Differences in sound: DAC vs. DAC + Pre-amplifier

[davide256]

17 minutes ago, bodiebill said:

Some of us believe that digital is in principle flawed and that, even at higher resolutions, some essential information is missing from the signal. Compare it to film cameras of the first decades of the 20th century.

Is it unthinkable that some coloration can correct these flaws and heighten our sense of 'being there'?

See this enhanced/distorted/smoothened/colored clip of New York in 1911:

 

(removed)

Thank you for posting! What a time capsule and the improved frame rate made the people real to me. Couldn't help notice the lack of obesity, young and old...

[davide256]

On 3/30/2020 at 1:17 AM, Audiophile Neuroscience said:

 

 

I have not heard Mola Mola Class D amps but are you saying they sound better than, or just as good,as, the best Class A amps? The "Absolute best" ?

 

IME absolute best sound quality for my ears has been pure class A SS amps and yes, they are expensive. YMMV. Having said that, I fully accept there is a law of diminishing returns and as said, I have not yet heard Mola Mola up against the best Class A amps.

 

But I have also heard good DIY class A designed amps that sound excellent without costing an arm and a leg.

Unfortunately class A amps are also "space heaters" 😉 Heard anything you like near 50 watts other than Pass?

[davide256]

2 hours ago, barrows said:

Hahaha!

 

I just checked Roon settings, try going to "device settings" and "resync delay" and increasing that buffer some.  This sometimes helps as it gives the DAC a bit more time to lock to a new sample rate.  With DIY DACs I tend to avoid mixed sample rate playlists for this reason, as the DIY DACs sometimes do not handle sample rate changes very elegantly.  I find a good test for these kinds of problems is running Roon Radio as then i get random changes of sample rate fairly often, i tend to keep the volume low for this kind of testing (if it is an unfamiliar DAC) just t be safe.

 

But in a commercial DAC this is something I would consider a fault, and should be addressed by the manufacturer.

Would setting all rates to one upsampled value do the same?

[davide256]

55 minutes ago, barrows said:

There is no possible technical explanation for why this would be so.  and it is entirely contrary to my, and thousands of others' experience.  No matter what extremes one goes to, a server can never have a s low a noise profile as well designed Renderer connected by optical fiber Ethernet.  The server, by definition, generates a larger noise profile.

I would suggest that the above expressed viewpoint is an outrageous one, not supported by any valid technical theory, and as such would be in opposition to any accepted understanding of how electrical systems, and audio systems actually work.  In order to support such an outrageous claim, I would suggest that a lot more than listening impressions of a few people would be required.

Can you provide any technical theory for this claim?

Can you provide any measurements showing how this approach could possibly make any DAC perform better?

 

You  know, try as I can, I've never been able to get server hardware that was not USB attached to the DAC to matter as much as the software it was running.

In all of my experimentation 85% of improvements came from tweaking/upgrading the USB endpoint. Perhaps it matters if you have a really resolving system

in the $100k price range but it certainly doesn't seem to at $10K worth of system investment.