DACs and bass response?

That Arte Forma SET amplifier seems like a very high tier no nonsense effort. No doubt that it is exceptionally honest, open, transparent and natural in its sonic character. I suspect it is quite capable of revealing the fine nuances of the various upstream DACs and sources.

The nice thing about it is that it is DC-coupled, so no caps in the signal path.  Also, the version they sell now contains a circuit-board.  The one I have was a point-to-point wired prototype that I further modded.  It's too bad they don't offer the wired one, but they could not seem to get consistency in the build.  I don't use any of their tubes BTW.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

However, if a device passes the J-test with perfect results then one can only conclude that all distortion spuriae including any jitter of any sort are all below the noise floor.

This assumes that the DAC has excellent HF response and transient response.  If it doesn't, the spuriae will be masked, filtered.

Take the same source to another DAC that has better HF and transient response and you might see more spuriae.  I think it depends on the DAC, which it should not.  DAC analog circuits should not be part of the measurement IMO.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

It’s hard to believe that a DAC designer wouldn’t use effective caps in their design.

It is, but I would not have had a lucrative modding business for 10 years if it was not the case.

I trust my ears also.  I have to because measurements just don't cut it IME.  A good audio designer must rely on both measurements and their ears.  I cringe when I read about someone starting out in this industry and thinks they can navigate on measurements alone.  I recently read this on DIY forum...

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

stuartk DACs and bass response? Aqua La Voce