watchnerd
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2008
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So I'm in the midst of planning my next upgrade and am seriously thinking of saying "good-bye" to my power amps and passive speakers and going full active powered speakers.
My sources are: streaming digital audio and vinyl
Two of the finalist speakers I'm considering have analog XLR inputs (no digital input), with DSP-based crossovers, followed by a PWM amplifier.
This leads to the following facts:
1. Incoming will pass through an A/D converter running at 24bit/96khz.
2. Analog signals (vinyl) will be converted to digital
3. Digital signals will go from D/A (from my DAC) and then A/D again before final amplification.
This leads to the following set of back and forth dilemmas in my own head:
1. Vinyl will be converted to digital. Oh noes!
2. #1 doesn't really matter that much given how many recent issues of vinyl were remastered on a DAW (i.e. digitally) anyway.
3. You don't really believe in the "digital can't really capture analog wave forms" schtick, anyway, right? Lossless is lossless.
4. The A/D conversion is Delta-Sigma, which would make a multibit DAC pointless, wouldn't it? (even asked Schiit about it).
5. Does #4 matter? Or if it matters, does it matter more than the measurable benefits of using a DSP crossover with perfect phase and more perfect flat response?
6. You have a quality DAC with low jitter...but how good is the jitter in the ADC in the speakers/crossover?
7. Isn't going D->A and then A->D just adding complexity, and potentially more noise or errors?
8. For #7, if A->D is such a problem, why do we think it works flawlessly during the recording process?
9. Do you think the ADC in the speaker is as good as what they use in recording?
10. Is all of this just neurosis when what really matters most are the recording, the acoustics of the room, and the response curves, dispersion, distortion, and rise times of the transducers (i.e. the speakers and the cartridge)?
Please feel free to dissect, disagree, deconstruct or confirm any of the above.
My sources are: streaming digital audio and vinyl
Two of the finalist speakers I'm considering have analog XLR inputs (no digital input), with DSP-based crossovers, followed by a PWM amplifier.
This leads to the following facts:
1. Incoming will pass through an A/D converter running at 24bit/96khz.
2. Analog signals (vinyl) will be converted to digital
3. Digital signals will go from D/A (from my DAC) and then A/D again before final amplification.
This leads to the following set of back and forth dilemmas in my own head:
1. Vinyl will be converted to digital. Oh noes!
2. #1 doesn't really matter that much given how many recent issues of vinyl were remastered on a DAW (i.e. digitally) anyway.
3. You don't really believe in the "digital can't really capture analog wave forms" schtick, anyway, right? Lossless is lossless.
4. The A/D conversion is Delta-Sigma, which would make a multibit DAC pointless, wouldn't it? (even asked Schiit about it).
5. Does #4 matter? Or if it matters, does it matter more than the measurable benefits of using a DSP crossover with perfect phase and more perfect flat response?
6. You have a quality DAC with low jitter...but how good is the jitter in the ADC in the speakers/crossover?
7. Isn't going D->A and then A->D just adding complexity, and potentially more noise or errors?
8. For #7, if A->D is such a problem, why do we think it works flawlessly during the recording process?
9. Do you think the ADC in the speaker is as good as what they use in recording?
10. Is all of this just neurosis when what really matters most are the recording, the acoustics of the room, and the response curves, dispersion, distortion, and rise times of the transducers (i.e. the speakers and the cartridge)?
Please feel free to dissect, disagree, deconstruct or confirm any of the above.