[miketlse]

In one sense Moore's law has already broken - in that it was a doubling of transistors every 2 years or so, for the same die area, and the assumption being that the cost for that die would be constant - hence the cost per transistor (or FET) would half every two years. This rule was broken some time ago in that price per component is rising as the difficulties in going to smaller feature sizes means much more costs - indeed a 3nm mask cost is expected to be an extraordinary 500M to 1.5B USD according to here. Masks are unique for the design of chip that you want - so a new design needs another set of masks, and in this case another 1B USD or so. Scary numbers...

Mask costs for a 150nm was a relatively trivial 0.3M USD when I was working with silicon companies. At the moment 28nm is the sweet spot for silicon, in terms of price per transistor.

And of course being at 3nm we are now talking about 15 atoms of silicon (and before anybody comments node size and actual true feature size is no longer the case due to marketing lies), so Moore's law is approaching destruction anyway.

Thanks Rob

 

[DaveRedRef-III]

Rob, with the Choral M Scaler, will we get the -3db back that we lost in volume on the Blu II M Scaler?

 

[Reactcore]

Rob, with the Choral M Scaler, will we get the -3db back that we lost in volume on the Blu II M Scaler?

If i understood it right.. Rob needed to lower the output volume to create headroom for calculated audio samples rising above max value of the original signal.. to prevent possible clipping

 

[ecwl]

Rob, with the Choral M Scaler, will we get the -3db back that we lost in volume on the Blu II M Scaler?

https://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/ap...uULDFx33nINzdD_Vv_Y3cuf8ku5UiZHhoCw5kQAvD_BwE

As @Reactcore said, the above article explains reasonably well why you need to allow for intersample overs when upsampling. Since M-Scaler output has to feed a DAC, it has to have that extra headroom to accomodate for the intersmpale overs.

 

[Reactcore]

Hi @Rob Watts
Have you ever bothered to decode surround formats like Dolby 5.1, 7.1, THX AC3 or Atmos and mix the channels to stereo in your processing filters the right way?

Many times when i watch a movie im so bothered by the loss of transparency of poor mixing the channels by my player software.. or TV > toslink out for that matter.

Thanks

 

[MgMGM]

Hmm my "translation" of that would be there is basically very small almost neglible dynamic range in most Rock Music .It generally tends to vary between Way Too Loud and heavily distorted to begin with, and serious hearing damage loud.
Why it is still so often used to judge Sound Quailty in ANY High End audio contexts is baffling to say the least.
"What HI FI" is both the name of a British magazine and a question I feel like asking when I see a reviewer using Rock Music in his or her review.
What HI FI????
The genres with the largest dynamic range are large scale unamplified Western Classical and some Asian Acoustic Instrumental Music with lots of heavy percussion like big Chinese Gongs or Indonesian/Balinese Gamelan Music.
Cheers Christer
PS.
Did you spend any time at all to enjoy Singapore this time around except Canjam?

Western Classical and some Asian Acoustic Instrumental Music with lots of heavy percussion like big Chinese Gongs or Indonesian/Balinese Gamelan Music. REALLY. Check out the new album from Metallica.

 

[Christer]

Western Classical and some Asian Acoustic Instrumental Music with lots of heavy percussion like big Chinese Gongs or Indonesian/Balinese Gamelan Music. REALLY. Check out the new album from Metallica.

Hmm, I checked out Metallica's latest album on YT. No offence intended and if that is the kind of music you listen to, fine with me. But I would suggest you begin by checking out the technical term dynamic range and its real meaning and definition.
Let me give you a hint, dynamic range is NOT what you seem to think it is , judging from Metallica's latest album.Very loud indeed, but not any dynamic range worth mentioning in HIFI terms.
Cheers Christer

 

[MgMGM]

Hmm, I checked out Metallica's latest album on YT. No offence intended and if that is the kind of music you listen to, fine with me. But I would suggest you begin by checking out the technical term dynamic range and its real meaning and definition.
Let me give you a hint, dynamic range is NOT what you seem to think it is , judging from Metallica's latest album.Very loud indeed, but not any dynamic range worth mentioning in HIFI terms.
Cheers Chr

All good this end. No offence taken. I listen, I enjoy. Dont look down ya nose at folk who enjoy amplified music just because it lacks dynamic range and isnt pure and acoustic enough. 'rock' 'punk ' 'soul' 'new wave' 'crap' as you see it will sell out stadiums the world over. 365 nights of the year.

 

[Rob Watts]

https://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/ap...uULDFx33nINzdD_Vv_Y3cuf8ku5UiZHhoCw5kQAvD_BwE

As @Reactcore said, the above article explains reasonably well why you need to allow for intersample overs when upsampling. Since M-Scaler output has to feed a DAC, it has to have that extra headroom to accomodate for the intersmpale overs.

The inter-sample overload is a real thing, but extremely unlikely to occur in practice, as it requires to clip for only one output sample, and to be of the correct phase too. Moreover, the ADC would have clipped internally before decimation, and this would have caused problems for the analogue part of the ADC. The clip light on the recording ADC would have lit up, and either dynamic compression employed, or the sound engineer would have backed of on the levels.

Another issue, which again is extremely unlikely to occur (infinite monkeys with one typing out a Shakespeare sonnet springs to mind) is if an input signal is exactly the same frequency as the coefficients, and it aligns so that positive matches the positive values of the coefficients, then the OP will be the modulus of the filter coefficients - that would be around a +12 dB overload! But this can't happen with music.

My reasoning for the overload margin is basically to cover Gibbs phenomenon - where you get an overshoot with transients or square waves when the filtered signal naturally overshoots. You need about 2dB headroom to cover this. My setting of -2.73dB was to cover this, and it's a convenient number for my SPDIF de-emphasis filter built into the DACs. If de-emphasis is done in the M scaler, and if the filter no longer needed a Gibbs overload, then I could reduce overload margins. But I am not sure this would actually have any audible benefit though.

Hi @Rob Watts
Have you ever bothered to decode surround formats like Dolby 5.1, 7.1, THX AC3 or Atmos and mix the channels to stereo in your processing filters the right way?

Many times when i watch a movie im so bothered by the loss of transparency of poor mixing the channels by my player software.. or TV > toslink out for that matter.

Thanks

No - but when I last looked at the decoding code from Dolby, it was not source files but bit files - so you do not get the source code to do your own coding.

 

[Ike1985]

@Rob Watts I'm using Hugo2 with ALO CDM(amp only) with my CIEMs and it is an exceptional pairing, I have one question though: If I try to turn the Hugo2 up and run the amp in low gain I get distortion in the sound when the Hugo is at high levels like turquoise therefore would it be better to run the amp in high gain and the hugo2 volume wheel as low as possible(red).

 

[Kentajalli]

@Rob Watts I'm using Hugo2 with ALO CDM(amp only) with my CIEMs and it is an exceptional pairing, I have one question though: If I try to turn the Hugo2 up and run the amp in low gain I get distortion in the sound when the Hugo is at high levels like turquoise therefore would it be better to run the amp in high gain and the hugo2 volume wheel as low as possible(red).

Before he replies, I would say no!
keep the amp in low gain. you get lower noise and general distortion (any amp). then use H2 volume. If you get distortion at high levels, it is your amp running out of steam, not H2.
Has nothing to do with pairing.
If I read it right , max output into 32 ohm is only 125mW.
H2 can do 500+mW.
I bet on a blind test, you will prefer H2 direct .
my 2 pence.

 

[ecwl]

@Rob Watts I'm using Hugo2 with ALO CDM(amp only) with my CIEMs and it is an exceptional pairing, I have one question though: If I try to turn the Hugo2 up and run the amp in low gain I get distortion in the sound when the Hugo is at high levels like turquoise therefore would it be better to run the amp in high gain and the hugo2 volume wheel as low as possible(red).

I’m quite confused by this. Do you mean at ALO maximum volume on low gain of the ALO, you find that Hugo 2 is not loud enough unless you turn H2 volume to turquoise? With IEMs?
I guess you really like the tube sound which is why you’re not driving your IEMs with H2?

Anyway, the fault is with the ALO. Clearly when you have the H2 in turquoise (can’t remember the voltage), you’re clipping the ALO input because normally, ALO uses the 2V output of the internal DAC. That’s why when you go significantly over 2V from the Hugo 2 into the ALO, you start hearing distortions because your ALO is clipping at the higher voltage. To me the best thing to do is to ask ALO at what input voltage does ALO clip and set Hugo 2 to that voltage. And then use the ALO gain and ALO volume that works for that voltage. A safe voltage that doesn’t clip should be 2V, similar to the ALO internal DAC. I think 2V is green on the Hugo 2 volume button but I’m not 100% sure.

 

[Ike1985]

I’m quite confused by this. Do you mean at ALO maximum volume on low gain of the ALO, you find that Hugo 2 is not loud enough unless you turn H2 volume to turquoise? With IEMs?
I guess you really like the tube sound which is why you’re not driving your IEMs with H2?

Anyway, the fault is with the ALO. Clearly when you have the H2 in turquoise (can’t remember the voltage), you’re clipping the ALO input because normally, ALO uses the 2V output of the internal DAC. That’s why when you go significantly over 2V from the Hugo 2 into the ALO, you start hearing distortions because your ALO is clipping at the higher voltage. To me the best thing to do is to ask ALO at what input voltage does ALO clip and set Hugo 2 to that voltage. And then use the ALO gain and ALO volume that works for that voltage. A safe voltage that doesn’t clip should be 2V, similar to the ALO internal DAC. I think 2V is green on the Hugo 2 volume button but I’m not 100% sure.

I'm not using the DAC in the CDM at all, just the tube amp.

In order to have sufficient volume from the CDM on low gain I have to have the H2 in green/tourquise territory. If I crank the H2 higher beyond these two colors (a setting I don't actually use) I observe significant distortion in the sound(low gain CDM mode, low volume CDM, high volume hugo2). The H2 is outputting via the headphone port and into the CDM via it's headphone jack. Because it appears the signal from H2 is cleaner on lower volumes wouldn't it make sense to run the H2 volume as low as possible and the CDM in high gain?

 

[Ike1985]

Before he replies, I would say no!
keep the amp in low gain. you get lower noise and general distortion (any amp). then use H2 volume. If you get distortion at high levels, it is your amp running out of steam, not H2.
Has nothing to do with pairing.
If I read it right , max output into 32 ohm is only 125mW.
H2 can do 500+mW.
I bet on a blind test, you will prefer H2 direct .
my 2 pence.

I much prefer the CDM + Hugo2 to Hugo2 2 alone, I've owned hugo2 since it was released and have thousands of hours on it, I much prefer it combined with tube sound.

 

[ecwl]

I'm not using the DAC in the CDM at all, just the tube amp.

In order to have sufficient volume from the CDM on low gain I have to have the H2 in green/tourquise territory. If I crank the H2 higher beyond these two colors (a setting I don't actually use) I observe significant distortion in the sound(low gain CDM mode, low volume CDM, high volume hugo2). The H2 is outputting via the headphone port and into the CDM via it's headphone jack. Because it appears the signal from H2 is cleaner on lower volumes wouldn't it make sense to run the H2 volume as low as possible and the CDM in high gain?

I think I answered your question but maybe I should rephrase the answer. The problem is NOT that H2 is cleaner at lower volumes. The problem is your ALO generates distortion when your Hugo 2 puts in a signal significantly higher than 2V. I just checked my Hugo 2. Green is definitely 2V. Turquoise is about 2.2V I think and the next level up is about 2.5V. So if you crank the volume of Hugo 2 at 2.5V or above, your ALO cannot handle such a large voltage and clips the sound which is why you hear a distortion. This is an ALO input sensitivity issue. It’s just inherent in the design of ALO.

If you can listen to Hugo 2 at green or turquoise without distortion, then stick with green or turquoise. The signal to noise ratio from the Hugo 2 would be slightly better at green and turquoise compared to at red (albeit minimally).

However, if you’re asking what is the best pairing with ALO, it’s difficult for me to answer because now you’re essentially asking how good is the volume control with the ALO, at what volume does it sound best (because every volume pots has an optimal volume with the least distortion and optimally left-right channel balance), how good is the low gain, how good is the high gain, etc. for that, only people familiar with ALO CDM can answer those questions.