don't understand how re-sampling can cause some frequencies to be exaggerated to the extent I’ve seen with the lows in my case.

 

[Daroid]

some explanations perhaps... http://www.diyhifi.org/forums/viewto...=spdif&start=0