'Musical' DAC

[Bytor123]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum, but what is a 'musical' DAC?

 

[sander99]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum, but what is a 'musical' DAC?

This is exacly the right forum. A musical DAC is a non-defective DAC.

 

[old tech]

I never thought of a DAC as a musical instrument.

A well functioning DAC (ie most of them) should not sound like anything at all. It should just faithfully reproduce the digital signal back to its original analog without adding or subtracting anything to that original signal.

 

[bigshot]

A musical DAC is a DAC being sold by a company whose claims should be taken with a huge grain of salt.

 

[BobG55]

A musical DAC is in the same category as a sound improving amplifier fuse. Like the ones promoted by Paul at PS Audio.

 

[ThEvil0nE]

A "musical dac" is a phenomenon that occurs when you hit play on a digital audio track on the source unit that's connected to a dac unit which is also connected to an amplifier and then to a mechanical driver that produces sound.

 

[ThEvil0nE]

A musical DAC is in the same category as a sound improving amplifier fuse. Like the ones promoted by Paul at PS Audio.

I will soon be releasing an awesome product that will improve ones hearing abilities. A daily supplement you take with your daily vitamins. To hear better and wider soundstage, separation that you can literally pinpoint, clear transients, more defined and gut punching lows and crystal clearer highs is the goal. The supplement is still in rigorous testing phase. Release notes, measurements and graphs will be provided after all test has been concluded. This will be the only FDA approved audiophile grade product.

 

[castleofargh]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum, but what is a 'musical' DAC?

Sadly, most people in this section have notoriously bad ears, to the point where they struggle to hear any difference between DACs. **



** In a blind test, once the DACs have been properly volume matched.

 

[bigshot]

Notoriously human ears...

 

[taffy2207]

They are special DACs where only Marketers can discern a difference.

 

[megabigeye]

I will soon be releasing an awesome product that will improve ones hearing abilities. A daily supplement you take with your daily vitamins. To hear better and wider soundstage, separation that you can literally pinpoint, clear transients, more defined and gut punching lows and crystal clearer highs is the goal. The supplement is still in rigorous testing phase. Release notes, measurements and graphs will be provided after all test has been concluded. This will be the only FDA approved audiophile grade product.

Unfortunately, you're a little late to the game. I've been able to combine carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen in a ratio of 2:6:1. It's a delicious concoction that can be had with dinner, or earlier on Saturdays or Sundays. I was able to retroactively patent it so that even the ancient Egyptians could enjoy a more immersive musical experience.

 

[71 dB]

Sadly, most people in this section have notoriously bad ears, to the point where they struggle to hear any difference between DACs. **

** In a blind test, once the DACs have been properly volume matched.

I can take tv sound from the RCA connectors of my tv set, or I can use the optical digital output and use my CD player (NAD C565BEE) as a DAC. The latter gives clearly better sound. The DAC of my CD player is superior to the DAC of my 10 years old Sony tv. Digital to analog conversion is somewhat demanding task in itself, but I think the biggest reason is simply the analog output circuitry. I believe the output circuitry is really bad (cheap) in my tv and that's the reason why the CD player sounds superior.

I can also hear the difference between the reconstruction filter of my CD player when I use headphones and oversampling is not used (affects mainly width of the sound), but the differences are very subtle. So, when the DACs are linear enough, I believe the differences are mostly due to the quality of the analog output buffer circuitry and also to some degree the reconstruction filter selected.

 

[BobG55]

Retracted

 

[ThEvil0nE]

Unfortunately, you're a little late to the game. I've been able to combine carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen in a ratio of 2:6:1. It's a delicious concoction that can be had with dinner, or earlier on Saturdays or Sundays. I was able to retroactively patent it so that even the ancient Egyptians could enjoy a more immersive musical experience.

I did a similar experiment before and I can say was very linear, too linear. The addition of Nitrogen and Methane opened up the soundstage with authoritative punch on the lows. I scrapped the project tho as I begin to realize that it has the same chemical composition as fart.

 

[old tech]

Looks like the OP has gone. Perhaps not the answer he expected.