Schiit Happened: The Story of the World's Most Improbable Start-Up

[aamefford]

^^^cool story! (Or cold. No jacket. 10 minutes.)

 

[David Aldrich]

That is some dedication, you definitely are a theatre geek, only kind of person I know that would see through getting those 2 amps shipped.

 

[senorx12562]

  There's been some discussion about old cars... I've owned my '68 Mustang fastback since 1993. Until 2001, if she wasn't running, I was walking. I've built and rebuilt her four times now and wouldn't trade her for the world.
 
I enjoy the adventure of driving an old car. Most of all, I enjoy all the stories I get every time I stop at a gas station. Seems everyone's uncle, dad, cousin, etc. had one and wishes they never sold it because it was so much fun to drive. So much different than modern cars. Not better or worse, just different.
 
A few years back, this very car was what I used nearly every day to drop off amps at FedEx and the Post Office. I'd just load her up and fly. Best, fastest, most fun delivery truck for the job.
 
One particular Friday in March, I was a little late getting the orders out. There were only 2 or 3 because we were in backorder. The Post Office and FedEx are about 3 miles apart with the old Schiit Shipping Department (aka the garage) in between. I grabbed the boxes plus the orders from my own little company and hopped in my old Mustang. Didn't bother with a jacket since I was only gonna be gone about 10 minutes. Didn't grab my phone, but so what, I was only gonna be gone 10 minutes. No big deal, right?
 
I made the drop at the Post Office, hopped back in my '68 fastback to fly over to FedEx. Making the U-turn due to the divided road, there was a very loud, expensive sounding k-thunk and my transmission was now a box full of neutral. I coasted the car back around and parked. (Good thing I'm used to manual steering and manual brakes.) I didn't even have the reverse gear. There was nothing but nothing that'd move my car in any direction. I was stuck there, on the edge of nowhere because this post office was closer than then one in town. 10 minutes...yeah, right.
 
Hmmm... No phone. Still gotta get the 2 amps to FedEx...in less than an hour. How'm I gonna do this?
 
Luckily, the USPS people knew me by then. I was able to use the manager's phone to call Jason...
 
Except he wasn't paying attention to what I was actually saying when I said I was at the post office and my car was busted. (Kinda like the Great Schiit Storm of 2014 when it took five mentions plus photos before he understood it was a sprinkler INSIDE the building that was spewing.)
 
I figured I might as well start walking. The icy wind was blowing pretty good through my sweater. No coat, remember...only gonna be gone 10 minutes... But I did have a pair of driving gloves in the console. Hey, better than nothing. They kept out some of the wind as I clutched those 2 Asgards and walked the 3 miles to FedEx because Jason sent a friend to get me at the wrong post office.
 
That day, I literally walked 3 miles uphill to deliver those two Asgards to FedEx and then trudge back home. Eddie brought a tow strap and we used his El Camino to go rescue my beloved bucket of bolts. Jason paid for the transmission rebuild because he knows the way to my heart is through my car. After that, I started religiously bringing my phone and, of course, never had another incident.
 
The real reason I didn't just give up and go back home? The hill I had to walk up was far more steep toward the garage than it was toward FedEx!

The "icy" wind? Really? Aren't you guys in Cali? I'm sorry, I don't mean to be unsympathetic, but I don't think you guys see anything that I would call icy. (I live in Denver, and my whole family is from northern Minnesota. When I moved here I thought it was positively tropical)! I do admire the dedication though.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

There's been some discussion about old cars... I've owned my '68 Mustang fastback since 1993. Until 2001, if she wasn't running, I was walking. I've built and rebuilt her four times now and wouldn't trade her for the world.

I enjoy the adventure of driving an old car. Most of all, I enjoy all the stories I get every time I stop at a gas station. Seems everyone's uncle, dad, cousin, etc. had one and wishes they never sold it because it was so much fun to drive. So much different than modern cars. Not better or worse, just different.

A few years back, this very car was what I used nearly every day to drop off amps at FedEx and the Post Office. I'd just load her up and fly. Best, fastest, most fun delivery truck for the job.

One particular Friday in March, I was a little late getting the orders out. There were only 2 or 3 because we were in backorder. The Post Office and FedEx are about 3 miles apart with the old Schiit Shipping Department (aka the garage) in between. I grabbed the boxes plus the orders from my own little company and hopped in my old Mustang. Didn't bother with a jacket since I was only gonna be gone about 10 minutes. Didn't grab my phone, but so what, I was only gonna be gone 10 minutes. No big deal, right?

I made the drop at the Post Office, hopped back in my '68 fastback to fly over to FedEx. Making the U-turn due to the divided road, there was a very loud, expensive sounding k-thunk and my transmission was now a box full of neutral. I coasted the car back around and parked. (Good thing I'm used to manual steering and manual brakes.) I didn't even have the reverse gear. There was nothing but nothing that'd move my car in any direction. I was stuck there, on the edge of nowhere because this post office was closer than then one in town. 10 minutes...yeah, right.

Hmmm... No phone. Still gotta get the 2 amps to FedEx...in less than an hour. How'm I gonna do this?

Luckily, the USPS people knew me by then. I was able to use the manager's phone to call Jason...

Except he wasn't paying attention to what I was actually saying when I said I was at the post office and my car was busted. (Kinda like the Great Schiit Storm of 2014 when it took five mentions plus photos before he understood it was a sprinkler INSIDE the building that was spewing.)

I figured I might as well start walking. The icy wind was blowing pretty good through my sweater. No coat, remember...only gonna be gone 10 minutes... But I did have a pair of driving gloves in the console. Hey, better than nothing. They kept out some of the wind as I clutched those 2 Asgards and walked the 3 miles to FedEx because Jason sent a friend to get me at the wrong post office.

That day, I literally walked 3 miles uphill to deliver those two Asgards to FedEx and then trudge back home. Eddie brought a tow strap and we used his El Camino to go rescue my beloved bucket of bolts. Jason paid for the transmission rebuild because he knows the way to my heart is through my car. After that, I started religiously bringing my phone and, of course, never had another incident.

The real reason I didn't just give up and go back home? The hill I had to walk up was far more steep toward the garage than it was toward FedEx!

Reminds me of when my '69 Camaro seized in Truth or Consequences, NM, 5 days rebuilding the engine in the absolute middle of no where, good Mexican food though!

You love for the art that was American Muscle Cars is further evidence, Schiit got Soul!!!

 

[Soldered1st1K]

  The "icy" wind? Really? Aren't you guys in Cali? I'm sorry, I don't mean to be unsympathetic, but I don't think you guys see anything that I would call icy. (I live in Denver, and my whole family is from northern Minnesota. When I moved here I thought it was positively tropical)! I do admire the dedication though.

Admittedly, it wasn't like the Arctic breeze I felt while visiting the Scottish coast, but after I set the two Asgards on the counter at FedEx and walked back, my fingers had yet to uncurl. I had to put them under water to get them back to rights.
 
Plus, in Jason's words ('cause he's standing right over my shoulder at the moment), "Dude, she's a chick."
 
Uh-huh.  

 

[David Aldrich]

Everyone knows Californians add 40F to the temperature. 0F = 40F and 90F =130F.

 

[Currawong]

I have to say the number of "just in case" items accumulating in my car is increasing every year as things happen. A jacket, torch, shaver and coins for parking.
 
A few weeks ago I went somewhere and parked at the bank, which has pay parking. When I went back to the car, I realised I'd forgotten my wallet, but though "oh, it's OK, because i stashed coins in the car". Turned out my daughter had pilfered them so I had to call my father-in-law to drive across town and get me out.

 

[Armaegis]

Geez guys, we've already had some blizzards up here in Canada... but anyways...
 

  I have to say the number of "just in case" items accumulating in my car is increasing every year as things happen. A jacket, torch, shaver and coins for parking.
 

 
Plus: Road flare, med kit, axe/machete/shovel, fire extinguisher, granola bars, water bottle, toque, gloves, spare glasses, etc. Now whether these are "just in case" items or "stuff I keep forgetting in my car", well...
 
 
Actually, the item that has come up most in "emergency" situations has been the granola bars. Twice now (once at a yoga class, another I can't remember what) someone went into diabetic shock and I ran to the car and brought back some sugary snacks.

 

[David Aldrich]

Here I am wondering if I can drive with the windows down or if I should just stick with A/C on low.

 

[catspaw]

A 68 mustang... too bad in Poland we never got somethign as cool .

 

[jacal01]

  Geez guys, we've already had some blizzards up here in Canada... but anyways...
 
 
Plus: Road flare, med kit, axe/machete/shovel, fire extinguisher, granola bars, water bottle, toque, gloves, spare glasses, etc. Now whether these are "just in case" items or "stuff I keep forgetting in my car", well...
 
 
Actually, the item that has come up most in "emergency" situations has been the granola bars. Twice now (once at a yoga class, another I can't remember what) someone went into diabetic shock and I ran to the car and brought back some sugary snacks.

 
Coming from Houston, I was amazed to see it hailing in August when I first got to Calgary.  The ironic part is that it hailed one morning here in Houston just this past August.  The global warming Day After Tomorrow cometh...
 
After my stint in the northern environs where blizzards and icy road conditions roam, I learned that two essential things to carry in your trunk are a thick blanket and water.  Multiple times I read where a person (a mother and kids in one notable event) slid off the road in a remote area and ended up dying of hypothermia and dehydration after some days of not being rescued.

 

[TheMadMilkman]

The "icy" wind? Really? Aren't you guys in Cali? I'm sorry, I don't mean to be unsympathetic, but I don't think you guys see anything that I would call icy. (I live in Denver, and my whole family is from northern Minnesota. When I moved here I thought it was positively tropical)! I do admire the dedication though.

 


You can wind up hypothermic on a fairly "warm" day if there is enough of a wind. As someone who lives in Northern Utah and never wears more than a T-Shirt and a light fleece because I produce so much body heat, I can't stand to leave my hands uncovered in the winter. Fingers freeze easily.

 

[Ableza]

I will never again live where it snows.  Life is too short to be cold.

 

[senorx12562]

  I will never again live where it snows.  Life is too short to be cold.

Dad always said he was gonna tie a snowshovel to the roof of his car and drive south  until someone pointed at the shovel and said "What's that?" He made it to Arkansas.

 

[Jason Stoddard]

Chapter 32:
No Sample Left Unchanged: Digital Today
 
Okay. Let’s follow digital with more digital.
 
That’s cool, though Mike is also doing his own “story of the Yggdrasil,” here now (search for Baldr’s posts.) This chapter was originally going to cover Yggy, but I’ll let Mike do that now in detail.
 
Instead, let’s talk business. As in, business cases, business philosophies…and, yeah, Digital Today (and yesterday).
 
However, let’s start with some fun facts about Yggdrasil:
 

1. Yggdrasil is really the first DAC Mike wanted to make, when we started talking DACs in 2010. Yes, the concept is that old. Considering that it will now ship on the eve of 2015, Yggy has been in the oven a long time.
2. One of the reasons it has taken so long to develop Yggy is simply that we didn’t have the infrastructure to build a multibit audio DAC today, as we did in the past. In 1993, you could pick from a dozen multibit chips, many of them very good (PCM63, etc), interface it with a standard digital filter, and be off and running. Today, the only real multibit chips are either (a) Almost dead (PCM1704), (b) only 16 bits, or (c) not intended for audio applications, difficult to interface with audio data, and eye-bleedingly expensive. And yes, there are also a few discrete resistor ladder DACs out there, but multiply “eye-bleedingly expensive” by orders of magnitude, if you’re talking about something that will be reasonably stable across a range of external temperatures (think oven-controlled temp for the module, etc.).
3. The reasons we came out with less expensive DACs before Yggy are simple: First, we needed inexpensive DACs to mate with our headphone amp line (and to be used in affordable high-end speaker systems, of course.) Second, we were satisfied with the price/performance ratio of our inexpensive DACs. Considering that Bifrost soundly trounces the Cobalt 307, Theta’s first inexpensive DAC, in both audio quality and features, for less than ½ the cost in constant dollars, we think we’ve achieved our objective for these DACs.
4. Yggy may seem expensive at a projected price of $2299, but if you compare its price to the Theta DS Pro Gen V in 1993 dollars, it looks like a screaming bargain. The DS Pro Gen V balanced in 1993 was $4,500. Yggy, in 1993 dollars, is $1,399. Sorry, we don’t have any of those 1993 dollars available.
5. To clear up any misconceptions, Yggy will be a real multibit DAC, running the only closed-form digital filter, with no asynchronous sample rate conversion or other intrusive/destructive technologies to maintain the original bits from the input all the way to the DACs. At its essence, it is similar to the Theta DACs from days past, but with much, much greater DSP horsepower, as well as some really tweaky analog tricks like choke-input, shunt-regulated analog power supplies that even Theta didn’t use. Mike will reveal the actual digital to analog conversion specifics when he is good and ready; beyond that, he has sworn me to secrecy.
6. If you are at RMAF, you will be able to hear a very-near-production Yggy in its full chassis, with full feature sets intact. Other than a few PCB changes and some firmware tweaks, what you hear is what we’ll shortly be shipping.

 
Now, on to the business of things.
 
 
Business Cases, Standards, Licensing, and Assorted Fun
 
Here’s where we go back to being a business book. Because Yggdrasil is an interesting case that illuminates some of the problems that manufacturers have to deal with, in the arena of standards. With standards, you have a choice of “going along and getting along,” or “forging your own way.”
 
“Standards, what the hell are you talking about?” you might ask.
 
Okay, let’s take an extreme case: surround sound processors, AV preamps, and AV receivers. Today, these types of gear are on the bleeding edge of standards compliance. A typical AV preamp today must:
 

1. Decode all the Dolby surround standards
2. Decode all the DTS surround standards
3. Decode any other bizarre surround standards that are en vogue at the time
4. Be compliant with the current, and changing, HDMI standard
5. Probably also accept SPDIF and USB standard audio inputs
6. Maybe accept Bluetooth audio standard
7. Maybe accept Apple Airplay standard

 
“Well, who cares,” you might scoff. “Meet the standards, and you’re golden.”
 
Yes. Except that the ongoing turf war between DTS and Dolby means that there’s a bazillion surround standards out there. I’ve stopped counting, but I have been told that the standard test disk for surround modes is now up to 1200+ tracks. You run that disk, connect your system to an 8-channel Audio Precision, and cross your fingers. The surround standards guys will tell you if you failed. Then it’s back to the drawing board if you did.
 
Plus, new standards pop up all the time. The new one is Dolby Atmos now. Oh, it’s not Atmos compatible? Say bye-bye to sales. You don’t control when the new standards appear, so you’re always playing catch-up.
 
Same thing with HDMI. HDMI 2.0 is here. Kinda. Sorta. Well, not really. Because you can be compliant with one part of HDMI 2.0, but not another. And, by the way, 2.1 is coming. Will it work with your current system? Maybe, maybe not.
 
Same with Apple Airplay. First step to become an Apple hardware licensee is, literally, “Have your lawyers contact our lawyers.” Being of the opinion that lawyers are kinda like raw plutonium—very useful in some specific applications, but not something you want to get near very often—you can see how we feel about this.
 
Same with Bluetooth. We’re on Bluetooth 4.0, and it still can’t do uncompressed audio. Want to bet on 5.0, and when it comes out?
 
Fun fact: the HDMI consortium has meetups called “Plugfests” so that manufacturers can see what they’re compatible with, or not. Yes, even they don’t fully know. It’s up to you as a manufacturer to figure it out. You can’t make this crap up.
 
And, to make all of the above even more fun, guess what? You get to pay some exceedingly non-trivial licensing fees for the privilege of putting those standards’ logos on your box.
 
Bottom line, if you’re going to be standards-compliant, you’re always going to be at the whim of the standards-setters. You’re not fully in control of your own destiny.
 
So why do they keep changing these surround-sound standards? Three reasons:
 

• To improve performance (higher bit rates and sample depths, more/optimized speaker placements, new algorithms, etc.)
• To increase revenue from the licensees’ additional licensing costs.
• To drive a continuous upgrade cycle—buying newer gear to unlock new capabilities, upgrading cables for the latest HDMI standards, and re-buying content mastered to these standards.

 
If you were cynical, you could say that 2 and 3 combine to form a perfect “devil’s bargain,” where, if you keep spending on licensing, they’ll continue changing the standards to keep your market coming back for the latest and greatest. Of course, that’s a very cynical viewpoint. And, it only works for so long. When a true home theater enthusiast doesn’t know what the latest Dolby Super HD Wowiematic Ultra Extra Fine And The Kitchen Sink standard is (and doesn’t care), the whole thing comes crashing down.
 
So, why do I bring up these “standards?”
 
One, as a thought experiment. Imagine a surround processor that didn’t have any Dolby Digital or DTS logos on it, running its own non-standards-compliant decoding algorithms…and sounded good with most surround-encoded materials. Is this something that would sell? It’s an unknown, because nobody has done it yet, probably due to the threat of possible infringement suits from Dolby and DTS (and maybe HDMI, if you don’t pay their license fees as well.)
 
Before you start the heavy breathing, we are not working on this. It is simply a thought experiment. Would potential buyers be OK with a product that didn’t have 73 logos on the front of it, and the comfort of the Dolby and DTS stamp of approval? I don’t know. But it’s fun to think about.
 
The second reason is more pointed. In audio, we have few standards, and virtually none of them are licensed. USB Audio Class 1 and 2 are standards, SPDIF is a standard, PCM is a standard, and DSD is a standard. Okay, you can also throw in fringe stuff like I2S over HDMI, as long as you’re OK with paying the HDMI licensing fee…but then you’re getting into licensing…and technically, Plugfests. Shudder.
 
So, in audio, why would you change standards?
 
#2 from the surround example is out (to increase licensee revenue), but seeking to improve performance, and to drive upgrade cycles, are both relevant. We don’t get many new standards in audio, so the excitement around something new and shiny is much higher than it is in surround.
 
So, let’s do another thought experiment.
 
Let’s say DSD wins as the next audio standard—it’s recognized as a significant upgrade from PCM, and it is embraced by enough users that every manufacturer has to support it, and support it well. What happens?
 

1. Recording studios have to convert to DSD workflows. Manufacturers of pro gear celebrate.
2. Every listener must go out and buy a new DAC. Manufacturers of consumer gear rejoice.
3. Every listener must go out and buy new DSD recordings. The record industry throws a huge party.

 
On the other hand, let’s say DSD fades away, and PCM continues as the reigning audio standard. What happens?
 

1. Recording studios continue to do what they do. No impact on manufacturers.
2. Listeners don’t have to buy new DACs. No impact on manufacturers.
3. Listeners don’t have to buy any new recordings. Big sad face for the recording industry.

 
Something to think about, hmm?
 
 
Digital Yesterday: Steady Progression
 
When digital audio was new, you could pretty much chart the steady, linear progression of the technology for about a decade. From the first 14-bit multiplexed non-oversampling DACs in CD players in 1982, to the fully realized, 8x oversampling, 20 bit ladder DACs in the top DACs of the early 90s, there was clear and steady progress:
 

1. 14 bit multiplexed D/A converters in CD players, no oversampling, brickwall filtering
2. The first 16 bit converters, still with no oversampling and brickwalled
3. 16 bit converters with 4x oversampling, to eliminate the brickwall filter
4. Standalone DACs with 18 bit converters and 4x/8x upsampling
5. Standalone DACs with custom DSP filtering, 20 bit converters and 8x upsampling

 
And, along the way, you could chart the course in measurements. D/A converters got more linear, less noisy, and achieved higher performance by every measure. New versions of the old products performed better, because the multibit technology behind them was improving. Publications like Stereophile started measuring jitter, which raised awareness of its importance and led to jitter numbers steadily decreasing.
 
The result? By the early 1990s, it was possible to get 19+ bits of linearity out of multibit converters—a huge leap forward from the 13 or so bits of early CD players.
 
Progress wasn’t only made on the playback side, either. Mobile Fidelity contracted Mike Moffat (yes, our Mike Moffat) and Nelson Pass to create their GAIN system, an insane recording chain with a real 16-bit oven-controlled multibit DAC that output linear PCM with no missing codes up to 500kHz rates. This multi-chassis product took up almost a full equipment rack…but it was what was necessary to do good 16-bit ladder analog to digital conversion. Arguably, it still is.
 
Now, of course, there was only one problem with all of this progress: price.
 
Check the historic price of a PCM63 D/A converter, and you’ll quickly realize that it’s something that will never appear in an iPhone (nor would it fit.)
 
So, what to do? D/A chip manufacturers came to the rescue with products based on 1-bit sigma-delta modulation. These products were less expensive, easier to use, and more highly integrated. And they measured pretty well.
 
Another leap forward? In one way, yes. Without sigma-delta D/A converters, we wouldn’t have the wide range of DACs and ADCs we have today. Your smartphone has a DAC in it with specs we would have killed for in 1990. The analog to digital converter inside it may even output 24 bit samples, at higher sample rates than we would have ever imagined.
 
And we can’t underemphasize the impact of sigma-delta technology. It has allowed us to create more DACs (and ADCs) more inexpensively, with higher performance than we would have guessed, 20 years ago.
 
But we did lose something in all of this progress.
 
 
Digital Today: The Lost Decades
 
Today, it’s largely a sigma-delta world.
 

1. Recording. Most recording studios use analog to digital converters that employ A/D chips that use an intermediary multibit sigma-delta format before their PCM output. Note that this isn’t DSD. And note that even sigma-delta can have shades—single bit, multibit, etc.

 

1. Mixing. From there, the PCM output is mixed/mastered in PCM (pretty much all mixing and mastering is in PCM…yes, even recordings that end up as DSD.)

 

1. Playback. From there, it’s typically going to be compressed and downloaded or streamed to a player using a multibit sigma-delta D/A converter.

 
Or, in the case of some crazy audiophiles like us, it’s stored uncompressed, maybe even in high-res, before going to a DAC with a fancy multibit sigma-delta D/A converter.
 
Or, in a literal handful of cases, it might go to a true multibit R-2R converter, just like the old days. But that’s a fraction of a fraction of a percent.
 
“So, who cares what it is, I just want good sound!” you say.
 
And we agree! We’re far too wrapped up in formats. Take that format-proselytizing energy and aim it at the studios. Lobby them to produce better recordings. That will produce greater benefit than any format “regime change.”
 
But…here’s the deal (and here’s where we get philosophical.) In today’s sigma-delta world, we’ve lost something that we consider important: the original samples.
 
They’re destroyed by upsampling, they are destroyed by asynchronous sample rate conversion, they’re destroyed by sigma-delta D/A ICs. What you hear is an interpretation, a guess, at what the original content was (they don’t call them successive-approximation converters for nothing.)
 
“But this can’t possibly matter, it’s hard to measure the distortion of your typical ASRC, for example,” some will say.
 
Hard to measure doesn’t mean it isn’t there, we say.
 
Bottom line, it’s a mathematical fact that samples that have passed through a digital filter, an asynchronous sample rate converter, or a sigma-delta modulator are not retained. There is no closed-form solution to the math.
 
“And why should that matter to me?” you ask.
 
Maybe it doesn’t. Maybe the approximation is good enough.
 
But maybe it isn’t.
 
And this is where we get to the core of what Yggdrasil is about: what if we haven’t been hearing everything PCM is capable of, because we’ve been hearing it on delta-sigma technology that throws away the original samples?
 
Yeah. We know. We’re crazy.
 
And perhaps we are. Perhaps it will make no difference at all. Perhaps it won’t be important to anyone other than us. But the fact is: we have a solution to retain the reproduce the original samples, without the drawbacks of a non-oversampling design. It is in Yggdrasil. And we’ll see what you think, very, very soon.
 
And that is the absolute core of our digital philosophy: retaining the original samples, all the way through to the output.
 
 
“But, It Doesn’t Matter, Because…”
 
Because this position, this philosophy, is so counter to the currently accepted wisdom, I’ve prepared a quick discussion of possible objections to it, for your convenience.
 
“It doesn’t matter anyway, because everything comes from a delta-sigma ADC these days. Do you have any original bits at all?”
 
Actually, this isn’t entirely accurate. There are still multibit ADCs out there, though they are probably thin on the ground. There are also plenty of recordings made with multibit ADCs, including Mike’s GAIN system. They don’t disappear when new technology appears. And, you know what? Instead of being fatalistic and negative, we’d like to consider the best-case scenario: that we actually push PCM’s capabilities forward to the point where new multibit ADCs appear.
 
“But how can those old DACs possibly perform better than the best of today? They’re only 20/48. We have 32/768.”
 
Going from 16/44 to 20/44 actually makes more difference than anything else, when it comes to digital. Why? Although the Nyquist theorem says you can perfectly reconstruct a waveform from digital with 2X the sample rate, it assumes an infinite-bit ADC with no quantization error. The more levels, the less the quantization error. 16 bit = 65536 levels, 20 bit = 1048576 levels. 24 bits is 16 million+ levels, but nobody has ever achieved 24 bit linearity, period. The best DACs are about 19.5-20 bits, even after 20 years of “progress.” (Hence, “the lost decades.”) Higher sample rates are nice for analog filtering, but limit the amount of horsepower a digital filter can bring to bear…and it takes up more storage space. So that’s a tradeoff. And “32 bit?” LOLOLROFLCOPTER. There will never be any 32 bit music. Because physics.
 
“It doesn’t matter anyway, I’ll buy whatever sounds best.”
 
Yep, absolutely. That’s what everyone should do. No argument there. Have a listen, and decide for yourself.
 
“But I really like the sound of DSD, I want it to win.”
 
That’s totally cool as well. Just don’t make it out to be anything “magic.” It is simply different. As is analog. Which can be very, very good as well. Treat us like the crazy uncle who’s a little touched in the head, and continue enjoying your DSD. After all, even if it “loses” as a format, it’s not like the files will disappear.
 
 
The Summation
 
Here’s what we propose: let’s see what we can do with the huge amount of music we have in PCM format.
 
Can we make it better by retaining the original samples? Can we get out of the performance we’ve been in the past 20 years? Can we bring this technology down to lower price levels? Can we change the future by picking up where multibit left off, 20 years ago?
 
Maybe. Maybe not.
 
We’ll see…